Listen to Me, Girls. I Am Your Father!

Plot

Yuuta Segawa is a university first year student. He and his older sister were orphaned as children but when their relatives tried to separate them and send them to live in different homes, Yuri, his sister, chose to raise him on her own. Now, many years later, Yuri, who has since married, asks Yuuta to babysit her daughter, Hina, and two step-daughters, Sora and Miu Takanashi, while she and her husband go on a trip. Unfortunately, the plane Yuri and her husband are on crashes and they are both reported missing and presumed dead. A scene similar to the one Yuuta experienced as a child unfolds and in order to prevent the girls from being separated from each other, Yuuta takes it upon himself to look after the girls in his small apartment. Thus begins Yuuta's life of sharing his everyday life with his three nieces.

Main characters

Yuuta Segawa (瀬川 祐太, Segawa Yūta)

Voiced by: Wataru Hatano The main character, a college first year student just starting a new life in the School of Literature at Tama University. His parents died when he and his sister were young and to prevent them from being separated, his sister, Yuri, decided to raise him herself. Years later, when Yuri and her husband go missing, Yūta makes the decision to become the guardian of their three daughters so that they are not separated, as some of the Takanashi family plan to do. His reliable and kind nature soon wins him the respect and affection of the three sisters, especially Sora, who has had a crush on him since their first meeting. He has feelings for Raika, a second-year university student and fellow club member, but can't seem to find the right time or way to express his feelings to her. After a couple of months, and several adventures and misadventures with the girls, the Takanashi family come to accept him as a capable guardian for the sisters. They increase their financial support and give Yūta shared title to his sister's house allowing him and the girls to move out of his one room apartment and into their house in Ikebukuro. Five years after his sister and brother-in-law go missing he and Sora decide to marry.

Sora Takanashi (小鳥遊 空, Takanashi Sora)

Voiced by: Sumire Uesaka The eldest of the three half-sisters. She is 14 years old, a second-year middle school student, and has a tsundere personality. Notable for a strand of her neck length brown hair that curves forward and curls like a crescent. She has fairly good grades in school but is not adept at cooking. She has had a crush on Yūta since they first met but starts out calling him "oji-san (uncle). When they become more comfortable with each other she starts referring to him as "older brother (Onii-chan)" even thought they are not, strictly speaking, related. Yūta is (perhaps purposefully) oblivious to her feelings. Sora does not like it when Yūta pays attention to Raika as she is envious of both Raika's well-developed body and also her close relationship with Yūta. In Volume 17, she begins her first year in high school. She marries Yūta during the events of volume 18.

Miu Takanashi (小鳥遊 美羽, Takanashi Miu)

Voiced by: Eri Kitamura The second eldest of the three half-sisters; she is a 10-year-old fifth grader. She has blonde hair as her biological mother has a Russian lineage. She normally refers to Yūta as Oji-san (uncle). She has a preference for guys who are older than her and manly. It is implied that she may have a slight crush on Yūta, as she is particularly curious about his love life. In the light novels, she started developing feelings for Yūta at the end of volume 4. Her mother also makes an appearance in volume 4, but Miu decides to stay with Yūta and her half-sisters. In Volume 17, she begins her first year in junior high school.

Hina Takanashi (小鳥遊 ひな, Takanashi Hina)

Voiced by: Hiromi Igarashi The youngest of the three half-sisters, Hina Takanashi is 3 years old and attends day care. She is the biological daughter of Yuri and thus the only one of the three girls who is directly related to Yūta. She is very friendly and unafraid of strangers. She sometimes mispronounces words, often leaving out certain consonants. She normally addresses Yūta as Oji-san (uncle) but has trouble with the "j" and "s" sounds so it comes out as Oi-tan (little uncle). She is a fan of the heroine anime, Luna Luna Seven.

Street Observation Research Society

Raika Oda (織田 莱香, Oda Raika)

Voiced by: Yui Horie A second-year student at Tama University School of Literature. She is the only female member in the Street Observation Research Society. Every time Sako has perverted thoughts or is crude, she beats him with a harisen (a giant paper fan). Despite being very attractive, she does not reveal her emotions easily and dislikes talking with anyone except for Yūta. Raika is a very good cook, particularly in Japanese cuisine and likes to tease Yūta. She especially loves cute things, and upon encountering them her personality changes. This also applies to Yūta's nieces including Sora, who does not like Raika because she is jealous of her (Raika's) relationship with Yūta.

Kouichi Nimura (仁村 浩一, Nimura Kōichi)

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono A first year student of Tama University School of Literature. He is a good friend of Yūta's and a womanizer. He insists that his house is only for entertaining girls. As a result, he almost never stays at his home and instead spends time at Yūta's apartment, or at one of his affairs' places. He is however a very caring friend and will help out with chores on his own initiative. He also helps Yūta keep Sako away from his nieces and has a soft spot for Miu.

Shuntarou Sako (佐古 俊太郎, Sako Shuntarō)

Voiced by: Junji Majima A third year student of the Tama University School of Literature. He is the President of the Street Observation Research Society. Shuntarou has been a third year in the university ever since Raika enrolled. He is a lolicon and wears thick glasses. He once told Raika that "Love is justice. Love is the strongest." to justify his lolicon fetishes to which Raika later agrees. Despite this she frequently beats him on with a harisen when he goes overboard. He has taken a certain interest in Yūta's nieces, excluding Sora, who he claims she is too old for him despite being only 14, and usually calls her "Oba-chan" (old lady).

Others

Yuri Takanashi (小鳥遊 ゆり, Takanashi Yuri)

Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara Yūta's older sister, Miu's and Sora's stepmother, and Hina's mother. When their parents died, she decided to raise Yūta by herself so that they would not be separated. She married Shingo when Yūta was in junior high school. When Yūta found out that her husband-to-be had been married previously and already had two kids, Miu and Sora, he became extremely angry. After cooling down, he realized that he was in no position to deny his sister happiness. On the way back to apologize for his temper, he saw Sora and tended her scraped knee - the origin of her crush on him. When the flight Yuri and Shingo are on goes missing, Yūta chooses to take her kids into his custody to prevent them from being separated.

Shingo Takanashi (小鳥遊 進悟, Takanashi Shingo)

Voiced by: Nobuo Tobita Yuri's husband. He was previously married twice and each time had one child. Sora's mother died and Miu's mother divorced him. He and Yuri met at an otaku convention: she was cosplaying (a habit she hid from Yūta) and he was a photographer. Shingo kept a collection of photographs of Yuri and the girls cosplaying.

Kurumi Atarashi (新子 胡桃, Atarashi Kurumi)

Voiced by: Sakura Nakamura Yūta's next-door neighbor. She works as a voice actress and previously worked as a villain on Hina's favorite anime series. She plays with Hina and Miu during her spare time. She only appears in the anime adaption and the Takanashi no Hidamari side story manga.

Sawako Midorikawa (緑川 佐和子, Midorikawa Sawako)

Voiced by: Rina Satō Yūta's rather inflexible landlady. She would have evicted Yūta and the girls from their apartment, had it not been for the timely intervention of her mother, the real landlady. At 29 years old, she is still single and seems to be jealous of young couples. Like many adults in the story, she develops a soft spot for Hina. She only appears in the anime adaption and the Takanashi no Hidamari side story manga; in the light novel Yūta's landlord is an unnamed male with a minor role.

Shiori Kitahara (北原 栞, Kitahara Shiori)

Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi Miu's friend and next door neighbour of the Takanashi's Ikebukuro household. She is protective of the sisters and is initially cold towards Yūta, feeling he is not a worthy guardian. However, after seeing how reliable he actually is, she starts to develop feelings for him.

Light novels

1. 30-12-2009 ISBN 978-4-08-630526-6
2. 28-02-2010 ISBN 978-4-08-630533-4
3. 30-04-2010 ISBN 978-4-08-630547-1
4. 30-09-2010 ISBN 978-4-08-630569-3
5. 30-11-2011 ISBN 978-4-08-630582-2
6. 30-01-2011 ISBN 978-4-08-630588-4
7. 30-05-2011 ISBN 978-4-08-630611-9 (Short Stories)
8. 27-09-2011 ISBN 978-4-08-630635-5
9. 25-01-2012 ISBN 978-4-08-630658-4
10. 25-05-2012 ISBN 978-4-08-630678-2
11. 25-10-2012 ISBN 978-4-08-630704-8
12. 22-02-2013 ISBN 978-4-08-630719-2
13. 25-06-2013 ISBN 978-4-08-630733-8 (with an OVA)
14. 25-10-2013 ISBN 978-4-08-630756-7
15. 28-02-2014 ISBN 978-4-08-630771-0
16. 25-06-2014 ISBN 978-4-08-630787-1
17. 24-01-2015 ISBN 978-4-08-630805-2
18. 24-03-2015 ISBN 978-4-08-630807-6 (with an OVA)

Manga

A manga adaptation illustrated by Yōhei Takemura was serialized in Shueisha's Jump Square manga magazine between September 2011 and April 2012. There are several other spin-off manga written by Matsu published in various Shueisha magazines. The Sunshine of the Takanashi Family (小鳥遊の陽だまり, Takanashi no Hidamari), which focuses on the people who encounter the Takanashi family, is illustrated by various authors and published in Ultra Jump from September 2011. Miu-sama is Always Right! (美羽様のいう通り!, Miu-sama no Iu Tōri!), which focuses on Miu, is illustrated by Tomoo Katou and published in Cookie magazine from October 2011. Mark of the Rabbit (うさぎのまぁく, Usagi no Māku), which focuses on Hina, was illustrated by Matsuda98 and published in Cobalt between November 2011 and March 2012. Sora Colored Echo (空色の響き, Sorairo no Hibiki), which focuses on Sora, is illustrated by Ejiri Natsuki and published in Super Dash & Go magazine from December 2011. Finally, Chronicles of Street Observation Research (路上観察研究日誌, Rojō Kansatsu Kenkyū Nisshi), which focuses on the Street Observation Research Society, is illustrated by Miyano Hirotsugu and published in Weekly Young Jump magazine from December 2011.

Anime

An anime adaptation by feel. aired in Japan between January 11, 2012 and March 27, 2012 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll. An original video animation episode 13 was released with the 5th Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume released on July 11, 2012. Sentai Filmworks released the series as a subtitled DVD collection in North America on February 5, 2013. An additional OVA was bundled with the 13th light novel volume on June 25, 2013. The opening theme is "Happy Girl" by Eri Kitamura, whilst the ending theme is "Coloring" by Yui Horie. An additional OVA was bundled with the 18th light novel volume on March 25, 2015.

Visual novel

A visual novel video game was developed by Tenky and Banpresto and published by Namco Bandai Games was released for PlayStation Portable on April 26, 2012.