Rec (manga)

Rec is a 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, plus another twelve-minute original video animation episode.

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.

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" (translates as "leaf"). 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. Soon after they begin to date for real, and as a running gag when ever they start to begin having sex or plan to something or someone happens to pop up and interfere. The series is heavily concerned with the developing dynamic of their relationship.

Main characters

 * Fumihiko Matsumaru (松丸 文彦)
 * 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) and is his first accepted project.
 * 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) and is his first accepted project.


 * Aka Onda (恩田 赤)
 * A twenty-year-old aspiring seiyū. After her apartment burns down, she moves in with Matsumaru. The beginning of their relationship is a strained one, as Aka has sex with Matsumaru on their first night together and tries to maintain a 'just friends' relationship. Eventually however, the two of them begin to date for real.
 * A twenty-year-old aspiring seiyū. After her apartment burns down, she moves in with Matsumaru. The beginning of their relationship is a strained one, as Aka has sex with Matsumaru on their first night together and tries to maintain a 'just friends' relationship. Eventually however, the two of them begin to date for real.

Anime
An anime adaptation containing nine twelve-minute episodes was animated by Shaft and aired in Japan between February 2, 2006 and March 30, 2006; a single original video animation episode was also produced. The anime's opening theme is "Cheer!~Makka na kimochi~" (Cheer!～まっかなキモチ～) performed by Kanako Sakai, written by Hiiro Misaki, and composed and arranged by Kōhei Koyama. The anime's ending theme is "Devotion" performed by BRACE;d, and written, composed, and arranged by a.k.a.dRESS (ave;new).

Video game
In November 2006, Idea Factory released a game based on the Rec series titled Rec: Doki Doki Seiyū Paradise. It is a visual novel in which the player assumes the role of Fumihiko Matsumaru who is director for a new television project. The goal is to choose who will be the main seiyū for the project, create new relationships, complete advertising campaigns among other things.