"CHOOSE!"
Kanade Amakusa is a high school student who is suffering from a curse dubbed "Absolute Choice." This curse requires him to select an action from a list of two or three random options that appear before him at any given time, with no control over what type of choices appear (although there may have been some sort of karmic influence at times). If he hesitates for too long or tries to refuse, he is wracked with sudden, painful headaches. Many of these choices are perverse or just outright bizarre, making his school life very difficult. However, one day, a choice he makes on his way home from school causes a mysterious, beautiful young girl to fall from the sky. Amakusa discovers that she was sent from the God World to assist him in completing a series of missions given to him directly by God himself. After completing these missions, the "Absolute Choices" curse will be lifted from Amakusa; but should he fail in completing any of the missions, he will be stuck with the curse forever.
My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy (俺の脳内選択肢が、学園ラブコメを全力で邪魔している Ore no Nōnai Sentakushi ga, Gakuen Rabu Kome o Zenryoku de Jama Shiteiru), also known by the abbreviation Noucome (のうコメ Nōkome), is a Japanese light novel series written by Takeru Kasukabe, with illustrations by Yukiwo. Twelve volumes were published by Kadokawa Shoten from February 1, 2012 to February 1, 2016. A manga adaptation by Sayaka Itsuki was serialized in Enterbrain's Famitsu Comic Clear, which ran from February 1, 2013 to May 1, 2015 for five volumes. An anime adaptation, directed by Takayuki Inagaki and produced by Diomedea, aired as a part of the Fall 2013 season.
Crunchyroll is streaming the anime, and can be watched legally here
for viewers in the following areas: U.S.A, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, South Africa, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, Turkey, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Latin America, Spain, Portugal, and all French speaking territories.
Not to be confused with My Youth Romantic Comedy Is Wrong, as I Expected.
Tropes appearing in this series:
- 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: Used in episode 9 in an Initial D reference, which involved a modified Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 racing against Utage and her Toyota Vellfire.
- A-Cup Angst: Furano and Utage. Also Ayame, though she decided to have the problem fixed with a very large amount of silicone.
- Addressing The Audience: In the last scene of episode 10.
- Ambiguously Gay: The third and current flippant God.
- Amnesiac Hero: Chocolat, who is unable to remember much when she first meets Kanade.
- Artistic License – Biology: A lengthy montage in the first episode mingles historical humans making important choices with organisms making choices that have a profound effect on their species. In reality, that's not how evolution works. Random mutations in an organism's genetic code program it with behaviors which may or may not aid in survival, and those with the most beneficial mutations thrive. There's no "choice" involved whatsoever. Only organisms with advanced cognition, like human beings, can imagine different possibilities and choose between them.
- Because You Were Nice to Me: Several of the girls fall in love with Kanade because of this, such as his willingness to talk to Furano despite her acting cold towards him most of the time.
- Between My Legs: Furano's introduction in the OVA episode (while upside-down).
- Big Eater: Chocolat - Kanade is astounded at just how much she can put away. For some reason it's subverted when she's not an amnesiac.
- Book Ends: The first and last part of the first season are about choices made by people and how it affected or affects them or the world.
- Brick Joke:
- Sort of an example; A war between Yuragi and Ayame that begins in episode 9 is seen again at the very end of episode 10.
- The Natsuhiko gag shows up early on and settles down in the middle of the anime before suddenly sprouting again for the finale.
- Brutal Honesty: In episode 9, Kanade is forced to say what is really on his mind at random times.
- But Thou Must!: Occasionally, the Absolute Choice will eliminate the choice by having the two options be identical or lead to exactly the same outcome, the most common of which involves having Kanade do the same embarrassing action with only a minor variation or a change in the wording he'll have to blurt out.
- Butt-Monkey: Kanade. So very, very much.
- Cannot Spit It Out: Furano.
- The Casanova: Touya makes it fairly obvious that he wants to get into as many pants as he can. He even greets Chocolat by saying "I'm not asking for marriage; how about we start by making babies?". The girls are the only ones fooled.
- Celibate Hero: Kanade, he admits he has never fallen in love before. And he was confessed to a lot in middle school, but he never accepted any of them.
- Censor Steam: Parodied in episode 3, with Kanade pointing out how unlikely this was.
- Childhood Friends: Kanade and Yuragi.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Several of the main girls exhibit this from time to time. Furano uses it the most, absolutely despising how close Chocolat seems to Kanade.
- Cloud Cuckoo Lander: Played straight with Oka. Deconstructed with Kanade, as the series is about trying to get out from under the curse that forces him to act this way.
- The Comically Serious: Furano.
- Cosmic Plaything: Kanade. Sometimes, it seems like the entire universe literally exists just to screw him over in every possible way.
- Crash-Into Hello: Subverted with Chocolat. While she does fall down from the sky, she manages to stop herself just before she hits him, and instead is on all fours just above him.
- Crazy Jealous Guy: Almost all of Kanade's attackers are this. Upgraded to include girls in episode 8.
- Cringe Comedy
- Cute Clumsy Girl: Konagi is extremely clumsy, adding to her appeal by some characters' estimation.
- Cute Little Fangs: Oka is shown to have one.
- The Cutie: Konagi. Kanade frequently comments of her "What is this adorable creature?"
- Deconstruction: NouCome is a sugar-coated horror story about the reality of being a visual novel protagonist, suddenly forced by the game system into making a binary choice with no option to back out.
- Distracted by the Sexy: When Kanade and the others are talking to the student council regarding their contest, Ayame's boobs bounce quite a bit when she's talking. It distracts him quite a bit as a result.
- Dominatrix: Ayame has the personality of one.
- Easy Amnesia: Chocolat suffers from this.
- Even the Girls Want Her: The student president. When she appeared in episode 7, all the girls in the school said they were overflowing. Along with the boys saying they couldn't hold it anymore.
- Failure Is the Only Option: In the first episode gets a special mention, the last choice was either tell his gonk neighbor he loves her and hug her, or tell his gonk neighbor he loves her, hug her, and allow her to have her way with him. Kanade was not happy at all.
- Fall-in Angel: The story and Kanade's path to freedom from his curse starts when Chocolat falls from heaven and crashes into him.
- Gender Bender: There were plenty of ways for the god in contact with Kanade to prove his divinity. This is the one he went with. Kanade must either remain a girl forever or stand on her head and say the name of her favourite historical figure (John Manjiro).
- At the end of episode 2 we are shown a What If? where Kanade ended up staying a girl, happy but nostalgic and with a nice boyfriend.
- He briefly becomes a girl again in Light Novel 9, to play a female role in a play.
- Genki Girl: Oka and Chocolat.
- Gonk: Kanade's next door neighbor. And she has a crush on him.
- He Who Must Not Be Seen: The infamous Natsuhiko. Apparently, everyone knows him, except for Kanade.
- Honour Before Reason: Kanade won't make any choices that involve trampling the feelings of others. Which makes it incredibly difficult to lift his curse, because he's told later by Seira that he has to fall in love to lift the curse, and three girls are in love with him...
- Is This Thing Still On?: Happens in episode 10 when Chocolat asks Kanade if he loves her. This occurs in a mic booth, and one of the the mics in question broadcasts this (as well as the entire following conversation) to everyone at the pool park.
- It Amused Me: Seira likes to see Kanade squirm and suffer, such as when she gives him a Love Confession, triggering both Clingy Jealous Girl and Crazy Jealous Guy modes from practically the entire student body.
- Jackass Genie:
- When he's presented with a choice that seemingly is good regardless of which is chosen, Kanade immediately suspects that this will come into play. He's right - the "harem" option gives him a male harem, while The Stinger shows the other option would have resulted in a coma.
- In episode 9, you can clearly hear the voice try to hold in his chuckles, as he gives Kanade the most absurd choices ever.
- Jumping the Gender Barrier: In the What If? ending of episode 2 where Kanade chooses to remain a girl and goes by Kanarin, she gets a nice boyfriend who takes her on a bike ride into the sunset. It’s implied that falling in love with this boy finally broke the Absolute Choice curse.
- Large Ham: Miyazumi, the President of the Hosting Club during the team duel match.
- Lemony Narrator: Joji Nakata does a bang-up job at this. Twice you can hear him
laugh while reciting his absurd lines, and they Throw It In!. - Lens Flare Censor: Referenced in episode 3, where Kanade has to catch a glimpse of Konagi's panties, but a sudden beam of light blocks his vision.
- Literal Genie: No matter what choice is taken in Absolute Choice, it happens. Kanade even notes that no matter if it violates all rules of physics and the universe, the choice will become reality.
- Little Sister Heroine: Parodied with Yuragi, who declares herself as everybody's little sister. Becomes a Running Gag, as she tries this on everyone she runs into, whether it's a guy or girl. It doesn't matter if the person is younger than her.
- Loophole Abuse:
- Kanade is told to get a peek of Konagi's panties to fulfill a mission in episode 3. Despite everything he tries, he's unable to sneak a peek at them. Later, a thief attacks, and he distracts the crook long enough for Oka to step in with a flying kick. He then sees Oka's panties, and gets a "mission fulfilled" text from "God". "God" explains that Oka and Konagi switched gifts from admirers earlier in the day, so he technically saw Konagi's panties when he saw Oka wearing them.
- Kanade is also able to cheat the challenge that he has to make girls say they like him. He assumes at first that he has to make him say "like" as in "like in a romantic relationship" kind of way. The loophole was that he asks a few girls if they "like him as a person". This works a few times but the others are quite more difficult.
- This trope seems to zig-zag. During the "make Ouka cry and get a picture of her mission" Kanade is warned by Seira not to try and "cheat" the mission by making Ouka cry through unnatural means. Absolute Choice forces Kanade to use the onion extract on himself when he is about to use it on Ouka but that may be because Seira was observing Kanade that day.
- Love Hurts: In episode 10, after Kanade snaps a picture of Ouka crying to fulfill a mission objective, Chocolat, who was nearby, runs away after seeing how close the two seem. Later, Ouka and Furano also experience this after seeing Chocolat give him a hug and a Love Confession.
- Magic Skirt:
- The opening starts off with several of the female characters in very short skirts doing handstands... and yet, no panties are flashed. Averted in the series itself, though.
- In episode 3, this along with many other Gag Censor tropes are parodied with Kanade especially pointing out how impossible this was.
- Man, I Feel Like a Woman: Happens briefly to Kanade, when "God" turns him into a girl to prove that he's "God".
- Modesty Shorts: Oka wears a pare of Spats after her embarrassing panty incident.
- Morton's Fork: Most choices tend to be bad no matter what.
- Nice Girl: Chocolat, even if she is still very weird. Oka as well. Furano is this as well, when she isn't acting odd.
- Nice Guy: Kanade, which just makes his curse all the more sad.
- No Romantic Resolution: In the anime at least. However, Kanade seems to have deliberately chosen this as he states he doesn't want to make a choice that would trample on other people's feelings. While it doesn't resolve his Absolute Choice curse, the girls seem content with that answer, for now...
- Officially Shortened Title: NouCome, approximate to My Mental Choices are Completely Interfering with my School Romantic Comedy.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: In episode 10, both Seira, and Utage, are shocked by Kanade's choices, or lack thereof. The former goes so far as to help him with his last mission objective, and then plainly spells it out to him how to lift the curse and is concerned at his apparent Oblivious to Love attitude. And the latter has an Oh, Crap! look on her face when he tells her that he chose the fourth option instead of picking one of the girls to confess to.
- Older Than They Look: Utage, the Token Mini-Moe, is apparently 29.
- Overdramatic Dating Commotion: Upon losing the orientation's Grand Battle, Seira makes a shocking Love Confession to Kanade Amakusa from the winning team in front of the whole school which leads to unified and mixed reactions, first they all go Big "WHAT?!", then the boys go "oh! my! god! Amakusa, you bastard!", while the girls go "Seira-sama is gonna be tainted! nooo!" Then Chocolat says she likes him too, making the student body throw objects at Kanade on the stage.
- Parody: Of Story Branching in visual novels. Periodically, the narrative stops dead to offer Kanade a completely arbitrary choice he must perform in order to progress his relationship with one of the girls surrounding him. Unlike most visual novels, the choices here are bafflingly obtuse and almost surely designed to end in his humiliation.
- Porn Stash: Kanade has one in his computer in a folder labeled "The Path to Being a Philosopher". In episode 6, one of his choices forces him to delete it.
- The Power of Love: Absolute Choice won't completely stop until Kanade falls in love with someone.
- Pretty Boy: Kanade is explicitly noted to be quite handsome in series, though most girls are driven away by the weird things he is forced to do by the Absolute Choices.
- Pretty Freeloaders: Chocolat.
- Reality Warper: The being that makes the Absolute Choices obviously has the power to warp reality, as Kanade is quick to point out at the end of the first episode when he has to choose either a beautiful girl falling from the sky or his gonk neighbor falling from the sky.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Utage is surprisingly understanding of Kanade's strange freak outs. She later reveals that she too was afflicted by the Absolute Choice curse before, so is usually sympathetic towards Kanade, unless he does something embarrassing to her.
- Rei Ayanami Expy: Furano.
- Running Gag: Chocolat's "10 ways to do x" books.
- Sadistic Choice: Most of the options that Kanade is forced to choose are perverse and/or humiliating. And sometimes, both choices aren't really that different.
- Sadistic Teacher: A variation, Utage is a sadist but she is generally kind to her students.
- Scenery Censor: referenced in episode 3, with a prop appearing to hide Konagi's panties, and an additional prop appearing once the first is taken away.
- School Idol: The popularity five are this, they are the five most popular students in the school. Each has a large fanbase with the opposite sex. The student council president, who is the most popular, has everyone in love with her.
- School Sport Uniform: The seventh episode of the anime adaptation have a really, really lengthy and fanservice-y scene where Ouka Yuuouji and Konagi Yawakaze gets to wrestle each other... wearing Japanese bloomers. In front of a (obviously) cheering crowd.
- Secret Character: The Dating Sim in the OVA has a secret route (accessed through impressions amassed on the other love interests' routes) where the "male best friend" character comes out as a trans girl.
- Sequel Hook: In the usual harem style, Kanade still hasn't picked a girl. This also leaves him stuck with Absolute Choice.
- At the very end the voice of Absolute Choice asks the viewers choose between Keep Watching and Stop Watching.
- Shameless Fanservice Girl: Zigzagged with Oka, who immediately is flustered after Kanade sees her panties. Then she'll show up in class the next day doing handstands, because she's now wearing spats.
- Shout-Out:
- 'Unlimited Brother Works' and 'Gate of Oinkton'.
- "I hope you have enough pigs!"
- Mobile Fighter G Gundam: The symbol of Domon Kasshu's "King of Hearts" appears on Furano's hand after she punches Kanade quite hard.
- One of the choices that Absolute Choice offers is for Kanade to change his middle name to Amakusa "And I Will Always Love You" Kanade.
- During the Insult Competition, Furano accuses Ayame of having silicone inside her boobs while the symbol for Intel processors appear with "Silicone Inside" on it.
- In episode 5, while answering to Kanade's question about finding a new member for the reject five, Furano says "Nice Boat..." while giving an absurd description about desks.
- Yuragi's performance in episode 7 sounds very similar to Nagisa from Yandere no Onna no Ko.
- The 8th episode's choice titles at the beginning say "My Freeloader Can't Be This Smart?!" and "My Thing Can't Be This Amazing?!"
- The OVA keeps up with the School Days references by recreating the infamous "There's nobody inside." scene near the end of the episode.
- One of the episode titles for episode 2 is Girls und Panty Shots.
- And of course, Kanade is on a Mission from God.
- Sir Not-Appearing-in-This-Trailer: Karasu Yumeshima. Although he appears in the opening, and does have a few scenes in the show, his role (in the anime at least) is very minimal, and even during the contest he pulls a Ninja Log on Kanade's team, despite being one of the "Reject Five" teammates.
- Spit Take: Happens in episode 8 when Chocolat's memory returned and she told Kanade that she loves him.
- The Stinger: At the ending of some episodes, it shows What Could Have Been if Kanade had chosen the most extreme choice (or the un-chosen choice) of the episode.
- Sudden Game Interface: The curse comes with no explanation, just a Diegetic Interface provided by the higher-ups.
- Sweet Tooth: Chocolat, who picked her name based off of what she likes to eat.
- Take a Third Option: Subverted (and lampshaded for that matter). The entire plot literally revolves on Kanade gaining such an ability. When three choices finally do start showing up, it makes it even more difficult for him to choose.
- Taken a step further in the 10th episode when presented with three choices of who to confess his love to, A fourth option appears, Resulting in hilarity.
- Tsundere: Furano usually acts cold towards Kanade, much to her regret as she wanted to be normal in high school and secretly likes him. But due to her shyness, she is only able to act that way towards guys, causing her to be labeled as a freak.
- Unwanted Harem: Hilariously invoked during episode 4. He chooses to have a harem, thinking that it would be awesome to have girls fawning over him. Unfortunately for him, the only people interested in him are guys, and they chase him around quite a bit. The trope is eventually played straight, as he has at least three girls interested in him.
- What If?: Shown in short clips at the end of various episodes such as:
- ...Kanade decided to accept being a girl in episode 2? Kanarin gets a Happy Ending where she is a bit nostalgic and then her boyfriend comes along on a bike to take her on a ride.
- Yandere: Yuragi pulls one off quite well.
- Yaoi Fangirl: Several amongst the female cast, though Chocolat is the most forward about encouraging Kanade to indulge. As he's straight, he's less than amused.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Kanade MUST make a decision when Absolute Choice occurs. If he doesn't, then he is wracked with terrible head pain until he makes a decision.
