is a Japanese manga series by Akira Kojima. It was serialized in Square Enix' Monthly Gangan WING manga magazine between January 2000 and July 2006, spanning a total of 12 tankōbon volumes.
An anime television series adaptation, entitled , was animated by J.C.Staff, aired on TV Tokyo from January 10, 2005, to June 26, 2005, spanning a total of 26 episodes.
Plot
Shiratori Ryushi wants to become a children's picture book writer, and he moves to an apartment, Narutaki-Sou (Narutaki Villa), in order to go to an art school in Tokyo. Narutaki-Sou is an old Japanese style one-story house which doesn't fit in urban scenery. The complex is owned by his mother's cousin and the manager of the apartment is his second cousin, Aoba Kozue. They met each other when they were children, although Shiratori doesn't remember much of it. Kozue is in the second grade of a high school attached to Aoba Junior College.
There are seven residents of Narutaki-Sou. The first, Chanohata Tamami, lives in room #1 and she is Kozue's childhood friend and best friend. Shiratori Ryushi, the main character of the series, resides in room #2. In room #3 resides Momono Megumi, a person who goes her own way in life. Kurosaki Sayoko and her daughter Asami, who is in the first grade of middle school, live in room #5. Finally, in room #6, Haibara Yukio lives with his puppet Johnny.
Narutaki-Sou is filled with characteristic and eccentric people. However, the most eccentric person is Kozue herself. She has a secret of which even she does not know; when she is shocked at something, her personality changes. Not knowing this, Ryushi moves to Narutaki-Sou to realize his dream.
Characters
Narutaki Sou residents
Note: All characters are voiced by Satomi Arai.
Landlady of Narutaki Sou and Ryūshi's 16-year-old second cousin. She attends the same high school as Tamami. She has several different personalities that come out when she experiences different emotions, but returns to her original one after sleeping or passing out. In the manga, she begins going out with Ryūshi in chapter 39. Near the end of the manga, it is revealed that the cause of her different personalities is her sad past where she lost everyone that she loved, starting with the death of her great grandfather and her later abandonment by her parents. It is further revealed that her other personalities were influenced by the 10-year-old Ryūshi who showed her his drawings and taught her that people can be anything in their imagination. In the anime, however, her personalities came about due to the grief she felt over indirectly causing the death of her parents (she had won a trip to Hawaii in a lottery, but gave it to her parents as she had school and was unable to go herself - when they died in an accident, she blamed herself and developed her other personalities).
In the epilogue, it is shown that she and Ryūshi are married and have four kids, each of them similar to one of her four alternate personalities.
Saki has a tough attitude and is very strong physically. Despite this, she actually does care about others, even if she is embarrassed to admit it. She appears when Kozue is surprised or angered. She is an extreme lightweight, and unable to tolerate anything but umeshu (in the manga), in the anime she can't even smell liquor without passing out.
Nanako has the personality of an energetic six-year-old girl, and as such is very curious and playful, although she is usually better behaved after she becomes "Shiny". One other noteworthy feature of Nanako is that of all the other personalities that Kozue goes through, Nanako is the only one given an actual age. According to the manga, Saki, Chiyuri, and Natsume all are of unknown age, though it is safe to assume that all of the others have the same age as Kozue.
Chiyuri loves cosplay and also makes everyone else cosplay against their will, but only if it is against their will. If they don't care or want to do so, she doesn't want to. She appears when Kozue is clumsy or frightened. While she is in this personality, Tamami acts as her assistant, whom Chiyuri refers to as "my partner", while supplying Tamami many embarrassing photo-ops with which to fill her camera. Tamami, in return, calls Chiyuri "my sweetheart". "Correct!" is her catchphrase.
Natsume has a very shy personality who initially avoided speaking to anyone at all. She is extremely skilled at sleight of hand and card tricks. The first time she talked was when teaching Ryushi a trick. Flowers will spontaneously pop out of the top of her head when she's happy. She has a habit of ending her sentences with "kamo", meaning either "maybe" or "I think" depending on the context.