In the house
- Dwindling Party: Nanaka, Minami and Yuki all die in the last third of the series.
- Not Afraid to Die: The invitations outright told the women that they risked dying during their stay at Shin's house, yet they all showed up.
- Quirky Household: One quiet novelist, five mysterious women living as boarders, and one cute cat.
Shin
Shin Michima
Played by Yojiro Noda.
The struggling novelist who owns the apartment.- Accidental Pornomancer: Nanaka, Minami, Midori, and Hitomi all blatantly come on to him. He is receptive to their advances, but very awkwardly and hesitantly; partly because of his timid personality, but also because of the rules of their living arrangement.
- Affectionate Nickname: Nanaka calls him Michi. Minami calls him Novel.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: Many of the events that resulted in his books selling better are things nobody would want to live through.
- Hopeless with Tech: This is the excuse he gives Hotaru for not owning a phone and hence not being able to give her his cell number (though here may be some truth to it, considering that he writes his novels by hand).
- I Should Write a Book About This: Implied at the end. He's only starting to write it, but it already has a title: "My ladies."
- Most Writers Are Writers: He's a writer.
- Retargeted Lust: Living with the women does make him horny from time to time, and the way he deals with it is how the audience gets introduced to Hotaru.
- The Stoic/Unfazed Everyman: You've gotta hand it to Shin, he takes everything that happens to him in the series with remarkable grace.
- Not So Stoic: In the final episode, Hitomi's unwavering devotion to him and his novels finally win him over, and he cries when she moves in and declares her love for him.
- Unknown Rival: Yuzu didn't know Shin even existed until Ryuichi mentioned him in one of his reviews of Yuzu's work, making the rivalry one-sided up to that point.
- Writer's Block: Shin is suffering from this in the beginning of the series; understandable, given his family situation.
Hitomi
Hitomi Tsukamoto
Played by Rena Matsui.
Hitomi is the first of the five women, age 26, a friendly book lover.- Bookworm: She really likes her books. Decides to become a Non-Idle Rich and work part-time at a bookstore in the epilogue.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Her main way of showing her interest in Shin is losing her temper each time there is any sign he could start something with one of the other women.
- First Girl Wins: She's the first to move into the house and the one who ends up living with Shin permanently.
- Like Parent, Like Spouse: It's technically "like boyfriend" by the time the series ends: her father was a writer and she ends up living with Shin.
- Royalties Heir: She's one, being the hidden daughter of a famous author whose books are still selling well.
- Use Your Head: When she's upset with Shin, she tends to headbutt him.
- Your Door Was Open: When she moved in, she just lets herself in the house and actually tells Shin he should lock his door. Becomes a Book Ends moment when she lets herself into Shin's apartment again in the story's end.
Yuki
Yuki Kobayashi/Megumi Yano
Played by Miwako Wagatsuma.
Yuki is the second of the five women, age 24, polite but socially awkward.- The Chessmaster: She is the one who arranged for the events of the plot.
- Foreshadowing:
- She mentions not being overly attached to names while naming Cat, hinting that she's not using her real one.
- When Midori tells her of her trouble with Takeshi, she talks about the fact she knows people who can take care of him for her as if it were no big deal.
- At least one Previously on… sequence has her onscreen right when Shin's voiceover mentions the presumably unknown invitation sender.
- When Minami explains what she has figured out about the invitation sender, she asks several of the questions that make Minami give further details of what she knows.
- Secretly Dying: Implied, when we're shown a scan of a brain, and are told by a doctor, "Even if treatment is continued like this, in six months to a year, at most." Subverted when it's revealed to be a scan of her husband's brain, not her own.
- The Sociopath: She arranged for the events of the story, including a number of murders, for no other reason than her own amusement.
- May–December Romance: She is revealed to be married to a man much older than her. Also Sleeping with the Boss since she was his housemaid. She also reveals that he runs a real estate company (actually he's a Knowledge Broker who runs Japan from the shadows), which is where her money came from.Husband: Will you marry me? [beat] You probably don't want to, a beautiful 21-year-old lady, and an old man like me.
Nanaka
Nanaka Hiraka
Played by Yuko Araki.
Nanaka is the third of the five women, age 20, a kind-hearted chair collector.- An Odd Place to Sleep: She got used to sleeping in chairs from her acting job as a child, the only chance she got to rest. It's to the point that she has no actual bed in her room.
- Bathtub Bonding: She imposes a session of this upon Shin at some point. Shin was already taking a bath and she decided to join him even after he said she couldn't. It turns out to be a ruse to make sure she and Shin are alone while she tells him what she has figured out about the invitation sender.
- Former Child Star: She has been an actress since she was a child. While she is stable as an adult, she has a lot of bad memories of being ordered around.
- Kindhearted Cat Lover: She loves playing with the kitten.
- Nice Girl: Always cheerful and seems to be at least civil with everyone in the house.
- Retirony: Inverted. She's killed a few days after talking about starting to work again.
- Secretly Wealthy: Nanaka is actually a world-famous actress on sabbatical.
- Stepford Smiler: To a certain degree; when Seiji asks some favors of her, you can tell for a moment from her facial expressions that she's reluctant, but then puts on a smile anyway. In general, she's outwardly cheerful, gentle and outgoing, but during more private moments, she seems more withdrawn and reluctant. It's hinted that being forced to act since she was a child has turned her into a bit of a pushover.
- Too Happy to Live: She gets killed just as she had arranged to play in an eventual movie based on Shin's latest novel, and was looking like she may start regularly dating him.
- Wham Line:Nanaka: Naturally, [the invitation sender is] someone you know.
Midori
Midori Suzumura
Played by Rena Takeda.
Midori is the fourth of the five women, age 17, an insecure high school student.- Bittersweet 17: She wants to live independently but doesn't yet possess the required maturity to do so, as Minami points out. She even asks to have sex with Shin when she comes of age, believing it'll make her tougher.
- Commonality Connection: Both she and Minami were mistreated by their parents, and Minami takes Midori under her wing and tries to teach her life skills, despite Midori's initial distrust of her. In the end, Midori does take after Minami in many ways and Minami actually bequeaths everything she owns to her.
- Defensive Feint Trap: She lures Yuki/Megumi into a trap by seemingly inviting her for tea for old time's sake, then chatting to her as if she doesn't know she's the killer so Sunako can get her from behind.
- Extreme Doormat: Initially, she regularly gets shaken down for money by her former foster brother.
- Grew a Spine: Thanks to Minami's influence.
- The Jailbait Wait: Midori is 17, and when she makes a move on Shin she makes note of this trope.Midori: When I turn 18, if I said I wanted to have sex with you, would you do it?
- Madonna-Whore Complex: Gender-Inverted. When she finds out Shin kissed Minami without being in love with her, she immediately comes to the conclusion that he's the kind of guy who easily kisses women.
- Parental Abandonment: As literal as it gets. Her parents abandoned her before her fifth birthday, and she ended up in an orphanage that was being run like a foster home.
- Romantic Runner-Up: Of the two women still alive at the end — Midori and Hitomi — Shin ends up with Hitomi. From a storytelling perspective, this is because Midori's relationship with Minami is the more important relationship in her personal story, and this allows the focus to be on that.
- Sailor Fuku: Her school uniform.
- Secretly Wealthy: Midori's money turns out to come from winning a billion yen at a lottery.
- Short Teens, Tall Adults: She's 17 and one of the visual cues that indicates she's a teenager is that she's the shortest of all the women in the main cast, who are either in their 20s or 30s.
- Tragic Keepsake: She's seen wearing Minami's necklace at the end of the series.
- Wham Line/Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Spoken to Yuki/Megumi, to explain why she thinks she may never see Shin again despite being in love with him:Midori: He doesn't need any more murderers in his life.
Minami
Minami Shirakawa
Played by Rila Fukushima.
Minami is the fifth of the five women, age 30, a rude Deadpan Snarker.- Bearer of Bad News: Due to her nocturnal working hours that have her home before the rest of the household wakes up, she's the one to find Nanaka's dead body and to have to break the news to the others."It's going to be a long day."
- Big Sister Instinct: Minami towards Midori; throughout the story, Minami takes Midori under her wing and helps make Midori more assertive.Minami: Because you always have this look of, "I'm so pitiful."
- Dead Man Writing: Her will, which she has delivered to Midori.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Face Death with Dignity: Despite being burned alive, she is never seen losing her composure.
- Freudian Excuse: In light of having been sexually abused as a child by her father, her nudist tendencies can be inferred as a way for her to reassert control over her own body. In her words, "I don't like things that constrain me."
- Home Nudist: Minami doesn't wear clothes while at home; she says it's because she doesn't like anything that obstructs her.
- Hypocritical Heartwarming: She's the first to call Shin's novels bad, but defends Shin the second Ryuichi starts doing something similar.
- Jerkass Has a Point: About Shin needing to market himself as an author.Minami: Then get out there and sell yourself.
Shin: I don't want to sell myself. I want to sell my books.
Minami: Stop your idealism. Go kiss some ass. - Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Minami is generally quite rude but also extremely protective towards the rest of the household.
- Metaphorically True: She tells one of her employees that Shin is her husband and that she lives with him, four girls and a cat.
- The Oldest Profession: She runs a High-Class Call Girl escort company. Ironically, she herself has only had sex with one person in her life, and that was her Abusive Dad.
- Public Secret Message: Telling the remaining members of the household what she knew about Nanaka's murderer was partly meant to tell the person she knew what they were up to without seeming to address them specifically.
- Scenery Censor: Whenever Minami hangs around the house naked, which she does quite a bit.
- Self-Made Orphan: Minami is revealed to have had her parents killed before the series; her father for sexually abusing her.
- Unexpected Virgin: Despite coming on to Shin in early episodes and running an escort club, she herself has never had sexual contact with anyone aside from her sexually abusive father.
Cat
Cat
- Team Pet: Adopted by the household.
- A Dog Named "Dog": Named "Cat" because it responds to the name.
Supporting Characters
Seiji
Seiji Sakurai
Played by Takashi Yamanaka
Shin's devoted publicist.- Heterosexual Life-Partners: He appears to be Shin's only true friend. And Shin is grateful for it as well.
- Honorary True Companion: To Shin's household. By the time the series starts, he and the women are on good terms with each other and he sometimes joins them for dinner (and he isn't at all fazed by Minami walking around the house without clothes). However, he doesn't actually live with them and isn't bound by the invitation sender's rules.
- Red Herring: Once the possibility that the invitation sender could be someone Shin knows gets established, he becomes the obvious, attention-grabbing suspect. By that point, the series had established that his publishing house was going to drop Shin if his latest novel flopped, and Seiji had already used Nanaka's true identity to try attracting attention on Shin. His drunken statement that he would do "whatever it takes" to make Shin's novel sell didn't help.
- Tears of Joy: When the demand for Shin's older novels require them to be reprinted, proving that people are actually appreciating his work and the sales of the latest one aren't entirely due to No Such Thing as Bad Publicity.
- Undying Loyalty: Stands by Shin through thick and thin, attributing Shin's failure to get recognized for his writing skills to his own failures as a publicist.
Hotaru
Hotaru
Played by Moeka Hoshi
A High-Class Call Girl Shin sometimes visits.- High-Class Call Girl
- Only Known By Her Nickname: Until the end, that reveals her real name to be Aiko Kojima.
- Sexposition: Hotaru can sometimes get Shin to talk.
- Unproblematic Prostitution: She seems to actually enjoy her sessions with Shin, and also has other nice customers.
Tatsuyuki
Tatsuyuki Michima
Played by Lily Franky
Shin's father, on death row for killing three people, including his own wife.- Creepy Monotone: Never raises his voice once.
- Dead Man Walking: He's been on death row for five years when the series starts.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Has no regrets about killing his wife and her lover, but feels guilt over killing the policeman sent to stop him in his fit of rage.
Yuzu
Yuzu Hanaki
Played by Tomoya Nakamura
The current best-selling author in Japan, whom Shin really hates.- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: His public image is that of quite amicable person, but he's no fun to be around once the cameras aren't running.
- It's All About Me: In addition to him being self-centered, another character criticizes his books for looking like him writing about himself, and considers he's unable to appreciate Shin's work because he's unable to appreciate anything other than his own work. Another aspect of it is that even though he seems to be a genuine Fanboy of Nanaka, he still treats her as a tool for his own advancement.
- The Knights Who Say "Squee!": Towards Nanaka, as a fan of her movies.
- Second Place Is for Winners: He holds that attitude after Shin's novels start outselling his, because he considers the first place holder to be a fraud, hence making him view himself as never having actually gone down to second place.
Ryuichi
Ryuichi Moriguchi
Played by Tetsuhiro Ikeda
A literary critic who is constantly praising Yuzu's work and putting down Shin's.- Caustic Critic: For Shin's work; he claims to have hated it since as early as Shin's earliest novels.
- Ephebophile: Heavily implied, since he's shown sleeping with Ayane Hirokawa, the young pop star from Minami's escort service.
Sunako
Sunako
Played by Yuya Endo
A man in Minami's employ.- Battle Butler: He's Minami's driver but also knows how to make people "disappear", like he almost does to Kanda and actually does in the climax to Yuki on Midori's order (and his own desire to avenge Minami).
- Car Fu: He unsurprisingly knows how to make use of this, with one of his duties being Minami's driver.
Eiko
Eiko Mizuguchi
Played by Mariko Tsutsui
The mother of the policeman killed by Tatsuyuki Michima.- Hidden Disdain Reveal: She turns out to have been the one harassing Shin on his fax machine.
- Outliving One's Offspring: Her son was killed while on duty.
Nori
Nori Miura
Played by Juri Ihata
Yuzu Hanaki's publicist.- Extreme Doormat: One of Yuzu's recurring jerk moves is to treat her like she's his personal assistant, and she's going along with it. Ryuichi also seems to have basically stolen several aspects of her job, leaving her with the stuff that only Yuzu's actual publicist can do.
- Yes-Man: Her general attitude towards Yuzu.
Takeshi
Takeshi Kanda
Played by Kaito Yoshimura
A young man who's regularly shaking Midori down for money at the beginning of the series.- Back for the Finale: He seemingly gets his last episode quite early, but shows up again in the finale.
- Delinquent Hair: Very obviously dyed blonde.
- Entertainingly Wrong: When he manages to find Shin's apartment, he promises to not come back if Midori gives him one million yen. To make things faster, Midori just grabs her prepared rent money out of her room to give it to him, making him jump to the conclusion that she was expecting him.
- Save the Villain: Midori asks Minami to spare his life at the last second and just make him go away instead. It turns out that he becomes Sunako's assistant, which makes him one of Midori's employees after she inherited Minami's assets.
- The Pig-Pen: There is very visible dirt on both his face and shirt when he's seen as a child.
