Sensual Phrase



Aine Yukimura is an Ordinary High School Student with rather low self-esteem, who is good only in one subject at school: Japanese. Her dream is to become a song writer, and as practice she writes some very raunchy lyrics for a song and goes to the post office to send them for a contest.

On the way there, Aine is almost run over by a car. The driver is Sakuya Ookuchi, lead singer from a band named Λucifer that is known for its sexy music (Aine herself isn't exactly a fan, but she knows how famous they are). He grabs a hold of the lyric sheets and takes them with him... and, after singing the song on-stage in front of a bewildered and confused Aine, manages to convince the girl to become the songwriter for the group. Aine reluctantly accepts, unaware that her life will take a turn for either the worse or the best, as she and Sakuya become involved in a very tormented and complicated relationship: not only the poor girl is completely unprepared for the bitterness of fame, but Sakuya turns out to be extremely screwed up...

According to The Other Wiki, Sensual Phrase (快感♥フレーズ; Kaikan Furēzu) is a shōjo manga series created by Mayu Shinjo. The manga was published by Shogakukan in Shōjo Comic between 1997 and 2000, and collected in 18 bound volumes. It was adapted as a 44-episode anime television series by Studio Hibari, a CD drama, and as a series of novels.

To promote the anime, two real-life bands were formed: Λucifer, the band the story focuses on, and e.MU, a rival band. Both bands continued after the anime ended before disbanding. Within the series, Λucifer’s original name is Lucifer, which is changed to Λucifer (using the Greek letter lambda) when the band decides to go international.

Sensual Phrase has examples of the following tropes:
"Atsuro (to Riri): "If you want to, then do it. But if it hurts  feelings... If so, I will personally make sure your life is a living hell. For, I can even be a devil.""
 * Art Evolution: The anime's art drastically changed after episode 32.
 * Ascended Extra: Yuka gets quite more spotlight in the anime than the manga.
 * Bare Your Midriff: Sakuya and Yuki and all the band members in the final concert, in the anime.
 * Bastard Boyfriend: Sakuya is a Conflicted type, aka "Troubled but Cute with a Really Bad Past and an Even Worse Attitude".
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Both Towa and Atsuro show flashes of temper more than once. Here's an example:
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Both Towa and Atsuro show flashes of temper more than once. Here's an example:


 * Big Brother Mentor: Yuki and Towa take turns at this.
 * Blue Eyes: Sakuya.
 * What Beautiful Eyes!: Aine tells him this to cheer him up.
 * Broken Ace: Sakuya. Handsome, sexy, popular, a great singer, and so damn fucked up.
 * Brother-Sister Incest: It's implied that  had unrequited feelings for   Which wouild explain a LOT about
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Santa
 * Camp Straight: Towa, who in the manga is dating his stylist and Victorious Childhood Friend Miya.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Sakuya and Aine, for each other.
 * Also, Sakuya's ex-girlfriend Ayako Sakura.
 * Idol Singer Riri Kinoshita from the manga is one for Atsuro, going as far as
 * Coming of Age Story: For Aine, sort of.
 * Break the Cutie: Ends up closer to this, specially after
 * Compensated Dating: Sakuya is a rare male example.
 * Cool Big Sis: Yuka, specially in the anime
 * Corrupt the Cutie: Aine, though she already was a Covert Pervert judging by her lyrics.
 * Cute Bookworm: Aine, a quite cute girl with quite the songwriting talent.
 * Dead Little Sister: Tomoyuki from the band Jesus had a sister named Yumi, who died last year.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Sakuya is supposed to be this. Whether it works or not...
 * Demoted to Extra: Aine only appears in the second half of the anime.
 * Distressed Damsel: Poor Aine, specially in volume 16 where
 * Distressed Dude: Sakuya once gets whacked with the Distress Ball thanks to
 * I Have Your Wife: The culprit attempts to blackmail Aine after capturing him.
 * Dropped a Bridget On Her: In the manga, Λucifer producer Hitoshi Takayama is so pretty that Aine thinks he's yet another Sakuya fangirl at first.
 * Driven to Suicide:
 * Drowning My Sorrows:
 * The Dutiful Son: Yuki is supposed to be this, but he refuses.
 * Even the Guys Want Him: Towa, much to his embarrassment.
 * Executive Meddling: There was a rather ugly fight between Shinjou and the Shogakukan people, as according to her they did NOT inform her that they were making an anime and a movie. It was apparently a corollary to the abuse that Shinjou received from them, alongside other Shogakukan authors.
 * Fan Girl: Sakura-chan, a girl whom Aine befriends but their friendship is strained when she learns about Aine and Sakuya, right when they're going in a rather harsh spot.
 * Flat Character: Poor Santa never gets real development.
 * Fiery Redhead: Santa
 * Five-Man Band:
 * The Hero: Sakuya Ookuchi
 * The Lancer: Yukifumi "Yuki" Todou
 * The Big Guy: Yoshihiko "Santa" Nagai
 * The Smart Guy: Kazuto "Towa" Sakuma and Aine Yukimura
 * The Chick: Atsuro Kiryuu, and Aine does double duty here.
 * Sixth Ranger: Yuka Kiryuu
 * Flipping the Bird: Sakuya, to Ralph. Alongside a nice "Fuck you!"
 * Flirty Stepsiblings: Atsuro and Yuka, in the manga.
 * Forceful Kiss: Ralph, on Aine.
 * Generic Cuteness: Aine seems to think lowly of her looks as she's not as gorgeous as other girls in the media. Miya also has this trouble.
 * Good People Have Good Sex: Though Sakuya's... goodness is very questionable.
 * Happily Married: Yuki, in the manga.
 * Heroic BSOD: Aine suffers a bad one after she
 * Hypnotize the Princess:
 * Hot Dad: Yuki, in the manga.
 * Hot Mom: Yuki's wife Maria.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Sakuya is much taller than Aine. Once they try to share a hot bath and they barely fit into the tub because of Sakuya's size.
 * Intercourse with You: Λucifer's songs. And how.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Yumi to Santa, in the anime.
 * Jerkass: Sakuya. Both in the anime and the manga.
 * Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Towa is androgynous and pretty, Miya is tomboyish and considers self plain-looking
 * Meaningful Nickname: Santa's nickname comes form him being born in Christmas.
 * Names to Know in Anime:
 * TV series: Masaya Matsukaze (Sakuya), Atsuko Enomoto (Aine), Shinichiro Miki (Yuki), Takahiro Sakurai (Santa), Susumu Chiba (Towa), Kenichi Suzumura (Atsuro), Tomoko Ishimura (Yuka), Nobuo Tobita (Ralph), Rio Natsuki (Yumi), Masako Katsuki (Misa), Chiyoko Kawashima (Reiko)...
 * CD drama: Takehito Koyasu (Sakuya), Houko Kuwashima (Aine), Toshiyuki Morikawa (Yuki), Mitsuo Iwata (Santa), Shinichiro Miki (Towa), Hikaru Midorikawa (Atsuro).
 * Near-Rape Experience:
 * Parental Abandonment: Milked for LOTS of drama:
 * Sakuya: ( . Sakuya shows the effects of this and has to deal with meeting his remaining family as an adult.
 * Yuki is disinherited for choosing the band above his family duty of Noh acting, but the family still obviously love each other and turn to each other in times of difficulty.
 * Atsuro
 * Towa is mysteriously estranged, but he reacts strongly to the others not trying to maintain relationships with their parents.
 * Aine's parents are preoccupied with their own relationship difficulties to the point of being criminally negligent, but they do occasionally feel the need to provide appropriate parental censure.
 * Santa's situation is the only one that plays the trope perfectly straight — his parents never appear, and are never mentioned.
 * Promoted Fangirl: Aine, though she didn't start as an Λucifer fangirl.
 * Rape as Drama:
 * Rich Bitch: Misa
 * Romantic False Lead: Several, but Aine's first love Kiminobu fits the most.
 * Secret Keeper: Aine finds out about  and promises to be this.   Whoops.
 * Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Santa and Yuki, Sakuya and Yuki. Atsuro and Towa... sort of
 * Also, Yuki and Maria's son Yukihiko and.
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: Misa, Ayako,
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome: Yuki
 * Tall, Dark and Snarky: Sakuya
 * Tender Tears: Aine is prone to tears, and you would be if you were in her shoes.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Aine and Yuka, though more in the anime.
 * Troubled Fetal Position: Aine, when she doesn't know if she can remain as Λucifer's lyricist.
 * Tsundere: Yuka, a Type B (deredere)
 * When She Smiles: Aine is said to have a very pretty smile. This causes her some angst later
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue
 * Wholesome Crossdresser: Towa
 * Your Cheating Heart: In the anime, Santa was dating the vocalist of his and Yuki's former band, Yumi. When she cheated on him due to emotional abandonment, he and Yuki left the group.
 * Yandere: Sakuya, his first girlfriend Ayako Sakura, Tomoyuki and others.
 * Yoko Oh No: Poor Aine is accosted by fangirls many, many times.
 * Yoko Oh No: Poor Aine is accosted by fangirls many, many times.