Chō Kuse ni Narisō

Nagisa Shiratori is the heir to a judo training hall that has fallen on such hard times that their only pupils are animals from a nearby wildlife park. In a desperate bit to save her heritage, she reveals that she is going to go out into the world as an idol singer and find "strong men" to join her school. The first part of her plan succeeds beyond her wildest dreams: she is almost instantly elevated to the status of Japan's top idol despite an utter lack of anything even remotely resembling musical talent. Yet this dooms the second part of her plan, because her fame and schedule prevent her from finding the disciples she seeks.

So Nagisa horrifies her manager by chopping off her trademark pigtails and enrolling at one of the worst schools in Tokyo as a boy, under her given name of Nagisa Ootori (Shiratori is a stage name). There she runs into the toughest gang at the school, and after she soundly beats them they (believing her to be a man) recruit her to help them confront a gang from a rival school. Unfortunately, when she sees the leader of the rival gang, a handsome boy named Nosaka-kun, she instantly falls madly in love with him. Before the fight can begin, Nagisa is whisked away to a record signing, where she encounters Nosaka again, who is so utterly smitten with Nagisa Shiratori that he proposes marriage on the spot.

The next day the disguised Nagisa fights an inconclusive duel with Nosaka that ends in a stalemate, and with Nosaka declaring her a worthy foe he looks forward to fighting again. He later reveals to the female Nagisa that he too in on a quest to recruit disciples for a failing martial arts school, and is meeting with a similar lack of success. The next day, in their final confrontation, Nosaka discovers Nagisa's secret due to an ill-placed grab maneuver. Declaring he would rather love Nagisa than fight her, he agrees to keep her secret and they run off, with the school toughs and both their disapproving fathers in hot pursuit.

After that, Nagisa continues her double life, showing up at school some of the time when her manager cannot force her to attend to her idol responsibilities. Meanwhile, the world she lives in gets weirder and weirder, as more and more bizarre things happen in her proximity.

Nagisa Ootori/Nagisa Shiratori

Voiced by: Chinami Nishimura

Nagisa is the young, pink-pigtailed protagonist of the story. While she loves to sing and dance (and is very good as well) she says that she loves to "toss people around" more. Her strength and fighting ability are overwhelmingly large, and she uses them on both people and the wildlife she trains in her dojo. She is very ambitious and isn't afraid to go after what she wants.

Nosaka Akira

Voiced by: Nobutoshi Hayashi

Nagisa's love interest, confidante and secret fiancé. He is quite devoted but he is impulsive and protective to a fault, despite the fact that Nagisa is in less need of protection than anyone he has ever known.

Momoko Prisila

Voiced by: Chieko Honda

A wealthy dilettante who is determined to become the greatest actress in the world and supplant Nagisa as the most popular idol in Japan (one of her more "rational" goals is to be more famous than Audrey Hepburn.) As part of this process, she is "building a repertoire" of roles she can assumes. At least twice an episode, Momoko can be counted upon to show up at a random time, do something incredibly bizarre, and then leave, usually being driven off in her stretch limousine by the young man who adoringly follows her everywhere to the praises of a quartet of identical cheerleaders who might be robots. There are strong hints that she may have the power to literally manipulate and warp reality at will through her method acting.

Kumakichi

A large blue bear who is one of Nagisa's best friends from her dojo, who now lives with her in Tokyo and occasionally takes part in her act. Contrary to anime-fan expectations, Kumakichi actually is a bear and is usually incapable of speech.

Makoto Naketake

Voiced by: Kouji Tsujitani

Nagisa's long-suffering manager who fears that her irresponsibility is going to cost him his job. He poses as a teenage boy to enroll with Nagisa at the school so he can keep her under observation, a task that usually proves futile. Even though he continues to remain in the idol agency's employ, he continues to worry about it to extreme lengths, even developing a song of his own called "The Worry Blues" as a running gag.

Tsunada-kun

The leader of the hoodlums at Nagisa's school, an ardent fan of Nagisa the idol singer, and a combination friend and antagonist for Nagisa the martial artist. He is bald, with a head shaped like a volcano that erupts on occasion, as a result of a childhood accident. Despite his rough appearance and speech, he is from a rich family and is surprisingly intelligent and resourceful. He is completely unable to decipher Nagisa's secret despite the fact that she does a poor job of impersonating a male. As a result of this, he completely misinterprets her relationship with his bitter rival Nosaka. Like Nosaka, he is very protective of Nagisa Shiratori and will attempt to charge to the rescue if he believes she is in danger.

Red Beetle

An international agency/conspiracy that keeps an iron grip on the market for idols on every nation on Earth except Japan. They frequently send rivals forth to break Nagisa's grip on the hearts of the Japanese public, who always fail despite Nagisa's lack of interest in defending her position on top.

Kamioka Ryuu

Voiced by: Akira Ishida

The Alligators of Tokyo

A group of juvenile alligators who have somehow managed to become the pets of most of Japan's female idol community. Nagisa becomes involved with them and is persuaded to stage a Benefit concert to return them to their native habitat in Florida, much to the chagrin of the gators, who find themselves outmatched in the wild and return to Tokyo.

All but the last episode aired in 1994:

1. Born! Fighting Idol?! aired April 5
2. Duel! Thunder of Love aired April 12
3. Nagisa’s Date! aired April 19
4. You Might as Well Give up! The Revenge! aired April 26
5. He is a Teacher aired May 3
6. Pretty Girl Flower Group aired May 10
7. Please, Cupid of Love! aired May 17
8. Under the Giant Cherry Tree aired May 24
9. The Beautiful Girl Team is Here aired May 31
10. Photo! This is Nagisa! aired June 7
11. Idol of Japan aired June 14
12. I Love Wani (Alligators) aired June 28
13. Ah, My Former Youth aired July 5
14. Fun Kidnap Hong Kong Gang aired July 12
15. Do You Like Sexy Girls? aired July 19
16. Go For Your Goal aired July 26
17. boku no nagisa, watashi no nagisa aired August 2
18. shuku kaikou ! hijiri ( SENTO ) JURIANA gakuen aired August 9
19. Finally Here! I am Momoko aired August 16
20. GOGO! GOURUDO aired August 23
21. deta ! kagemusha, watashi wa nagisa ? aired August 30
22. arashi no kagaijugyou aired September 6
23. naite kudasai MOMOKO densetsu aired September 13
24. SUTAA tanjou ! ore wa kakuda da ! aired September 20
25. Nagisa's Mysterious Country aired September 27
26. hana no o-edo no SHINDERERA aired October 4
27. THE MUUBII . AIDORU wa mou shinde iru ! aired October 11
28. THE TAKOYAKI ! aired October 18
29. KOARAMASUKU . RITAANZU aired October 25
30. Nagisa of Two!? aired November 1
31. ai wa niji no kanata ni aired November 8
32. ansatsushirei wo anata ni aired November 15
33. kaze to tomo ni tsubureta ( zenpen ) aired November 22
34. kaze to tomo ni tsubureta ( kouhen ) aired November 29
35. Peter Pan Syndrome aired December 6
36. Super World Idol Legend Part-time 1 aired December 13
37. Super World Idol Legend Part-time 2 aired December 20
38. Super World Idol Legend Part-time 3 aired December 27
39. Last of Idol aired January 3

Opening Third Love

Sang by Junko Inoue Lyrics by Ayuko Ishikawa Composed by Hiroshi Sakamoto

Ending Ushinaenaino (I can't lose you)

Sang by Junko Inoue Lyrics by Ayuko Ishikawa Composed by Hiroshi Sakamoto

Song Inserts

Chō kuse ni narisō (I'll make a habit)

Sang by Chinami Nakamura Lyrics by Tetsuya Endo Composed by Hiroshi Sakamoto

Suki ni nattara saikyō (If You Love Me The Strongest)

Sang by Chinami Nakamura Lyrics by Tetsuya Endo Composed by Hiroshi Sakamoto

Nagisa no serenāde

Sang by Chinami Nakamura Lyrics by Tetsuya Endo Composed by Hiroshi Sakamoto

Yume no fūsen (Dream Balloons)

Sang by Chinami Nakamura Lyrics by Tetsuya Endo Composed by Hiroshi Sakamoto

ALBUMS

All albums were released by King Records.

Chō Kuse Ni Narisō Shiratori Nagisa ON STAGE Released on December 21, 1994, KICA-223 BUY

Chō Kuse Ni Narisō Secret story Released on February 22, 1995, KICA-231 BUY

• (in Japanese) All Cinema entry on Chou Kuse ni Narisou
• Chō Kuse ni Narisō (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia