Bungaku Shoujo

Bungaku Shoujo, or Book Girl in the English releases, is a collection of Light Novel works by Mizuki Nomura. There are about 16 novels in the series with eight being part of the main story four being short story collections, and four being side stories.

This story is started with an Ordinary High School Student named Konoha Inoue. His life is quite normal, but only if one disregards the fact that he is a bestselling female romance writer. During his first year of high school he meets Amano Tohko reading a book. Tohko then announces that Konoha is joining the Literature Club. Two years later, Tohko and Konoha are still the only people in the Literature Club and Tohko is studying for college. One day his friend Nanase Kotobuki falls down and is hospitalized. Konoha goes to the hospital to see her, and finds his Childhood Friend Miu Asakura who also wants to be a writer. At that moment starts a story of drama, romance, and mystery as Konoha and Tohko confront Miu and his pasts to fix what was once set wrong.

There are 5 animated adaptations: 4 of them being OVAs and the recent movie — just note that they all adapt the last half the series, so if you're going to read the books, read them first. In addition, several of the novels have been adapted to manga.

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Tropes used in Bungaku Shoujo include:

• A-Cup Angst: Tohko
• Arbitrary Skepticism: Tohko (whatever exactly she is) eats stories, but claims not to believe in ghosts (by all indications, she's right).

Tohko: It's so cheap when it turns out it was All Just a Dream or because of a ghost. It's just wrong. I don't accept ghosts.

• Bat Deduction: Subverted in Book Girl and the Famished Spirit when the Literature Club receives a letter written in a numerical code and Tohko immediately deduces the meaning based on random associations. It turns out to be a much more standard substitution cipher.
• Bishonen: Konoha; Ryuto; Kazushi. Lampshaded in the first novel where Konoha notes that he used to be teased for having a girly face.
• Boy Meets Girl: Naturally.
• But Now I Must Go: Tohko still has to go to college.
• Chekhov's Gunman: The rich girl in the movie is instrumental in helping Miu. This is actually Adaptation Distillation as Maki is a major character in the books.
• Clingy Jealous Girl: See Yandere.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Comes with the book eating.
• Conversational Troping: Lots, given that it's a series about books and writing.
• Deadpan Snarker: Konoha, more so in the novels.
• Don't Like, Don't Eat: Konoha's usual reaction to Tohko's criticism of the snacks he writes for her.
• Expy: Tohko is a bit like Haruhi, isn't she? Albeit, a much nicer version.
• First Girl Wins: Bit ambiguous with this one.
• Heroic BSOD
  • Konoha has one every time he sees something in his past.
  • Also when Miu attempts suicide for the second time.
• Holding Hands: Tohko does this during Konoha's BSOD to snap him out of it.
• Ingesting Knowledge: Tohko experiences books by eating them.
• I Will Wait for You: Non-romantic variety.
• Love Triangle: Of the type 3 variety.
• Obfuscating Disability
• Patrick Stewart Speech: At some point in each novel, you can be sure Tohko will launch upon a lecture about a book that's relevant to the current situation, and in doing so will change how someone looks at the world. Because she's the Literature Girl, doncha know.
• Romantic Runner-Up: Sorry Nanase, you just weren't important enough.
• Shout-Out
  • The manga adaption of "Book Girl and the Clown who wanted to die" (did anyone say light novel?) is filled with references and shout-outs to famous japanese and non-japanese books. For a while, the story even turns into a modern day reenactment of Dazai Osamu's No Longer Human.
  • The second book is a Whole-Plot Reference to Wuthering Heights.
  • Heck, all the books reference other books.
• Self-Fulfilling Prophecy: At the end of the novel 8, Konoha enacts all the conditions of Tohko's from love fortune 7 years ago on purpose. Also a Chekhov's Gun, since this love fortune was first mentioned at the start of novel 1, and was treated as a joke.
• Stepford Smiler: Miu really really hates Konoha and tells him with a smile.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Tohko and Konoha can never really be together.
• There Are No Therapists
• Train Station Goodbye
• Tsundere: Nanase. Lampshaded in one of the OVAs when her friend tells her, "What you're doing now is more than tsundere. It's a crime."
• Victorious Childhood Friend: It takes a while, but it's all the more satisfying.
• Yandere: Just because you can't have one person does not mean you can commit suicide. And Tohko's foster brother actually wants the kind of girlfriend who'd kill him so he'd never leave her.