Oniichan to Issho



Onii-chan to Issho (official English title: Me & My Brothers) revolves around Miyashita Sakura, a second year middle schooler whose grandmother, who she lived with, recently passed away. Sakura then spent her days alone in her grandmother's big house until one day, she came home to find four strange men she has never met before living there! They explain to Sakura that until she was three years old she had lived with them, along with their mother and father.

There's the oldest brother Masashi, a romance novelist who crossdresses when he isn't writing. The second brother is Takashi, who becomes a teacher at Sakura's junior high. The third brother is the brash Tsuyoshi, a high school graduate and "full-time part-timer" with a dream of owning his own shop. The fourth and youngest brother is Takeshi, a current high school student.

At first Sakura finds their presence to be intrusive, and is especially alarmed when she accidentally learns that she and her brothers are not blood related. Eventually, she grows to appreciate their dedication to her as a little sister and values all of their moments together as a family.

As time goes on, Sakura graduates junior high and enters highs school. She finds herself becoming even closer to one of her brothers ... and not as a sister.

Written and illustrated by Tokeino Hari.


 * Anime Hair -- Mizusawa, the Darkskinned Blonde (below). Also Tanaka, Rin, Masashi, and Sakura during the fireworks festival with their Girlish Pigtails (below).
 * Arranged Marriage -- The family's Oba-san Michiyo, who raised Masashi after the death of their parents, arranged an omiai for Masashi for her husband's business associate's daughter..
 * Author Avatar -- Portrays herself as a wind-up clock in the side columns in the manga.
 * Big Fancy House -- Kouzuki Masumi's father's mansion.
 * Bishie Sparkle -- Happens very often around the brothers, and occasionally other characters, male and female.
 * Bishonen -- Masashi, Takashi.
 * Biting the Handkerchief -- Rin when Tsuyoshi once rebutted her advances, and Masashi in reaction towards Sakura's coldness.
 * Blush Sticker -- Consistently used throughout the series by virtually everyone, even more so than the also often used Luminescent Blush (below).
 * Bob Haircut -- Sakura.
 * But Not Too Foreign -- Rin inherited her blonde hair and blue eyes from her Swiss father. Her mother is Japanese.
 * Butt Monkey -- Suzuki against Sakura's overprotective brothers, which is always Played for Laughs.
 * Cannot Spit It Out -- Sakura's first attempt at confessing to Masashi. Masashi, on the other hand, does not want to admit his mutual feelings to himself.
 * Cool Big Sis -- Masashi tries to have Sakura identify with him as a big sister and calling himself such by wearing fashionable women's clothing, doing his hair, and taking Sakura clothes shopping. This is all so that he could distance himself from Sakura's growing affections towards him.
 * Cherry Blossoms -- Seen throughout the series. Also seen right after.
 * Cry Cute -- Sakura manages this many times.
 * Cultural Translation -- Footnotes are provided regarding Japanese culture and terms in the manga.
 * Darkskinned Blonde -- Mizusawa. See Anime Hair above.
 * Delinquents -- Katagiri was close to becoming this, until.
 * Dojikko -- Sonomura.
 * Doppelganger -- Murakami Michi, a women's magazine employee interviewing Masashi - who looks like Sakura's deceased mother Fumiko - informs him that, afer meeting Sakura, she is not interested in men and delightedly says that Sakura is "just her type." She fawns over Sakura whenever she has an opportunity.
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady -- Masashi usually doesn't have to try too hard to look feminine. Even when he's not being a Wholesome Crossdresser he can take advantage of his face and long hair to look either very feminine or very masculine. Also Rin, with Girlish Pigtails, feminine face and clothes.
 * Even the Guys Want Him -- Mizusawa falls for a crossdressing Masashi and calls him "Boss Lady". This does not desist even when Masashi is dressed in masculine clothing. In general, most men who do not realize Masashi's true gender are attracted to him. Additionally, from Tsuyoshi's point of view, this trope also applies to Rin, his Unlucky Childhood Friend.
 * Hair Decorations -- Sakura does not do this often since she sports a short Bob Haircut, but when she does it works. Masashi cannot help but do this as well.
 * Face of a Thug -- Coach Matsubara. Mistaking Masashi as a woman, he proposed to him. . Tsuyoshi can also be considered for this trope as he often gets annoyed with Masashi's antics. Oosaki-sensei fits this trope as well.
 * Festival Episode -- There are two. Sakura and her brothers first went to a traditional Japanese festival, where Sakura ended up being a temporary Peggy Sue (except she keeps her current age) with a fourteen-year-old Masashi. The second festival is the firworks festival that she and Masashi went to.
 * Fiery Redhead -- Tsuyoshi as a male example.
 * Filler Villain -- Asada Tomoaki, self-proclaimed rival novelist to Masashi. He kidnaps Sakura in order to neutralize any energy she had been giving Masashi towards his writing and take some for himself.
 * First Kiss --
 * Flower Motifs -- Seen often on the manga covers, drama CD cover, and as backgrounds in the manga. Sakura and her brothers wear daisies in their hair on the cover of Volume 1. Cherry Blossoms are often seen as well.
 * Foreshadowing --.
 * Gender Blender Name -- Nana.
 * Girlish Pigtails -- Tanaka, Rin, Masashi (very often; normally his hair is done up in a single ponytail). Sakura had very short pigtails with hair pins during the fireworks festival. See Anime Hair above.
 * Half-Identical Twins -- Nana is the brother and Nene is the sister. While Nana's hair is short and Nene's long (Nana calls her "samurai hair"), they have identical faces. Nana used this to his advantage once by wearing a wig, disguising himself as Nene to fool Sakura.
 * Hey, It's That Voice! -- From the drama CD (pictured above):
 * Fukuen Misato as Sakura
 * Kondo Takashi as Masashi
 * Kamiya Hiroshi as Takashi
 * Suzumura Kenichi as Tsuyoshi
 * Konishi Katsuyuki as Takeshi
 * Hint Dropping -- Sakura does this a lot towards Masashi, as she is still working out her own feelings.
 * Ill Girl -- Masumi, whose Overprotective Dad worries about her weak constitution and forbids her from leaving their mansion. She has a butler named Alfred. She likes Takashi.
 * Important Haircut --.
 * Indirect Kiss -- Sakura worries over this when trying Katagiri's cooking with the spoon he was using to eat with. This also happens with Masashi at the fireworks festival when he offered her his bitten candied apple.
 * Little Miss Snarker -- Tanaka, often towards Suzuki, when she's not being the Plucky Comic Relief.
 * Love Bubbles
 * Luke, I Am Your Father -- Sakura learns her biological father is . This is foreshadowed when  . See Parental Abandonment below.
 * Luminescent Blush -- A constant in this series, done by almost everyone. Even more prevalent is the Blush Sticker (above).
 * May-December Romance --
 * Meaningful Name -- Sakura, whose name was decided on by her brothers, stepfather, and mother while viewing Cherry Blossoms, before she was born.
 * Meganekko -- Sonomura.
 * Miniature Senior Citizens -- Sakura's grandmother and Setsuko.
 * Mistress and Servant Boy -- Mizusawa is the one who enthusiastically fawns over "Boss Lady" Masashi, who is not amused with this. See Even the Guys Want Him above.
 * Noblewoman's Laugh -- Masashi.
 * Not Blood Siblings -- The manga takes great pains to remind the reader nearly every chapter that the heroine is in fact not blood-related to the titular brothers, despite the also-incessant reminders that they are all family and that Sakura is their "little sister." This is used quite blatantly so Sakura can be obsessively fawned over by her new guardians—and eventually fall in love with one of them—without the squick.
 * Oba-san -- Michiyo, who raised Masashi after his family's parents died.
 * Ojou -- Masumi, who has a weak constitution. She considers "Takashi-sama" to be her prince. See Ill Girl above.
 * Older Than They Look -- Takeshi is often mistaken as the oldest brother due to his goatee and quiet demeanor.
 * Parental Abandonment -- When Sakura was three, her mother and stepfather died. Years later when she lives with her brothers again, she finds out her biological father is
 * Plucky Comic Relief -- Tanaka, Rin, Masashi.
 * Promotion to Parent -- Mainly Masashi and Takashi towards Sakura. Masashi admits this more than anyone else.
 * Samurai -- Nana sometimes calls his twin sister Nene "samurai hair," likely due to her wide bangs off her forehead and long straight hair. Tsuyoshi also dresses as one during Sakura's field trip to Kyoto.
 * The Shinsengumi -- Sakura and Katagiri dress as 16th to 19th century police in a movie theme park during their class field trip to Kyoto. Other regular characters dress as other people from the same time period at the park.
 * Shojo
 * Sidekick -- Suzuki and Tanaka, for Sakura.
 * Slice of Life
 * Stalker with a Crush -- Sonomura towards Katagiri, who she likes and looks up to since junior high. Nothing over the top, she was just too shy to talk to him.
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome -- Taizo, Takashi, Takeshi.
 * Temporary Love Interest -- Katagiri, who confesses to Sakura before he . He is grateful to Sakura for.
 * Theme Twin Naming -- Nana and Nene.
 * Token Mini-Moe -- Sakura.
 * Transsexualism -- Rin. While having a male body, she identifies herself as a girl.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend -- Rin, towards Tsuyoshi.
 * Wholesome Crossdresser -- Masashi, and averted for Rin. Masashi feels that, as a romance novelist, if he dresses and acts femininely he can better understand the female mind and use this in his writing. Rin, who is transgender - as she admits she is a woman at heart - is the Unlucky Childhood Friend of Tsuyoshi, whom she likes.
 * Wingding Eyes -- Masashi is the most guilty of this. Michiyo also does this when once reminiscing about Masashi growing up, with stars in her eyes. Setsuko does this when she first sees Tsuyoshi and mistakes him for a younger version of her deceased husband.
 * Yakuza -- Hearing that Sakura is the temporary manager of the boys' soccer team, the over-protective brothers arrive at her school dressed in various yakuza styles. Masashi, of course, dresses as a female leader in an elaborate kimono. Mizusawa, mistaking Masashi as a woman, develops a crush on him and calls him "Boss Lady", much to Masashi's chagrine.
 * Zettai Ryouiki -- Masashi rules this trope with his various feminine outfits. Also Sakura on the drama CD cover, pictured above.
 * Zettai Ryouiki -- Masashi rules this trope with his various feminine outfits. Also Sakura on the drama CD cover, pictured above.