Manga / Please Tell Me! Galko-chan

From left to right: Otako, Galko and Ojou

Is it true that the friends you make in high school are your friends for life?

—end of Chapter 17

The idea is simple. We have three archetypal girls—Galko, Otako, and Ojou—talking about girl stuff. Only thing is, that girl stuff they talk about is often the less-than-innocent kind.

Please Tell Me! Galko-chan (In Japanese: おしえて！ギャル子ちゃん/ Oshiete! Galko-chan/Gyaruko-chan) is a Slice of Life/ecchi manga created by Ken'ya Suzuki, which began serialization in Comic Walker in 2014. A selection of skits from the first thirty chapters had been adapted into a series of 7-½ minute shorts for the winter 2016 anime season. The manga is licensed in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment.

On December 19, 2021, the author Kenya Suzuki was arrested for importing child pornography, making the future of the manga uncertain. Kadokawa later announced that the serialization is suspended until further notice following his arrest and the allegations against him.

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Please Tell Me! Galko-chan contains examples of the following tropes:

Tropes # to D

• A-Cup Angst: As most of the series focuses on themes like body changes in puberty and how buxom Galko is, there are some examples of this trope:
  • Kuseta's classmates Tsunno and Kibami are two elementary schoolers who tease him at the pool; they are wordlessly rebuked by the buxom Galko, who embraces Kuseta when they try to belittle him. The next school day, when she sees Kuseta with a Thousand-Yard Stare from that moment, Tsunno raises her hand and demands more milk during school lunch (Kibami wonders if Tsunno believes the myth that milk gives one bigger breasts).
• Acrofatic: Despite being overweight, Nikuko is well known for her fast, forceful advances in the girls' soccer team which lends her her epithet, "Sonic Meat."
• All Men Are Perverts: The three boys in Galko's class. All of their conversations either deal with sex or fantasizing about Galko. Charao particularly counts, as he often starts those discussions.
• Ass Shove: A skit in Episode 1 discusses "kancho", which involves doing this to someone with both index fingers. Galko mentions that when she was in elementary school, a boy attempted to do this to her and broke his finger in the process. According to Chapter 20/Episode 8, that boy is Charao, something Galko used to blackmail him into borrowing some of his hair gel to style Bomb-o's bed head.
• Best Her to Bed Her: One of Nikuko's character descriptions mentions that her preferred type of person is someone stronger than her.
• Big Beautiful Woman: Nikuko is overweight, but she still gets plenty of attention from the other characters. The boys are particularly disappointed when their fantasy of seeing her in a revealing carnival outfit does not come true. There also is a short story with her that explores how Rubenesque bodies used to be in fashion. Nikuko's mom too is a Big Beautiful Woman and attends a boudoir shoot with two other moms she's friends with. Nikuko comments how pretty she is. Her character description also mentions how her size, speed and strength aids in certain "nightime activities", likely indicating an active sex life.
• Bland-Name Product: In episodes 5 and 6, the "Bon"-branded mall^note stylised as "/Bon" to mirror its Real Life counterpart is obviously a reference to Aeon, Japan's largest hypermarket chain and mall operator.
• Broken Tears: Combined with Heroic BSoD. Galko's sister arrives home uncharacteristically early from her first date with Otako's brother, having failed to lure him into losing his virginity with her. Though she tries to brush it off, she breaks down in tears from the dejection, as she's under the impression that she completely fucked up a beautiful, fulfilling relationship and chased him off, a person who had become utmost dear to her and who wanted a deep, loving relationship with her. However, some time later they meet at the temple again and after clearing some misunderstandings about the finality of their first date, become an item.
• Brick Joke: If you binge watch: Toilet Paper and Constipation.
• Buxom Beauty Standard: Every male in this series loves big boobs. The most significant is Otako's brother, who specifically blogs about Jiggle Physics in anime. He later starts dating Galko's sister, who is one of the most buxom characters.
• Character Development:
  • Tsunno tones down the tsun- aspects of her tsundere behavior when Kuseta, due to Galko's advice, starts recognizing the girl's advances as affectionate efforts. Eventually, Tsunno and Kuseta start dating. In fact, when people remark about them on their first date, Tsunno understands how Kuseta must've felt when she'd done the same thing in the Pool Episode, and feels ashamed of herself.
  • Charao stops pining for Galko once he realizes that his love for her is platonic, and due to her example, he'll become a better boyfriend for his girlfriend Kouhai.
  • Galko realizes that she should set limits for how much she's willing to help other people, as she sees that she's neglecting her best friends as a result. There's only so much one person can do for others, after all.
  • Galko's sister stops the frivolity of her sex life to date when she realizes that Otako's brother is truly in love with her.
• Childhood Friends: Galko and Charao have known each other almost since grade school and have shared classes ever since. He considers her a crucial part of his life and a true example to follow, ever since she helped him after he tried to kancho her and broke his index finger.. In spite of his desire to pursue her, he never summoned the courage. Eventually, he realizes that his love for Galko is actually platonic.
• Chubby Chaser: Suboo seems to think Nikuko is attractive, going by his Imagine Spot of the girl in a Carnivale dancing outfit.
• Comically Missing the Point: Galko mentions that her "Daddy" gives her money when she bakes food, and everyone around her immediately starts wondering if she means a "sugar daddy". She misunderstands everyone's shock as being about the childish mode of address and insists she normally calls him "Father".
• Compensated Dating: Subverted. Galko is often thought to be doing it, but she's actually clueless about sex. An example appears in episode 2, when Galko said "Papa" (in English) would pay her if she made bread. Unfortunately, "papa" is also the term for the "other side" in Compensated Dating, which causes a misunderstanding (The manga translation handled it well by translating it as "Daddy" and making it sound like she meant "sugar daddy"). Galko immediately notices the looks she's getting and starts to protest that she slipped and always just calls him "Father", clearing up the misunderstanding while apparently oblivious to it.
• Cool Big Sis:
  • Galko's big sister is this for Galko;
  • Galko is this for Kuseta (combined with Mentor Archetype), who learns volumes about himself from their conversations, recognizing through Galko's advice that Tsunno likes him and wants to be with him, eventually starting to date the girl.
  • Charao eventually understands that this is the nature of his relationship with Galko, as he admits his platonic love for her.
• Cooldown Hug: Galko gives one to her sister after she crumbles down in tears after Otako's brother rejects her sexual advances, as she did it way too soon into their relationship, undermining his true feelings for her.
• Couch Gag: At the end of the opening segment there are introductions about the main trio, which is different for each episode. This comes from the manga, where the character bios for the characters are different for each chapter and are customized for each chapter's content.
• Crazy-Prepared: Episode 4 shows Galko having a solution to the problems that her classmates have. This being Galko, this doesn't include any condoms—after all, why would her classmates be doing that?
• Crossover: One with, of all things, VA-11 HALL-A in the manga.
• Cut and Paste Comic: The volume extras usually have some pages drawn in monochrome where Galko and Otako discuss something in a café/restaurant setting, and are joined by Ojou who is dressed as a maid. In those pages, they usually discuss movies and pop culture. The layout and characters in these pages are always the same, only changing the dialogue.
• Delayed Reaction: This is the point of Episode 9's skit. Galko first talked about riding horses, then Otako warned that riding horses may break the hymen. Ojou then went on talking about her riding experience…only completely registering what Otako said in mid-sentence, quickly clarifying that she'd never bled from riding.
• Dramatic Irony: Chapter 10/Episode 5, the Is it true that there's a psychological test that evaluates how you have sex? skit, depends on this trope. The boys and the viewers know how to interpret the girls' answers to a seemingly innocent question—going to the mall to buy something—but the girls never knew about that fact and aren't told about the purpose of the question.

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Tropes E to H

• Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn: Galko suffers from this in Episode 7, having mistakenly taken and used her sister's pheromone spray instead of sunscreen.
• Entertainingly Wrong: Otao and Supoo admonish Charao for taking his girlfriend into a sex shop, but he didn't mention that it was due to the fact that she bought a bunch of sex toys that she had intended to use on him for assplay due to a misunderstanding, to return them.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Otako may be The Gadfly to Galko, but even she hesitates to bring up the pubic hair she notices on Galko's sweater. When Galko does exclaim about the discovery—which everyone in the classroom hears—Otako is reasonably horrified, only relaxing when Galko "corrects" her outburst over the "armpit hair".
    "She self-destructed!"
  • Charao reassures Kouhai that even though he both admires and platonically loves Galko, it's only Kouhai that he truly loves romantically.
  • Galko's sister almost fucks up her relationship with Otako's brother by bringing up sex during their first date and unwittingly belittling his virginity as a result, thinking that he—a nerdy Otaku—will unhesitatingly jump at the mere suggestion of making love with a beautiful lady. Frightened, he abandons their date, arguing that he doesn't want to be another virgin on her cherry-popping list because he likes her and wants to have a serious relationship with her. His response leaves Galko's sister stunned, to the point that it doesn't take Galko very long to realize how upset with herself she really is.
• Everyone Is Related:
  • In the OVA, Kohai and the buxom lingerie saleslady are shown to be sisters. Also from the OVA, Agemi (Galko's classmate) and Tsunno (Kuseta's classmate) are sisters, too.
  • Invoked and Played for Laughs in Volume 5. Otako is uneasy with the possibility of her friendship with Galko might change in the future. Galko mentions that her sister got a new boyfriend while Otako mentions that her brother has a new girlfriend himself. It's not until Galko shows her a picture of the couple that they realize that their brother and sister and dating. Ojou then asks them jokingly whether they are sisters now, both responding "not yet!"
• The Faceless: Galko's sister always has the upper half of her face obscured, usually by her bangs. Her face is finally shown near the end of the OVA, during which she encounters Otako's brother while she is working as a shrine maiden. As she becomes more prominent in the manga, her face is eventually revealed.
• Faceless Masses: Averted for a Slice of Life manga/anime. The main trio have approximately a dozen classmates, with all of them having unique nicknames, distinctive character designs, and personalities. The anime follows up on this by giving at least one speaking line to each.
• Fetish: Galko's older sister's ex-boyfriend has a school-uniform fetish. Galko was horrified when she learned that her sister borrowed her school uniform to use during foreplay.
• Foreshadowing: There are some instances that hint at Galko's sister future relationship with Otako's brother:
  • On their first meeting at the local temple where she's serving as a miko, she finds out that he may have a preference for girls like herself;
  • During one of their early encounters, she finds herself making excuses to him in spite of barely knowing each other;
  • When she's at an outing with her friends, one of them tries to steer the conversation towards finding whether any of them have any romantic prospects; Galko's sister immediately changes the subject and this is picked up by Charao's sister (her best friend) as a telltale sign that she has someone she is crushing on.
• The Gadfly: Otako likes messing with Galko, especially regarding breasts. That said, Otako has taken things a little too far at least twice, but those are soon resolved.
• Gender Flip: Though they fulfill different stereotypes, Charao, Otao and Supoo function as Spear Counterparts to the trio of Galko, Otako and Ojou respectively:
  • Charao is handsome, inexperienced with love and relationships, and somewhat vain, like Galko;
  • Otao is nerdy, bespectacled, and appears both younger and smaller than his friends, much like Otako; and
  • Supoo is athletic and has a straightforward personality, like Ojou.
• Hidden Depths:
  • Galko is kinder, sweeter, and considerably more earnest than people initially assume her to be.
  • The fact that Charao and Kouhai are still a couple suggests that he's less superficial than he appears to be.
• Human Notepad: Galko wrote her shopping list on her arm in Episode 8, which had everyone thinking she was regularly checking her fingernails.

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Tropes I to O

• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Is It True That [Insert Topic Here]?
• I Hate Past Me: Tsunno and Kuseta are enjoying their first date at the zoo and stumble upon an adult couple who call them "cute" for dating as elementary schoolers. This upsets Tsunno, not because she's embarrassed of being with Kuseta, but because she now knows how belittling it is to made fun of for being with a person she cares about, just as she used to do to Kuseta by making fun of him for coming with his mom to the pool. Kuseta assuages her worries by telling her that they don't have to get everything right from the get-go and that they're allowed to stumble as long as they're together.
• I Need A Drink: The barman and a bespectacled gentleman are so shaken by Otako's brother's tearful rejection of Galko's sister's sexual advances that, once they leave, the barman goes around the bar and invites the gentleman to share some drinks.
• Imagine Spot: Quite common throughout the series, but the most significant one occurs in Chapter 24/Episode 10, when Charao notices Galko wearing a men's shirt to school. He's begins imagining why she does it—her boyfriend having spilled wine on her shirt, so she takes his—spacing out over it while dating a cute middle-school meganekko. Galko's actual reason for wearing a men's shirt is...she has broad shoulders, and so a men's shirt fits her better.
• Innocent Innuendo: In the personality test chapter, Galko answers that she'd take her time exploring the mall, enjoying herself; then once she reaches the third floor, she buys the thing she came for, has it wrapped up, and brings it home with utmost care. Charao and the others are stunned by her answer, to the point that they likely didn't tell her what the personality test was about.^note It's a test that determines how someone behaves during sex, with the checkout indicating the point of orgasm.
• Insane Troll Logic: Played for Laughs and combined with Entertainingly Wrong. Kohai sees Charao dressed as a girl during the school festival, and...somehow arrives to the conclusion that he's now into assplay, so she buys a bunch of sex toys to try on his butt. He later goes back to the sex store with her to return them.
• Irony: Iincho (the Student Council President) assumes that Galko's never had to think hard about anything. Then she finds Galko reading a poster and taking an application form. It was for an essay about creating a world without war. Iincho realizes that she's never thought about that herself. Though she does turn in her own essay, Iincho concedes to Galko that Galko likely had a far more profound response than she did.
• I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: After an extended Imagine Spot in Chapter 24/Episode 10, Charao concludes that Galko already has a boyfriend. After spacing out for an entire date with Kohai, it eventually leads to him...asking Kohai for sex. One slap later, Charao makes up with Kohai via text message.
• Japanese Delinquents: Implied Trope. Galko's mom is shown to have been a hardline delinquent in her youth, to the point of wearing steel-toed high-laced boots to her New Year's temple visits under her kimono.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Tsunno makes fun of Kuseta, pesters him and tries to be a presence on his life that he doesn't quite appreciate until Galko's advice makes him realize that Tsunno's behaving like that because she likes him. After a couple of reciprocal gestures of affection, they start dating.
• Joshikousei: The main cast.
• Luminescent Blush: Happens a lot. Galko goes red when confronted with things like the Adults-Only video section and her uniform being used to arouse someone.
• Miko: In one of the first times Otako's brother meets Galko's sister, she's volunteering as a shrine maiden at the local temple in full Gyaru Girl makeup, and the contrast in the image is shocking to him.
• Morality Pet: Invoked. Kohai asks Charao who Galko is and what's her relationship with him. Charao states that he had been once in love with Galko, but that she's the kind of person that he wants to be, and that it's due to her example as a friend and as a person overall that he strives to become the best boyfriend he can possibly be for Kohai.
• Noodle Incident: Galko encounters her sister's former teacher, Abe-sensei, who lists off a variety of "incidents" she was involved in. Galko then asks why they're all incidents.:
  "There was the vote-to-change-the-dress-code incident, the chem lab takeover incident, the guerilla ghost story incident, the red arctic incident, the eight-day "mapo tofu cafeteria war" incident... and a few more. Which do you want to hear?"
  • As the series goes on, more and more is revealed about these "incidents". See Walking Swimsuit Scene below, for example.
• No Periods, Period: Averted. Menstrual cycles, and the items associated with them, are brought up frequently. In the Origins Episode, Otako started suffering from menstrual cramps in the school library during class. It's thanks to Galko's quick thinking that keeps Otako from being humiliated.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: Albeit Otako's brother becomes Galko's sister's friend, they have a first date and she tries to lure him into losing his virginity to her. He immediately rejects her, as he doesn't want a superfluous relationship with her because he likes her too much to be just a fling for her.
• Not Helping Your Case: In Chapter 9/Episode 5, after putting two and two together, Galko complained about her sister borrowing her school uniform for sexual purposes. Her sister assures that there aren't any body fluids on it, since she only wears it during kissing and foreplay, and it would be taken off once her boyfriend is aroused enough (this results in Galko going red and covering her ears in embarrassment, not wanting to hear any more of this). Galko and Otako finding a pubic hair on the uniform earlier doesn't help.
• Not So Above It All: During their first date, Galko's sister finds herself surprised at the fact that she's thoroughly enjoying all the geeky stuff that Otako's brother is showing her, and has to compose herself.
• Not So Stoic: Galko's sister finds her crying over while holding a small steel bolt after watching The Iron Giant. She admonishes Galko for making such a nonsensical fuss about it until she herself finds the movie and watches it while Galko goes to school. Galko arrives from school to find her sister grasping the same bolt and crying too.
• Obliviously Beautiful: Played With. Galko is more aware of her attractiveness than the trope suggests because she is a Gyaru Girl, and she makes a considerable effort both grooming and keeping herself fit, but she tends not to notice boys ogling at her (as the trope suggests); however, what she doesn't quite grasp is how beautiful she is as a person on top of her physical beauty, which makes her even more attractive in turn.
• Oblivious to Love:
  • In the OVA, Galko points out to Kuseta that Tsunno only teases him because she likes him and as such, he should be nicer to her.
  • Though Kouhai is already Charao's girlfriend, he seems somewhat unaware of how much she loves him.
  • Double for Galko's sister. She's unaware of Otako's brother's deep love for her, and until she messes up their first date by bringing up sex to end his virginity, she had been unaware that she too is in love with him. This is due to the fact that she's used to men lusting over her, and has never met a man that has liked her beyond that.
• Odd Friendship: The opening lampshades this with Otako and Otao's unusual friendships with Galko and Charao, respectively.
• Older Than They Look:
• Once an Episode: There's at least one discussion per episode about the chest area, and it's always a more anatomical discussion than what it seems at first.
• Only Known by Their Nickname: Every character is only referred to by the nicknames based on their archetypes. This was apparently started when Galko and Otako first became friends.
• Origins Chapter: Chapters 16 and 17/Episode 12 are about how the main trio became friends. See the top of the page for the title of that section.
• Otaku: Otako and Otao, of course. However, while Otako does like anime and manga, she's more of a Bookworm than anything. The anime and manga that she watches is all borrowed from her brother, a fellow otaku.
• Overly-Nervous Flop Sweat: In Episode 5, Otako does it when Galko mentions her older sister, a college student, often borrows her school uniform. Combined with Galko discovering...something on her uniform in Episode 4, Otako soon realized that Galko's uniform was being used for fetish purposes.

Tropes P to Z

• Platonic Declaration of Love: Played for Laughs. Charao tells Galko that he likes her, though he mistakenly does it in front of his girlfriend Kouhai; though he clears the misunderstanding with Kouhai, he neglects to clear with Galko that he meant it platonically, leaving her a flustered mess. It's not until venting with Ojou that Galko calms down after realizing what he meant.
• Pop-Cultural Osmosis Failure: After watching her, Charao asks his sister who is Samantha's Japanese voice actor. Turns out it is Megumi Hayashibara. As a punishment for this trope, he was force-fed a diet of Hayashibara's most famous works: Neon Genesis Evangelion, Slayers, Case Closed, and Paprika.
• Pretty Boy: Charao. While worrying about her own, Galko notices that he takes very good care of his lips.
• Puppy Love: Taking Galko's advice in picking up on his Tsundere classmate's attempts to get his attention, Kuseta and Tsunno start dating.
• Relationship Upgrade:
  • Tsunno and Kuseta start dating due to Galko's advice to him;
  • Galko's sister and Otako's brother begin dating once he establishes that he doesn't want a superfluous relationship with her.
• Sex Equals Love: Invoked and subverted. Otako's brother states to Galko's sister that he doesn't want to be just another fling for her or another virgin to check of her list of cherry-popping. After some dejected tears and clearing off misunderstandings, Galko's sister accepts to be in a relationship with him, as she's never quite had anything like that before.
• Shout-Out:
  • At the end of Episode 11, there's a TV show featuring the Mole Beastman from Kamen Rider Amazon.
  • In the manga, Kibami has a VA-11 HALL-A hoodie.
  • One of Ken'ya's drawings had the cast in famous movie outfits: Ojou was dressed as the 1984 version of Supergirl (complete with Popeye's in the distance), Otako was dressed as Mickey Mouse (specifically his appearance in The Sorcerer's Apprentice), and Okako was Pennywise the Evil Clown from It; Galko herself was Marilyn Monroe.
  • Titty Morgane, an enormously endowed ex-prostitute movie actress whom Galko wanted to watch a documentary about, is named after the busty film and burlesque character Chesty Morgan. "Titsy" is said to have ended up becoming a nun, which the real Morgan obviously didn't, what with being Jewish, but she did famously play the role of a nun in Felini's "Casanova" (despite the scenes never making it into the release). The conversion may be a reference to Bettie Page, a famous burlesque model who became an evangelical Christian missionary after retiring from modeling.
  • The hairstyle Bomuo gets from Galko is based off of Steve Buscemi's hair in Reservoir Dogs.
  • The manga's Movies with Galko segments include her reactions to films such as Snakes on a Plane, The Iron Giant, and Dunkirk.
• Show Within a Show: "Comet King Caliburn" is an anime that Galko and two of the other boys watch, mentioned in Episode 3.
• Shrinking Violet: Otao is a Rare Male Example.
• Signature Style: The manga stands out from other manga artistically because it's drawn in vivid colors and shading that appear to be done in permanent markers◊. There is seldom a line in the comic drawn in black ink, which is notable for manga.
• Skewed Priorities: After the initial misunderstanding with Charao asking her for sex is cleared up, the worst Kouhai can think of Charao's fudge-up was if that's how he's trying to seduce her. And this is during her visiting another lingerie store where her elder sister doesn't work.
• Spear Counterpart: Two of the three background boys, Charao and Otao, are spear counterparts to Galko and Otako. One is blond and the other wears glasses, respectively, with Otao sharing Otako's "Ota" in their names, and chara style being [1] the genderless generalization of Gyaru style.
• Spell My Name With An S: The naming convention for the series is an attribute followed by a suffix for their gender. In this case, the attribute is a foreign loanword. Crunchyroll tends to transliterate them, but some viewers prefer translating them as the meaning of these names. Names like Supoo/Sport-o, Bomuo/Bomb-o, and Galko would have met a similar fate if the author didn't spell out his preferred title on every manga chapter.
• Stereotype Flip: The crux of the manga is that every character who appears doesn't play every single idea about the stereotype they embody straight.
  • Galko, a Gyaru Girl, is actually a Nice Girl who will jump at the chance to help someone who needs it, she narrates stories with entertaining amounts of Large Ham, and she dreams of becoming a mother someday. The reason she dresses as a gyaru is to emulate her older sister.
  • Otako may be an Otaku, but she's actually more of a Bookworm, a habit she got from reading anything in her house out of boredom.
  • Ojou is certainly The Ojou, one who excels in her studies, but she's also naïve when it comes to what everyone else her age does.
  • Iincho is the Student Council President, but in her first bit of attention in the manga, she realizes that she's never given "creating a world without war" essays a thought until she saw Galko—who she assumed didn't care—take it seriously.
• Surprisingly Realistic Outcome:
  • Contrary to what her classmates gleam from it, Galko's everyday life is considerably more mundane than they'd ever realize.
  • Galko's sister finds out the hard way that being lascivious doesn't work on a man that truly likes her in a fundamental level as Otako's brother does. Considering that he's a virgin, suggesting sex on the first date only served to belittle their budding relationship.
  • Galko's sister admits to Otako's brother that due to the nature of her work as a model, and the fact that she routinely has to wear tall boots that impede adequate ventilation, she developed athlete's foot. This admittance—an embarrassing and intimate secret—is what signals that her relationship with him, instead of being a mere fling, is in fact one of serious love and affection.
• The Talk: Played for Laughs Kouhai's sister enters her room and finds her with a bunch of weird sex toys, and is about to lecture her about safe sex and such, but Kouhai tells her that those are intended for her boyfriend Charao's butt.
• Tan Lines: Discussed when Otako asked Galko if she had them when she came to school with a tan. A later episode has Galko get them at the pool when she didn't put sunscreen on.
• Team Mom: Galko gives off shades of this, with her being prepared for just about any problem her classmates find themselves in, big or small (unless it's about sex); and her caring nature towards Kuseta. She even wants to be a mother when she's older.
• Tempting Fate: In Chapter 4/Episode 1, Galko mentions that while spicy foods irritate her bottom, she's constipated at that point, and it's OK to indulge in as much of it as she wants. Otako, however, thinks it'll get worse when it eventually comes out. The following day, Galko's bottom has become so irritated, that she needs a seat cushion to sit down with minimal hassle.
• True Love is Exceptional: Galko's sister's previous relationships were mostly based on sex and nothing deep or meaningful, so she's in quite a shock to find out that her knowledge of men doesn't translate to Otako's brother, a nerdy and geeky otaku when she tries that approach. Otako's brother is different from the men she's met before in the fact that he loves her for everything she is, and not out of mere lust unlike everyone before him. She's even surprised and flattered at the fact that she even considers her wife material for their future together, readily becoming an item with him.
• Tsundere: Tsunno, who's introduced in the pool, adheres to the Tsundere archetype. She's noted to be interested in Kuseta, but often bullies him. She starts wearing it off when Galko prompts Kuseta to recognize her advances, and after spending Christmas together, they start dating.
• Two-Teacher School: Only one teacher, in fact. That's Abe-sensei, their class teacher, and teacher of modern Japanese literature. The gym skit in episode 9/Chapter 29 introduces a female teacher that teaches girls' PE, while Yamaji, the teacher over boys' PE, was absent on a trip for the day.
  • Later there's Duku-sensei, whose nickname is derived from his beard, apparently.
• Visual Pun: A double one. After Galko first helps Kuseta at the pool by one-upping Tsunno, when they're in class, Tsunno is wearing a shoulderless blouse reading "Big Boobs Become" (as she's envying Galko's assets while drinking milk to get a bigger bosom), while Kuseta is wearing a shirt which reads "ntr" (as Galko "stole" him from Tsunno's taunts).
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Chapter 56 of the manga features Otako attempting to make herself an "anti-cold porridge", the result of which ends up coming back up all over her pajamas a page later. Luckily, Galko swings by to help her.
• Walking Swimsuit Scene: Back in her rebellious high-schooler days, Galko's sister. In order to gain members for the newly-created swim club, she took to wearing a skimpy racing swimsuit with nothing over it but a sailor suit top, leaving her bottom and legs completely exposed. She even got her friends to join her, much to their embarrassment. They are still quite embarrassed about it, though as Galko's sister likes to remind them, it's thanks to that incident that they're not single.
• Weight Woe: On a few occasions some of the girls express concerns over their weights.
  • Nikuko, while generally portrayed as being confident in her body, expresses some concerns over her weight. She comments when she gains weight, and it is noted that when the girls got their new uniforms Nikuko 'resigned herself to sucking in her belly the whole time she wears the uniform'. She also sought to find some validation with regards to her size by comparing her figure to Rubenesque paintings of fuller figured ladies, after which she was happy to increase her food portions more.
  • Galko is shown on occasion being concerned as to whether she has gained weight; she seems particularly concerned about her stomach despite always having a thin figure throughout the manga.
• Wise Beyond Their Years: Kuseta and Tsunno achieve a very emotionally mature relationship for their age due to Galko's advice to him and in spite of both being in elementary school, to the point where they're irritated by the onlookers during their first date because they keep getting called "cute".

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