Locodol

Plot

In the town of Nagarekawa (流川市, Nagarekawa-shi, "Flowing River City"), Nanako Usami, an ordinary high school girl, is approached by her uncle to become a local idol or "Locodol", partnering with upperclassman Yukari Kohinata to form the idol unit, Nagarekawa Girls (流川ガールズ, Nagarekawa Gāruzu). As the girls use their talent to promote Nagarekawa and their businesses, they are joined by Yui Mikoze, who acts as the local mascot, and Mirai Nazukari, who serves as Yui's substitute.

Characters

Nanako Usami (宇佐美 奈々子, Usami Nanako)

Voiced by: Miku ItōA first-year student at Nagarekawa High School who winds up becoming a Locodol after being recruited by her uncle. She is generally the most level-headed member of the group, and worries about all sorts of things related to her job. Her nervousness on screen often results in her stuttering and mispronouncing her name as "Nanyako".

Yukari Kohinata (小日向 縁, Kohinata Yukari)

Voiced by: Sachika MisawaNanako's partner in Nagarekawa Girls is a blond-haired second-year student at Nagarekawa High. She is described as someone who "seems perfect, but ends up being airheaded". She comes from a wealthy family, and has lived by herself in an apartment since entering high school.^{Ep. 2} She ponders studying abroad after high school.^{Ep. 5} Her grandfather was the town's former mayor.^{Ep. 9} She is very fond of Nanako,^{Ep. 2} and was inspired by the latter's kindness to help others.^{Ep. 9}

Yui Mikoze (三ヶ月 ゆい, Mikoze Yui)

Voiced by: Maya YoshiokaA third-year student at Nagarekawa High School who works alongside them as the mascot character, Uogokoro-kun (魚心くん). Her brown hair is styled in a short ponytail. She is particularly athletic, able to perform various acrobatic feats in her costume despite its weight.^{Ep. 3} She plans to use her savings from her locodol activity to enroll in a voice acting school.^{Ep. 5}

Mirai Nazukari (名都借 みらい, Nazukari Mirai)

Voiced by: Inori MinaseA first-year student at Nanako and Yukari's school who is hired as a substitute Uogokoro-kun to lighten Yui's workload. She is a capable performer in the school's drama club, but is generally shy otherwise.

Saori Nishifukai (西深井 沙織, Nishifukai Saori)

Voiced by: Asami ShimodaThe Nagarekawa Girls' manager who secretly uses pictures she takes at events for her own fansite.

Shouko Noda (野田 硝子, Noda Shōko)

Voiced by: Shiori IzawaNanako's classmate with short burgundy-colored hair and two braids.

Satsuki Kashiwaba (柏葉 さつき, Kashiwaba Satsuki)

Voiced by: Mikako IzawaNanako's classmate with the blonde hair.

Misato Mizumoto (水元 美里, Mizumoto Misato)

Voiced by: Minami TsudaNanako's classmate with the ponytail.

Sumire Mihara (美原 菫, Mihara Sumira)

Voiced by: Eriko MatsuiYukari's cousin and classmate.

Mitsugu Oota (太田 貢, Ōta Mitsugu)

Voiced by: Takehiro MurozonoNanako's uncle (mother's brother) who is on the city council. He is the one responsible for recruiting the Locodols and was their previous manager before Saori was hired.^{Ep. 1} He picks his niece to be a locodol because she is average in appearance and has a safe, non-scandalous character.^{Ep. 9} At the end of the anime TV series, he reschedules the girls' appearance at their local city festival so that they can attend after the Locodol festival goes long.^{Ep. 12}

Tatsuya Usami (宇佐美 達也, Usami Taysuya)

Voiced by: Toshinobu IidaNanako's father.

Tomoko Usami (宇佐美 智子, Usami Tomoko)

Voiced by: M.A.ONanako's mother. She has a part-time job as a cashier.^{Ep. 1}

Awa Awa Girls

Voiced by: Asami Imai, Tomoyo Kurosawa, and Emi NittaThe Awa Awa Girls (stylized as AWA²GiRLS), are a locodol group from Tokunami City. Having won the Locodol Festival the previous year, the group has made many national TV appearances.^{Ep. 11} However, after meeting the Nagarekawa Girls, they realize the importance of representing their hometown.^{Ep. 12}

Manga

Futsū no Joshikōsei ga Locodol Yattemita is a four-panel comic strip manga written and illustrated by Kōtarō Kosugi. It originally appeared in Ichijinsha's Manga 4-Koma Palette magazine between the October and December 2011 issues, and then later began serialization with the April 2012 issue. The first tankōbon was published by Ichijinsha on January 22, 2013, and fives volumes have been published as of July 22, 2016. A special edition of the fifth volume was released bundled with a drama CD.

Anime

A 12-episode anime television series produced by Feel aired on TBS between July 4, 2014 and September 18, 2014 and was simulcast outside of Asia by Crunchyroll. An original video animation episode was included on the first Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume released on September 24, 2014 and was streamed on Crunchyroll from December 3, 2014. The opening theme is "Mirai Fanfare" (ミライファンファーレ, Future Fanfare) by Nagarekawa Girls (Miku Itō and Sachika Misawa) and the ending theme is "Mirai Shōjotachi" (未来少女たち, Future Girls) by Miku Itō, Sachika Misawa, Maya Yoshioka, and Inori Minase. The theme songs were released on July 30, 2014, with an appearance by Miku Ito at Nagareyama which the fictional town of Nagarekawa is based on. A character single with insert songs was released on August 27, 2014. Additional OVA episodes were released on December 24, 2015 and June 22, 2016.

Home release

The series was released to DVD and Blu-Ray format in seven volumes. The first volume contains a full-length OVA special and six illustrated cards. In North America, Sentai Filmworks released the 12-episode series and an OVA as a boxset in Japanese with English subtitles.