Charisma Doll



Charisma Doll is a Shoujo manga written for Ribon magazine by Erika Kurahashi.

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 also has a boyfriend, who likes her because of how much she resembles SALA. Sara finds out that her boyfriend is cheating on her, and then he dumps her before she can dump him. Seeing her heartbroken, Hayase decides to get a little revenge on Sara's ex-boyfriend. They become very close, but Sara's mother and producer won't allow Sara to jeopardize her career for a boyfriend -- especially not when that boyfriend's her rival!

"Sara: Remember this... a kid is not a parent's doll."
 * Ambiguous Gender: SALA. It's their defining gimmick.
 * Ass Pull: Sara's "secret voice changing skill" coming up just when convenient.
 * Be Yourself: Eventually Sara can be, but it takes a while to get there.
 * Bishonen/Bishoujo: This is Shoujo. There are no unattractive people in the verse.
 * 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.
 * 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".
 * Dating Catwoman
 * Disappeared Dad: No mention is made of Sara's father, but her uncle (Kazuma's dad) is the company president.
 * Fan Girl: Sara's a huge fangirl of Hayase, which makes it hard to be his rival.
 * Follow in My Footsteps: Kazuma wants Sara to.
 * Hot Stage Mom
 * Lucky Seven: Sara notices that her Rise fan club card is 0777.
 * Meganekko: SALA's bodyguard
 * No Such Thing as Bad Publicity: Sara feels SALA is nothing but a cheap gimmick because of the Ambiguous Gender.
 * Paparazzi: A constant hazard for any public figure, but they only posed a threat to the main cast in latter chapters.
 * Secret Identity: Mizuki Sara is SALA, obviously.
 * Single Girl Seeks Most Popular Guy: Only Hayase likes both SALA and Sara.


 * Teen Idol Singer
 * Uncanny Valley: This is an odd version where Sara's mom admits her eyes are big and don't look real, like a doll's. She calls her a doll and that's how they dress her up.
 * 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.
 * Your Cheating Heart: Mukai Isamu, Sara's first boyfriend. He's got a history. Hayase sure gets him for it, though.