Mirmo!

The main protagonist, a love fairy named Mirmo (Mirumo) appears. Katie Minami (Kaede Minami in the original Japanese versions), is a cheerful and energetic eighth grader who is shy around her male classmates, making it difficult for her to date. One day, on her way home from school, she walks into a mysterious shop and buys a blue cocoa mug. When she arrives at home, she peeks into the bottom of the mug and discovers an engraved note which says, "If you read this message aloud while pouring hot cocoa into the mug, a love fairy ("muglox") will appear and grant your every wish." The skeptical but curious Katie follows the directions and announces her wish to date Dylan Yuki (Setsu Yuuki in the Japanese versions), her crush. Arrive Mirmo. At first she was afraid of him but later understood that he was a muglox. Katie soon finds out that Mirmo prefers eating chocolate and creating mischief over helping Katie.

It turns out Mirmo is prince of the muglox world. Horrified at the prospect of having to marry Rima (Rirumu), his princess bride-to-be, Mirmo escaped the muglox world. Hot on his heels, however, are Rima, Yatch (Yashichi) the bounty hunter, Murumo (Mirmo's brother), and many other muglox as well.

The main characters of Mirmo! are four human teenagers and their mugloxes, or love fairies. The muglox Mirmo has been assigned the task of granting Katie Minami's wishes, though he spends most of his time eating chocolate and running away from Rima, a female muglox assigned to Dylan Yuki, the boy Katie is infatuated with. Yatch, Mirmo's muglox archrival, is assigned to by Azumi Hidaka, a girl who also loves Dylan and is jealous of Katie. Mirmo's brother, Murumo, is assigned to Kyle Matsutake, a boy who falls in love with Katie. The muglox fairies use musical instruments as their magical tools. Later on in the show two new characters, Koichi Sumita and Haruka Morishita, enter the race of love for Dylan and Katie's hearts. Then they get their very own muglox partners as well - Papii and Panta, respectively.

Toradora!

Toradora!'s story begins with the male protagonist Ryūji Takasu who is frustrated at trying to look his best as he enters his second year of high school. Despite his gentle personality, his eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent, so he is utterly hopeless about his chances of getting a girlfriend anytime soon, and does not have many close friends either. After being greeted by his hungover mother in the morning, Ryūji goes to school and is happy to find that he gets to be in the same class with his best friend Yūsaku Kitamura and a girl he has a crush on, Minori Kushieda. However, it is then that he unexpectedly knocks into "the school's most dangerous animal of the highest risk level"—Taiga Aisaka—who just happens to also be in his class, and is a good friend of Minori.

Taiga has a negative attitude towards others and will not hesitate to snap at people. After meeting Ryūji, she takes an instant dislike of him. Taiga comes from a rich family, but she has moved out to live on her own due to family issues. She is coincidentally living in an apartment next to Ryūji's. When Ryūji discovers that Taiga has a crush on Yūsaku, and Taiga finds out about Ryūji's affections towards Minori, Ryūji suggests that they cooperate to win the objects of their affections. Taiga exploits the fact that Ryūji will do anything to get closer to Minori. She makes him her personal servant, getting him to do all her household chores (cooking and cleaning). Taiga spends a lot of her time over at his house, so much that she could almost be considered a member of his family. Since Ryūji spends a lot of time with Taiga, he has opened up to her world and to a side of her that most people do not see. The two also try to help each other improve the way people view them. However people they know from school start to become curious about their strange relationship and rumors begin to spread about them behind their backs.

Ryūji Takasu (高須 竜児, Takasu Ryūji)

Voiced by: Junji Majima

The series' main protagonist, Ryūji is a seventeen-year-old high school student in his second year, class 2-C. Due to biological inheritance, his eyes make him look like an intimidating delinquent and causes many misunderstandings. He lives in a fatherless family with just his mother, and due to this, Ryūji has learned to be self-sufficient. He is good at cooking and keeping everything in his house clean (nearly to the point of obsession), and also excels at sewing. He holds a crush on Minori Kushieda, a girl his age in his class. He has a pet parakeet named "Inko-chan" ("inko" literally means "parakeet" in Japanese). Ryūji often helps Taiga with domestic chores which she is otherwise unable to perform. At school, he is known as "the only person able to stop the palmtop tiger", referring to Taiga's nickname. While initially seen as intimidating by most others, he makes more friends. His feelings and relationship to Taiga begin to change as he spends more time with her throughout the series.

Taiga Aisaka (逢坂 大河, Aisaka Taiga)

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya

Taiga is a girl in Ryūji's class. She has a well-regulated and beautiful appearance though is unable to stomach company from others. Due to her often snapping at others in brutal ways and her short stature, she is given the nickname "Palmtop Tiger" (手乗りタイガー, Te Nori Taigā). Her under-developed body and the added nickname has given her a complex which in turn serves to give her a negative attitude and facial expression. Essentially, Taiga gets upset easily and is considerably clumsy. Due to her cute looks (described as a doll by Ryūji), she often gets confessions by boys her age, but she turns down every one of them. She comes from a rich family but due to bad family relations, she has taken to living on her own. However, since she came from a privileged household, she does not know how to do any domestic chores. When she meets Ryūji and learns of his domestic talents, she ends up relying on Ryūji to clean up after her. Aside from sleeping in her own house, and going to school, she spends most of her time at Ryūji's house; so much so that she is almost considered a member of his family. At the beginning of the story, she is infatuated with his best friend Yūsaku Kitamura and gets nervous every time he appears around her. Due to this, Taiga and Ryūji team up to help each other get into a relationship with each other's best friend. Though she treats Ryūji badly at first, her feelings begin to change as she spends more time with him.

Minori Kushieda (櫛枝 実乃梨, Kushieda Minori)

Voiced by: Yui Horie

Minori is a girl in Ryūji's class, and is a close friend to Taiga. She is also known by the pet name "Minorin" (as a form of friendly affection). In contrast to the violent nature of Taiga, Minori is always smiling and cheerful. She is very athletic and is the captain of the girl's softball club at school, though at the same time she holds many part time jobs. She is a glutton when it comes to food, but is also constantly combating with dieting, calling herself a 'diet warrior'. She gets a thrill out of being scared. Despite her air-headed tendencies, she is very perceptive, and is one of the few people to see Ryūji for the gentle person he is, and is also not fooled by Ami's act of innocence.

Yūsaku Kitamura (北村 祐作, Kitamura Yūsaku)

Voiced by: Hirofumi Nojima

Yūsaku is a male student in Ryūji's class, and is his best friend. He is the vice-president of the student council, the class representative, and captain of the boy's softball club at school. Yūsaku wears glasses, and has a diligent personality. He thinks he is poor at talking to girls, though Ryūji observes otherwise. At first, he has some feelings to Taiga and eventually confesses to her that he loves her, but Taiga herself rejects Yūsaku's confession of his feelings. During his time as the Vice President of the student council, he eventually falls in love with the student council president, Sumire Kanō. A running gag is that he will appear out of nowhere behind Taiga and Ryūji when they are discussing a "plan of attack" to get their crushes. Like Minori, he has an unusual personality, but oftentimes it is an expression of his friendship and appreciation.

Ami Kawashima (川嶋 亜美, Kawashima Ami)

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura

Ami is Yūsaku's childhood friend who transfers into his class midway through their second year of high school. She is very beautiful and even works as a model and is seen as the mature one of the group. Though after she transfers school, she temporarily stops modeling. However, she still continues to go to the gym readily and maintains a slim figure. She is always kind and generous towards others, though this is merely a deception. In truth, she is arrogant and will not hesitate to use abusive language towards others. During her first meeting with Taiga, Ami shows her true colors, but the tables are turned when Taiga counterattacks by slapping her. Since then, Ami and Taiga have been enemies, Taiga referring to her as Stupid Chihuahua, though Ami still sometimes envies Taiga since she can always be honest. Ami has a love interest in Ryūji, asking him if he would love her real self and give her a second chance. She has a deep understanding of the relationship situation going on between Minori, Ryūji, Taiga, and herself.

Yasuko Takasu (高須 泰子, Takasu Yasuko)

Voiced by: Sayaka Ōhara

Yasuko is Ryūji's thirty-three-year-old mother, though she refers to herself as eternally twenty-three; she has large, F-cup-sized breasts. Though she tells Ryūji his father died before he was born, the truth is they were never married; he left her before Ryūji was born, and she raised her son by herself. She works at a hostess bar named Bishamontengoku where she goes by the name "Mirano" (魅羅乃), and single-handedly supports her two-member family financially. However, she has a childish personality and since she works, she entrusts the household chores to Ryūji. She instantly takes a liking to Taiga and already regards her as a member of her family, getting depressed when Taiga will not appear for dinner. However, she does get angry when woken up early. Despite the childish behavior, Yasuko proves to have a rather good insight of other people.

Yuri Koigakubo (恋ヶ窪 ゆり, Koigakubo Yuri)

Voiced by: Rie Tanaka

Yuri is the twenty-nine-year-old homeroom teacher of Ryūji's class, though she turns thirty in the fifth volume of the light novels. She likes to do things at her own pace and is timid towards Taiga's way of speaking out. Since her twenties are almost over, Yuri is in a hurry to get married soon and she even tries to dress well so as to be able to get into a relationship quicker. After she becomes thirty without getting married, she develops a twisted and depressed personality, which does not help that when Taiga talks about her, she emphases her single status. She has an interest in real estate.

Sumire Kanō (狩野 すみれ, Kanō Sumire)

Voiced by: Yūko Kaida

Sumire is the student council president and always manages to get the top grades in school; she is in fact a scholarship student and has horrible eyesight. She has a strong-minded personality which she depends on to be a figure those will follow. Her younger sister is Sakura and her parents own a supermarket. Sumire likes Yūsaku and as a result is the object of a one-sided hostility from Taiga. She later studies abroad in America as she wants to become an astronaut, and because of this, she rejects Yūsaku's confession of his feelings.

Sakura Kanō (狩野 さくら, Kanō Sakura)

Voiced by: Kana Asumi

Sakura is Sumire's younger sister who attends the same high school as Sumire though her grades are horrible. She can unconsciously flirt with people, and like her sister, she hates snakes.

Kōta Tomiie (富家 幸太, Tomiie Kōta)

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto

Kōta is a first-year student who is the main character to Toradora Spin-off!. He is generally unhappy about his life. He works on the student council in general affairs, and gets good grades.

Hisamitsu Noto (能登 久光, Noto Hisamitsu)

Voiced by: Kazuyuki Okitsu

Hisamitsu is a male student in Ryūji's class who wears glasses. He was also in Ryūji's class the previous year and is on good terms with him. Noto begins to develop feelings for Maya Kihara following an argument they had during the class winter ski trip.

Kōji Haruta (春田 浩次, Haruta Kōji)

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino

Kōji is a male student in Ryūji's class who has long hair and is on good terms with him. He is regarded as a class 'idiot' and that opinion is deepened by his poor school marks and overly energetic behavior. His childish pranks often target Taiga and he has been the victim of her violent outbursts.

Maya Kihara (木原 麻耶, Kihara Maya)

Voiced by: Ai Nonaka

Maya is a female student in Ryūji's class who often hangs out with Nanako. She is a kogal. She has a crush on Yūsaku, and she circuitously opposes the idea of Taiga and Yūsaku being a couple, although she wants Taiga and Ryūji to be together.

Nanako Kashii (香椎 奈々子, Kashii Nanako)

Voiced by: Momoko Ishikawa

Nanako is a female student in Ryūji's class who often hangs out with Maya and Ami.

Kuroma (黒間)

Kuroma is the thirty-four-year-old unmarried gym teacher at Ryūji's school. He enjoys strength training and improving his muscle mass.

Danny Phantom

Danny Phantom centers on the life and adventures of 14-year-old Danny Fenton, an unpopular boy attending Casper High. He lives with eccentric ghost hunting parents and an overbearing older sister, Jazz. Upon pressure of his best friends, Sam and Tucker, he wanders inside his parent's Ghost Portal. He accidentally presses a button that zaps his entire body, infusing his DNA with ectoplasm, transforming him into a half ghost boy. Danny, who calls himself 'Danny Phantom' in ghost form, develops the ability to fly, become invisible, and turn his body intangible. Over time Danny becomes more powerful and develops other powers which he has to learn to control.

Danny panics over his ghost powers at first, but he soon realizes that he can use his powers to protect his town from ill-meaning ghosts. After the defeat of a Lunch Lady Ghost, Danny turns to the life of a superhero, using his powers to rid his hometown of Amity Park from the various ghosts (either entities/monsters or spirits of the deceased from another dimension) that plague it. Danny's best friends, technophile Tucker Foley and goth-minded ultra-recyclo vegetarian Samantha (Sam) Manson support Danny and help him with his ghost fighting. Aside from a variety of ghosts, Danny faces threats of many calibers, including vengeful ghost hunter Valerie Gray, other half ghost/rival Vlad Masters/Plasmius, and even his own parents--being ghost hunters, they view Danny Phantom (and any ghosts) as a menace to society. In addition, Danny tries to keep his secret safe from his classmates, teachers, and family. Throughout it all, Danny slowly realizes his own potential and his purpose, while his worlds - both the Ghost Zone and Earth - slowly begin to accept him as their defender.

• Daniel "Danny" Fenton a.k.a. "Danny Phantom" (voiced by David Kaufman) The titular character of the show. Danny is a shy 14-year-old boy who gained ghost powers from a lab accident. He later chooses to use these powers to fight against malevolent ghosts, which have begun to regularly escape the mysterious Ghost Zone and plague his hometown of Amity Park.

• Tucker Foley (voiced by Rickey D'Shon Collins): Also known as Tuck, he is a lighthearted teenager obsessed with technology and meat. One of Danny's best friends along with Sam. When not obsessing over gadgets, he obsesses over girls. Like Sam, he shares in Danny's secret and often helps battle ghosts back into the Ghost Zone. He generally provides comic relief.

• Samantha "Sam" Manson (voiced by Grey DeLisle): Danny's other best friend. Though wealthy, she chooses to hide her family's monetary success (for quite some time), in favor of being liked for who she is. A strident individualist, Sam is a practitioner of an overly dramatized fictional form of vegetarianism called "Ultra Recyclo-Vegetarianism", a frequent protester for such things as animal rights, and a self-proclaimed goth. She has a secret crush on Danny.

• Jasmine "Jazz" Fenton (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessey): Danny's know-it-all (and somewhat overprotective and perhaps overly helpful) older sister; a smart and highly sociable overachiever who also thinks herself as an adult. Jazz considers her parents' obsession with ghosts as a sign of needing psychological help. She discovers that Danny has ghost powers in the episode "My Brother's Keeper", but she does not reveal her knowledge of it (until "The Ultimate Enemy"), in favor of waiting until he is ready to talk about it with her.

• Jack Fenton (voiced by Rob Paulsen): Jazz and Danny's father. Maddie's husband. Jack has an obsession with destroying ghosts and expresses hate for them. He blindly goes by the belief that all ghosts are evil and not worth living, even Danny Phantom. He is generally incompetent in nature, but when provoked, can be an effective fighter. Jack cares about his family but is oblivious to Danny's powers. He also spends his time inventing gadgets that do not always work and is almost never seen without his orange jumpsuit.

• Maddie Fenton (voiced by Kath Soucie) is Jazz and Danny's mother. She is extremely smart and like her husband, finds all ghosts evil. Instead of destroying ghosts, however, she usually aims to dissect them. She is an excellent fighter.

• Vladimir "Vlad" Masters/Vlad Plasmius (voiced by Martin Mull): Danny's arch-enemy and a multi-billionaire. An old acquaintance of Jack and Maddie Fenton and one other known human-ghost hybrid like Danny. Vlad's ghost powers were thrust upon him by an accident with a Ghost Zone Portal prototype, which hospitalized him for many years with ecto-acne. He blames Jack and is resentful that his old "friend" married the love of his life, Maddie. Unlike Danny, his ghost powers are considerably more developed, and he has used them for personal gain.
• Daniel "Dan" Phantom: Danny and Vlad's mixed ghost halves due to an unfortunate choice on Danny's part. He is ten years older than 14 year old Danny and was put away in a Fenton Thermos at the end of "Ultimate Enemy". He is currently in this thermos in Clockwork's Tower.

Fushigi Yūgi

Middle school student Miaka Yūki is under a lot of pressure to pass the entrance exam for the competitive Jonan Academy. Her friends do not believe she will get in, but she is determined to because her best friend, Yui Hongo, has applied for the same school and she wants them both to go to the school together. While at the library one day, Miaka and Yui come into contact with a strange book there, known as The Universe of the Four Gods. As a result of reading this book, they are then transported into the novel's universe. Inside the novel she discovers that she is the Priestess of Suzaku and destined to gather the seven Celestial Warriors of the god Suzaku in order to summon Suzaku and obtain three wishes. She falls in love with the Celestial Warrior Tamahome, who eventually reciprocates and Miaka's desire to use a wish to enter the high school of her choice begins to shift towards finding a way to be with Tamahome. Unfortunately, Yui, who is also drawn into the book, is quickly manipulated by the emperor of the land of Kutou into becoming the Priestess of Seiryuu and working against Miaka.

The series describes the various trials that teenagers Miaka and Yui face, both quest-driven and personal. Feeling betrayed, the two oppose one another as priestesses, bringing together their own respective warriors and vying for the chance to be granted three wishes by the gods whom they hope to summon.

Much of the story also revolves around the inability of the Universe of the Four Gods to grant the wish for Tamahome to become real. In the first OVA it is revealed that there are two major reasons why Tama cannot stay with Miaka. Even though Tamahome was made into an actual person in the real world (named Taka), the difference between the memories of the "real" Taka and Tamahome made it impossible for him to stay with her until the memories of Taka were restored and he was merged with Tamahome. In addition, Tenkou was interfering with the powers of the Universe of the Four Gods, and this wish could never be made while he existed.

The last part of the story, Eikoden, discusses a new priestess entering the Universe of the Four Gods, and seeking to undo everything Miaka and Tamahome have done together.

Cardcaptor Sakura

Ten-year-old fourth grader Sakura Kinomoto opens a mysterious book in her father's study and accidentally releases the magical Clow Cards. Created by the half-English half-Chinese sorcerer Clow Reed, the Clow Cards were sealed within the Clow Book upon his death and represent a combination of magic from Clow's mixed heritage. Each card has its own personality and characteristics and can assume alternate forms when activated.

Cerberus, the guardian Beast of the Seal, awakens and emerges from the book's cover. Upon learning the cards are gone, he tells Sakura that she must have special powers, and that it is now her responsibility to retrieve the missing cards. As she finds the cards, she must battle its magical personification and defeat it in order to seal it away. Cerberus acts as her guide and mentor throughout the quest, while her classmate and best friend Tomoyo Daidouji films her exploits and provides her with costumes, insisting that she must "wear special clothes for special occasions." Her older brother Toya Kinomoto watches over his sister while pretending that he is unaware of what is going on.

As the series progresses, a rival in the form of Syaoran Li appears. A descendant of the late Clow Reed, creator of the Clow Cards' and their guardians, Syaoran travels to Japan from Hong Kong to recapture the cards, but finds his goal complicated as he comes to respect Sakura and begins aiding her instead. Once Sakura has captured all of the cards, she must undergo the Final Judgement. Yukito Tsukishiro, Sakura's crush and the best friend of her brother, is revealed to be the false form of the card's second guardian Yue, who tests Sakura to determine if she is worthy of becoming the card's true master. Sakura is aided in the test by Kaho Mizuki, who is later revealed to have been sent by Clow to ensure Sakura is able to pass the test because he chose Sakura to be the new card's master when he knew he was going to die.

With Sakura as the new master of the Clow Cards, life initially is peaceful until the arrival of a new transfer student from England, Eriol Hiiragizawa, which coincides with new disturbances occurring in Tomoeda. Yue and Cerberus find themselves unable to aid Sakura during a magical attack, and Sakura is unable to use the Clow Cards. Sakura transforms her wand and creates a new activation spell for it, enabling her to then transform one of the Clow Cards into a Sakura Card. As the series progresses, she continues finding herself in situations which cause her to have to transfer the cards, unaware they are being caused by Eriol and two guardian-like creatures, Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon. Yue, who requires the support of another to generate his own energies, begins growing weaker as time passes, though he initially does not tell Sakura that it is because her magic is not yet strong enough. The problem does not effect Cerberus whose power, like the sun, regenerates on its own with no need to draw extra power from other sources.

During these events, Sakura finds herself having to deal with the pain of Yukito's gentle rejection of her feelings, as he instead loves her brother Toya. Toya, in turn, gives all of his magical abilities to Yue in order to ensure Yukito doesn't fade away, making Yue promise to protect Sakura in his place as his loss of powers prevents him from knowing when she may be in trouble. Syaoran helps her recover from the hurt, while finding himself falling in love with Sakura but unsure of how to tell her.

When there are only two cards left to be transformed, the Dark and Light which must be converted together, Eriol reveals himself to Sakura. Once she has successfully transformed the cards, he explains that he is half of the reincarnation of Clow Reed, with her father being the other half. Eriol has all of the memories and magic, enabling him to assist Sakura in converting the cards so that they would not lose their magical powers. With the task done, he asks Sakura to split his magic between himself and her father, so that he will no longer be the most powerful magician in the world. He then returns to England.

In the aftermath, Syaoran confesses his love for her, but Sakura is unsure how to respond. When he tells her that he is returning to Hong Kong, Sakura finds herself hurting and upset. After running into several of her friends, she realizes that it is because she loves Syaoran too. She rushes to the airport to tell him and he promises to return when he has taken care of some things. At the end of the series, he meets Sakura a year later having moved to Tomoeda permanently.

Bleach

The story opens with the sudden appearance of Soul Reaper Rukia Kuchiki in Ichigo Kurosaki's bedroom. She is surprised at his ability to see her, but their conversation is interrupted by the appearance of a "hollow", an evil spirit. After Rukia is severely wounded while trying to protect Ichigo, she attempts to transfer half her powers to Ichigo in order to let him face the hollow on equal footing. Ichigo instead unintentionally absorbs almost all her energy, allowing him to defeat the hollow with ease. The next day Rukia appears in Ichigo's classroom as a seemingly normal human, and informs Ichigo that his absorption of her powers has left her stranded in the human world until she recovers her strength. In the meantime Ichigo shelters Rukia in his home and takes over her job as a Soul Reaper, battling hollows and guiding lost souls to the afterlife realm known as Soul Society.

After a few months of this arrangement, in the sixth volume of the series, Rukia's Soul Reaper superiors find out about her giving her powers away (which is illegal in Soul Society) and send a detachment to arrest her, and sentence her to death. Ichigo is unable to stop Rukia's capture, but with the help of several of his classmates who also possess spiritual abilities and ex-Soul Reaper Captain Kisuke Urahara, he sets off for the Soul Reaper base, located in Soul Society. Once there, Ichigo and company battle against the elites of the Soul Reaper military, and are ultimately successful in halting Rukia's execution.

It is then revealed that Rukia's execution and Ichigo's rescue attempt were both manipulated by Sōsuke Aizen, a high ranking Soul Reaper previously believed to be murdered, as part of a far-reaching plot to take control of Soul Society. Aizen betrays his fellow Soul Reapers and allies himself with the hollows, becoming the main antagonist of the series, and Ichigo teams up with his former enemies in Soul Society after learning that the next step in Aizen's plan involves the destruction of his hometown. At this point, Bleach chronicles the war between Aizen and the Soul Society, a plotline which has not yet been resolved. According to Tite Kubo, the ending of the series is not yet planned out or written.

Bleach contains a massive cast of characters designed by series creator Tite Kubo, which are divided into various factions and fictional races with distinct themes, and described using large amounts of invented jargon specific to the series. All significant characters in the series possess some degree of paranormal and superhuman abilities, and these are explained by their souls generating higher than usual levels of a paranormal energy called reiatsu (霊圧, lit. "spirit pressure"). The three predominant character types in Bleach are humans, Soul Reapers, and hollows.

The humans of Bleach are much like the residents of modern Japan. A normal human cannot see or sense spirits in any way unless that spirit possesses an artificial human body called a gigai, so humanity remains unaware of the existence of the spirit world. Very rarely a human like Ichigo Kurosaki is born who is able to see, interact, or fight with spirits, and others can gain these abilities by exposure to large amounts of spiritual energy, which happens to a number of Ichigo's friends during the course of the series.

The Soul Reapers (死神, shinigami, lit. "death god") are a military order of psychopomps based in Soul Society (尸魂界(ソウル・ソサエティ), Sōru Sosaeti), a sort of heaven. Soul Reapers escort the souls of the dead to Soul Society through the ritual of soul burial (魂葬, konsō). Their other major duties are protecting humans from hollows, and maintaining order in Soul Society. Soul Reapers all possess supernatural powers, which manifest through their zanpakutō swords, and kidō magic spells. Several factions of ex-Soul Reapers are featured in Bleach's story, most prominent among them the members of Sōsuke Aizen's rebellion and the Visoreds, former Soul Society elites who were exiled after obtaining hollow powers. Soul Society resembles feudal Japan, and consists of two major portions: eighty residential districts called the Rukongai (流魂街, Town of Wandering Spirits),which are inhabited by the souls of the dead, and the walled city Seireitei (瀞霊廷, Court of Pure Souls), the home and military base of the Soul Reapers. The Rukongai districts are ordinally ranked, with the lower-numbered districts being more peaceful. Soul Society is nominally ruled by a king, who resides in another realm within Soul Society, but in practice is controlled by the Soul Reapers.

The hollows are a race of evil spirits who feed on the souls of humans, both living and dead. Hollows are created when the soul of a dead human is neglected by the Soul Reapers until it is overcome by loneliness and/or rage, at which point it changes form into a monster with a white mask. By going through a procedure provided by Aizen, they become an arrancar, a hollow which regains the ability to reason, obtains a more humanoid form, and can gain access to Soul Reaper abilities such as the zanpakutō. As a group, the arrancar are the primary antagonists of the Bleach series. When not hunting humans or souls in the human world hollows reside in Hueco Mundo (虚圏(ウェコムンド), Weko Mundo), a dimension between the human world and Soul Society. Hollows are undetectable as long as they remain in Hueco Mundo.

S • A: Special A

Hikari Hanazono has always been second to Kei Takishima. When they were six years old, their pro-wrestling loving fathers introduced them to each other. Assuming that she was the best in wrestling, young Hikari challenged Kei to a wrestling match only to be thoroughly defeated by him. Ever since that fateful incident, Hikari swore to beat Kei in school grades, sporting events or any competition. To do this, she has enrolled in the same school as Kei since elementary. Now she attends Hakusenkan, an ultra elite school, that costs her carpenter father a lot of money. Hikari and Kei are the top two students in the school, with Kei holding firmly to that number one position. While Hikari considers Kei to be a rival and important friend, she is completely unaware that Kei loves her. The story primarily focuses on Hikari and her constant attempts to defeat her one and only rival, Kei, and how she finds love in their rivalry.

Hakusenkan (or Private Hakusen Academy) is the best school in the prefecture. The classes are separated into A-F based on grades. The A class is only open for the top students in each grade. The top seven within the A class, from first year to third year, are known as the Special A or SA class (hence the title). The members of SA are highly respected. The SA class has its own building, dubbed "The School's Paradise" and attending class is optional (Only Hikari attends). They also have a kitchen, where Akira makes her afternoon tea. Their uniform is also different from the standard uniform. The members of the SA have been close friends since elementary school.

Hikari Hanazono (華園 光, Hanazono Hikari) Voiced by: Yuko Goto

Hikari is the protagonist of the story and is ranked 2nd in the school. She is energetic and kindhearted, but rather dense when it comes to love, some times she seems very stubbed and thickheaded . She is the daughter of a carpenter. When she was six years old she experienced her first defeat and humiliation when she lost to Kei Takishima in a pro-wrestling match. In order to beat Kei, Hikari convinced her father to allow her to attend Kei's prestigious elite school and strives to defeat Kei at anything, from academics to athletics.

Kei Takishima (滝島 彗, Takishima Kei) Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama

Kei is Hikari's rival and holds the 1st position in the entire school. He is good at everything he does and is always a smooth winner. He is the son of the CEO of Takishima Corporation. Kei has been in love with Hikari since they were children, but Hikari has been too dense to realize his feelings for her. He maintains a stoic and cool facade most of the time, except for when Hikari is in trouble.

Jun Yamamoto (山本 純, Yamamoto Jun) Voiced by: Tsubasa Yonaga

Jun is ranked 3rd in school and is the son of a music producer and a talented vocalist. He is a nice guy and is usually quiet like his older twin sister, Megumi. Like Megumi, he is very possessive of Ryuu and seems to worry Ryuu as much as he worries about the two of them. Jun is rather shy around girls, which resulted in a split personality that enables him to charm women effortlessly.

Megumi Yamamoto (山本 芽, Yamamoto Megumi) Voiced by: Ayahi Takagaki

Megumi holds the 4th position in school and is the older twin sister of Jun. She and her brother are very close to Ryuu, whom they have known since they were children. Megumi refuses to speak so as to preserve her singing voice and writes what she wishes for people to know on a sketchpad. When she sings, her voice is so devastatingly powerful that everyone ends up dazed and disoriented afterward.

Tadashi Karino (狩野 宙, Karino Tadashi) Voiced by: Hiro Shimono

Tadashi ranks 5th in school and is the son of the school's director. He suffers from a bit of wanderlust, likes to travel alone and do whatever he wants or sees fit. He enjoys eating sweets, especially food made by Akira. He seems to end up as the character most comically attacked (frequently by Akira and Kei) because of his careless comments or reckless behavior.

Akira Toudou (東堂 明, Tōdō Akira) Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame

Akira holds the 6th position in school and is very fond of Hikari; as a result, she is very protective of her. She loves afternoon tea and is very fond of cute girls. Akira apparently is in love with Tadashi although she never seems to hold back when hitting him. She is the daughter of the owner of an airline company.

Ryuu Tsuji (辻 竜, Tsuji Ryū) Voiced by: Kazuma Horie

Ryuu ranks 7th in the entire school cohort. He is the son of the CEO of a sports company and one of his family's clients is Yahiro's family. He is an animal lover and is very good at handling children. The twins, Megumi and Jun, are unusually close to him, because they have been together since childhood and it seems that Ryuu has saved them once. It is hinted that perhaps he is smarter than 7th place, but spends the majority of the time during exams worrying about Jun and Megumi, who tend to become bored or sleep during tests

Azumanga Daioh

The series title has no particular significance to the story. "Azumanga" is a portmanteau of the author's name "Azuma" and "manga", while "Daioh" comes from the magazine in which it was originally published, Dengeki Daioh. In the anime, "daioh" is mentioned during the next episode previews, used in context with the meaning "great king".

"Azumanga" is also used as a general term for Kiyohiko Azuma's other comics and illustrations Two previous collections of Azuma's works, including official tie-in comics of Pioneer animations, were published as Azumanga and Azumanga 2 in 1998 and 2001, respectively. Azumanga was later republished in a reduced-size edition called Azumanga Recycle.

Azumanga Daioh chronicles the everyday life in an unnamed Japanese high school of six girls and two of their teachers: child prodigy Chiyo Mihama and her struggle to fit in with girls five years older, reserved Sakaki and her obsession with the cute animals who seem to hate her, spacey Ayumu "Osaka" Kasuga with a skewed perspective on the world, Koyomi "Yomi" Mizuhara's aggravation at an annoying best friend, Tomo Takino, whose energy is rivaled only by her lack of sense, sporty Kagura and her one-sided rivalry with Sakaki, and their homeroom teacher Yukari Tanizaki and her friend, physical education teacher Minamo Kurosawa. Secondary characters include Kimura-sensei, a creepy male teacher with an obsession with teenage girls, and Kaorin, a classmate with a crush on Sakaki.

The story covers three years of tests, talking between classes, culture festivals, and athletic events at school, as well as time traveling to and from school, studying at Chiyo's house, and vacations spent at Chiyo's summer beach home and the fictional theme park Magical Land, concluding with the graduation of the main cast. It is generally realistic in tone, marked by occasional bursts of surrealism and absurdity, such as Osaka imagining Chiyo's ponytails being "unscrewed" from her head and an episode featuring the characters' New Year's dreams.

SpongeBob SquarePants

SpongeBob SquarePants is a sea sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea, while his squid neighbor, Squidward Tentacles, lives in a moai. SpongeBob's other neighbor and best friend is a pink and highly idiotic starfish named Patrick Star, who lives under a rock. SpongeBob and Patrick live on both sides of Squidward Tentacles, a highly arrogant and egotistical octopus who dislikes them (especially SpongeBob) because of their annoying habits and is quite open about it.

SpongeBob's house-pet is a snail named Gary, who meows like a cat. Although Gary only speaks in a few episodes, the characters have shown an ability to understand him. In addition to this, underwater worms bark exactly like dogs, and are kept on chains. Jellyfish are the equivalent of bees; buzzing, "stinging" with electricity, and producing delicious "jelly", mocking the name "jellyfish", while still referring to a bee's honey. Clams act as birds, and fish act as the citizens of the community but generally are not important characters.

Although the citizens of Bikini Bottom live underwater, they mostly do not float, and gravity usually applies. A flurry of bubbles accompanies actions in many of the episodes to remind the viewer that the setting is underwater. However, the laws of physics in Bikini Bottom change somewhat from time to time, but mostly the water acts like air. For instance, characters can pour a glass of liquid, just as we do above the sea. Bikini Bottom has functional baths, pools, and toilets, and there are lakes and streams. In Battle for Bikini Bottom and a regular beach setting, Goo Lagoon, underwater liquid is referred to as goo. Once, during an episode set in a wilderness area, Patrick questions how a camp fire is possible on the lagoon bottom. As soon as the question is asked, the fire is immediately extinguished with a sizzle; however, this is only used for comedic effect, as fire is often used and seen. In another episode, Squidward sets up a functional electric fence. Strangely, all creatures in the series (except Sandy) are completely dependent on water for survival; if any sea creature on the show (even those that can survive above water, such as crabs) go on dry land, they begin to rapidly dehydrate and eventually suffocate.

SpongeBob works as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab, a fast-food restaurant, with Squidward as the cashier. The Krusty Krab is owned by Mr. Krabs, a greedy, penny-pinching crab and ex-Navy officer. Sheldon Plankton is Mr. Krabs's arch enemy who owns a low-rank fast-food restaurant called the Chum Bucket across the street from the Krusty Krab. The Chum Bucket has almost never had a customer, and Plankton spends most of his time plotting to steal the recipe for Mr. Krabs's popular Krabby Patty burgers. Only in the movie does he succeed; the formula is never actually revealed to the audience. This fact is mocked in the Krusty Krab Training Video episode, where the episode cuts off before the video reveals the recipe. Plankton's computer wife, Karen, alternately helps him in his schemes or bickers with him.

Sandy Cheeks is another friend of SpongeBob. She is a squirrel that lives in an underwater dome in Bikini Bottom. She was sent there to do research for her chimpanzee bosses. Sandy is from Texas, and speaks with a Texan accent. Sandy is an expert at karate. When not inside her tree-dome, she wears an astronaut-like suit because she cannot breathe in water. Sandy hibernates once a year.

Instead of cars, the residents of Bikini Bottom drive boats, known as "boatmobiles". SpongeBob is still in boating school after failing the driving test 58 times as it is revealed in one of the episodes.

SpongeBob and his friends live in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom. Bikini Bottom is like a regular city with a downtown, suburbs, coastal areas, its own airport, bus system, and fair park. Stephen Hillenburg said once that Bikini Bottom was loosely based on Seattle, Washington.^[1] An example of this statement is in the episode "Pre-Hibernation Week". Sandy and SpongeBob were fighting on a tall structure called the Sea Needle, referring to the Space Needle, a tall structure in Seattle. Hillenburg has said that he wants to leave the location of Bikini Bottom to the imagination, claiming that the Baywatch scene from the movie was just a reference to his favorite show of all time.

Bikini Bottom is a city that is the main setting of the series, located at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean,^[2] It is where the series' main characters live and where most of the episodes take place. The city consists of various businesses, including restaurants, stores, and manufacturers. The city has a stable economy, balanced education and health systems, a structured government, and a firm law enforcement system. There are even stadiums, amusement parks, and other recreational facilities.

Bikini Bottom's geography is shown as consisting of mountains, dense forests, lakes, lagoons, caves, grasslands, reefs, rivers, and barren desert wastelands.

The city is divided by its main road, Conch Street, which runs from downtown and past the homes of SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick, through the Krusty Krab, the Chum Bucket and the Reef Theatre cinema. The road intersects with Barnacle Road and Coral Avenue. Anchor Way is not far off from Conch Street. Conch Street runs north-south as revealed in the SpongeBob SquarePants: Battle for Bikini Bottom video game. Downtown Bikini Bottom is located in the northernmost point of the city, while SpongeBob, Squidward, and Patrick's House are on the southern part of the road. Goo Lagoon is located west of the road, while Jellyfish Fields is to the east. Other establishments are located more southerly, including Sandy's house, Shady Shoals retirement home, the Krusty Krab, the Chum Bucket, and the Movie Theater. The Kelp Forest is located more southerly.

In the center of Bikini Bottom, the citizens work and live in large, gray buildings made of metal. There are some other forms of buildings, mostly aquatic-themed as seen above. Further out from the town citizens need to use whatever is available and easy to live in, such as Patrick's rock, SpongeBob hollowed-out pineapple, and the Easter Island Head Squidward lives in.

Surrounding towns include Rock Bottom, New Kelp City, Ukulele Bottom, Failiuretown, Quittersville, Loserburg, and Base 8.

The Krusty Krab, owned by Eugene H. Krabs, is the most popular restaurant in Bikini Bottom. It has two main employees: SpongeBob SquarePants, the fry cook, and Squidward Tentacles, the cashier. The Krusty Krab is one of the most famous elements in the show, the first episode is based around SpongeBob getting the job. SpongeBob convinces Eugene H. Krabs and Squidward Tentacles that he can work there. Both employees have difficulties with working together: Squidward hates SpongeBob, and SpongeBob in turn exacerbates the situation by remaining completely naive toward Squidward's spiteful attitude. Originally there was a frycook named Jim who left on account of Mr. Krab's small salary. Sheldon J. Plankton, the owner of the Krusty Krab's rival restaurant, The Chum Bucket, is always trying to find out the mystery ingredients for the Krabby patty formula. The secret formula is never actually revealed, though in one episode the paper with the written formula is unraveled, revealing censored gibberish.

Like many buildings in the show, the Krusty Krab does not have a specific floor plan. In most episodes, however, the restaurant includes the main dining room with doors leading to Mr. Krabs' office, the kitchen, and a restroom. The building's exterior is based on a New England lobster trap. In the front, the Krusty Krab has a parking area, even though boats are usually not seen in it. In the back of the Krusty Krab, a dumpster is seen in most episodes. The Krusty Krab has regular hours from 8:00 am until 8:00 pm, but is closed on Sunday

Naruto

Naruto Uzumaki is a young boy who has the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed within him. Twelve years before the start of the series, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox attacked the ninja village Konohagakure, slaughtering many people. In response, the leader of Konohagakure – the Fourth Hokage – sacrificed his life to seal the demon inside Naruto when he was a newborn. Konohagakure, however, regarded Naruto as if he were the demon fox itself and mistreated him throughout most of his childhood. A decree made by the Third Hokage forbade anyone mention the attack of the demon fox to anyone. Years later, Naruto was tricked by the renegade ninja Mizuki into stealing a forbidden scroll, but was stopped by his teacher, Iruka Umino. That encounter made Naruto realize he was the container of the demon fox.

The main story follows Naruto and his friends' personal growth. Naruto befriends two comrades, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno, who are assigned with him to form a three-person team under an experienced sensei named Kakashi Hatake. Naruto also befriends other characters that he meets throughout the series. They learn new abilities, get to know each other and other villagers better, and experience a coming-of-age journey as Naruto dreams of becoming the Hokage of Konohagakure. At first, emphasis is placed on Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, who are the members of Team 7. Later, Orochimaru, a criminal at the top of Konohagakure's most wanted list, attacks Konoha killing the Third Hokage as an act of revenge. This causes one of the three legendary ninja, Jiraiya to search for his partner Tsunade, to become the Fifth Hokage. During that search, it is revealed that Orochimaru also desires to acquire Sasuke Uchiha due to his powerful genetic heritage. Believing Orochimaru will be able to give him the strength needed to kill his brother Itachi, who destroyed all his clan, Sasuke goes to him. Naruto does not give up on Sasuke, leaving Konoha for two-and-a-half years of training to prepare himself for the next time he meets Sasuke.

After the training period, a mysterious organization called Akatsuki attempts to capture the nine powerful tailed beasts including the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox sealed inside of Naruto. Several ninjas from Konohagakure, including Team 7, fight against the Akatsuki members and search for their teammate Sasuke. Sasuke, in the meantime betrays Orochimaru and faces Itachi to take revenge. Although Itachi dies, Sasuke is told by the Akatsuki founder Madara Uchiha that Itachi was ordered by Konohagakure's leadership to destroy his clan. Saddened with the revelation, Sasuke joins forces with Akatsuki to destroy Konohagakure. Meanwhile, as several Akatsuki members are defeated by the Konohagakure ninja, the leader, Pain, invades the village to capture Naruto.