Mysterious Girlfriend X (Japanese: 謎の彼女X, Hepburn: Nazo no Kanojo Ekkusu) is a Japanese manga written and illustrated by Riichi Ueshiba. It was originally published as a one-shot story in 2004 before becoming a serialized comic in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon from March 2006 to September 2014, with its chapters collected in 12 tankōbon volumes. The manga is licensed in North America by Vertical. An anime adaptation by Hoods Entertainment aired in Japan from April to June 2012, with an original video animation episode released in August 2012.
Mysterious Girlfriend X | |
謎の彼女X (Nazo no Kanojo Ekkusu) | |
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Genre | Romantic comedy[1] |
Manga | |
Written by | Riichi Ueshiba |
Published by | Kodansha |
English publisher | |
Imprint | Afternoon KC |
Magazine | Monthly Afternoon |
Demographic | Seinen |
Original run | March 25, 2006 – September 25, 2014 |
Volumes | 12 |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Ayumu Watanabe |
Written by | Deko Akao |
Music by | Tomoki Hasegawa |
Studio | Hoods Entertainment |
Licensed by |
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Original network | Tokyo MX, AT-X |
English network | Anime Network |
Original run | April 7, 2012 – June 30, 2012 |
Episodes | 13 |
Original video animation | |
Directed by | Ayumu Watanabe |
Written by | Deko Akao |
Studio | Hoods Entertainment |
Licensed by |
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Released | August 23, 2012 |
Runtime | 26 minutes |
The series follows the relationship of Akira Tsubaki and Mikoto Urabe. Urabe is a transfer student who recently came to Tsubaki's school. After a series of strange events, Tsubaki finds himself addicted to Urabe's drool. Once she claims the addiction as love sickness, the relationship slowly progresses, focusing on the odd bond that comes out of the drool attachment.
As the story progresses, the relationship between the two deepens into genuine love. The manga strongly foreshadows that they will never break up, but rather will stay together for life.[2]
Mysterious Girlfriend X is written and illustrated by Riichi Ueshiba. A one-shot chapter was first published in Kodansha's seinen manga magazine Monthly Afternoon in 2004.[9] It was then serialized in the same magazine from March 25, 2006,[10][11] to September 25, 2014.[12] Kodansha collected its 95 chapters in twelve Japanese tankōbon volumes, released from August 23, 2006 to November 21, 2014.[9][13]
The manga is available in English as part of a read-only/download-only subscription from Azuki and Kodansha.[14] Vertical licensed the series for release in North America,[15] and released the manga in six omnibus volumes from March 15, 2016, to June 13, 2017.
No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | English release date | English ISBN | ||
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1 | August 23, 2006[9] | 978-4-06-314424-6 | March 15, 2016[16] | 978-1942993452 | ||
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2 | June 22, 2007[17] | 978-4-06-314457-4 | March 15, 2016[18] | 978-1942993469 | ||
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3 | February 22, 2008[19] | 978-4-06-314490-1 | June 21, 2016[20] | 978-1942993704 | ||
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4 | November 21, 2008[21] | 978-4-06-314539-7 | June 21, 2016[22] | 978-1942993711 | ||
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5 | August 21, 2009[23] | 978-4-06-314583-0 | September 20, 2016[24] | 978-1942993728 | ||
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6 | June 23, 2010[25] | 978-4-06-310673-2 | September 20, 2016[26] | 978-1942993735 | ||
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7 | February 23, 2011[27] | 978-4-06-310729-6 | December 27, 2016 | 978-1942993711 | ||
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8 | February 23, 2012[28][29] | 978-4-06-387806-6 (RE) 978-4-06-358385-4 (CE) | December 27, 2016 | 978-1942993711 | ||
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9 | August 23, 2012[30][31] | 978-4-06-387835-6 (RE) 978-4-06-358391-5 (DE) | March 14, 2017 | 978-1942993728 | ||
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10 | May 23, 2013[32] | 978-4-06-387885-1 | March 14, 2017 | 978-1942993728 | ||
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11 | February 21, 2014[33] | 978-4-06-387957-5 | June 13, 2017 | 978-1942993735 | ||
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12 | November 21, 2014[13] | 978-4-06-388010-6 | June 13, 2017 | 978-1942993735 | ||
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An anime adaptation by Hoods Entertainment was broadcast from April 7 to June 30, 2012.[34] The opening theme is "Orchestra of Love" (恋のオーケストラ, Koi no Ōkesutora) by Ayako Yoshitani, whilst the ending theme is "Afterschool Promise" (放課後の約束, Hōkago no Yakusoku) by Yoshitani. An original video animation episode was released with the ninth volume of the manga on August 23, 2012.[31][35]
The series was simulcast by Crunchyroll.[34] The series has been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks and began streaming on The Anime Network and Hulu 31 days following its airdate.[36][37] Sentai Filmworks released a box-set containing the entire 13 episode TV series on Blu-ray and DVD June 11, 2013.[38] After the acquisition of Crunchyroll by Sony Pictures Television, Mysterious Girlfriend X, among several Sentai Filmworks titles, was dropped from the Crunchyroll streaming service on March 31, 2022.[39] An English dub was released in Australia by Hanabee Entertainment on June 5, 2013.[40]
No. | Title | Original air date | ||
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1 | "Mysterious Girlfriend" "Nazo no Kanojo" (謎の彼女) | April 7, 2012 | ||
A strange new transfer student named Mikoto Urabe is instantly labelled as a weirdo due to her odd sleeping patterns and a strange outburst of laughter during class. When Akira Tsubaki wakes up Urabe at the end of a school day, he finds her face enchanting and ends up sampling some of her drool. After having a dream about Urabe that he can not seem to get out of his head, Tsubaki suddenly comes down with fever. Urabe goes to Tsubaki's house and gives him more of her drool which cures his fever, explaining his symptoms were the result of withdrawal from not getting any more drool. As such, Urabe begins meeting up with Tsubaki every day to give him some more of her drool. As Tsubaki starts to fall in love with Urabe, he decides to confess to her after a few days. When asked by Urabe to profess his love in a way only he can, Tsubaki demonstrates it by ripping up a photo he had in his wallet of his middle school crush. After explaining the reason she laughed in class was because a voice told her Tsubaki would be the first person she would have sex with, Urabe agrees to become his girlfriend. | ||||
2 | "Mysterious Bond" "Nazo no Kizuna" (謎の絆) | April 14, 2012 | ||
Tsubaki decides to ask his friend, Kouhei Ueno, what he could do to advance his relationship with Urabe, though none of his advice seem to work on Urabe. When asked if they really are in a relationship or not, Urabe takes Tsubaki to an abandoned house. She tells Tsubaki to close his eyes and then she undresses, and then feeds Tsubaki her drool, explaining that their drool is a special bond that allows them to know what they are feeling. The next day, after Tsubaki has a strange dream involving Urabe, Urabe drinks some of Tsubaki's drool and somehow manages to recall his dream in great detail. | ||||
3 | "Mysterious Test Tube" "Nazo no Shikenkan" (謎の試験管) | April 21, 2012 | ||
Tsubaki spots Kouhei kissing Ayuko Oka, who Kouhei explains is his girlfriend, whom he's been secretly dating for a while. When Tsubaki expresses his desire to kiss Urabe, she gives him a testtube of her drool, telling him to drink it before he goes to bed. That night he has a dream where he is accidentally kissed by Urabe, feeling disappointed that she is not putting her feelings into it. The next day, Tsubaki comes to realise they should only kiss when they come to understand each other's feelings. Later at school, another boy in Tsubaki's class, Ogata, confesses to Urabe, asking her to go out with him. Urabe decides to give him a reply the next day, forbidding Tsubaki to interfere. The next day, she feeds Ogata some of her drool and, upon hearing he does not feel any different, rejects him. After doing the same with Tsubaki, which makes his nose bleed, because she was not wearing underwear that day, Urabe explains how his reaction to her drool is proof that he is the only one she shares this bond with, and they walk home together holding hands. | ||||
4 | "Mysterious Girl meets Girl" "Nazo no Gāru Mītsu Gāru" (謎のガール・ミーツ・ガール) | April 28, 2012 | ||
Ayuko decides to have her lunch next to Urabe, much to everyone's surprise. As Urabe gets a scrape during PE the next day, Ayuko takes her to the nurse's office to treat it. After sharing a drink with her, Ayuko discovers she suddenly has the same injury as Urabe. They soon deduce that Urabe's drool can also transfer injuries, showing Ayuko has a similar connection to her as Tsubaki does. Ayuko mentions how she became fascinated by Urabe after seeing her with Tsubaki, but Mikoto rejects her offer of becoming friends. The next day, Ayuko feeds some of her drool to Urabe, deducing from her reaction to its sweet taste that she has not kissed Tsubaki yet. Afterwards, Urabe and Ayuko begin a daily routine of having lunch together. | ||||
5 | "Mysterious First Date" "Nazo no Fāsuto Dēto" (謎のファーストデート) | May 5, 2012 | ||
After failing to see Urabe in a swimsuit during swim class, Tsubaki sees an image of her in a swimsuit while tasting her sweat. As summer vacation arrives and the two continue their drool swapping tradition, Tsubaki manages to build up the courage to ask Urabe on a date to the beach. A week passes and Tsubaki and a tanned Urabe head to the beach where they eat yakisoba and swim in the ocean. Upon spotting a tanline from Mikoto's pair of scissors, Tsubaki gets a nosebleed which Urabe later experiences when she tries Tsubaki's drool on the way home. | ||||
6 | "Mysterious Step Up" "Nazo no Suteppu Appu" (謎のステップ・アップ) | May 12, 2012 | ||
While shopping for clothes, Tsubaki is met by Ayuko who talks to him about using first names with her boyfriend, Kouhei. Ayuko deduces that Urabe and Tsubaki do not use each others' first names via an abridged drool swapping with Tsubaki. She then accosts Urabe similarly and talks to her about first names briefly before Urabe excuses herself. At the park Tsubaki preys upon a sleeping Urabe by whispering her first name "Mikoto" to her. Tsubaki has another weird dream again and blurts out that he wants a photo of Urabe when they are walking to school. Later, Tsubaki is waiting for Urabe at a bridge and his old crush, Aika Hayakawa, invites him to a coffee date. After he declines the invitation, Tsubaki finds Urabe hiding at one of the bridge ends and says she did not want to interrupt the conversation. While walking back, Urabe and Tsubaki talk about Tsubakis's crush. After a drool swap, the two understand each others feelings before Tsubaki whips out the camera again to try and take a photo of Urabe who lets him take a picture with her tongue sticking out. | ||||
7 | "Mysterious Flu" "Nazo no Hayarikaze" (謎の流行風邪) | May 19, 2012 | ||
After showing impressive display on the track, Urabe is asked to participate in a relay race for the sports festival, although she rejects the idea of joining the track team as it means she would not be able to walk home with Tsubaki. As the students switch to their winter uniforms, Tsubaki comes down with a cold. Having heard from Ayuko about how she dressed up in a bikini to help Kouhei get over a cold, Urabe secretly wears a bikini under her coat and gives Tsubaki some of her drool, which helps him recover. On the day of the sports festival, Urabe manages to help bring her team to victory in the relay race. Tsubaki suggests to Urabe that she should join the track team, but Urabe once again rejects, as she much prefers spending time with Akira. | ||||
8 | "Mysterious Sensation" "Nazo no Kankaku" (謎の感覚) | May 26, 2012 | ||
Tsubaki has a dream where he got to squeeze Urabe's breast and can not get the sensation out of his head. Taking a stroll, he decides to go in the direction Urabe usually takes after school and comes up to an apartment block, which turns out to be where Urabe lives. Urabe invites Tsubaki into her apartment for a drink, where his imagination starts to get the better of him. After catching Mikoto as she trips after being spooked by some lightning, Tsubaki almost reaches for her breast but Urabe stops him. After getting Tsubaki to tell her about his dream, she feeds him some drool whilst grabbing her own breast, giving him a stronger sense of the feeling. She then allows Tsubaki the opportunity to touch them for himself, which causes Tsubaki to become more aggressive and tease her ears until he notices Urabe is crying and leaves. The next day, after Urabe gets some advice from Ayuko about the new experiences she is feeling, Tsubaki asks Urabe to slap him as a way of apology. Afterwards, Urabe explains the feeling she gets when her ear is touched before taking on Tsubaki's bruise herself. | ||||
9 | "Mysterious "This is just, I dunno..."" "Nazo no "Nandaka Chotto"" (謎の「なんだかちょっと」) | June 2, 2012 | ||
Noticing Urabe with a serious case of bedhead, Ayuko fixes her up with a new hairstyle. Urabe soon gets a lot of attention for her new hairstyle, which makes Tsubaki a bit jealous. As they go home, Tsubaki convinces Urabe to go back to her old hairstyle and messes up her hair on her request. The next day, as Ayuko calls her out on it, Urabe shows her the feeling of having her hair messed up, which she comes to enjoy. Meanwhile, as Tsubaki gets frustrated when one of the male students starts selling photos of Urabe's alternate hairstyle, he learns of an idol named Momoko Imai who has a strong likeness to Urabe. Tsubaki soon impulsively buys Momoko's photobook and enjoys looking at it. As Urabe hears about it from Ayuko, who heard about it from Kouhei, she demands Tsubaki to bring the book to her and destroys it with her scissors, saying that he does not need to worship an idol that looks like her. | ||||
10 | "Mysterious Adventure" "Nazo no Abanchūru" (謎のアバンチュール) | June 9, 2012 | ||
Tsubaki runs into Aika who, having just been dumped by her boyfriend, reveals how she knew of Akira's feelings for her when he lies about not having a girlfriend. Aika gives Tsubaki the opportunity to try some of her drool, but he backs out realising it could damage his bond with Urabe, bringing to light that he does have a girlfriend. The next day, Aika decides to approach Urabe, inviting her to her school's culture festival on Sunday with the news that Tsubaki might be there. Later that night, Aika calls out Tsubaki with a fake wound on her face, manipulating Tsubaki into coming to the festival with her and pretending to be her boyfriend. Tsubaki tries to come up with an alibi in front of Urabe, but she soon learns the truth from Ayuko. As Tsubaki goes to the festival on Sunday, Aika shows up wearing her old middle school uniform. | ||||
11 | "Mysterious Cultural Festival" "Nazo no Bunkasai" (謎の文化祭) | June 16, 2012 | ||
As Ayuko goes to the festival with Kouhei, she spots Tsubaki with Aika and decides to follow them. As Tsubaki tries to hold off the advances of Aika, Urabe appears in a box robot, suggesting they do a blind taste test of each of their drool to see which Tsubaki prefers. Akira instantly gets a nosebleed from Urabe's drool, due to the fact that she was naked inside her costume. Aika gets naked and attempts to give Tsubaki her drool, but she stops when she starts crying, making it clear that her advances on Tsubaki were simply an attempt to get over losing her boyfriend, who had feelings for someone else even when he was dating her. Urabe tries some of Aika's drool, sensing she has long had unrequited love but assuring her she'll one day find the right someone. Just then, Tsubaki's blindfold gets shaken off and he sees the girls naked, prompting slaps from the both of them. As Tsubaki and Urabe leave together, she tells him that her eventual kiss with him will be her first, prompting a smile when she tries his drool. | ||||
12 | "Mysterious "Squeeze"" "Nazo no "Gyu"" (謎の「ぎゅっ」) | June 23, 2012 | ||
As Tsubaki is a little bashful around Urabe after having seen her naked, she requests to try his drool to experience how flustered he is. The next day, when Urabe uses her scissors against Tsubaki for attempting to hug her, she is shocked when she sees she had cut his forehead a little. As Urabe takes Tsubaki to her home to get his injury treated, she finds her scissors have become less accurate, which she believes to be caused by a strange dream she had after trying Tsubaki's drool. As Urabe gives Tsubaki more of her drool, he starts picturing Urabe naked and ends up banging his head whilst trying to avoid hugging Urabe on impulse. After hearing his reasoning, Urabe decides to hug Tsubaki of her own accord, which in turn restores her scissor technique. The next day, as Ryouko Suwano (諏訪野 亮子, Suwano Ryōko), one of his classmates, offers to replace Tsubaki's gauze, Tsubaki opts to keep it as it was the gauze Urabe gave him. Later that day, Urabe once again initiates a hug. | ||||
13 | "Mysterious Girlfriend and Boyfriend" "Nazo no Kanojo to Kareshi" (謎の彼女と彼氏) | June 30, 2012 | ||
While out shopping, Urabe meets up with Tsubaki's sister, Youko, who takes her to a coffee shop, where she talks about past love crushes and asks about having a boyfriend. She mentions that she promised her deceased mother that she will take care of Tsubaki until he finishes his studies, and so does not have time for romances. Later on, Urabe asks Tsubaki to go to his mother's grave next Sunday and pay their respects. Urabe meets with Tsubaki and he's surprised to see her very formally dressed. After paying their respects and talking about Tsubaki's mother, Urabe wants to "feel" Tsubaki's memories about his mother and they decide to simultaneously exchange drool while Urabe touches the gravestone. Urabe and Tsubaki both end up shedding tears and they feel that their bond has deepened as they continue to walk off talking and laughing. |
No. | Title | Original release date | ||
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1 | "Mysterious Summer Festival" "Nazo no Natsu Matsuri" (謎の夏祭り) | August 23, 2012 | ||
Tsubaki, Urabe, Kouhei and Ayuko go together to the summer festival. As Kouhei and Ayuko go off together, Tsubaki and Urabe are left on their own, but get separated in the crowd, with Urabe being led away by a mysterious masked girl. As Tsubaki searches for her, he comes across a strange tent where Urabe is found tied up. Tsubaki is then challenged by her kidnappers to pull a rope to free her, pulling the wrong one causing her to fall. Believing in their bond, Urabe drools down the rope she is tied up against, allowing Tsubaki to deduce the correct rope to pull. After Tsubaki frees Urabe, the kidnappers and the tent mysteriously disappear and Tsubaki and Urabe find themselves at the shrine, where Urabe gives Tsubaki a red string bracelet. |
A light novel spin-off by Chihaya Sato was released on June 1, 2012.[41]