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Heaven's Memo Pad
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Written by
Hikaru Sugii
Published by
ASCII Media Works
Imprint
Dengeki Bunko
Genre
Mystery
Illustrated by
Mel Kishida
Demographic
Male
Author
Hikaru Sugii
Publisher
ASCII Media Works
Original run
January 25, 2007 – September 10, 2014
Books
Heaven's Memo Pad, #1, Heaven's Memo Pad, #2
Heaven's Memo Pad(神様のメモ帳,Kami-sama no Memo-chō, lit. "God's Memo Pad") is a Japanese light novel series written by Hikaru Sugii, with illustrations by Mel Kishida. ASCII Media Works published nine volumes between January 2007 and September 2014 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation illustrated by Tiv was serialized between the August 2010 and September 2012 issues of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Daioh magazine. An anime adaptation aired 12 episodes in Japan between July and September 2011.
The story centers around Narumi Fujishima, the main protagonist. He is a high school student who is not very involved in his school whatsoever to the point where he does not know most of his classmate's names. However, in a chain of events, he is pulled into participating in his school's "Gardening Committee" whose members consist of himself and Ayaka Shinozaki, Narumi's classmate. He also gets dragged in as a member of NEET, an amateur detective agency filled with unemployed slack-offs who take on and solve cases on their own whims. The NEET agency is led by "Alice", who is a childish, anti-social, extreme shut-in. This is to the point where she never leaves her room filled with computer monitors and stuffed animals. Alice has proven herself a resourceful hacker and an astounding detective, which she normally uses to a decent extent on all their cases. Throughout the course of the story, Narumi, accompanied by the other members of NEET, solve crimes and murders using their limited resources and Alice's genius intellect.
Characters
Narumi Fujishima(藤島 鳴海,Fujishima Narumi)
Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (Japanese); Blake Shepard (English) (anime), Atsushi Abe (drama CD)
The main protagonist of the series. He is a common 16-year-old high school student. He lives with his older sister and because of several school transfers he has become introverted. He is introduced to Hanamaru by his classmate Ayaka, where he meets Min, Alice, and the NEET Detective Team members.
Alice (アリス) /Yūko Shionji(紫苑寺 有子,Shionji Yūko)
Voiced by: Yui Ogura (Japanese); Hilary Haag (English) (anime), Minako Kotobuki (drama CD)
The main female protagonist of the series. She is a mysterious girl who lives on the third floor over Hanamaru ramen shop. Her age is unknown, but looks like a 12- or 13-year-old girl. She is short, pale white and has long black hair. She calls herself Alice (a mixed reading of the kanji for Yūko) and a "NEET Detective". She is a hikikomori and a cracking genius. Her diet is based practically only on Dr. Pepper and leeks. She suffers from severe insomnia. She usually wears bear patterned pajamas and she is always surrounded by a pile of teddy bears. She is the brain of the NEET Detective Team and gathers information to solve the cases with her laptop without stepping out of her bedroom.
Ayaka Shinozaki(篠崎 彩夏,Shinozaki Ayaka)
Voiced by: Ai Kayano (Japanese); Brittney Karbowski (English) (anime), Yōko Honda (drama CD)
Narumi's classmate. She is a very active and cheerful girl. She works part-time at a ramen shop called Hanamaru. She was the only member of the gardening club, but made Narumi join her, starting a friendship with him. Soon after, she mysteriously jumps off the school roof injuring herself and falling into a coma. This motivates Narumi to make a request to Alice: find out why she jumped off from the roof. She eventually recovers consciousness but she suffers amnesia and does not remember anything about Narumi.
Min (明) /Ming-Li Huang(黄明麗,Fan Min-Lī)
Voiced by: Hitomi Nabatame (Japanese); Shelley Calene-Black (English) (anime), Fuyuka Oura (drama CD)
She is the current owner of the ramen shop Hanamaru and the one who takes care of the members of the NEET Detective Club. Her personality is generally brash and tomboyish, often talking to people with a tone usually more masculine than what her looks suggest. However, she is as caring inside as she is harsh, proven by her unrelented support for the NEET Detective Club in spite of its members not being able to return the favor.
Voiced by: Masaya Matsukaze (Japanese); Adam Gibbs (English) (anime), Kenji Takahashi (drama CD)
One of the NEET Detective Team members. He is an ex-boxer and addicted to gambling, in which he loves dice games and horse races. He is a former dropout of Narumi's high school and has connections with the local police.
Major (少佐,Shōsa) /Hitoshi Mukai(向井 均,Mukai Hitoshi)
Voiced by: Kouki Miyata (Japanese); Greg Ayres (English) (anime), Nobuhiko Okamoto (drama CD)
One of the NEET Detective Team members. He is a university student, but his appearance is that of an elementary school boy. He rarely attends classes and is enrolled in order to use the university library. He is a military otaku who spends most of his time playing survival games, is always carrying model guns and wearing a camouflage outfit, and an expert on spying devices.
Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese); David Matranga (English) (anime), Junji Majima (drama CD)
One of the NEET Detective Team members and the only one with a driver's license. Because of his very handsome and gentle appearance he is quite popular among girls, therefore he has many girlfriends at the same time. Narumi thinks of him as a gigolo. Hiro is often seen with two cellphones writing lovely text messages to two different girls at the same time. He collects information or pictures and is an expert of investigation.
The Fourth (四代目,Yondaime) /Sōichirō Hinamura(雛村 壮一郎,Hinamura Sōichirō)
Voiced by: Daisuke Ono (Japanese); Illich Guardiola (English) (anime), Kenta Miyake (drama CD)
He is the head and one of the founding members of a young NEET yakuza group called the Hirasaka Group. He has a ferocious look and a violent attitude. He often lends a hand to Alice's cases. He is also good at textile arts and responds to Alice's calls when one of her stuffed bears needs repair.
Voiced by: Saki Ogasawara (Japanese); Cynthia Martinez (English)
She is a fourteen-year-old Thai girl with apparently brown skin. Her father, Masaya Kusakabe, is a Japanese man who married a Thai woman who died in Japan. Meo asks the NEET Detective Team for help to search for her disappeared father after receiving his call requiring her to take a bag containing two hundred million yen banknotes and leave for any safe place. She has been in Japan since she was five, so she speaks Japanese fluently. Her nickname, Meo, is derived from "Maeo" (Thai: แมว; Thai pronunciation: [mæːw]), a Thai word meaning cat. And her first name, Charuni (Thai: จารุณี), is a Thai word derived from Pāḷi, Cāruṇī, meaning a young pretty girl.
Renji Hirasaka(平坂 錬次,Hirasaka Renji)
Voiced by: Kenichi Suzumura (Japanese); Mike Yager (English)
He is the former leader and one of the founding of a young NEET yakuza group called the Hirasaka Group. However, he broke his oath as a sworn brother to the Fourth after their roommate Hisan was supposedly killed. He is known as the person who originally designed the Hirasaka Group emblem, albeit unfinished.
Light novels
The Heaven's Memo Pad light novels are written by Hikaru Sugii, with illustrations by Mel Kishida. ASCII Media Works published nine volumes between January 2007 and September 2014 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint.
Drama CD
Three drama CDs were produced by Lantis. The first, titled Oshare Sagi-shi no Matsuro(おしゃれサギ師の末路), was released on July 8, 2009. The second, titled Utahime no Kiken na Angle(歌姫の危険なアングル), was released on May 7, 2010. A third drama CD titled Shutter Chance no Uragawa(シャッターチャンスの裏側) was released on November 9, 2011, casting the same voice actors from the anime.
Manga
A manga adaptation illustrated by Tiv was serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Daioh between the August 2010 and September 2012 issues. Three tankōbon volumes were released between March 27, 2011 and August 27, 2012 under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics imprint.
Anime
An anime adaptation was announced in February 2011. It aired 12 episodes between July 2 and September 24, 2011 with J.C.Staff in charge of the animation. North American licensor Sentai Filmworks simulcasted the series on The Anime Network, and will later release the series on DVD in 2012. The opening theme is "Kawaru Mirai" by Choucho and the ending theme is "Asunaro" by Kenichi Suzumura.
Reception
As of July 2011, the light novels have sold over 1,000,000 copies in Japan. The light novel ranked at No. 10 in 2011 in Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!. Theron Martin of Anime News Network published a positive review of the complete anime series in 2012. Despite his criticism towards Alice for being another moe archetype for the viewers and its glorification of NEETs, Martin praised the series for its well-conceived adaptation, its understated yet eclectic score and for tackling social issues found in Japan. He concluded by saying, "Overall, Heaven's Memo Pad is a very good series which falls short of being a great series...though the stories in between also have their moments."
