YMMV / Kotoura-san

• Alternate Character Interpretation: Does detective Tsukino really have multiple personalities or is her dorky persona just an act?
• Angst Aversion: You'd be forgiven for not wanting to touch this series after the utter hell that is the Downer Beginning.
• Broken Base: Manabe's sexual fantasies of Haruka. Since she has full access of his mind, she gets glimpses of his perverted thoughts. It's either hilarious because of how outrageous some of the fantasies are or it's disgusting because it could be considered sexual harassment.
• Diagnosed by the Audience: Judging by how detective Tsukino developed her evil alter-ego which, once it takes over, refers to the original in third person, like she's talking about somebody completely different and the original seems to be unable to remember these phases, she seems to be suffering from medium-severe DID.
• It Was His Sled: There are just too many hints towards Tsukino being the attacker, be it the suspicious warning over the cellphone message or the sudden cessation of attacks once the paranormal group gets on the track. Even the occassional glimpses of her white shirt are somewhat eloquent. By the time the truth is revealed it's hardly a surprise anymore.
• Jerkass Woobie:
  • Kumiko Kotoura. A huge Jerkass to her own daughter by disowning her for unknowingly revealing her affair and considered to send her to the mental ward, however she lives in constant regret of the aforementioned disowning and failure to be a proper mother. There's also the fact that her husband refused to help with Haruka, put all the responsibility of 'fixing' her on her, and started not coming home. This combined with the Haruka problem drove Kumiko to drink and have the above mentioned affair. We all know how that turned out...
  • In the first chapter of manga, apparently Manabe sees Haruka as this as well, and he would like to cross the "jerkass" off from this trope.
• Les Yay:
  • With Haruka and Moritani:
    • While she and Manabe were "high" off Moritani's terrible cooking, Moritani starts flirting with Haruka, complete with taking off her shirt, trying to kiss her, and hugging her. When she wakes up the next morning, she thinks that she and Haruka engaged in three-way sex with Manabe.
    • Moritani's overall behavior around Haruka. Even though they've made up and have become friends, Moritani is incredibly close to Haruka.
    • Manabe unintentionally stumbling upon Haruka "confessing" to Moritani. Cue Yuri fantasy.
• Memetic Badass: Manabe, as of the end of episode 2. A later episode where he beats up four grown men before losing the fight doesn't hurt.
• Memetic Mutation:
  • COMEDY!^ExplanationThe anime was marketed as a Romantic Comedy. Viewers were first whamed by the Downer Beginning, and after that, the manga spoilers that started to circulate. Rom Com elements still exist in this series, but it's just half what this story was about.
  • MOTHER OF THE YEAR^ExplanationThe Downer Beginning started it, but some translated manga has cemented her status. A similar meme exists for the father and even Hiyori Moritani, Manabe's childhood friend. A Sincerity Mode version also exists for Manabe, mainly due to the fact he's one of the rare decisive anime boyfriends in the past few years.
  • The ride never ends!^{Explanation (Spoilers warning!)}Some people might be fooled into thinking that after the Downer Beginning or even episode 2, the anime becomes a pure Rom Com. Simply put, it never does. The line itself is taken from a RollerCoaster Tycoon meme (Mr. Bones Wild Ride).
  • Koshi Koshi Koshi!/ Rub, rub, rub!^ExplanationA scene from the OP where Haruka rubs her head against Manabe's sides. This has spawned many parodies.
  • Kotoura-san has 12 seasons.^ExplanationA mainly Chinese meme. Because of the Cerebus Rollercoaster / Mood Whiplash nature of this work, viewers find what they had every episode can be as much as a whole season in other shows; so they often call "episode X" as "season X".
  • MORI!! MORI!!^ExplanationThe Moritani dojo shouts this out when practicing. Apparently commonly used in Nico Nico Douga. Brought to You by Know Your Meme.
  • From the time I can't leave you, I realized...^ExplanationAlso of a Chinese origin. Their mishearing of ED the Flower of Hope is particularly well-known, due to the fact that it's an extremely rare case when the misheard version is still a serious love song. The quoted line come from the first half-line of the lyrics nanika ni tsumadzuitara, which is misheard as "nan likai ni shi wo zhongyu tanran..."
• Moe: Haruka, for her height and demeanor, falls into this trope.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • The manga revealed Haruka's mother planned to send Haruka to the mental ward and got into a fight with Zenzou about it.
  • The nameless old lady in Episode 1 crosses it when she knowingly gives up the cat that Haruka had been feeding to an animal shelter—she basically sentenced the cat to death simply out of spite.
• Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: Hiyori Moritani began as an antagonistic Alpha Bitch, hated for Mind Raping and bullying Haruka in episode 2, and making her fall into Heroic BSoD in episode 3, but Character Development saved her from being one of the most hated characters in the cast and made her a great deal more tolerable.
• The Scrappy: Among the many who tormented Haruka (The Woobie incarnate), these particular characters stand out:
  • All the miserable excuses for classmates and teachers involved in tormenting Haruka for being a Living Lie Detector, making her out to be a compulsive liar when she's probably the most (if not the only) truthful one of the lot. Her only 'crime'? Daring to not have the social tact required to avoid blurting out their innermost thoughts, thus exposing their true colors.
  • The unnamed old woman who takes Haruka's cat to a shelter, where it will probably be euthanized, gets a special mention; she has collected many (rather justifiable) death threats from fans just by saying a few words to Haruka—as those lines were practically her Despair Event Horizon. The worst part about it is that she just walks out of the story after the deed has been done and never reappears again, suffering no consequences.
  • While Haruka's father was likely intended to be a Hate Sink, the fact that he's likely still with the girl he had an affair with while remaining untouched by the events of the story kind of makes him that by default.
  • Kumiko is hated by many fans, both for disowning and verbally abusing her daughter, Haruka, and for being portrayed as a character to be sympathized with, despite her actions.
• Signature Scene: The Downer Beginning of the series, for making the title character The Woobie to the Nth degree.
• Take That, Scrappy!:
  • After her Heel–Face Turn, Hiyori changes from antagonistic bully to group Butt-Monkey. The poster Haruka gets from Manabe in episode 5 says it all. Likewise, Manabe, for a short time at least, treats Hiyori with hilarious contempt once her friendship with Haruka is solidified.
• Unintentionally Unsympathetic:
  • Kumiko, full stop. Despite her tragic backstory, her cruel treatment of her own daughter completely kills off any sympathy for her, and it also doesn't excuse the way she treats her daughter either.
  • When the ditzy detective Tsukino is revealed to be the attacker^* not that it's much of a revelation anyway it's hard to feel any sympathy for her especially because her clumsy nature comes off more like a facade. Her Freudian Excuse doesn't help either.
• Values Dissonance: Part of the drama of the series comes with the fact Haruka doesn't (and can't) use Tatemae for keeping her (and others) secrets for herself, due to her Mind-reading powers and the Tatemae being an important part of the Japanese culture, it's no wonder why she's rejected by her peers.
• The Woobie: It's hard to not see Haruka as one. To quote what a manga-only line when Manabe explains why he found he couldn't ignore her:^note It's supposed to be at the second half of episode 1, after Manabe entered Haruka's apartment.
  Manabe: *But, to me, she is forcing herself to build a wall around herself with that emotionless face...*

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