Mitsudomoe

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

Satoshi Yabe has become an elementary school teacher, assigned to class 6-3. The school nurse is cute and the job shouldn't be too much of a problem. Except that he got the class with the most troublesome sisters in the whole school - the Marui triplets. All of them are perverted, rambunctious and prone to causing trouble, and it's his job to teach them. Though the rest of the class is only slightly less insane...

Based on the manga of the same name, Mitsudomoe [1] was adapted into a 13-episode anime which was simulcast on Crunchyroll. The 14th episode is only available on DVD. A second season, Mitsudomoe Zouryouchuu!,[2] aired in January 2011.


Tropes used in Mitsudomoe include:
  • Absent-Minded Professor—Yabecchi
  • Accidental Pervert—Shinya
    • Yabe is always mistaken for one.
  • A-Cup Angst—Mitsuba has a lot of hang-ups when it comes to her underwear.
  • Actor Allusion—How old is Ms. Sugisaki? 17.
  • Adult Child: Yabecchi. He even admits it in the song Sensei wa Kodomo? Kodomo wa Sensei?.
  • Alertness Blink—In general use, particularly when Yabe-sensei notices something hilarious happening.
  • All Love Is Unrequited
  • Alpha Bitch—Miku Sugisaki, Mitsuba's Schoolgirl Rival with Princess Curls and a haughty disposition.
  • Amusing Injuries—Tends to be a Running Gag with Mitsuba.
  • And You Were There -- Gachiranger has a few interestingly shared roles. Gachi Red and Yabecchi, Gachi Pink and Kuriyama-sensei, the Big Bad and Soujirou, and the Gachirangers' monster friend and Yuudai.
  • April Fools' Day—Hitoha gets a nasty case of paranoia one April Fools', worried she's going to get pranked.
  • Apron Matron—Hitoha shows some signs of this.
  • Art Evolution—The manga's art style is rather sketchy in the original chapters but becomes much more professional as the series progresses. The students are also rather twiggy in the first few chapters but gradually round out into the Puni Plush designs seen in the anime, which probably decided (for the best) to go with the later art.
    • Interestingly, one aspect of it is actually noticed in-universe: In the manga, Mitsuba originally has much longer bangs until chapter 9, when her bangs get cut evenly. Mitsuba then permanently switches to this hairstyle in subsequent chapters, with her original style never being seen again (contrast with Futaba, who copies the hairstyle for the rest of the chapter, but immediately goes back to normal in later chapters). In the anime, Mitsuba always has her even-bangs haircut, even in stories where she had longer bangs in the manga.
  • Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other—Happens between the sisters. Occasionally.
  • Baker's Dozen—Episode 14 is DVD-only, as mentioned above.
  • Batman Gambit—Hitoha and Yuudai's plan to win the relay race.
  • Batter Up—Soujirou uses three of them at one point.
  • Beneath the Mask—Mitsuba desperately wants to be a sadistic bitch, but ultimately it is all bluster.
    • Hitoha can be cruel, scary and manipulative, but she shows love and compassion towards Nipples, her cat, her sisters (ocassionally) and later Matsuoka and Yabe. But she is too shy to admit it.
  • Beware the Nice Ones
  • Big Eater—Mitsuba, with dire consequences.
  • Big Ol' Eyebrows—Yuki, Yuudai and Soujirou
    • Yuki gets them from her dad.
  • Big Sister Instinct
  • Bitch in Sheep's Clothing—Mitsuba accuses Futaba of being this in episode 2. But given the situation, Mitsuba was probably stressed so much that it was a justified outburst.
  • Bland-Name Product—The toys for Hitoha's favorite TV show, Gachiranger, are made by a company called "Bonsai" - an obvious play on the real-world toy company Bandai.
  • Blank White Eyes—So much.
  • Blind Without'Em—Kuriyama-sensei.
  • Blue with Shock—Especially Shinya.
    • Mitsuba's entire upper body goes blue in episode 14.
  • Book and Switch—Hitoha does this so she can get away with reading porn magazines in class.
  • Bratty Half-Pint—Ryuuta, Miku's little brother
  • Break the Cutie—Yabe suffers from this after episode two of Zouryouchuu. After having the worst Christmas ever by getting rejected by Kuriyama, sitting alone in his apartment while wearing a Santa outfit with a mannequin with glasses wearing a female Santa outfit in front of him, when his beloved mannequin fall face first onto his Christmas cake and then catch on fire, becoming Santa for Futaba when Soujirou is running late, getting the crap beat out of him by Soujirou after a misunderstanding and finally walking home in the freezing snow in nothing but a Santa hat and his boxers, his personality changes in the next episodes and becomes easily irritated, resigned and unsurprised of the weird attitude of his classmates.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall—In the "Yabecchi's Room" segment of episode 12, when questioned on her Charles Atlas Superpower and her dogi, Futaba's responses are "I don't know" and "ask the author".
    • It happened earlier than that. In episode 2, after Futaba gave her a bloody lump on her head during a game of Rock-Paper-Scissors, Mitsuba cried out with "How many times are you going to try to kill me in this anime?!"
  • Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl - Satou and Futaba, mostly in the manga.
  • Bumbling Dad—Soujirou Marui, while well-meaning, looks very suspicious to just about everybody.
  • Butt Monkey—Yabe and Mitsuba mainly, though just about every character in the series draws the short stick every now and then...
  • Camera Fiend—Miku when it comes to Mitsuba.
  • Cast Herd—The classroom is divided into certain cliques. Team Sugisaki (Miku, Yuki, Miyashita and Sakiko), Shinya and Yuudai (and Shinya's fangirls), the triplets and the rest. Though they overlap frequently.
  • Catgirl—After not finding the stray cat they wanted to bring home, Mitsuba gets the bright idea of having Futaba be a substitute cat. She gets really into the role...
  • Characterization Marches On—During the panty incident at the swimming pool, in the manga, Futaba hates her dad as much as her sisters, which doesn't fit with her being the only one who really loves him shown later on. The anime actually brings this scene in line with Futaba's later characterization, making her the only one not to be punished.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower—The only way to explain Futaba's powers is that she's almost super-human.
  • Chew Toy—Yabe and Mitsuba, because the world hates them.
  • Chick Magnet—Shinya Satou, so much that perhaps half of the school was chasing him in order to get a date by being the first to show him their panties—even the old janitor wanted to date him too.
    • Soujirou Marui used to be one, too, until he finally let himself go.
  • Children Are Innocent
  • Christmas Cake—Kaieda, class 6-1's teacher. 29 going on 30, and horribly aware of it.
    • It certainly doesn't help that the kids keep pointing it out. They even go so far as to nickname her "Thirty".
  • Clark Kenting—Nobody recognizes Miyashita when she removes her hairpins.
  • Clingy Jealous Girl—The Hopeless Squad with Shinya. Also Hitoha with the hamster Nipples.
  • Cloudcuckoolander—Futaba
  • Color Failure—Happens quite often, with hilarious results. A good example is episode 13: after Hitoha discovers that the cat she and Futaba were caring for had supposedly left them (and after their father said that they could keep it and they bought cat food and toys for it too, no less), she loses all color and repeatedly fills the cat's food dish with kibble, empties the kibble back into the bag, and repeats it.
  • Cool Big Sis - As revealed in her character song Choujo Dashi, ne! Mitsuba tries to be this to Futaba and Hitoha, but her tsundereness doesn't help much.
  • Creepy Child—Hitoha, albeit unintentionally.
  • Cute Bruiser—Futaba, only in elementary school, can shatter various pieces of furniture (doors, desks, chairs, podiums, you name it!) with her bare hands and feet.
  • Daddy's Girl—Though she's not the only daughter, Futaba is the only one of the triplets who really loves her dad, faults and all.
  • Dancing Theme—The OP, also synchronized to the triplets' voices. For both seasons.
  • Daydream Surprise—Hitoha appears to brutally call out Mitsuba when she finds Miku's bra tight, but it was little more than a fantasy.
  • Digging Yourself Deeper—Here's one from season two: Mitsuba's caught horseriding on a slimming machine. Miku's quick to insult her weight problems, and Mitsuba claims she's actually horseriding like a kid. Reaction?

Miyashita: That's even lamer.

Miyashita (To Yabe): "I must study your lower body parts."

Hitoha: OH MY GAHD.

    • At the end of Season 2's OP, the girls spell out the title as M-I-T-S-U-D-O-M-O-E instead of mi-tsu-do-mo-e.
    • It's all over Season 2's ED.
  • Green-Eyed Monster—Yuudai hates the fact that Shinya is so popular with the women. Even more that he wants nothing to do with them.
  • Groin Attack—Actually the focus of an entire story. The triplets try this, under the logic that if Yabe got hurt, Kuriyama-sensei would have to look at his crotch, immediately fall in love, and then he'd get laid.
  • Hartman Hips—For some reason, the girls in the anime are a unique combination of Puni Plush with pear-shaped bodies.
  • Hostile Show Takeover—In the first season's opening. Mitsuba briefly considers changing the name of the show to Mitsuba-sama, but is pushed away by Hitoha before it goes further.
  • Hot Mom—Almost every mother seen in the series.
  • Huge Schoolgirl—Miyashita
  • Hypocrite—Some of the kids, especially Mitsuba and Hitoha. For example, Hitoha states that she doesn't care about her height during a physical examination. Cue a high hair bun a camera zoom-out later.
  • Idea Bulb—Futaba gets a pair of these in episode 8 of the first season.
  • Idiot Crows—Usually at the end of a segment.
  • Idiot Ponytail—Futaba, fittingly.
  • Idiots Can't Catch Colds—Subverted, since Futaba caught one.
  • Image Song—In order: The triplets, Sakiko, Miku, the Hopelessly in Love with Satou-kun Trio and... Nipples. The hamster has a character song. It's 4 minutes of Momoko Saito making squeaking sounds. Yabe has one as a B-side on the second season's opening, and the show's best album adds songs for Miyashita and a duet for Yuudai and Shinya. Yuki is the only major character without a song.
  • Innocent Innuendo—Another staple of the show.
    • Also, Futaba to Shinya in the manga.
  • I See London—A major source of comedy throughout the series.
  • I Was Quite a Looker—Soujirou was pretty good looking back in the day, to the point that a photo of him is mistaken for class heartthrob Shinya.
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold—Mitsuba has a dismissive attitude towards everybody, but she also slips up and reveals her kindness often.
    • When Futaba made replacement pencil cases for her sisters, Mitsuba kept hers long after her sisters had stopped.
    • Mitsuba doesn't hesitate to come to the defense of her sisters when they appear to be in actual danger.
  • Kill It with Fire—Sakiko's method in dealing with photos that have ghosts (or Hitoha) in them.
  • Kindhearted Cat Lover—Hitoha
  • Kuudere—Hitoha
  • Lethal Chef—Subverted by Futaba. It is likely that, due to her ridiculous strength, she tends to make food that comes out looking like it was crushed thoroughly (or in the case of the Valentine's chocolate she made, looked misleadingly like dog poo). Anyone who takes a first glance at her cooking may think "Is that even food?"; however, it actually tastes delicious, according to those who have tried it.
  • Limited Wardrobe—While most characters avert this, Futaba is always seen wearing either a dogi or, after she cuts that up to make pencil cases, the blue top seen in the page image.
  • Locked in a Room—Mitsuba and Hitoha get trapped in the gym storage shed when a game of cops and robbers goes astray.
    • And then later on in Zouryouchuu episode six, they wind up being in their home's bathroom after Mitsuba crash lands on their side's doorknob while their dad's out cold from drinking too much.
  • Lolicon—Implied: Miku's mom.
    • As of Zouryouchuu episode two, a Shotacon, too.
      • Not so much either. She just seems to obsess over quirkiness. In children. To a point where she'll try to hide in classrooms...
  • Lovable Sex Maniac -- "69" cap wearer and serial blood donor Yuudai.
  • Love Freak—Yuki, complete with Shipping Goggles.
  • Manipulative Bitch
    • Hitoha could, for instance...
      • Use her Nightmare Face and threaten Yabe with implied student mistreatment in Mitsudomoe's variant of musical chairs.
      • Utterly beat Futaba flat in a squabble for Nipples with pornography magazines.
      • Trick Yabe into saying certain words that she can use against him to have what she wants, like forcing him to take care of Nipples.
    • Oh, and while you're at it: Mitsuba and Miku.
  • Minor Injury Overreaction—Aiko tends to mummify people with simple injuries such as a nosebleed.
  • Missing Mom—Nothing is ever said of where the triplets' mother is.
  • Comedy of Errors—Misunderstanding-based comedy is a staple of the series. It's rare to see an episode/chapter where someone doesn't get the wrong idea at some point.
    • Mistaken for Cheating—Nipples learning to backflip thanks to Futaba, coupled with some vague language, makes Yabe think there's a sexy love triangle going on.
    • Mistaken for Gay—Shinya and Yuudai on more than one occasion.
      • Miku's obsession with knocking Mitsuba down a peg often results in looking like a different kind of obsession from a third (or even Mitsuba's) perspective.
      • And later Miku eating the cookie crumbs off Sakiko.
  • Moment Killer—Played straight:

Soujirou: "Look at you three still, fighting over your old dad. C'mere so I can give you all a big hug."
Hitoha: "I don't particularly care about you."
<insert Color Failure>

  • Names to Know in Anime:
  • Nature Abhors a Virgin—Poor Yabe.
  • Nightmare Face—Take Hitoha's book away from her, and you get one of these. Or try to stop her from doing something she wants to do (such as play with Nipples).
    • Or Futaba when she catches a cold.
    • You know what? Everyone gets a chance at it.
  • Nightmare Fetishist—Sakiko
  • No Dialogue Episode—The next-to-last segment of episode nine has no dialogue aside from some Angrish by Mitsuba.
  • No Guy Wants to Be Chased—Shinya has three fangirls after him, and he doesn't want that. Given their behavior, though, you can see why...
    • Soujirou Marui claims that he used to have the same problem back in his hunk days.
  • No-Holds-Barred Beatdown—Soujirou gives Yabe one of these after mistaking him for being a pedo.
  • No Name Given—Miyashita is the only major student in the class who's never given anything beyond a last name. A handful of background characters get the same treatment (like Amikawa, that girl with the really shiny forehead).
  • Non-Standard Character Design—Soujirou Marui is drawn in a much rougher art style with thicker lines compared to everyone else on the show.
    • Also Yuki's dad is drawn in the same fashion.
    • Also there's that kid whose face looks like a dog and his mother.
  • The Not-Secret—When Miku is trying to find Mitsuba's weakness, she goes straight for the Goofy Print Underwear. Which doesn't work, since the entire class knows about it already, to the surprise of Miku and Mitsuba.
  • The Ojou—Miku's family is rich.
  • Ominous Latin Chanting—Hitoha walking up the steps to see Nipples is a call for the angelic choir and slow motion. She can be pretty scary when she's mad.
  • One Dialogue, Two Conversations—One of the show's staples.
  • Once an Episode—Poor Dad, so many times mistaken by the police.
  • Only Sane Man—Miyashita believes herself to be the only normal one in the class, but her attempts at doing so make everyone think she's the weird one. Shinya is probably the closest to the role.
    • Though as of Zouryouchuu she can be officially be considered as this. Unless she's trying to befriend Hitoha.
  • Onmyoji—Sakiko Matusoka, junior occult fan and Hitoha fangirl. She's convinced that Hitoha is one herself, and wants to join her in spirit-busting.
  • Overprotective Dad—Soujirou loses his cool if there's even the slightest hint that a boy is getting close to one of the triplets (though he makes an exception for Shinya).
  • Panty Shot—Futaba does it willingly to Shinya, with no shame whatsoever. This gets the idea in the school that letting Shinya see one's panties means he'll date them. Though it's hardly the only time panties are used for humor.
  • Panty Thief—Yuudai willingly, Shinya by accident. Futaba to her own sisters.
    • Futaba literally stole them off of Miku once.
  • Papa Wolf—For as much as Soujirou is a bumbling dad, if he thinks anyone is messing with his daughters, he gets serious and scary. Suddenly it's clear from who Hitoha inherited her Nightmare Face, Futaba her Super Strength, and Mitsuba her protectiveness.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise—Miyashita let her hair down and no one recognized her, but when she put hair pins in...
  • Peek-a-Bangs—Hitoha's Nightmare Face sometimes has this hairstyle.
  • Pet the Dog—Hitoha is manipulative, scary and cruel to almost everybody. But she does care for Nipples (and later, the cat), so there's some compassion in her.
    • Despite she is cruel and manipulative to Yabe, deep down, Hitoha cares for him.
      • Unfortunately, everytime she shows compassion to him, he thinks the wrong idea from her.
    • She is also surprisingly mild toward Sakiko, who she seems to have taken a bit of a liking to.
      • She actually hates her (Especially when Sakiko spoils her Gachiranger moment in ep 7 and burns her Gachi Red photograph in Zouryouchuu ep 2.) but does not show it out of courtesy.
        • This is subverted in Chapter 221 of the manga in which it seems that she has come to care about her, such as when Hitoha called her "Sacchan" when Matsuoka was blank and later becomes embarrassed for doing it so.
  • Phobia—Hitoha has a great fear of heights. You get to see it in a very fitting perspective, too.
  • Porn Stash—Yabe has one out in the open, but then it is his apartment. He just wasn't expecting Hitoha to make a duplicate key and break in...and that's not even saying anything about Hitoha's massive stash. Yabe's stash turns out to be Futaba's undoing in the cockroach-smashing episode.
  • Potty Emergency—Episode 2-6, when the girls eat bad oranges and Mitsuba refuses to let them in.
  • Precision F-Strike—Hitoha towards Mitsuba, sometimes calling her a **** pig.
  • Psycho Strings—Whenever Mr. Papa Wolf, Soujirou Marui, is about to go medieval.
  • Puni Plush—Which is much more evident in the anime adaptation.
  • Running Gag—Tons of them.
    • Three girls are shown to have an obvious crush on Shinya.
    • The class hamster's name (Nipples)
    • Futaba's breast obsession.
    • Yabecchi constantly getting the wrong idea from Soujiro.
    • Soujiro always getting arrested.
    • Hitoha's Gachiranger fangirliness.
    • Mitsuba wanting to be called "Mitsuba-sama" as a reward for anything.
    • Hitoha always manages to hide underneath Yabe's desks and tables.
      • And in episode 3 of Zouryouchuu it backfired.
      • As of episode 7 of Zouryouchuu Yabe is finally used to it, moving his legs so she can get into her spot.
  • Same Sex Triplets
  • Saying Sound Effects Out Loud—Futaba sometimes goes 'tate-chitte tate-chitte' when she's in a brisk walk.
    • Mitsuba usually repeats mushakora over and over when she's eating something.
  • School Nurse—Aiko Kuriyama
  • Selective Obliviousness—Yabe is surprisingly clueless when Kuriyama calls the whole class perverted.
  • Shotacon—See Lolicon example.
  • Shout-Out—The ending of episode 9 is a clear shout-out to the space station docking scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
    • The scene in episode 13 where Soujiro breaks a hole through the girls' bedroom door and peeps through it might be a reference to The Shining.
  • Show Within a Show -- Honki Sentai Gachiranger.
    • And the short "Yabecchi's Room" sequences.
  • She's Got Legs—Mitsuba.
  • Shrinking Violet—Sometimes the reason for Hitoha's Nightmare Face.
  • Slapstick Knows No Gender
  • Something Completely Different—Episode 1 of Zouryouchuu! is an episode of Gachiranger, only occasionally cutting back to the Marui triplets.
  • Sound Effect Bleep—When Hitoha calls Mitsuba a "**** pig," the asteriked word is represented as pig noises.
  • Special Edition Title—Episode four of Zouryouchuu! ends with a version of "Nearer My God to Thee" sung by the Marui triplets, played over stained glass windows depicting the events of the last sketch. Hitoha breaks the screen at the end, furious.

Hitoha: Don't make endings where I die.

    • In episode 1-7 (and only episode 1-7 for some reason), the opening has sound effects added for events such as Futaba breaking things, people popping up from the sides of the screen, and Yuudai getting a Nosebleed.
    • Episode 1-9 with Futaba ice-sliding to Blue Danube.
  • Stalker with a Crush—Shinya's fangirls
  • Standard Snippet—Rather than "Yume-iro no Koi", episode nine ends with Futaba whirling across the frozen pool to the Blue Danube Waltz.
    • And episode 7 of Zouryouchuu ends with replays of the curling game to the farandole from Bizet's L'Arlesienne.
  • Stealth Hi Bye—Hitoha's entrances into a scene.
  • Stone Wall—Mitsuba in the curling game.
  • Super Window Jump—Futaba leaps out a fourth story window to retrieve her dad's picture, much to the surprise of Shinya's fangirls.
  • Talking with Signs—Futaba, temporarily after losing her voice in episode 7 of Zouryouchuu!
  • Teacher-Student Romance—Hitoha wanting to apologize to Yabe about insulting his love of Gachiranger leads to Yuki assuming that Hitoha's a Stalker with a Crush. Yet it's Yuki herself who makes Yabe actually think that when he walks in at the wrong moment.
    • Hitoha and Yabe's being (or accidentally getting) unusually close is also reiterated throughout the show, even though there is no apparent sign of romantic attraction. The main example is Hitoha spending her entire time in the school under Yabe's desk, both in the classroom and in the teachers' room. Other examples include Hitoha helping Matsuoka undress Yabe, Hitoha seemingly allowing Yabe to feel her "breast tumor", Hitoha having Yabe's home phone number and calling him over, and the continuation of the misunderstanding about Gachiranger (climaxing with Hitoha clenching Yabe's hand to tell him she loves them).
    • This only happens in the anime, since their relationship is slightly distant in the manga.
  • Theme Triplet Naming—The sisters' names go [number]-[kanji for leaf], starting from three and working down to one.
  • Thirteen Episode Anime—The first season. Zouryouchuu! takes it even further, consisting of only eight episodes.
  • Throw the Dog a Bone—Episode 13 is the first time Mitsuba does something selfless that doesn't come back to bite her in the butt.
  • Tome of Eldritch Lore—Hitoha's book is treated as such. The inside of the book even glows pink with "forbidden knowledge".
  • Tsundere—Mitsuba and Miku
  • Twinkle in The Sky—The Episode 9 ending.
  • The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter—Though Soujirou apparently let his age get to him, with his current looks, it's hard to believe the triplets are related to him at all.
  • Unfortunate Names—The class hamster, named Nipples. Which leads to a scene long Innocent Innuendo where Kuriyama-sensei gets some very wrong ideas.
  • Unusual Eyebrows—Mitsuba's eyebrows are giant dots.
  • Verbal Tic—Futaba usually ends her sentences with "-su".
    • The Gachirangers tend to add Gachi a lot.
  • Vitriolic Best Buds—Mitsuba & Miku
    • Also debatably Hitoha & Sakiko
  • Wacky Homeroom—Big understatement.
    • Not that their parents are any different.
  • Weight Woe—Mitsuba, although she doesn't put much effort into dieting.
  • What Do You Mean It's Not Awesome?? -- The opening scene of musical chairs is a battle on par with most war movies.
    • Set to Verdi's Dies Irae.
    • Kuriyama's bandage wrapping people without her glasses just by seeing the color red on them.
    • The human curling game.
  • Yamato Nadeshiko—Hitoha, though she's a bit of an aversion.
  • Yandere—Shinya's fangirls
    • Miku's mom seems to border on this at the thought of being abused.
  • Yank the Dog's Chain—Mitsuba finally gets some genuine fans when she twists the definition of "nympho" to suit her own ends, but has to distance herself when she learns that might have consequences.
  • Yuri Fan -- At least two of the three sisters. Hitoha's book seems to be full of this and Futaba's a fan of breasts and yuri.
    • Yuki also appears to be in favor of the idea of Miku liking Mitsuba. Or Miyashita liking Hitoha.
  • Zettai Ryouiki—Mitsuba's standard attire, but Miku's is more elegant.
    • Also, Hitoha on occasions.
    • Mitsuba's a Grade S.
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