, or ''ImoUza'', is a Japanese

light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usually classified as young adult fiction, generally targeting Adolescence, teens to Young adult, twenties or older. The definition is very vague, and wide-ranging. The abbr ...

series written by Ghost Mikawa and illustrated by Tomari. The series began publication by

SB Creative is a Japanese publishing company and a subsidiary of the SoftBank telecommunications company. It was founded in 1999 and is headquartered in Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities ...

under their

GA Bunko is a publishing label affiliated with the Japanese publishing company SB Creative, a subsidiary of Softbank. It was established in January 2006 and is a light novel A is a type of Genre fiction, popular literature novel from Japan usuall ...

imprint in April 2019. The light novel is licensed in North America by

J-Novel Club J-Novel Club is a publishing company specializing in the translation of Japanese light novels into English. It streams light novels and manga in regular installments before publishing finalized e-books. As of August 2021, J-Novel Club has licens ...

. A

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

adaptation by Hira Hiraoka began serialization online in December 2019. An

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series adaptation produced by

Blade A blade is the Sharpness (cutting), sharp, cutting portion of a tool, weapon, or machine, specifically designed to puncture, chop, slice, or scrape surfaces or materials. Blades are typically made from materials that are harder than those they a ...

is set to premiere in October 2025.

Plot

The series follows Akiteru Ōboshi, an ordinary student who is best friends with his classmate Ozuma Kohinata. Iroha, Ozuma's younger sister, often hangs out at his house and acts annoying towards him, a contrast to her in-school persona as a kind and diligent honor student. One day, he is asked his uncle to start a relationship with his cousin Mashiro Tsukinomori in exchange for him providing support for his game development group, which they call the 5th Floor Alliance. Meanwhile, Iroha aims to be a professional voice actress, providing the voices for the 5th Floor Alliance's work, but does so in secret due to her family's disapproval of her interests.

Characters

; : :Akiteru is a second year high school student. In the series, Akiteru calls himself a well-rounded average student but still has a hidden side to him. ; : :Iroha is Akiteru's best friend's younger sister. In the story, Iroha is a bright, kind, and beautiful honor student. She is described as an excitable person who also acts clingy towards Akiteru. She aims to become a voice actress. ; : :Mashiro is a second year high school student, classmate and cousin of Akiteru. She is childhood friends with Akiteru and often played with him when they were younger. In the story, Mashiro is described as a gentle person when meeting strangers with a cold demeanor towards Akiteru. She speaks in the third-person. She is also a popular novelist who writes under the pen name . ; : :Ozuma is a second year high school student and Iroha's older brother. In the story, Ozuma is a kind and caring person. He is described as "beautiful like a prince" and is a genius programmer. Ozuma is Akiteru's only friend and has absolute faith in Akiteru due to some past events. ; : :Sumire is Akiteru's subject teacher. She is described as a ruthless guidance and has a poisonous tongue. She secretly works as an illustrator under the pen name ; : :Midori is Sumire's little sister and a member of the theater club. ; :Otoi is a second year high school student. She's a sound engineer. ; :A famous editor at UZA Publishing. ; :A first year high school student. She's an influencer on Pintagram. ; :Mashiro's father. He is the President of the large entertainment enterprise Honeyplace Works. ; : :Otowa is a mother of both Ozuma and Iroha. ; :Mashiro's mother. ;

Media

Light novels

The

series is written by Ghost Mikawa and features illustrations by Tomari. It is published by

under their

imprint, with the first volume being released on April 15, 2019; eleven volumes have been released as of March 2025. The series is licensed in English by

Manga

adaptation by Hira Hiraoka began serialization in

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, video game publisher and entertainment conglomerate. It releases role-playing video game, role-playing game franchises, such as ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', and '' ...

's ''

Manga Up! is a Japanese manga service. Originally launched in January 2017, the service hosts manga series published by Square Enix. The service also serializes original works, many of which are derived from other media. In July 2022, the website launch ...

'' online web service on December 13, 2019 and has been compiled into nine ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes as of March 2025. The manga is published in North America by Comikey and Square Enix through the global version of ''Manga Up!''.

Anime

television series adaptation was announced during a livestream for the "GA Fes 2021" event on January 31, 2021, with the cast of the series' drama CDs reprising their roles. The series will be produced by

and directed by Kazuomi Koga, with

Touko Machida is a Japanese anime screenwriter. She debuted as a screenwriter in 2001, and in 2006 got to become the lead screenwriter for the first time with '' Ramen Fighter Miki''. Since ''Ramen Fighter Miki'', she has done screenwriting for many works, suc ...

handling the series composition, Katsuyuki Sato serving as the character designer, and Tsugumi Tanaka, Kaho Sawada, Kanade Sakuma and Hanae Nakamura composing the music. It is set to premiere in October 2025 on the programming block on

TV Asahi JOEX-DTV (channel 5), branded as , and better known as , is a Japanese television station serving the Kanto region as the flagship station of the All-Nippon News Network. It is owned-and-operated by the a subsidiary of , itself controlled by ...

and its affiliates, as well as BS11.

References

External links

* * * * {{Blade (studio) 2019 Japanese novels Anime and manga based on light novels Blade (studio) GA Bunko Gangan Comics manga Japanese webcomics J-Novel Club books Light novels NUMAnimation Romantic comedy anime and manga Shōnen manga TV Asahi original programming Upcoming anime television series Webcomics in print