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Meirin Kanzaki AKA Dr. Rin
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Haoyung Laila, please grant this maiden's wish. |
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Ask Dr. Rin! (Ｄｒ．リンに聞いてみて! - Dr. Rin ni Kiitemite!, also called Ask Dr. Lin!) is a cutesy anime and manga that tries to combine aspects of two of the most popular shoujo series of all time, Fushigi Yuugi and Sailor Moon together with your typical middle school romance comedy. The plot at first follows the everyday life of Meirin Kanzaki, a 13-year-old girl with the power to predict the future using feng shui magic. In order to test her powers, she creates a Web site under the pseudonym of Dr. Rin. On that page she tries to provide fortunes to whoever happens to wander by. By the time the anime has started, the Web site has become wildly popular (so much so that it threatens to drive her father - a feng shui diviner by trade - out of business). However, the one boy who wishes that she would shut up every so often about fortunetelling, Asuka Yuuki, is Meirin's romantic obsession. The show switches constantly between being a romantic comedy and a magical girl adventure.
Tropes used in Ask Dr. Rin include:
- All Love Is Unrequited - Meirin follows Asuka around like a lost puppy while Tokiwa chases after her, Shinagawa makes a pass at Yue only to get dissed every episode, Shuuko can never seem to get the attention of any boy she crushes on for that episode... I think the only couple that's actually together is Meirin's parents.
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle - Dr. Rin's Feng-Shui corner
- Because Destiny Says So - After this anime, you will never want to hear the term "fated lover" again.
- Bishonen - Tokiwa, Eddy, and Banri
- Big Eater - Meirin's mother.
- Bumbling Dad - Meirin's father.
- Butt Monkey - Shinagawa and Ooimachi. Heck, Ooimachi seems to exist purely in order to do the pratfalls that even Shinagawa has too much dignity for.
- By the Power of Greyskull - "O Shenlong, who governs my power of Feng Shui, Haoyung Laila, please grant this maiden's wish."
- Cherry Blossoms - "Shinagawa, the Man's Love In Full Bloom," lampshade hung multiple times.
- Chick Magnet - Tokiwa
- Collapsing Lair
- Cool Big Sis - Yue serves this role, but is the same age as Meirin.
- Cool Old Guy - Meirin's grandfather
- Cunning Like a Fox - Nanao
- Cute Mute - Banri, before Meirin institutes Epiphany Therapy on him.
- Elegant Gothic Lolita - Banri as a girl.
- Everything's Better with Monkeys - Tenshin
- Face Heel Turn - Asuka
- Fan Girl - Shuuko
- Fictional Counterpart - The Ayu Hanasaki concert that Asuka took Meirin to bears a resemblance to a certain Ayumi Hamasaki, doesn't it?
- The Four Gods
- Fortune Teller - Many of the characters do this. Meirin uses feng shui, Tokiwa uses Onmyodo, Banri uses tarot cards, and Eddy uses astrology. Meirin's father also uses feng shui, but he's not so good at his job.
- Grand Theft Me - Banri
- Handsome Lech - Tokiwa both during and after being possessed, apparently - during, he's a borderline rapist, and after, he's very ditzy and narcissistic
- Heel Face Turn - Each of the four guys does this, but Asuka takes the cake for doing a full 180.
- Hero Secret Service - Asuka, Tokiwa, Banri, and Eddy are the reincarnations of (respectively) Seiryuu, Byakko, Genbu, and Suzaku, and are sent to protect Meirin, the reincarnation of their master, Haoyung Laila.
- Heroic Fire Rescue: When Tokiwa was still in his Yandere phase, one of his attempts to woo Meirin involved using his shikigami to set her school on fire while she was trapped in one of the rooms. His plan was to invoke this trope, even though he set the building on fire in the first place. Naturally, Asuka managed to show up and rescue her first.
- Hey, It's That Voice! - Tokiwa is voiced by Yuuto Kazama, who also played Yamato Ishida in Digimon Adventure. Heck, Tokiwa even has the same haircut Yamato's 02 incarnation.
- Hit Me Dammit - "Well then, please hit me until you are satisfied!"
- Hot Shounen Mom - Meirin's mother.
- Interspecies Romance - Cynthia has a one-sided crush on Asuka.
- Joshikousei
- Kansai Regional Accent - Takoyaki and Eddy.
- Living Toys - Cynthia
- Love Freak - Meirin
- Love Makes You Evil - Subverted-ish? Tokiwa is evil in the beginning, and even after his Heel Face Turn, it's still pretty apparent he likes her. It's just that the connection between the two is feigned.
- Love Martyr - Meirin's brother tosses Azusa's gifts each time and tells her that he's not interested in that. Consequently, he is only using her in order to try and obtain Meirin's powers, and freely admits it (much to Azusa's distress.) After Azusa interferes quite a bit in his plans, he goes so far as to try and kill her.
- Lucky Charms Title - No, people who write the title aren't just very emotive. The exclamation mark in "Ask Dr. Rin!" is part of the official title.
- MacGuffin - The hakke crystal
- Mad Love - Subverted, Meirin and Asuka
- Magical Girl - Meirin, of course
- Megaton Punch - Meirin's mother is evidently quite capable of this.
- The Messiah - Meirin
- Miko - Oddly enough, Tokiwa seems to be a male version of this trope because his family is in charge of the Nikumo Shrine.
- Murder the Hypotenuse - Tokiwa tries this over and over for four episodes straight.
- Naive Everygirl - Meirin to a limited extent. Shuuko, much more strongly.
- New Transfer Student
- Not Blood Siblings - Meirin's brother, Kyoumi, actually tricked her and her family into thinking he was their oldest by altering all their memories.
- Odango Hair - Being a Sailor Moon look-alike, Meirin.
- Onmyodo - Tokiwa.
- Open-Minded Parent - Meirin's parents have actually been found peeping when she and Asuka are alone
- Ordinary High School Student - Well, middle school, anyway. Asuka.
- Pink Is for Sissies - In "Victory Is Pink Pink Pink!" Meirin finds that the soccer team's lucky item for a big game is pink underwear. Asuka does not take to this revelation well.
- Pinocchio Syndrome - The reason (along with Demonic Posession) for Banri's Grand Theft Me.
- Plucky Comic Relief - Shinagawa
- Polly Wants a Microphone - Takoyaki
- The Power of Love - Since Kyoumifell in love with Meirin, he developed a soft side, which she and Azusa are able to convert him back to. Also, during the final episode, Meirin and Asuka's kiss reverses the effects of The End of the World as We Know It.
- The Rival - Tokiwa officially assigns himself this role against Asuka.
- Reincarnation
- Romantic Two-Girl Friendship - Yue pokes fun at this with Meirin.
- Save the Villain - Meirin takes a critical hit from The King of Darkness, AKA Kyoumi, in order to save Azusa? who he's trying to kill yet again. Of course this causes a Heel Face Turn on Azusa's part.
- Serial Romeo / In Love with Love - Shuuko
- Shrines and Temples
- Stalker with a Crush - Tokiwa while he's possessed
- Super-Deformed
- Talking Animals - Three out of four. Nanao, Cynthia, and Takoyaki can all talk. Tenshin can communicate, but only squawks.
- Tarot Motifs - Banri uses tarot cards
- Team Spirit - Big Aesop during an episode about the soccer team.
- Those Two Guys - Well, girls. Yue and Shuuko. Later on, Shinagawa begins to form a Those Two Guys dynamic with Ooimachi.
- Tiger Versus Dragon - Two of the people who are supposed to be Meirin's guardians, Tokiwa and Asuka, are reincarnations of Byakko the Tiger and Seiryuu the Dragon respectively. They are the two big competitors for Meirin's affections.
- Transformation Sequence
- Unnecessary Roughness - The opposing team in the "Pink Pink Pink" episode.
- Unwanted Harem
- Victorious Childhood Friend - Meirin and Asuka.
- Waif Fu - Meirin's mom is stated to have previously been a pro-wrestler, with accompanying pictures that show her laying the smackdown on a man at least twice her size.
- Wise Beyond Their Years - Eddy.
- Yandere: Again, Tokiwa while he's possessed.