Iris Zero

An Iris is a special power in someone's eyes that, basically, allows a person to see an Augmented Reality. These abilities range from telling a person what's for dinner to identifying someone's past lives. 27 years ago around 1% of children were born with this power; 5 years later, that began to skyrocket, so that this time the 1% were the children born without it.

Toru Mizushima is part of that 1%; he, like the adults, doesn't have an Iris. In other words, he's an "Iris Zero", and in the past he was a target for discrimination and was frequently bullied because of his lack of an Iris. Now he's getting by according to a principle of "low exposure" - to live without standing out.

Things get complicated when the popular Koyuki Sasamori suddenly appears one day in Toru's classroom and immediately asks him to go out with her...to help with something. You see, Koyuki's Iris is "to see those who are qualified" and thus is frequently tasked to pick officials and staff members. Her task this time is to find the next Student Council President, and she's been looking for days but she still can't find the person suitable for the role. Koyuki then decided to simply look for the person who can help her, and apparently Toru's qualified for the job.

Although reluctant to help considering the amount of attention he'd get, Toru plays along to help her regardless, and gets Koyuki herself elected to be the Student Council President. Unfortunately, much to Toru's exasperation, Koyuki has already become a part of his life, with all the attention that comes with it.

This semi-Shounen (believe it or not, this is a Seinen series) fantasy Manga written by Piro Shiki and Hotaru Takana tells of Toru's time in high school as he struggles to maintain his low profile while assisting the ever-annoying (well, to him anyway) Koyuki who stands out too much. Rounding out the cast are Hijiri Shinonuka, Toru's only friend who sees past Toru for being an Iris Zero; Asahi Yuki, Koyuki's friend; Nanase Kuga, who's even more withdrawn than Toru; and Harumi Tokita, Kuga's childhood friend.

"Koyuki: There's no way the big-chested Asahi-chan would understand how we flat-chested people feel! Kuga: Yeah!"
 * Absurdly Powerful Student Council: Inverted; the student council members seem to get exploited heavily by teachers and students to run errands and do busywork. Poor Sasamori, the council president, can't say no, either.
 * Achilles in His Tent:  Completely understandable. Nice job,
 * A-Cup Angst: In volume 1's side comic, Koyuki and Kuga even form a "The No Breast Friends Club":

"Kuga: There's no way he could figure it out so easily... He himself said this isn't a mystery novel. And Mizushima-kun's an Iris Zero, too."
 * Adults Are Useless: In two ways: first, in that less than 1% of eligible adults possess an Iris (with those older than 27 dropping down to 0% chance), and second in that as of chapter twenty there's only been one significant adult character.
 * During the "Iris Hunter" arc, only the one teacher even cares enough to intervene in any way in something that's obviously afflicting the entire student body, because they don't consider something related to Irises to be their problem.
 * All Love Is Unrequited: Tokita seems to be Unlucky Childhood Friend for Kuga, who likes Houjou, who has unrequited feelings for  Sasamori likes Toru, but even if he deeply cares for her, he remains Oblivious to Love. Fortunately, this seems to improve a little within time.
 * And in Hijiri's flashback, Katagiri liked Hijiri who liked Tachibana. Nobody got out of that with the person they wanted, either.
 * All of the Other Reindeer: Toru, because he's an Iris Zero. Implied that other Iris Zeroes get this treatment.
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: Toru, developed originally as a mode of social self-defense. Until outed as a Zero, he was even able to trick others into believing he had an Iris that could see how others' Irises worked.
 * Almost Everyone Is A Super
 * Apologises a Lot: Sasamori.
 * Badass Normal: Toru
 * The Beard:
 * Becoming the Mask: An unhappy version with . Once genuinely nice, if aloof, now unable to see the reason why he should try acting above other people's poor opinions of him.
 * Big Damn Heroes:
 * Black and White Insanity:
 * Blessed with Suck: Some of the people with Irises would probably be a lot happier without them.
 * Bonus Material: In the volume collections, each usually composed of a short side story, and a Fourth Wall-breaking comic full of the characters mocking the writer, artist, and the series in general.
 * Breather Episode: Chapter 21, also the Sick Episode. After the drama and tension of the Iris Hunter arc, followed by about a volume's worth of chapters focusing on the group adjusting to include Tokita and deal with the fallout of the previous arc.
 * Buffy-Speak: With all those 'things' in the chapter titles... While most are subversions, some are played straight.
 * Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: Hijiri has the occasional butterfly motif crop up because his Iris shows butterflies, but the motif also symbolizes his own.
 * Kuga sees colored butterfly wings on people
 * Call Back: A cute girl whose Iris is based on analyzing suitability grabs ahold of Toru and asks him to "please go out with me," much to the surprise of Toru and anyone else around. No, not (just) Sasamori - now an as-yet-unnamed strange new girl with an Iris that can analyze probability, who sees a "100%" next to Toru and so says and does the same thing to him right in front of Sasamori.
 * Cannot Spit It Out: 's crush on Toru, sadly because she ... which actually saves her from the Iris Hunter.
 * Also which Asahi calls him on when he laments that his feelings "never reached"
 * Chekhov's Gun:
 * The Chessmaster: Toru is a budding Chessmaster, by necessity to maintain his minimal exposure while helping people, best displayed in the Iris Hunter arc.
 * Class Is in Room X-01: Averted. The six main characters are in two different classes.
 * Class 2-3: Toru Mizushima, Nanase Kuga, and Harumi Tokita.
 * Class 2-6: Koyuki Sasamori, Hijiri Shinozuka, and Asahi Yuki.
 * Chronic Hero Syndrome: Toru. To his extreme annoyance. Asahi and Sasamori take it as a given that he'll help anyone in need.
 * Crap Saccharine World: It's a manga drawn in a cute art style about a loner boy who teams up with his popular, friendly classmate and begins coming out of his shell, set in a world where most young people have magical powers that let them "see" various things. Sounds pretty sweet, right? Only the loner is the way he is due to years of being viciously bullied for not having a power, and he gets teased even worse after making friends with the aforementioned classmate; meanwhile, many of the people who do have powers are troubled by them, to the point where one person tries to erase everybody's magic. That being said, Iris Zero does emphasize The Power of Friendship and contains some truly heartwarming moments, but it's nowhere near as lighthearted as it appears.
 * The Cynic/Knight in Sour Armor: Toru is a bitter pessimist who wants as little as possible to do with the rest of the world and his peers... except it's incredibly easy to get him to help solve problems and make things better for other people, even someone responsible for his life as an outcast.
 * Deadly Decadent School: Given the existence of certain Irises, any number of students are frighteningly skilled at lying and manipulation. Toru is a past master of the latter, but he uses that skill for good
 * There is also Hijiri's childhood friend, who has power to tell when danger is coming and where.
 * Distaff Counterpart: After a fashion, Hijiri and
 * : When Hijiri . Fortunately, Toru helped him.
 * Early-Bird Cameo: Tokita. He (and his power) appears in the title page of Chapter 1, and he is the guy who starts the meeting to appoint the Student Council President in the same chapter, but he does not feature heavily until later on. Later omakes show that he was supposed to be in the manga from the start as one of the main characters, while no mention of Kuga is made.
 * Emotionless Girl: Kuga looks half-asleep most of the time, and her emotional displays are very low-key - rarely more than a small smile, especially when compared to Asahi and Sasamori.
 * Everyone Can See It: Played with and then played straight. Because of her initial approach, everyone around assumes something is up with Toru and Sasamori, which gives Toru no end of additional hell piled on top of his normal daily hell.
 * Evil Eye: The Irises are powers that are based around the eye. If someone goes blind or loses their eyes they will lose their Iris power as well.
 * Eyes Always Shut: Hijiri's default state, to go along with the carefree attitude he shows the world. Open eyes are a sure sign that he's thinking about something serious.
 * Wouldn't you keep your eyes closed if you had his Iris?
 * Eye Scream:
 * Turned around at the end
 * Fan Service: The lack of fanservice is lampshaded in a side comic published in the first collected volume, where Toru frets that they'll be renamed "Sex Appeal Zero" because the bath scene in chapter 4 is a single panel with someone's arm sticking in from off-panel.
 * Fantastic Racism: Of the super-powered vs. unpowered variety. Life in general is hell for Zeroes, especially since 99+% of Iris-users are still minors and very ready to engage in school-age bullying and ostracism, with little sign of things getting better out in the adult world. It gets to the point where others automatically assume Zeroes are mentally and morally deficient until demonstrated otherwise.
 * Turned around at the end
 * Fan Service: The lack of fanservice is lampshaded in a side comic published in the first collected volume, where Toru frets that they'll be renamed "Sex Appeal Zero" because the bath scene in chapter 4 is a single panel with someone's arm sticking in from off-panel.
 * Fantastic Racism: Of the super-powered vs. unpowered variety. Life in general is hell for Zeroes, especially since 99+% of Iris-users are still minors and very ready to engage in school-age bullying and ostracism, with little sign of things getting better out in the adult world. It gets to the point where others automatically assume Zeroes are mentally and morally deficient until demonstrated otherwise.
 * Fantastic Racism: Of the super-powered vs. unpowered variety. Life in general is hell for Zeroes, especially since 99+% of Iris-users are still minors and very ready to engage in school-age bullying and ostracism, with little sign of things getting better out in the adult world. It gets to the point where others automatically assume Zeroes are mentally and morally deficient until demonstrated otherwise.

"Cake shop manager: Are my cakes... really that bad...?"
 * Fiery Redhead: Asahi, who is energetic and temperamental, with a forceful personality. It gets her into trouble when.
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Hero: Toru (also The Smart Guy most of the time)
 * The Lancer: Hijiri
 * The Smart Guy: Nanase, sharing the hat with Toru
 * The Big Guy: Asahi, who, while not dumb, is easily the most boisterous and physical of the group
 * The Chick: Koyuki
 * Sixth Ranger: Harumi, now possibly turning the group into a Six-Student Clique
 * Good Parents: Kuga's mother. She deeply cares about her daughter's happiness.
 * Good Powers, Bad People:
 * Generation Xerox: Kuga and her mother.  Kuga's mother fears it may also happen in a future.
 * Guile Hero: Given that his backstory involves him  of course Toru ended up one of these.
 * Given the low-action nature of the series, pretty much everyone shows signs of being a Guile Hero (or Magnificent Bastard, if they're holding the Villain Ball) at one time or another, to allow them to participate in the drama. What Toru's got over everyone else is lots and lots of practice at it, and he never stops.
 * Sasamori is pretty much the only one guaranteed to not get a turn playing the Guile Hero. Not because she's stupid (she's not) but because she's extremely bull-headed when it comes to a problem, which Hijiri counts as a titanic strength easily on par with Toru's talents. When the others can't plot or misdirect around a problem, Sasamori can (and will) bear down on it full force with raw idealism and emotional appeals.
 * Headphones Equal Isolation: Explicitly invoked by Toru, who regularly hides behind a MP3 player and a book to help maintain his minimal exposure.
 * Heart Is an Awesome Power: Almost all of the Irises would be considered a joke in another manga.
 * Heterosexual Life Partners: Sasamori describes Toru and Hijiri as a "happy couple," with each being the first one the other goes to for anything, including company for lunch despite being in different classes
 * Humans Are the Real Monsters: With the rare exception, Toru's peers have universally shunned him, regularly beat him, and generally made his life hell ever since he was outed as an iris zero. One shudders to think what the world will be like for the other zeroes once the iris-dominated generation comes of age. Meanwhile, the older generation just grumbles about the younger as if it was some new game going around and shrugs off responsibility.
 * I Don't Want to Ruin Our Friendship:
 * I Just Want to Be Normal: Sasamori admits to Toru that she's a little jealous of his "ability" to see the world as it is, without some kind of filter over it. Toru, meanwhile, is quite bitter about being "normal" by the previous generation's standards and not his own.
 * Important Haircut:
 * Indirect Kiss: Toru takes a bite out of some cake, offers some to Sasamori... She gets so flustered about it that she can't even taste the cake. And then he offers her a second mouthful...
 * I Never Said It Was Poison:
 * Then later Toru himself fell victim to this when trying to get Hoshimiya to leave him alone he tells her that he isn't interested in helping her find a lost thing. Then she pints out that she never said she was looking for something. Poor guy fell victim to his own Sherlock Scan
 * Irony:
 * Jerkass Facade: Toru, at times.
 * Kids Are Cruel: Toru was constantly bullied when he was younger for being an Iris Zero, and even now if he has high enough exposure.
 * And we find out in chapter 15, that, no, it hasn't gotten better.
 * Living Lie Detector:
 * Loners Are Freaks: Or rather, "Freaks are Loners": Toru, as a rarer-than-1% Iris Zero and automatic "freak," is outcast amongst his peers and strives to remain aloof to avoid harm.
 * Love Chart: a fairly straightforward diagram appears at the beginning of its third volume in an omake section of sorts.
 * Love Confession: Subverted right away in the opening pages of the manga: Sasamori marches into Toru's classroom and grabs his hand, saying, "Please go out with me!" She shortly clarifies that she wanted him to "go out" with her and help her search for a student council president, but not before everyone else in Toru's class assumes the School Idol just asked out the least popular guy in the school. And then she makes the exact same approach again in chapter 2, for another problem.
 * Played straight with Houjou's confession to Kuga.
 * Once again subverted when
 * And we may be getting a repeat subversion with Toru and the mysterious new girl, who in her brief appearances so far has just repeated Sasamori's initial approach, except outside and with only Sasamori as the spectator.
 * Love Makes You Evil: In Hijiri's flashback, and in the Iris Hunter arc.
 * Love You and Everybody: Sasamori, who else?
 * Which startles the hell out of Toru when she mutters that she likes him while asleep with a fever, until she carries on saying she likes Asahi, Hijiri, and others too. And then
 * Manipulative Bitch: When's the last time you saw an   use her abilities to create real misery?
 * Muggles: Techincally most adults and all people above age 27.
 * The Matchmaker/Shipper on Deck: Tokita's Iris lets him see "love affections," an arrow over a person's head pointing towards who they have feelings for, meaning he could play matchmaker easily. He tries to do it for . It doesn't work out so well. Later, he
 * Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Toru, though he works harder than anyone to bury that heart of gold deep to keep it from being found. Too bad for him that Sasamori is the emotional equivalent of a backhoe.
 * Much less so nowadays, since he's embraced the unpleasant outer persona.
 * Mundane Utility: Most Irises fall under this, since an Iris is an inherently passive power. Almost any corporation or government bureau would pay top dollar for someone like Sasamori, who could run a human resources department almost single-handedly and always make sure the right person was on the job.
 * : . Good thing Toru puts an end to it.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Depending on how much their later actions were already factored into, Toru and the others' attempts to protect likely made things much worse. At the least, given that , it's very likely that Toru's intervention directly led to the emergence of the Iris Hunter. "We may have altered fate," indeed.
 * And as of chapter 22,
 * And Tokita turns out to have a bad track record himself when it comes to trying to help and support people. Two different attempts to help out Kuga and ended up backfiring spectacularly.
 * Not What It Looks Like: A humorous example in the third volume's omake. To get back at Toru, other characters from the main band tell Koyuki about the bathroom scenes. Harumi even says goes as far as saying that Toru pushed him down (and forgets to add "into a trap"). Koyuki's reaction is priceless.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: To quote Hijiri's character profile at the beginning of volume 2: "His slightly carefree attitude and way of talking is something he does on purpose." His playful manner keeps him from, and his frequently sloppy and disheveled appearance in poorly-fit clothing.
 * Oblivious to Love: It seems to be the only thing Toru can't read in other people. Reasonable, given his history. The idea that anyone could take a positive interest in him is still pretty alien at times.
 * Meanwhile,
 * Oh Crap: "Exposure Rate: nearly 100%"
 * Everyone thinking that Toru is the Iris Hunter
 * Only Six Faces: Sasamori, Kuga, and Tachibana have the same rounded face, and fluffy light-colored hair (though in different styles). Sasamori wears ribbons in her hair and it curls a lot at the ends with long strands that tend to fly around; Kuga has straighter hair and usually half-closed eyes; and Tachibana has short hair and is (so far) only seen in flashbacks.
 * Becomes a plot point: And after the Important Haircut  resemblance to  can't not be significant.
 * Ordinary High School Student: Something of an inversion with Toru: by real-life standards, he is completely normal. By the standards of the setting? He's the freak for not having a power.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil: Hijiri's plan for dealling with
 * Personality Powers: A person's Iris molds their personality, at least somewhat.
 * Sasamori is a complete aversion. Her Iris is based around judging people and their suitability to an action, almost to the point of predestining people to certain roles. Yet she's the least judgmental person in the school and has spoken strongly against the idea that people can't do something just because an Iris has declared them unsuited.
 * Poisonous Friend: Asahi  in their shared backstory. Also,.
 * Poor Communication Kills: Averted. Your death Iris says someone is in danger? Make a beeline for the Awesomeness By Analysis Knight in Sour Armor and let him know.
 * Popularity Food Chain: Sasamori is at the very top. Toru is at the absolute bottom, and receives threatening notes when she first approaches him.
 * Actually,
 * Power Incontinence: Irises are "on" all the time, which sucks when
 * Power Nullifier: The Iris Hunter, who can eliminate other people's Irises
 * Precision F-Strike: Sasamori is so impossibly nice and apologetic all the time that she can accomplish this effect without even swearing when she calls Toru an idiot.
 * Relationship Sabotage: The second "curse" of the Iris Hunter Also used
 * Running Gag: Despite Toru's masterful ability at reading and guessing people's motivations, he's oblivious to the identities of the people around him to the point of absurdity.
 * In each volume's omake, the characters announce a "new direction" for the series starting next volume:
 * Volume 1: "Iris Zero will aim to become Sex Appeal Zero."
 * Volume 2: "Iris Zero will continue ignoring all expenses!"
 * Volume 3: "Starting from the next chapter, Iris Zero will aim to become a 'toilet manga.'"
 * Volume 4: "Starting next volume, we're going with Toki x Hiji!"
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: Sasamori stumbles on a mysterious new female character clinging to Toru, and based on both Sasamori's startlement and Toru's guilty Not What It Looks Like reaction, the new girl asks if they're going out. Both Sasamori and Toru blush and blurt out loud protests entirely too quickly.
 * Sick Episode: Chapter 21, with Sasamori going home early with a fever. The others go to visit her after classes, with Asahi and Kuga ordering the boys to prepare some soup and porridge while they put her back into bed. Those poor innocent vegetables and eggs, they never had a chance...
 * Smug Super: People, especially children with Irises, tend to look down on the Iris Zeroes.
 * Somebody Else's Problem: Most teachers' reaction to anything involving Irises. The one notable exception?
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Hiziri or Hijiri? The manga translation is inconsistent.
 * A rare case involving the mangaka: most manga sites list the name as "Pro Shiki", but read the name on the manga and it says "Piroshiki". Of course, the latter is hard to find, but if you are observant enough...
 * Spider Sense: Hijiri's former classmate Katagiri had an Iris that allows her to see approaching dangers.
 * Played for Laughs when Toru learns how to sense when Koyuki is coming to allow him to go for a short walk (read: avoid Koyuki to avoid unwanted attention).
 * He is also capable of noticing when somebody tries to take a photo of him and blur the image/move out of focus (you can choose). At least if he isn't trying to deal with Koyuki at the moment. It's one of the skills he acquired from mastering his low exposure technique.
 * Stoic Spectacles: Tokita
 * Sweet Tooth: Toru's thoughts: Minimal Exposure < Cake. He even takes Koyuki on a Not a Date just to get his hands on some cake that was only sold to girls.
 * He proposed feeding Koyuki with cake for a request (with said request being another Not a Date to the same place a week later). She refuses because that would be another Indirect Kiss from the boy she likes, and starts screaming while he tries to feed her with cake. That causes the whole "ladies' only set" to be abolished shortly after.
 * He proposed feeding Koyuki with cake for a request (with said request being another Not a Date to the same place a week later). She refuses because that would be another Indirect Kiss from the boy she likes, and starts screaming while he tries to feed her with cake. That causes the whole "ladies' only set" to be abolished shortly after.


 * There Are No Therapists: Having a school full of kids with Irises, from which some may cause serious trauma, may be a good reason to hire a professional psychologist. Yet for teachers this is Somebody Else's Problem. The clousest thing to good therapy characters get is Toru’s help.
 * Toilet Humour: Omake lampshaded how many of the scenes in the story takes place within the bathrooms and one of the character declares that this will be the Manga's new direction. Luckly it's only an Omake
 * True Companions: By the end of the Iris Hunter arc, Toru, Sasamori, Hijiri, and Asahi definitely count, trusting one another implicitly even in a life-or-death situation. Symbolically set in stone and including both Kuga and Tokita in chapter 24 when.
 * And yet questioned by Asahi in chapter 27, who points out that
 * Two-Teacher School: So far, only two or three teachers have been seen (depending on whether or not you think the older teacher dealing with Asahi's discipline in chapters 2 and 3 is the same as Toru and Kuga's barely-visible homeroom teacher in chapter 7).
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Katagiri to Hijiri (in flashbacks), and possibly Tokita to Kuga.
 * Un-Sorcerer: Compared to his peers, Toru is the only one without an Iris.
 * What Could Have Been: Iris Zero went through a few different forms during planning, mostly outlined in Bonus Material:
 * Toru was originally supposed to have been the only one with an Iris, surrounded by normal people - one old idea was someone who could see the Red String of Fate connecting others but could not fall in love himself - until the creator decided he had no distinguishing features other than his power and switched it around.
 * The original series was supposed to have been a set of one-shots with a different protagonist every chapter, collected into a single volume. (Toru, Koyuki, Asahi, Hijiri, and Harumi in that order.) The publisher decided they liked the idea enough to request serialization instead of a limited run.
 * What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Apparently there's an Iris for telling what dish will be served for dinner.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Toru can be one perceptive kid.
 * Zen Survivor: Toru.
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Sasamori. From volume 2, anyway.