REC

Japanese manga about an aspiring voice actress, authored by Q-Tarou Hanamizawa. An anime adaptation has been created which consists of nine twelve-minute episodes — an unusual format.

Story

At the beginning of the story, Fumihiko Matsumaru is outside a movie theater waiting for his date to arrive. When it becomes obvious that he has been "stood up," he crumples his tickets in frustration. As he is about to toss the tickets into a trash can, a girl approaches, and in the "voice" of the tickets, implores him to not waste them. Dumbfounded, he sees the movie with her, which is Roman Holiday.

During the movie, he notices that the girl is reading the subtitles out loud. When he asks her about this after the movie, she says that she was practicing the lines, and that she wants to be Audrey Hepburn. At dinner, she explains that she is a 20-year-old novice seiyū. Going home, they find that they live in the same neighborhood before they part ways. (In the anime, she recites appropriate lines from Roman Holiday.) Matsumaru goes to bed, but he can't sleep. In the darkness, he hears the sounds of sirens; there is a fire in the neighborhood. When he goes to investigate, he discovers that the girl's apartment has burned down. Since she has nowhere to stay, Matsumaru asks her to stay at his apartment; she dazedly accepts. Due to the circumstances, they end up falling into bed together. She introduces herself as Aka Onda just before they have sex.

The next day, Matsumaru learns at work that his marketing concept "Nekoki" (ねこキ; a cat-tree) has been approved as the mascot of a snack product called "Ha". Furthermore, Aka is chosen to voice Nekoki. They decide to keep their live-in relationship a secret from their employers due to Aka's worries about an appearance of impropriety. She also insists they are not a couple just from having slept together once in a moment of weakness, and that she will merely be lodging with him. The series is heavily concerned with the developing dynamic of their relationship.

Characters

Fumihiko Matsumaru (松丸 文彦, Matsumaru Fumihiko^?)

Voiced by: Makoto Yasumura

An average, twenty-six-year-old salaryman who works in the marketing department of a snack company. He always tries hard to get his advertisement projects chosen, but almost always fails at this. His latest project, Nekoki, was chosen for the mascot of a snack food called Ha (は, leaf^?) and is his first accepted project.

Aka Onda (恩田 赤, Onda Aka^?)

Voiced by: Kanako Sakai

A twenty-year-old aspiring seiyū who idolizes Audrey Hepburn. She voiced the snack food Ha's image character, Nekoki. She is a little eccentric in her actions as she often quotes movie lines from films Audrey Hepburn starred in. She lives with Matsumaru in his apartment, and usually asserts that she is only friends with him, despite the fact she and Matsumaru slept together the first night they met. This provides the crux of the remainder of the series. Kanako Sakai, the seiyū who voiced Aka Onda, also sang the opening theme: "Cheer!~Makka na kimochi~" (Cheer!～まっかなキモチ～, "Cheer!~Makka na kimochi~"^?).

Yoshioka (吉岡, Yoshioka^?)

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi

Aka's manager-in-charge.

Tanaka (田中, Tanaka^?)

Voiced by: Kimiko Koyama

She is the girl Matsumaru has a crush on before he made Aka his girlfriend.

Yoshio Hatakeda (畑田 良夫, Hatakeda Yoshio^?)

Voiced by: Daisuke Ono

Hideyoshi Sekigahara (関ヶ原 秀吉, Sekigahara Hideyoshi^?)

Kazushi Kubo (久保 一志, Kubo Kazushi^?)

Takagawara (高河原, Takagawara^?)

Ao Onda (音田 青, Onda Ao^?)

Aka's younger sister. She is first introduced in chapter 31 in the fourth novel. She despises her sister and also falls in love with Matsumaru. She makes several attempts to flirt with Matsumaru and tries to break him up with Aka.

Maki Koiwai (小岩井 まき, Koiwai Maki^?)

Akari Yikiji (雪路 明理, Yukiji Akari^?)

Mashiro Kudo (工藤 本白, Kudo Mashiro^?)

Kyōko Sakuraba (桜庭 杏子, Sakuraba Kyōko^?)