Land of the Blindfolded

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"If there were a 'Land of the Blindfolded'... would people understand... the concept of "sight?" My "blindfold"... is defective. Sometimes it slips a little." —--Kanade Otsuka

Mekakushi no Kuni, or Land of the Blindfolded (1998-2004), is a Shojo Manga that revolves around Kanade Otsuka, a young high school student who describes her world as a place where everyone wears "blindfolds." Kanade's blindfold slips off ocassionally, allowing her to see the future whenever she comes into physical contact with someone. But Kanade's not alone with this special ability - a boy named Arou Naitou can see the past but refuses to meddle in people's lives, while another boy named Masahiro Namiki can also see the future, but uses his power only for his self-benefit. All Kanade wants to do is to use her power to help people, but it won't be such an easy task.

Mangaka: Sakura Tsukuba, who also wrote Yoroshiku Master, Penguin Revolution, and several one-shot mangas.

Has a Character Sheet.

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Contains examples of:

• Always Save the Girl: Arou and Namiki are always like this towards Kanade.
• Anguished Declaration of Love: Namiki several times towards Kanade and Kaicho towards Arou.
• Badass Grandpa: Kanade's grandpa.
• Beach Episode: Fan Service? Yes.
• Belligerent Sexual Tension: Implied between Namiki and Kaicho, but it's left open-ended on whether or they'll actually get together or not. See Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends.
• Beta Couple: Eri and Ezawa.
• Betty and Veronica:
  • Arou (Betty) and Namiki (Veronica) for Kanade.
  • Kanade (Betty) and Kaicho (Veronica) for Arou.
• Boy Meets Girl: Kanade meets Arou in the beginning of the first volume when they bump into each other, and later into the same volume Kanade meets Namiki when he saves her from getting smacked by a man she had saved from a car accident she foresaw.
• Breather Episode: Played with. In several chapters, it starts off being a simple Breather Episode, but ends up more serious than meets the eye; an example would be the Beach Episode, which began Lighter and Softer and ended up being the gradual start of the major arc involving Arou's power and his past. Played straight with the chapter where Kanade and Arou share their First Kiss.
• Character Development
• Character Focus
• Chick Magnet: Arou, Namiki, and Ezawa.
• Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends/Pair the Spares: Implied between Namiki and Kaicho, but it's left open-ended on whether or they'll actually get together or not.
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Arou and Namiki (usually Played for Laughs) towards Kanade.
• Cool Big Sis: Eri and Kaicho.
• Dance of Romance: Namiki and Kaicho.
• Darker and Edgier: As the story moves towards Arou's power and his past.
• Disappeared Dad: It's never mentioned where Kanade's father is. Arou's dad is never around for the most part.
• Hair Decorations: Surprisingly averted. Except on a few occasions where Kanade has her hair tied up.
• Everyone Calls Her Kaicho: We never learn Kaicho's first name, but it's revealed her surname is Someya.
• Expressive Hair
• First Girl Wins: Arou.
• Five-Man Band:
  • The Heroine: Kanade.
  • The Lancer: Namiki.
  • The Smart Guy: Arou.
  • The Big Guy: Eri.
  • The Chick/The Sixth Ranger: Ezawa.
  • The Sixth Ranger: Kaicho.
• Foreshadowing: Whenever Kanade or Namiki gets a glimpse of the future.
• Genki Girl: Eri.
• Glomp
• Good Parents: Kanade's mom, who is very doting and wise, but she is very keen at reminding Kanade to study for her exams. Arou's dad counts too, but he just isn't always around and makes certain harsh choices (such as taking away anything that belonged to Arou's mother following her death so Arou - when he was only a child - won't unhealthily keep following his mother in his memories, which kept eating him away in the process) for Arou's sake. Sanae, Arou's mother definitely counts.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Arou and Namiki towards Kanade 24/7, rarely Kanade towards Arou.
• Green Thumb: Arou. Sou (Arou's uncle) and Sanae (Arou's mother) had lived in the mountains and grew their own vegetables prior to her meeting Gorou (Arou's dad). This makes Kanade and Eri believe that Arou's gardening skills must be genetic.
• Grumpy Bear/Sour Supporter: Namiki, at first.
• The Heart: Kanade.
• Hopeless Suitor: Namiki towards Kanade and Kaicho towards Arou.
• Hot Springs Episode: Including Fan Service... of sorts. When the hot spring labels for men and woman get mistakenly changed twice, Kanade steps into the hot spring and accidently sees Arou leaving the hot spring... naked. And then when Namiki steps into the hot spring, he accidently sees Kanade leaving the hot spring as she reaches for her towel... naked. Hahaha... fun night.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Kanade.
• Indirect Kiss: Namiki-san does this purposely to Kanade when he takes a lick of her ice cream. In retaliation, Arou lets Marota lick Namiki on the lips as a "disinfection."
• The Ingenue: Kanade.
• Jerkass -> Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Namiki. He starts off as this, though has his redeeming qualities by helping out Kanade (and a lesser extent, Arou). However, it seemed like he was trying to ruin Kanade's and Arou's relationship during Volume 4, where the two kept miscommunicating each other, but from the end of that same volume onward is when he really starts gradually developing that Hidden Heart of Gold. Played straight with Ezawa.
• Just Friends: Kanade and Namiki, unfortunately for Namiki.
• Kuudere: Although Kaicho seemed cold and harsh in her debut, it's soon shown through her interactions with Kanade and the others that she's actually a nice person and that she's only serious about her responsibilities as the student council president.
• Ladykiller in Love: Ezawa, who becomes more faithful to Eri.
• Lethal Chef: Eri.
• Loads and Loads of Characters: The cover of Chapter 36, which shows all of the supporting characters in the entire series so far, whether they were recurring characters or one-shot characters, shown here.
• Love Triangle:
  • Arou/Kanade/Namiki
  • Kanade/Arou/Kaicho
• Loving a Shadow: A platonic example between Arou and Kaicho, who resembles his mother.
• Missing Mom: Arou's mother.
• Moment Killer: Namiki-san towards Arou/Kanade.
• Morality Pet: Kanade towards Arou and Namiki.
• Motifs: Blindfolds and flowers, among others.
• Official Couple: Kanade and Arou, Eri and Ezawa.
• One Head Taller: Pretty much all of the guys.
• Oranyan: Namiki and his younger brother Junya.
• Our Ghosts Are Different: A panda ghost? NICE.
• Plucky Girl: Kanade.
• Poor Communication Kills: In Volume 4, Kanade becomes a Stepford Smiler after she foresees Kaicho confessing to Arou and doesn't know what to do about it. Because she tells Namiki-san about it instead of Arou, Namiki leads Arou into believing that Kanade doesn't trust him enough. The situation only worsens whenever Kanade is disheartened to see Arou and Kaicho together. They all eventually get better.
• The Quiet One: Ezawa.
• Relationship Upgrade: Kanade and Arou, in the Volume 2.
• The Rival: Namiki.
• Romantic Two-Girl Friendship:
  • Kanade and Eri. Complete with a flashback chapter of both Kanade telling Eri she liked her (and Eri would tell her later on that that was the same time she started liking Kanade as well).

Kanade: Eri! I like you! Thank you! Eri: Ha ha! That sounds so much like a confession of love!

• • And then again:

Eri: Kanade, I like you very much! That's why I have always... always... been taking notice of you! I've always... always... liked you a lot!

• Savvy Guy, Energetic Girl: Ezawa and Eri.
• Shojo
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Ezawa and Eri.
• Ship Tease: Namiki and Kaicho. Chapters 31 hints at Kaicho developing feelings for Namiki, and in Chapter 38 Namiki begins to reciprocate as well, though Word of God narrates at the end that Namiki and Kaicho aren't the type to easily become a couple, and it's left open-ended whether or not Namiki and Kaicho will get together.
• Slice of Life
• Story Arc: Usually per volume, though Arou's past is one of the most major arcs in the series.
• Student Council President: Kaicho.
• Supreme Chef: Arou.
• Team Mom: Eri towards Kanade.
• Team Pet: Namiki's dog, Marota.
• Troubled but Cute: Arou and Namiki.
• Tsundere: Kaicho.
• Three Amigos: Kanade, Arou, and Namiki.
• The Unfavorite: Namiki, whose parents feared Namiki for his power.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Arou and Namiki.
• With Friends Like These...: Arou and Namiki.