Rec (stylized as REC) is a Japanese manga series by Q-Tarō Hanamizawa. It was serialized by Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X from November 2002 to March 2013, with its chapters collected in sixteen tankōbon volumes. The story follows the relationship between Fumihiko Matsumaru, a salaryman, and Aka Onda, an aspiring voice actress. A nine-episode anime adaptation by Shaft aired between February and March 2006; an original video animation episode was also produced.

Plot

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 voice actress. 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 cannot 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) has been approved as the mascot of a snack product called "Ha" ("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. The series is heavily concerned with the developing dynamic of their relationship.

Characters

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Q-Tarō Hanamizawa, Rec was serialized in Shogakukan's seinen manga magazine Monthly Sunday Gene-X from November 19, 2002, to March 19, 2013. Shogakukan collected its chapters in sixteen tankōbon volumes, released from September 19, 2003, to June 19, 2013.

Anime

An anime adaptation containing nine twelve-minute episodes was animated by Shaft and aired in Japan between February 3 and March 31, 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). The series was directed by Ryūtarō Nakamura and written by Reiko Yoshida and features music by Kei Haneoka. Hideyuki Morioka designed the characters and served as chief animation director. Four of the episodes were outsourced outside of Shaft: episode 2 to Daume; and episodes 3, 5, and 7 to Studio Pastoral.

Episodes

All episodes were written by Reiko Yoshida and storyboarded by Ryūtarō Nakamura.

Visual novel

Idea Factory released a visual novel adaptation, titled Rec: Doki Doki Seiyū Paradise, on November 30, 2006 in limited and regular editions; the limited edition included a bonus CD, a small art book, and different cover artwork. The player assumes the role of Fumihiko Matsumaru who is the director for a new television project. The goal is to choose who will be the main voice actress for the project, create new relationships, complete advertising campaigns among other things. In addition to the standard romance element where the player can choose between dating Momiji Endō and Aka Onda, there is also a "multi-seiyū system" where the player chooses between the potential voice actresses to play the voice in an anime. There are also web radio, photo shoots, and Akihabara events in which the voice actresses participate. Rec: Doki Doki Seiyū Paradise received a combined score of 24/40—from a score of 6/10 from each of the four reviewers—from the Japanese video game magazine Famitsu.