Kamisama no Memochou
Kamisama No Memo-chou ("God's Notebook") is a mystery Light Novel series that was later adapted into a manga and an anime.
An Ordinary High School Student named Narumi Fujishima is mostly a loner in class. But one day, after catching the eye of classmate Ayaka Shinozaki, he ends up following her into the school's Gardening Club. She then introduces him to a Strange Girl named Alice, a self-decribed NEET and Hikikomori who runs a one-girl detective agency above the ramen shop where Ayaka works.
Alice is helping Ayaka on a case involving a new drug called "Angel Fix," but when Ayaka ends up in a coma, Narumi decides to take her place at the ramen shop part-time and help Alice's budding detective agency. While trying to find the person responsible for Ayaka's condition, Narumi acts as a go-between for Alice and other NEETs with varying skills and obsessions.
- Accidental Pervert: Ayaka starts stripping Alice since she hasn't taken a bath in two days, not noticing Narumi was there.
- And again in episode 2
- It's become a Running Gag.
- Aloof Big Brother: Souchirou towards Narumi, as his sworn brother
- Amateur Sleuth: Alice and her companions.
- Anime Hair: Souchirou.
- Anticlimax Boss: Hakamizaka, a Smug Snake who taunted Alice & declared she would never find him; when she does, she finds him dying of an overdose of his own product.
- Bandage Babe: Min-li.
- Sarashi: her undergarment of choice.
- Baseball Episode: Episode 9
- Batman Gambit: Alice in the baseball game. To elaborate, her small frame drastically reduced the size of the strike zone, which caused the pitcher to overcompensate on the third strike, resulting in a uncaught third strike. The subsequent fielding errors and delayed reaction from the catcher and pitcher allowed her to push two of her team's players onto second and third.
- I Shall Taunt You: She also mocks them on their mistake while casually walking to first base.
- Bifauxnen: Yoshiki is Hison.
- Big Damn Heroes: Souchirou in episode 3.
- Bland-Name Product: Abababa Photostudio in episode 10.
- Bokukko: Alice
- Brand X : DoKuPe. Averted in the Light Novel where it is actually called Dr. Pepper.
- Alice's computer is obviously a late-model iMac.
- She has what looks like a couple of Mac Pro towers behind as well.
- Alice's computer is obviously a late-model iMac.
- Breather Episode: episode 9.
- Brilliant but Lazy: Hitoshi is supposedly smart enough to be in university, but plans to drop out and become a NEET. The only reason he stays is because their library has all the books on military and political history he needs.
- But Not Too Foreign: Meo is half Vietnamese, half Japanese.
- Compensated Dating: Shouko's chosen outlet for stress, and one of the eventual reasons for her suicide.
- Cool Big Sis: Min-li fulfills the role for the team.
- Cuteness Proximity: Older women seem to react this way towards Alice.
- Cry Cute: Alice.
- Driven to Suicide: Shouko, the victim in the first episode.
- Ayaka in episode 10. She survives.
- Drugs Are Bad: An oft-repeated theme within the series.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita: Alice when she goes out, complete with a cute little hat.
- Expy: Alice is basically a black-haired modern day Victorique.
- Five-Man Band: Narumi, Alice, Tetsu, Hitoshi, and Hiro.
- If Narumi's The Hero, then it's something of a toss-up whether Alice or Hitoshi is The Lancer or The Smart Guy (if only because Hitoshi isn't central enough to be a proper Lancer to Narumi, yet Alice fits The Smart Guy too perfectly), while Tetsu is definitely The Big Guy and Hiro is probably The Chick despite being male (though when she's around, he trades that role off with Ayaka). Or, if Alice is The Hero, then Narumi becomes The Lancer and Hitoshi assumes The Smart Guy position while the others remain the same.
- Gainaxing: Min-li in the baseball episode and it distracts the baseman.
- Gamer Chick: Alice
- Genki Girl: Ayaka
- Girls Love Stuffed Animals: Alice's room is full of them and is rarely seen out without her giant bear.
- Gun Porn: Hitoshi is never seen without a rifle in his hands or wearing military camouflage.
- Hates Baths: Alice. At one point, she called Narumi and told him it's an emergency when Ayaka bathed her.
- High-Pressure Emotion: Alice
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Episodes are referred to as "Pages".
- Indirect Kiss: In episode 6, Alice sips from a Doku Pe can, then gives it to Narumi, and he sips from it. It's not commented on.
- Innocent Cohabitation: In episode 6, Narumi and Alice sleep in the same bed.
- In-Series Nickname: Souchirou is known as the Fourth.
- Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique: Souchirou.
- Jerkass: Ayaka big brother, Toushi.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Souchirou
- The Jimmy Hart Version: One of the ringtones on Narumi's phone strongly resembles the opening riff of Eric Johnson's Cliffs of Dover.
- Let Them Die Happy: Inverted, when Alice tells Hakamizaka a few parting words to ensure that he will die in despair.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Ayaka considering her brother's drug activites.
- It doesn't end well. She finds out and tries to solve matters on her own... and things get worse from there.
- The Magnificent: Narumi has just been collecting nicknames lately.
- Vice-Admiral by Hitoshi
- Gardening boy by Souchirou
- God hand by Souchirou's/his computer illiterate henchmen
- Mr. Assistant by Meo.
- Mistaken Age: People occasionally mistake Hitoshi for an elementary schooler. He's in university.
- Modesty Towel: Narumi seems to catch girls coming out of the bath constantly, and so has seen this more than a few times.
- NEET: Some self-employed, but still NEET nonetheless.
- Neighbourhood Friendly Gangsters: Soichirou is taking his group in this direction, pointing out in Page 5 that they can't survive on shady stuff forever.
- Though they're not above doing some very family-unfriendly things to people who cross them and the lines they set for their territory (like drug-dealing). Souchirou in particular has more than a little blood on his hands, in the past and from current events.
- Number Two: Narumi to Souchirou.
- Ominous Multiple Screens: Alice's room. Her computer monitors and screens are her window to the outside world.
- Ordinary High School Student: Narumi... for now, anyway.
- Panty Thief: Well, a sarashi thief, anyway.
- Parental Abandonment:
- Disappeared Dad: Narumi, Ayaka, Min-Li and Meo's dads all left them or are otherwise MIA.
- Missing Mom: While the mother is either deceased or never mentioned.
- And Alice's are never mentioned.
- Ping-Pong Naivete: Alice goes from solving a complex crime to not knowing how to open a can of DoKuPe
- Min-Maxing: It's not that she doesn't know how, but she's so frail that she lacks the strength to do it. She also can't pull two chop sticks apart.
- Playful Hacker: Alice.
- Rapunzel Hair: Alice
- Raven Hair, Ivory Skin: Alice
- Real Song Theme Tune: The ED is Mr. Big's "Colorado Bulldog", of all things.
- Only in the first episode, though. The rest of the series uses generic J-rock.
- Sailor Fuku
- Serious Business: Pretty much everyone gets their share of this.
- For Min-Li, ramen certainly is.
- For Alice, just about everything is Serious Business... except for stuff that tends to matter for most people, like hygiene or eating properly.
- Thats also Serious Business as she tries to avoid it whenever possible.
- For the sarashi thief, underwear is certainly Serious Business indeed.
- Baseball for Nemoto-san.
- Strange Girl: Alice
- Surrounded by Idiots: Soichirou's henchmen are incredibly computer illiterate, to the point where Narumi's basic computer skills have earned him the nickname "God Hand".
- Alice generally considers herself to be this, just because nobody can keep up with her intuitive leaps and constant data-digging.
- Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Min-Li.
- Trademark Favorite Food: DoKuPe, the Brand X version of Dr. Pepper.
- True Companions
- Twelve-Episode Anime
- X Meets Y: Durarara!!'s underworld youth meets Gosick's secluded loli Tsundere detective.
- Wham! Episode: Episode 10, when Ayaka tried to commit suicide.
- White-Haired Pretty Boy: Soichirou.
- Wise Beyond Their Years: Alice.
- Yakuza: Nemoto
- Zettai Ryouiki: Alice.