Charisma Doll



Mizuki Sara is an ordinary 15-year-old high school student. She's also the popular new singer SALA, whose true gender remains an enigma. Despite being a rising star in the entertainment industry herself, Sara is still a dedicated fan of Shidou Hayase, lead singer of The Rise and one of SALA's biggest rivals -- as well as Sara's classmate! Sara already has a boyfriend, but when she catches him with another girl, he dumps her with the explanation that he only liked her because of her resemblance to SALA. Seeing her heartbroken, Hayase takes advantage of the Paparazzi to expose Mukai as a womanizer, and the two of them become friends. How will Sara's mother react to her befriending her rival when she was already against Sara jeopardizing her career for a boyfriend?!

Charisma Doll is a Japanese Shoujo manga series written and illustrated by Erika Kurahashi for Ribon magazine.

"Sara: Remember this... a kid is not a parent's doll."
 * Ambiguous Gender: SALA. It's her defining gimmick, which Sara protests as being cheap, but her mother won't let her drop.
 * Angst? What Angst?: Considering how weepy she gets about Hayase, Sara's remarkably put-together for a girl who's just been brutally dumped by her boyfriend of three weeks, even if he was just a Romantic False Lead.
 * Be Yourself: Eventually Sara can be, but it takes a while to get there.
 * Bishonen/Bishoujo: Please, this is Shoujo. There are no unattractive people in the universe.
 * Blatant Lies: Mukai tries to claim it's Not What It Looks Like when Sara catches him carrying another girl piggyback, but he gives it up quickly. Then he explains he only dated Sara for her resemblance to SALA and dumps her then and there on the school's front steps.
 * Celebrity Crush: Sara has a fairly low-key one on Hayase, though considering she's a celebrity herself...
 * Celebrity Resemblance: More than one person has noticed that Sara "resembles" SALA. It's the only reason Mukai was interested in her to begin with, before her personality broke the "illusion".
 * Chekhov's Skill: It seemed like they were setting up Sara's "secret voice changing skill" as one of these in Chapter 2, but the finale came and went, and her skill is never brought up again.
 * Clark Kenting: Reconstructed. A wig (and contacts, going by cover art) don't change Sara's face, which she passes off as mere Celebrity Resemblance. This --combined with Sara's skill at executing Wig, Dress, Accent, as Lampshaded by Kazuma-- allows her to convince people they are different people.
 * Cool Shades: SALA's bodyguard Kazuma wears pink-tinted glasses.
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive: Hayase's boss gave off this vibe in Chapter 9, with his ominous talk of revealing SALA's identity,
 * Disappeared Dad: No mention is made of Sara's father, but her uncle (Kazuma's dad) is the company president.
 * Fan Girl: Aside from their friendship, Sara is also an official, card-carrying member of The Rise fanclub, which makes it hard for her to be Hayase's rival. Ryuusei even kind of Lampshades the typical rabid connotations of this trope in Chapter 8 by asking if Sara's been threatened by a member of Hayase's fanbase. Sara, for her part, is acutely aware that other girls must have confessed to Hayase before her.
 * Follow in My Footsteps: Sara's mother wants her daughter to succeed in showbiz.
 * Hot Stage Mom: Sara's mother was Miss Junior Japan, and she never actually gives Sara permission to quit being SALA, even though her daughter is plenty vocal about her hatred of pretending to be someone she's not.


 * I Just Want to Be Normal: Sara hates being SALA.
 * Kissing Cousins: Averted. The closest Sara and Kazuma come to a romance is when Hayase, unaware of their relation, suspects she and her manager may be dating. He's suitably embarrassed when she tells him the truth.
 * Lolicon: There is a scandal in Chapter 8 over the "Song Princess" Tsuburaya Megu (11) and actor Misugi Shinya (21) supposedly dating, which Megu denies. The article also calls into question whether Megu was really eleven or not, which is apparently the part everbody cares about.
 * Loves My Alter Ego: Sara is terrified of this coming to pass between Hayase and SALA, but it doesn't. Despite her fears, the two of them really are Just Friends until Sara reveals her true identity.
 * Lucky Seven: Sara's lucky The Rise fanclub membership card is numbered 0777.
 * Make-Out Kids: Hayase happens across Sara and Mukai kissing in the first chapter and reminds them they're late for first hour. Subverted though, as it was only their second kiss.
 * Paparazzi: A constant hazard for any sufficiently public figure, but they only pose a threat to the main cast in latter chapters.
 * Secret Identity: SALA is actually Mizuki Sara, obviously.
 * Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: Sara likes Hayase. Only, Sara's actually SALA, which makes her secretly his peer in terms of popularity.
 * Sweet on Polly Oliver: Averted. Hayase figures SALA's a girl fairly early on, but he isn't interested in her at all that way until she's revealed to be Sara.
 * Sweet Polly Oliver: Played With. Sara is disguising her femininity, true, but her Alter Ego isn't strictly masculine either.
 * Teen Idol Singer
 * The Reveal Prompts Romance: Exaggerated. Hayase doesn't seem seriously interested in Sara or SALA until after The Reveal.
 * UST: So much.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: SALA dresses more androgynously than masculinely, but there's a reason it was noteworthy that they wore a dress for the climactic Music Box Special in Chapter 9.
 * Woman of a Thousand Voices with shades of Voice Changeling: SALA is a "low base", so when they have to sing in class, Sara pitches her voice up "two octaves", which results in a "childrens' soprano" (treble?). This would be ill-advised for any singer, since forcing one's voice out of its natural range puts tension on the vocal cords and could cause career-ending damage.
 * Your Cheating Heart: Mukai Isamu, Sara's first boyfriend. He's done this before. Hayase sure gets him for it, though.