Himegoto

Himegoto (ひめゴト), also known as Secret Princess, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Norio Tsukudani. It was serialized in Ichijinsha's Waai! magazine from November 2011 to February 2014. Tsukudani produced three additional manga published by Ichijinsha: Himegoto+ serialized in Waai! Mahalo, and two separate versions of Himegoto serialized in Comic Rex and Febri. An anime adaptation, directed by Yūji Yanase and produced by Asahi Production, began airing in Japan on July 7, 2014.

Himegoto follows Hime Arikawa, a second-year student at Shimoshina High School (霜科高校, Shimoshina Kōkō). Forced to assume a large amount of debt from his now-absent parents, Hime is saved by the three girls of his school's student council after he is chased down by debt collectors. In return for paying off his debt, Hime agrees to their conditions of becoming the student council's "dog" and spending his high school life dressed as a girl.

Hime Arikawa (有川 ひめ, Arikawa Hime)

Voiced by: Yūki Kuwahara

Hime is the protagonist of Himegoto. He is a 17-year-old feminine second-year at Shimoshina High School, and is also a member of its student council. His parents racked up a large amount of debt in his name by traveling all around the world, and although the student council pays off the debt, he continues to live in poverty with his younger brother Kaguya. At school, he is forced to cross-dress in return for the student council paying off his debt.

18-kin (18禁, Jūhachi-kin, "18+")

Voiced by: Yuka Matenrō

Only known by her alias 18-kin, she is 18-years-old, a third-year student and vice president of the Shimoshina student council. She often forces Hime into unreasonable situations. Her father is the board chairman of Shimoshina High School.

Unko (運子)

Voiced by: Saki Ono

Unko is 18-years-old and a third-year student and president of the Shimoshina student council. She is an energetic girl and is very intelligent. Due to her fear of ghost stories, she prefers to be referred to as Unko (a homophone for the Japanese word for feces) rather than Sadako, the correct pronunciation of the kanji that make up her name.

Albertina II (アルベルティーナ 2世, Aruberutīna Ni-sei)

Voiced by: Hisako Tōjō

Often referred to as "Bell" (ベル, Beru) for short, she is 18-years-old, a third-year student and secretary of the Shimoshina student council. Albertina II is a pen name she uses as a popular manga author. She works on multiple manga projects simultaneously, and uses Hime as the basis for the main character in her manga Magical Boy Hime Kiss (魔法少年ヒメキッス, Mahō Shōnen Hime Kissu).

Tadokoro (田所)

Voiced by: Takuya Eguchi

Tadokoro is Hime's classmate and they have been friends since junior-high school. He is somewhat of a playboy.

Kaguya Arikawa (有川 かぐや, Arikawa Kaguya)

Voiced by: Chinatsu Akasaki

Kaguya is Hime's younger brother. He is 16-years-old and is a first-year at Shimoshina High School. Similar to his brother, Kaguya has a feminine appearance and is always shown dressed as a girl by choice because he enjoys the attention he receives from it. Kaguya is clingy towards his brother and dislikes the attention 18-kin shows toward Hime. The protagonist of the spin-off series Himegoto+, Kaguya joins the public morals committee at his school. He has a number of admirers at school he refers to as his "servants".

Servant No. 1 (下僕 1号, Geboku Ichi-gō)

Voiced by: Minami Tsuda

Usually known simply as "No. 1", she is Kaguya's classmate and is one of his admirers. She is always shown dressed as a boy and joins the public morals committee with Kaguya.

Mitsunaga Oda (織田 光永, Oda Mitsunaga)

Voiced by: Ayane Sakura

Mitsunaga is a third-year student at Shimoshina High School and is the chairman of the public morals committee. As the head of the Oda family, he is forced to cross-dress until he reaches adulthood due to a family rule. Similar to Kaguya, Mitsunaga dislikes 18-kin due to her lax morals and disregard for his authority.

Hiro (ヒロ)

Voiced by: Azusa Tadokoro

Hiro is Mitsunaga's classmate and is employed as his maid. Due to feeling sorry for Mitsunaga being forced to cross-dress, Hiro willingly dresses as a girl. He is on the public morals committee.

Himegoto is written and illustrated by Norio Tsukudani. It began serialization in volume seven of Ichijinsha's Waai! magazine on November 25, 2011 as a four-panel comic strip manga,^[1] and continued until February 25, 2014 when Waai! suspended publication.^[2] A spin-off series titled Himegoto+ was serialized in Waai!'s sister magazine Waai! Mahalo between April 25, 2012 and December 25, 2013.^[3][4] Another version of Himegoto began serialization in the December 2013 issue of Ichijinsha's Comic Rex magazine.^[5] Tsukudani began another version of Himegoto in volume 23 of Ichijinsha's Febri magazine on June 20, 2014.^[6] The first tankōbon volume was published on February 19, 2013;^[7] the third volume was released on July 19, 2014.^[8]

An anime television series adaptation, directed by Yūji Yanase and produced by Asahi Production,^[9][10] began airing in Japan on July 7, 2014 on BS11. The episodes are about five minutes long each.^[11] The screenplay is written by Kazuho Hyodō, and Masaaki Sakurai based the character design used in the anime on Norio Tsukudani's original designs.^[12] The opening theme is "Troublemaker" (とらぶるめーかー, Toraburumēkā) and the ending theme is "Makeup!" (めーきゃっぷ!, Mēkyappu!); both are sung by I My Me Mine, a group composed of Yūki Kuwahara, Yuka Matenrō, Saki Ono and Hisako Tōjō.^[13] The single containing the theme songs was released on March 5, 2014.^[14]

An Internet radio show to promote the anime called Shimoshina Seitokai no Himegoto Radio (霜科生徒会のひめゴトラジオ, Shimoshina Student Council's Himegoto Radio) is hosted by the members of I My Me Mine. The show began streaming every Wednesday on April 16, 2014, and is produced by the Japanese Internet radio station Onsen.^[15]

Notes

References

• Anime official website Template:Ja icon
• Himegoto (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia