Tasogare Otome x Amnesia

Hauntings: More awkward than you'd think.

I don't mind UFO's and ghost stories, it's just that I tend to give value to the storyteller rather than to the story itself.

—Robert Stack

Tasogare Otome x Amnesia (aka Dusk Maiden of Amnesia) is a tragedy/horror/supernatural/shounen/mystery/romance/ecchi manga by Maybe (and yes, that's the creator's name).

Kanoe Yuuko has been a ghost in the Old School Building for a long time without being able to make contact with the living, until first-year junior high student Niiya Teiichi came along. Now they try to solve the mysterious circumstances under which Yuuko died, hindered by the fact there are at least seven different ghost stories about the school, some of which are possibly based on distorted accounts of her death.

An anime adaptation by SILVER LINK is currently airing as part of the Spring 2012 Anime.

Tropes used in Tasogare Otome x Amnesia include:

• A-Cup Angst: Kirie
• Adaptation Decay / Adaptation Distillation: Some of the manga chapters have not been included as episodes, and one character, the school nurse, Takamatsu-san, has been written our of two stories entirely.
• Adaptation Dye Job: Yuuko and Kirie have normal black hair in the manga while the anime gives them relatively dark/muted purplish and green-bluish hair respectively.
• Art Shift: Chapter 18 has a sudden one. Maybe, the artist, was supposedly sick while making that chapter.
  • Chapter 21 has several panels containing little more than rough outlines. Whether this is due to a Creator Breakdown, Deus Ex Machina, Executive Meddling or the 2011 Sendai Earthquake is as of yet unknown.
• Barrier Maiden: Supposedly Yuuko was Sacrificed for this purpose.
• Barbie Doll Anatomy: Played straight often, since we see Yuuko (and occasionally one of the other girls) at least partially nude every few chapters.
• Bleached Underpants: Explains the Fanservice. Also, two minor characters from the early chapters are from one of Maybe's hentai doujins.
• Boy Meets Ghoul
• Caught The Heart On Her Sleeve: When Yuuko decides to walk out of Teiichi's life, this is his response.
• Chick Magnet: Teiichi, who has three different women pining after him.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: To most people, ghosts are only visible if they already believe there's going to be something there, and then they usually see some ghastly specter in line with their fears rather than the real ghost. Also applies to those who can see a ghost already, as their perception of the ghost can be changed by making them believe the ghost truly looks different.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Momoe.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: Yuuko.
• Cross-Dressing Voices: Junko Minagawa as Teiichi in the drama CD.
• Cry Cute: Kirie is prone to this when she's scared.
• Curtains Match the Window: Teiichi and Momoe (in the manga; the anime gave her green eyes).
• Cute Ghost Girl: Yuuko is downright adorable.
• Deadpan Snarker: Kirie, and Teiichi has shades of it.
• Disguised in Drag / Sweet Polly Oliver: Teiichi and Kirie switch clothes in one of the extra chapters.
• Enemy Without: The shadow Yuuko, most likely.
• Evolving Credits: At the end of Episode 7, as the closing song plays, Yuuko is no longer visible performing the song.
• Expressive Ears: Very weirdly, when Kirie is forced to Cosplay as a Catgirl Maid, the artificial cat ears fold down at one point in response to her feeling depressed about Teiichi's preference for Yuuko.
• Fan Service: Yuuko, my god. And it's surprising, seeing as there are few to no panty-flashes, the fanservice often being done with Yuuko fully dressed.
  • Fan Disservice: As mentioned below, Corpse-Yuuko. Still in a towel.
• Freeze-Frame Bonus: The observant will see the screen flicker twice during the 1st trailer. Pausing it reveals this horrifying image of shadow Yuuko.
• First Kiss: In chapter 18.
• Funbag Airbag: Teiichi accidentally falls face-first into Yuuko's breasts in the special "Shower Room of Fresh Blood" chapter. He gets a Nosebleed from it.
• Genki Girl: Momoe, and Yuuko from time to time.
• Genre Busting
• Glamour Failure: The chapter in which Kirie first appears, she tries to convince Teiichi to stop seeing Yuuko as a beautiful ghost girl and recognize her as an evil spirit/monster intent on destroying him. Yuuko promptly loses her regular appearance and appears as a rotting corpse for a while, until Teiichi renews his faith in her and she goes back to being beautiful, voluptuous ... oh, and naked.
• The Glasses Come Off: Kirishima Yuuko originally wore glasses, but stopped wearing them once she decided to get revenge against her bullies and destroy the ghost stories of the school.
• Ghost Amnesia: The whole plot is built around this. The shadow Yuuko is literally the spectral incarnation of Yuuko's cast-off memories.
• Girlish Pigtails: Sahara, Minato and Kirie in her childhood.
• Ghost Shipping: Teiichi and Yuuko.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Yuuko is rather upset with Niiya after he returns from summer vacation only to start hanging out with Momoe and Kirie.
• Hey, It's That Voice!: In the drama CD, Teiichi is Junko Minagawa, and Momoe is Ayahi Takagaki. In the anime, Kirie is Eri Kitamura.
• Hime Cut: Yuuko.
• Human Sacrifice: Yuuko is suspected to have died this way.
• Important Haircut / Expository Hairstyle Change: Kirishima Yuuko started out with long hair kept up in a bun, but after deciding to get revenge, she lets it down. She cuts it short after Kanoe Yuuko and Teiichi save her from becoming a sacrifice.
• Innocent Fanservice Girl / Shameless Fanservice Girl: An odd combination. Yuuko sees no reason for modesty in her ghost form, stripping out of one school uniform to put on another right in front of Teiichi, and not bothered at all when, despite having turned away, he gets a good look in a mirror. When Teiichi finds her actual corpse, sixty-some years dead, however, it's another story entirely—she's utterly embarrassed, saying that her bones are as naked as a person can possibly get, begs him to cover the body, and calls him a pervert for not doing so immediately.
• It Amused Me: Yuuko's reasoning for waking Teiichi up in the middle of the night in Chapter 12.
• Japanese School Club: Yuuko founds the Paranormal Investigation Club, consisting of herself and Teiichi. Momoe appears to be a semi-member, despite already being part of the Newspaper Club, and Kirie seems to be reluctantly joining the circle.
• Joshikousei: Two different varieties of them, in fact! The modern uniform the female students wear and Yuuko's old fashioned one both apply.
• Karma Houdini: The bullies who attempted to sacrifice Kirishima Yuuko get away nearly scott-free aside from having the living daylights scared out of them by the actual Yuuko-san.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: Yuuko can apparently cast off any memories that cause her pain or distress. These coalesce into Shadow Yuuko, who, being forced to take on Yuuko's jealousy for Teichii, decided that this time she was going to take all of Yuuko's memories of Teichii from her as well, including the happy ones.
• Marshmallow Hell: Teichi frequently finds himself having his head buried in Yuukos chest (which is of course initiated by Yuuko). Initially this was part of Yuuko teasing Teichi, but as they grow closer it's becoming more romantic (and somewhat heartwarming) in nature.
• Mayfly-December Romance: Yuuko has been fifteen for something like sixty years. She'll be fifteen for the next sixty years, unless she moves on, or gets reincarnated, or whatever. Teiichi is twelve. Sixty years from now, while Yuuko is still fifteen, he'll be....
• Meaningful Name: The "Yuu" in "Yuuko" means "Dusk/Evening".
• Megane / Meganekko: Teiichi, Sahara and Kirishima Yuuko in the past.
• Mood Whiplash: All over the place, as the story switches between fanservice and jokes to human sacrifice and evil spirits astoundingly fast.
• Nonhuman Lover Reveal: Teiichi doesn't realize Yuuko is a ghost when he first meets her, though he doesn't fall in love with her until later.
• Nosebleed: Teiichi has one during an intimate moment in the school showers, creating a new school mystery.
• Not What It Looks Like: Momoe walks in on a situation where Yuuko has fallen on top of Teiichi (she'd put on his glasses for a joke, and they really screwed up her vision and balance) and then started getting flirtatious. Teiichi promptly yelps that "It's not what it looks like!" ... forgetting that the new girl can't see Yuuko, so it didn't look like anything naughty to her.
• One Steve Limit: Averted and justified. Another character named Kirishima Yuuko eventually appears and the fact that Yuuko is a very common name in Japan is immediately brought up. Sadly, having the same name as the school's infamous Yuuko-san quickly gets some bullies the fodder they need to convince everyone that she has a connection to the ghost of the school and should be ignored at all costs. This convinces her to take revenge on her tormentors and the ghost stories themselves by tormenting the former and destroying the latter. It backfires when Kirishima's new ghost story Akahito-san convinces some girls that she should be sacrificed due to her supposed connection to Yuuko-san.
• Older Than They Look: Yuuko is old enough to be your grandma. And she looks around seventeen.
  • Though it's justified in that she's a ghost. Although she was fifteen when she died.
  • Momoe. She's a year older than Teiichi.
• Old School Building: The school has been modified a lot over its history leaving parts that are abandoned and badly neglected. The clubroom is so decrepit they are probably breaking every health and safety rule in the book in using it.
• Ordinary High School Student: Teiichi
• Our Ghosts Are Different: Apparently other than being invisible or having their appearance affected by those who do see them, ghosts aren't much different than humans in abilities.
• Panty Shot: Happens often with Momoe and Kirie, but rarely, if ever, with Yuuko (given the length of her skirt).
• Raised by Grandmother: Kirie
• Rapunzel Hair: Yuuko-san, Kirishima Yuuko and "Shadow" Yuuko.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Averted with Yuuko and Kirie, but played straight with "Shadow" Yuuko.
• Scary Shiny Glasses: There are times that the light catches Teiichi's lenses for this effect. Add in the first image's Mad Scientist smirk and Adjusting Your Glasses gesture for extra intimidation.
• Schoolgirl Lesbians
• The Seven Mysteries: This school's seven mysteries are (albeit warped) based on parts of Yuuko's death.
• Shadow Archetype: The shadow Yuuko is heavily suspected to be some sort of this.
  • Confirmed. The shadow Yuuko is explicitly everything Yuuko's repressed and denied about herself, especially any hurtful memories.
• Shout-Out: Possibly; Chapter 3 involves a shy, lonely girl named Haruka who, Yuuko says, "needed someone who would accept her the way she is." And the boy who fiercely defends her is named Yuuto.
• Slasher Smile: The shadow Yuuko. A large part of why she's High Octane Nightmare Fuel.
• Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl: When she first hears of her, Kirie suspects this of Yuuko, though she's actually far from it.
  • The shadow Yuuko may or may not be this.
• Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Must be a Kanoe family trait.
• Thanks for the Mammary: In the first chapter, Teiichi doesn't quite believe Yuuko is a ghost, so he reaches out to grasp her shoulder, reasoning that a ghost will be insubstantial. That's just when she turns to face him, though, so he gets a handful of quite substantial breast. Yuuko is totally unfazed by this (see Innocent Fanservice Girl).
  • It wouldn't be the last time, either. While convincing Momoe that he's banishing an evil spirit, Teiichi gets another handful of Yuuko's considerable endowments. And he gets a full on faceful in a manga story when Yuuko insists on using the shower with him.
• Through His Stomach: In one of the early chapters, Yuuko is feeding Teiichi from a bento. On the next page, she pulls him down onto her Lap Pillow. He's a bit weirded out by this, because Yuuko, although very good-looking and built, has been dead for something like sixty years.
• True Sight: Though everyone can see something of Yuuko if they expect something to be there (often of the horrific sort, which changes how she looks to them), only Teiichi and Kirie can see Yuuko and the second, cast-off version of Yuuko as they really are. Strangely, Yuuko's sister can see shadow Yuuko, as well, but not the normal Yuuko.
• Tsundere:
  • Kirie
  • Deconstructed by Yuuko (dere dere) and Shadow Yuuko (tsun tsun).
• Uncanny Family Resemblance: Kirie is Yuuko's grandniece. A resemblance, particularly of the eyes, was hinted at as soon as Kirie showed up, but in chapter 20, she gets put into a long-haired Hime Cut wig ... and the resemblance just jumps right out—except for her figure (and the Catgirl ears). It's even noted by Kirie's grandmother, who is Yuuko's younger sister.
• Unresolved Sexual Tension: By Chapter 11, there's so much between Teiichi and Yuuko it's not even funny.
  • They finally confessed their feelings in chapter 18.
• The Wiki Rule: Located here.
• Wham! Episode: Episode 7 of the anime brings together a number of plot points that the anime had been skipping over ('curse' rock, shadow-Yuuko's identity, Yuuko's breakdown etc) in one wham-packed episode.
• Yandere: One of the Schoolgirl Lesbians featured in chapter 10. Yuuko shows signs whenever Momoe gets too friendly with Teiichi, especially in Chapter 17.
• Younger Than They Look: Teiichi is twelve years old.
• Zettai Ryouiki: When Yuuko puts on her stockings.