Little House With an Orange Roof



The Brady Bunch...

Shoutarou Ninomiya receives an award for fifteen years of being the only employee at his company never to take a vacation or day off. He rushes home excitedly to show the certificate to his wife... who hands him divorce papers and the care of their two sons. Hoping it will make his wife forgive him and come back, he quickly buys the eponymous orange-roofed house.

Cut to the beautiful Natsumi Okajima and her two daughters coming back from a trip to visit her sister. Entering their house, they find a strange woman stepping out of the shower, who promptly runs into the bedroom crying "Your wife and kids are back early!" Now, freshly divorced and wanting to start anew, she splurges the settlement money on a cute house with an orange roof...

Shoutarou and his sons, and Natsumi and her daughters both show up to move in on the same day. Turns out they've both been tricked by a Shady Real Estate Agent and bought the same house. Unable to locate the con or get help from the police and with nowhere else to go, they have no choice but to temporarily move in together.

A manga by Yamahana Noriyuki, the author of Yume De Aetara, it follows the gradual knitting together of two half-families, and the growing sparks between Natsumi and Shoutarou, along with his attempts to readjust from a workaholic to a family man. A good read for anyone old enough to feel the usual high school romance fare isn't really relevant to them anymore.

This eight-volume series provides examples of:

 * Accidental Pervert - It's hinted on one or two occasions that Shoutarou has accidentally found his way into an occupied bathroom. While hilarity may have ensued, the audience doesn't get to see any of it. Hear, yes. See, no.
 * Almost Kiss - Several occasions (e.g., chapter 23).
 * Author Avatar - More or less confirmed in the author talk pages.
 * Badass Adorable - Ryota, facing off against a train trivia champion and winning.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension - Subverted with Youta and Rina. They may not be a couple, but they have the dynamics.
 * Big Friendly Dog - Inverted. The gang has a beagle puppy.
 * Bratty Teenage Daughter - Rina kind of polarizes fans between whether she's cute and funny or annoying.
 * Breaking the Fourth Wall / Self-Deprecation - In chapter 54, when Shoutarou hears that Natsumi has been gypped into working at a hostess bar, he explodes, "What is that 3rd-rate mangaka thinking, doing something so crude?" We see Noriyuki at the corner of the page, looking irked and going "..."
 * Noriyuki puts in another self-cameo appearance as the third contestant in the trivia contest, and not even managing to get a single question right.
 * Character Development - All of the new formed family get some, and some side characters too; but Shoutarou is the most obvious one, notice in the begining how dorky and not quite dependable man he is; later he becomes the very definition of a man you can rely on, it even shows in his physique as he suddenly got quite bulkier than in the early chapters.
 * Cheerful Child - The two youngest, Ryo and Luna, fit the description posted on that trope's page.
 * Children Raise You - Shoutarou quickly learns how little prepared he is to be a real parent, though he gets better over time.
 * Christmas Cake - Averted very hard. The female lead is in her early thirties.
 * Daddy Didn't Show - We've had two opportunities for Natsumi's ex-husband to show up, one of them being when his own daughter asked him to.
 * Death Glare - An excellent representative example is delivered by Rina and Luna on Natsumi's aunts-in-law in chapter 47.
 * Diving Save - Done on two occasions so far.
 * Dogged Nice Guy - Averted, at first because Shoutarou is hung up on trying to win back his ex, then later because he's genuinely respectful of Natsumi's refusal, even after she starts displaying obvious hints she's changed her mind.
 * Extreme Doormat - For a Tsundere, Natsumi has serious problems saying "no", especially when challenged to "prove" she's worthy to marry Shoutarou. This has led to her being groped by slimy salarymen in a cabaret, and being utilized for slave labor by her in-laws, among other things.
 * Fan Service - Of the sort that shares the philosophy of Scenery Porn and pictures of bunnies and kittens and puppies... and the sort that likes red-hot naked MILFs.
 * First Girl Wins - Subverted by Shoutarou's ex and played straight by Natsumi.
 * Foot Popping - Natsumi does this.
 * Give Geeks a Chance - Shoutarou looks every inch the nerdy electronics store manager he is... and the chicks dig him.
 * Gossipy Hens - The neighborhood housewives do this, but it's somewhat low-key.
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen - Natsumi's ex. The best the audience ever gets is a silohouette. Possibly a Shout-Out to Maison Ikkoku.
 * Heel Face Turn -
 * His and Hers - With family names.
 * Hot Shonen Mom - Natsumi all the way. Gets lampshaded when her neighbors remark that she doesn't have the body of a woman that's born two children.
 * Japanese Christian - Natsumi's mother. The author is, as well, though he has a somewhat more relaxed attitude towards premarital sex than traditional Christian doctrine teaches. Some readers also felt he took the forgiveness message past reasonable boundaries (see Karma Houdini below.)
 * Jaw Drop - Played with. Shoutarou's coat falls off of his shoulders on its own on one particularly stunning occasion.
 * Like an Old Married Couple - Rina and Youta's constant bickering gives this impression to their classmates.
 * Love Bubbles - Used occasionally (more of late), and at one point aided by an excellent planetarium set.
 * Love Triangle - Kinda. Several women throw themselves at Shoutarou and don't easily take no for an answer. He's firmly devoted to Natsumi, but the potential temptation does cause her some anxiety.
 * Magnetic Girlfriend - Sort of; there aren't very many, and the protagonists have not defined their relationship as such, although it becomes more blatant in Shoutarou's case in later chapters.
 * Mama Bear - Natsumi displays this in chapter 39, when she defends the boys from attacking crows (which have been causing a major nuisance in the neighborhood).
 * Married to the Job - Shoutarou's seemingly single-minded devotion to his job drives his first wife to seek a divorce.
 * Moment Killer - At the end of chapter 21. Unusually, the person doing the interrupting immediately realizes what she's done and attempts to remove herself from sight.
 * Multiple Demographic Appeal
 * Obnoxious In-Laws - Natsumi's ex-sister-in-laws take this out of Played for Laughs territory and run toward the Complete Monster border in many fans' eyes.
 * One-Sided Arm Wrestling - Natsumi vs Construction Worker
 * Only Six Faces - A few more than that, perhaps, but this is no facial menagerie.
 * Only Known by Their Nickname - To certain extents, mostly in the case of the kids. Fans have taken to calling Natsumi by her abbreviated name, Natchi, since it gets more traffic.
 * Parent with New Paramour - In the most backwards way imaginable. Ties in with the Puppy Love below.
 * Replacement Goldfish - Something of a main plot element.
 * Rich Bitch - A recent addition to the cast, this one bearing shades of Sayoko from Ah! My Goddess.
 * Seinen - This manga is technically aimed at an audience of 18-40-year-old males, but sometimes it can feel like a guy-friendly Shojo piece and has its share of female readers.
 * Second Love - The general theme of the manga.
 * S/he Is Not My Girl/Boyfriend - Apparently Rina and Youta spend a lot of time screaming this at their friends.
 * Shipper on Deck - The neighbor ladies ship Shoutaro/Natsumi.
 * Sliding Scale of Idealism vs. Cynicism - Guess which end this story is firmly planted in?
 * Solomon Divorce - Averted, as Shoutaro and Natsumi both have full custody and Natsumi's keeping full custody is a plot point.
 * Tsundere- Natsumi is a Type B, thanks to years of silently enduring her previous husband's infidelity. Rina's a concentrated, distilled Type A.
 * Unwanted Harem - Inverted. Natchi has a small horde of admirers, but this doesn't have much effect on the plot. Used more with Shoutarou, who subverts it by gently but very firmly rebuffing the ladies that keep throwing themselves at him.