Mysterious Girlfriend X



An ongoing romance manga by Riichi Ueshiba, started in 2004. Mysterious Girlfriend X (謎の彼女X, Nazo no Kanojo X) describes the budding romantic relationship between Mikoto Urabe, an unusual girl with some awesome scissors, and Akira Tsubaki, the guy who's addicted to her drool. Seriously.

Due to their special connection, Urabe and Tsubaki have the ability to share their emotions and physical conditions through saliva - which Tsubaki is addicted to, and must taste some frequently to avoid going into withdrawal again. And that's just the start of the weirdness. The manga showcases the two as they progress in their relationship.

An anime adaptation started airing in April 2012.

Mysterious Girlfriend X provides examples of:

 * Abuse Is Okay When It Is Female On Male: Starting with the Idol arc, some fans regard Urabe's treatment of Tsubaki as moving into rather questionable territory.
 * Accidental Pervert: Akira, repeatedly, although special mention goes to Chapter 33. A major part of his Character Development and the Official Couple's relationship development is him gaining the confidence and wisdom to talk and explain his point of view to Urabe.
 * To elaborate, in Chapter 33,.
 * Adaptation Distillation: The anime is slated for a series of 13 episodes while the manga has over 60 chapters. So far the show has been mostly faithful, while often combining chapters for episodes and avoiding the occasional repetitive situations due to the manga's floating timeline. The show also expands upon the surreal dream/imagination sequences from the earlier chapters.
 * On the other hand, though the general story isn't really altered that much, the show's time constraints inevitably lead to some character-building moments and events being passed over - which may make it feel like a Compressed Adaptation.
 * An Aesop: The author's thesis: "Teenagers these days are too quick to have sex, and are missing out on all the fun that a not-quite-sexual relationship can be."
 * Art Evolution: The characters gradually look older as the chapters go by, despite not aging (they're perpetually 17). Also Urabe's hair is longer in the first chapter, which was originally a self-contained work.
 * Author Appeal: Or maybe more accurately, Animator or Storyboarder appeal. Whoever is reponsible for the closing sequence really has a thing for sleeping females, as it consists entirely of loving shots of Urabe, Oka, and even Tsubaki's older sister sleeping (and drooling, of course).
 * Barbie Doll Anatomy
 * But minimally averted for chapter 43, since it wouldn't make sense otherwise.
 * Beautiful All Along: Underneath her hair, Urabe is very attractive.
 * Beach Episode: The anime adapts two separate "summer vacation" chapters into one episode.
 * Berserk Button: Don't try to kiss Tsubaki in front of Urabe. Just don't. Tsubaki doesn't take other guys noticing Urabe well either.
 * Also Urabe seems to dislike Tsubaki liking a model, despite the fact he only likes her because she looks just like Urabe.
 * Beta Couple: Oka and Ueno. About a third of the story lines are caused by Tsubaki listening to Ueno talk about trying something with Oka, another third are caused by Urabe and Oka talking.
 * Between My Legs: Urabe in episode 2.
 * Blessed With Suck: Both of the girls with superpowers have to take measures to keep from reflexively hurting those around them. That the "twins" both have idol level performance skills also restricts what they do in life. (The future wife has to avoid using them while the actual idol is locked out of normal relationships.)
 * Blinding Bangs: Urabe, which are now often more like Peek-a-Bangs.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall: The characters remark on their upcoming anime in a recent omake sequence.
 * Cargo Envy: In chapter 61, Akira becomes envious of the shirt he left with Urabe, as she decided to use as pajamas.
 * Catgirl: In behaviour and preferences, Urabe is quite cat-like. This is lampshaded with eyes, which are drawn in a very feline way.
 * Catch Phrase: Whenever Urabe gives Akira her spit.
 * Urabe: "Here, Tsubaki-kun. This is for today."
 * Character Development: Urabe and Akira are the main examples. Oka also qualifies, though in an odd way. When she's introduced, she's very similar to Urabe in her quiet personality, but as the manga went on she became noticeably more cheerful and mischievous. Odd in that there's no real reason for the change, except maybe to make her personality different from Urabe's.
 * It's probably because she got a boyfriend around a similar time Urabe did.
 * Or the fact that she reacts to Urabe's saliva just like Tsubaki.
 * "Villain" gets this as well, with a pretty good justification for her actions in Chapter 33 --
 * Chekhov's Gunman:
 * Class Is in Room X-01
 * Cool and Unusual Punishment: Urabe often puts Akira in his place with her deadly scissors...
 * Trouser Space: ...which are safely tucked away in her underwear.
 * Covert Pervert: On multiple occasions, Urabe's used Tsubaki's saliva to detect dirty thoughts, and later admitted to herself that her imagination isn't exactly squeaky-clean either. For example,
 * Cuteness Proximity: Urabe, believe it or not. Though she made sure to tell Akira not to look or listen beforehand.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Urabe, in several ways -- Oka's refusal to leave her alone gets her to start doing things (like eating) at lunch, which she becomes accustomed to; Akira's presence is (slowly) getting her to open up to him.
 * Different for Girls: One of the extra chapters features what earlier scenes would have been like with the genders of the main cast swapped... which makes male-Urabe's weirdness come off as sexual harassment, at least to the female version of Akira. It's officially much more bizarre.
 * Dirty Old Man: Oka, as described by Urabe.
 * Does This Remind You of Anything?: Fingers. Oh god, the wet, dripping, fingers.
 * Eyelid-Pull Taunt: Urabe does this as the pose for the picture Tsubaki took of her.
 * Family-Unfriendly Violence: Sure, it's played mostly for laughs, but being threatened with a pair of scissors wouldn't really be that funny. She does panic and apologize when she accidentally stabs him in the forehead once.
 * And later she does it intentionally so she can lick the blood off his cheek, in order to prove a point about cat ear cosplay and raw bacon. Her intent: Scare him into not trying to get her to cosplay again. Reality: Yet another new kink discovered.
 * Fan Service: Oh yes.
 * Fan Service Pack: While she was always cute, Urabe becomes much curvier in later chapters.
 * Fantastic Arousal: Amongst other things, Tsubaki and Urabe can share their arousal levels through spit.
 * Finishing Move: What Oka calls Urabe's panty-scissors attack.
 * First Kiss: Not yet, despite being referenced a few times, but there's no doubt that the manga will eventually have a simultaneous saliva exchange.
 * Given Urabe's tendency to salivate uncontrollably when she becomes really happy, and Tsubaki's reaction to her saliva, this could set up a dangerous feedback loop.
 * They came painfully close as of Chapter 59.
 * Close enough to induce Post-Kiss Catatonia in Tsubaki.
 * In one of the earliest chapters she gives him candy mouth-to-mouth, but neither think it counts - and it's All Just a Dream.
 * Go Look At the Distraction: Oka uses this trick to get some of Urabe's saliva when she knew she was hiding something from her.
 * Urabe uses the same trick to get Tsubaki's saliva on Chapter 35
 * Foregone Conclusion: A very odd in-universe example - Urabe is mildly psychic, and she knows for a fact that she will lose her virginity to Tsubaki. This is an accepted fact of the setting. In addition, both Tsubaki and (most definitely) Urabe are the type that wouldn't go that far before marriage -- Tsubaki, in some of his inner monologues, mentions that he can see the day quickly approaching that his "Mysterious Girlfriend" becomes his "Mysterious Wife."
 * Going Commando: Urabe and Tsubaki's sister don't wear anything under their yukatas.
 * Hates Being Touched: Variation: Urabe doesn't like people hugging her without permission, or being too "clingy" with her, plus she rarely holds hands.
 * Hadaka Apron: Subverted in chapter 54.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Oka and her boyfriend, although it's more of a case of NormalGuyExtremelyTinyGirl.
 * Identical Stranger: Urabe and Imai Momoka look very much alike, which was why Tsubaki bought magazines of her.
 * And . Can't forget that.
 * Idiot Ball: The story is progressed by Akira learning how to be a boyfriend, as well as being phenomenally stupid at times, especially during the idol storyline.
 * Chapter 37 in particular has . He never stops to think about why . Granted, some of this may just be ordinary Genre Blindness.
 * Actually, one of the following chapters covers that, Tsubaki thought with how Momoka kept coming up and the way (who he thought was) Urabe was acting, she was trying to be more like Momoka for his sake. He probably just brushed off her not responding to her name (and a few other weird things) as her being weird. She has done weirder after all.
 * Improbable Weapon User: Urabe can, apparently, destroy anything with her scissors, with pinpoint accuracy.
 * Indirect Kiss: Tsubaki has to taste Urabe's sweet, sweet saliva frequently, or he goes into withdrawal.
 * In Joke: The characters shown on the movie ticket for "Science Boy and Magic Girl" are two of Riichi Ueshiba's characters from his earlier manga Discommunication.
 * Kick Chick: Momoka.
 * Last-Name Basis: After months of dating Tsubaki and Urabe still call each other by their family names.
 * Love Is a Drug: The obvious metaphor for Tsubaki's addiction to Urabe's saliva.
 * Luminescent Blush: Urabe, not once but twice in Chapter 54.
 * Magical Girlfriend: Urabe, in a mundane way.
 * Male Gaze: All the time. For example.
 * Meganekko: Oka, Urabe's only female friend, who also has the ability to exchange emotions with Urabe through saliva. Like Tsubaki, Urabe and Oka even share physiological differences -- Oka gains Urabe's knee scrape after sharing her spit.
 * Mexican Standoff: Possibly the oddest one in history.
 * More like a case of Rock-Paper-Scissors, but who's the paper?
 * Tsubaki, since Urabe dominates him,, and, well, he folds like paper for the most part.
 * Mindlink Mates: Tsubaki and Urabe have a variant of this -- they can swap emotions and some thoughts via spit. Urabe, being more attuned to things than Tsubaki, can outright read his mind, Tsubaki gets an Empathy thing from it but not outright thoughts.
 * Also Urabe and Oka. And Hayakawa and her boyfriend.
 * Mistaken Identity:
 * Motifs: The one-eyed "Bad Cat" brand or its staring eye appears on the female character's various outfits and uniforms as a sort of Author Avatar. Carried over to the anime.
 * Ms. Fanservice: Urabe and Oka.
 * Near-Rape Experience: Not technically, but Tsubaki sure acts like this trope after going a bit overboard when Urabe let him touch her breast seen here
 * Nosebleed: Several times.
 * Not Allowed to Grow Up: They've gone through several cycles of summer and winter, but they still appear to be in the same grade.
 * Not So Stoic:
 * Ditto when Urabe goes absolutely ballistic -- pointing out that not even.
 * Porn Stash
 * Power Perversion Potential: If it works with any any other bodily fluids...
 * Sweat works too.
 * Psycho Ex-Girlfriend/Stalker With a Crush: See the Magnificent Bastard entry on the YMMV tab.
 * Retraux: The anime looks like it was made two decades ago.
 * Sailor Fuku
 * Scenery Porn: Um... At least one whole page in every chapter, at least initially, not counting the covers.
 * Scissor Nut: Urabe.
 * And safety scissors at that! Though considering where she stores them, that's probably a good idea.
 * Sexy Shirt Switch: While the sexual aspect of this trope is subverted, Urabe in chapter 61 uses the shirt Tsubaki leaves in her apartment as her pajamas. Naturally this causes Tsubaki to feel jealousy of his shirt.
 * She Fu
 * She Is Not My Girlfriend: Tsubaki and Urabe keep this up for a really long time while dating.
 * To elaborate, while neither one has any trouble accepting their relationship, Tsubaki would rather keep things a secret from their classmates for the time being.
 * The same goes for Oka and Ueno.
 * Shiny Midnight Black: Urabe's hair in the anime.
 * Shout-Out: A few Bland-Name Product ones appear in the anime: Tsubaki has a Star Mars poster, and one for The Day The Mars Stood Still, 2001: A Spece Odyssey (yes, spece), and Forbidden... something. (At least the 2001 poster is straight from the manga.) He also has some Big O merchandise.
 * Also, the UFO on Urabe's pencil looks like the ones from Denpa Otoko.
 * Strange Girl: Urabe, who is based vaguely on Sadako from The Ring... In looks, not personality.
 * Rei Ayanami Expy
 * Thanks for The Mammary: A very rare aversion: Akira trips and is about to land on Urabe, and in order to specifically avoid this trope, he throws himself off to the side -- and into the corner of her bedpost, seriously injuring himself. Further subverting the tropes, he actually discusses what he was thinking openly and honestly with her; she flat out tells him that she wouldn't want him hurt just to avoid something like that.
 * Played straight in Chapter 54.
 * The Stoic: Urabe.
 * Justified as she has a potentially very dangerous reflexive superpower and has to use focus to keep from chopping people up.
 * However, she bursts out laughing in the middle of class in the first chapter of the manga/first episode of the anime, ending up on the floor. This helps peg her as a weirdo.
 * Strange Girl: Pretty much The Series.
 * Tareme Eyes: Suwano. The difference in eyes between her and Urabe is actually a plot point in a small story line.
 * Tsundere: Urabe, much more dere than tsun, but definitely tsun sometimes, just to cover up just how happy Tsubaki sometimes makes her.
 * Tsurime Eyes: Urabe. Invoked as one of the reasons why Tsubaki isn't that aggressive in furthering their relationship, at least in the physical aspect. He's intimidated by her eyes, which often make her look stern and irritated - though she really isn't.
 * Unequal Pairing: Whether by accident or design, Urabe completely controls this relationship, with Tsubaki as an unmarried Henpecked Husband.
 * Wardrobe Malfunction:, accidentally gives Tsubaki (and us) a free show when she bends down because . When she realises this after he asked her to do it again - boot to the head.
 * Yaoi Fangirl: Invoked in the Gender-Flip Omake, where Akira's counterpart takes pictures of Urabe and Oka's drool-tasting.
 * Yaoi Fangirl: Invoked in the Gender-Flip Omake, where Akira's counterpart takes pictures of Urabe and Oka's drool-tasting.