Locodol

Locodol (ろこどる, Rokodoru), short for Futsū no Joshikōsei ga Locodol Yattemita (普通の女子校生が【ろこどる】やってみた。, "Ordinary High School Girls Tried Being Locodols"), is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Kōtarō Kosugi. The manga was serialized in Ichijinsha's Manga 4-Koma Palette magazine from October 2011 to February 2022. An anime television series adaptation animated by Feel aired between July and September 2014, with three original video animation episodes released between September 2014 and June 2016.

Locodol
Cover of first manga volume published by Ichijinsha featuring Nanako Usami (left) and Yukari Kohinata (right).
普通の女子校生が【ろこどる】やってみた (Futsū no Joshikōsei ga Locodol Yattemita)
Genre	Comedy, slice of life
Manga
Written by	Kōtarō Kosugi
Published by	Ichijinsha
Magazine	Manga 4-Koma Palette
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	October 2011 – April 2022
Volumes	10
Anime television series
Directed by	Munenori Nawa
Produced by	Tomoko Kawasaki Takeshi Tanaka Masatoshi Ishizuka Kazuhiro Kanemitsu Atsushi Iwasaki Hitoshi Yagi Kenji Yamaguchi Yoshiko Nakayama Katsuhiro Ikuma Shigeaki Arima
Written by	Yuniko Ayana
Music by	Tomoki Hasegawa
Studio	Feel
Licensed by	NA: Sentai Filmworks
Original network	TBS, Sun TV, CBC, TBS Channel 1, TBS Channel 2, BS-TBS, AT-X
Original run	July 4, 2014 – September 18, 2014
Episodes	12 + 3 OVA

Plot

In the town of Nagarekawa (流川市, Nagarekawa-shi, "Flowing River City"), Nanako Usami, an ordinary high school girl, is approached by her uncle to become a local idol or "Locodol", partnering with upperclassman Yukari Kohinata to form the idol unit, Nagarekawa Girls (流川ガールズ, Nagarekawa Gāruzu). As the girls use their talent to promote Nagarekawa and their businesses, they are joined by Yui Mikoze, who acts as the local mascot, and Mirai Nazukari, who serves as Yui's substitute.

Characters

Nanako Usami (宇佐美 奈々子, Usami Nanako)

Voiced by: Miku Itō

A first-year student at Nagarekawa High School who winds up becoming a Locodol after being recruited by her uncle. She is generally the most level-headed member of the group, and worries about all sorts of things related to her job. Her nervousness on screen often results in her stuttering and mispronouncing her name as "Nanyako".

Yukari Kohinata (小日向 縁, Kohinata Yukari)

Voiced by: Sachika Misawa

Nanako's partner in Nagarekawa Girls is a blond-haired second-year student at Nagarekawa High. She is described as someone who "seems perfect, but ends up being airheaded". She comes from a wealthy family, and has lived by herself in an apartment since entering high school.^{Ep. 2} She ponders studying abroad after high school.^{Ep. 5} Her grandfather was the town's former mayor.^{Ep. 9} She is very fond of Nanako,^{Ep. 2} and was inspired by the latter's kindness to help others.^{Ep. 9}

Yui Mikoze (三ヶ月 ゆい, Mikoze Yui)

Voiced by: Maya Yoshioka

A third-year student at Nagarekawa High School who works alongside them as the mascot character, Uogokoro-kun (魚心くん). Her brown hair is styled in a short ponytail. She is particularly athletic, able to perform various acrobatic feats in her costume despite its weight.^{Ep. 3} She plans to use her savings from her locodol activity to enroll in a voice acting school.^{Ep. 5}

Mirai Nazukari (名都借 みらい, Nazukari Mirai)

Voiced by: Inori Minase

A first-year student at Nanako and Yukari's school who is hired as a substitute Uogokoro-kun to lighten Yui's workload. She is a capable performer in the school's drama club, but is generally shy otherwise.

Saori Nishifukai (西深井 沙織, Nishifukai Saori)

Voiced by: Asami Shimoda

The Nagarekawa Girls' manager who secretly uses pictures she takes at events for her own fansite.

Shouko Noda (野田 硝子, Noda Shōko)

Voiced by: Shiori Izawa

Nanako's classmate with short burgundy-colored hair and two braids.

Satsuki Kashiwaba (柏葉 さつき, Kashiwaba Satsuki)

Voiced by: Mikako Izawa

Nanako's classmate with the blonde hair.

Misato Mizumoto (水元 美里, Mizumoto Misato)

Voiced by: Minami Tsuda

Nanako's classmate with the ponytail.

Sumire Mihara (美原 菫, Mihara Sumira)

Voiced by: Eriko Matsui

Yukari's cousin and classmate.

Mitsugu Oota (太田 貢, Ōta Mitsugu)

Voiced by: Takehiro Murozono

Nanako's uncle (mother's brother) who is on the city council. He is the one responsible for recruiting the Locodols and was their previous manager before Saori was hired.^{Ep. 1} He picks his niece to be a locodol because she is average in appearance and has a safe, non-scandalous character.^{Ep. 9} At the end of the anime television series, he reschedules the girls' appearance at their local city festival so that they can attend after the Locodol festival goes long.^{Ep. 12}

Tatsuya Usami (宇佐美 達也, Usami Taysuya)

Voiced by: Toshinobu Iida

Nanako's father.

Tomoko Usami (宇佐美 智子, Usami Tomoko)

Voiced by: M.A.O

Nanako's mother. She has a part-time job as a cashier.^{Ep. 1}

Awa Awa Girls

Aoi Anan (阿南 葵, Anan Aoi) , Tsubasa Tsurugi (鶴木 つばさ, Tsurugi Tsubasa) , and Miyako Mima (美馬 都, Mima Miyako)

Voiced by: Asami Imai, Tomoyo Kurosawa, and Emi Nitta

The Awa Awa Girls (stylized as AWA²GiRLS), are a locodol group from Tokunami City. Having won the Locodol Festival the previous year, the group has made many national TV appearances.^{Ep. 11} However, after meeting the Nagarekawa Girls, they realize the importance of representing their hometown.^{Ep. 12}

Media

Manga

Futsū no Joshikōsei ga Locodol Yattemita is a four-panel comic strip manga written and illustrated by Kōtarō Kosugi. It originally appeared in Ichijinsha's Manga 4-Koma Palette magazine between the October and December 2011 issues, and then later began serialization with the April 2012 issue. The first tankōbon was published by Ichijinsha on January 22, 2013, and ten volumes have been published as of April 21, 2022. A special edition of the fifth volume was released bundled with a drama CD.

Anime

A 12-episode anime television series produced by Feel aired on TBS between July 4, 2014 and September 18, 2014 and was simulcast outside of Asia by Crunchyroll. An original video animation episode was included on the first Blu-ray Disc/DVD volume released on September 24, 2014 and was streamed on Crunchyroll from December 3, 2014. The opening theme is "Mirai Fanfare" (ミライファンファーレ, Future Fanfare) by Nagarekawa Girls (Miku Itō and Sachika Misawa) and the ending theme is "Mirai Shōjotachi" (未来少女たち, Future Girls) by Miku Itō, Sachika Misawa, Maya Yoshioka, and Inori Minase. The theme songs were released on July 30, 2014, with an appearance by Miku Ito at Nagareyama which the fictional town of Nagarekawa is based on. A character single with insert songs was released on August 27, 2014. Additional OVA episodes were released on December 24, 2015 and June 22, 2016.

Episode list

No.	Title	Screenplay	Animation Director	Original air date
1	"[Locodol] We Tried Starting It." Transliteration: "Rokodoru Hajimete mita" (Japanese: 【ろこどる】はじめてみた。)	Takafumi Fujii	Yuniko Ayana	July 4, 2014 (2014-07-04)
Nanako Usami, a normal high school girl living in Nagarekawa, is asked by her uncle, Mitsugu Oota, to help promote the opening of a swimming pool. Seeing it as an opportunity to earn some money to get a new swimsuit, she agrees, but she soon discovers that she is to become a local idol, or "Locodol". Although she is embarrassed to perform, she meets Yukari Kohinata, a kind and attractive girl who is her new partner in the event.
2	"We Tried Going and Playing." Transliteration: "Asobi ni Itte mita." (Japanese: 遊びに行ってみた。)	Mitsuko Ohya	Yuniko Ayana	July 11, 2014 (2014-07-11)
When Nanako and Yukari help review a food place, Nanako gets nervous about saying something that might ruin the store's reputation if the food disappoints. After more Locodol work, Yukari invites Nanako over to her place to discuss what they should call their unit, although she goes a bit overboard in preparing for her arrival.
3	"We Tried Putting It On, We Tried Taking It Off." Transliteration: "Kite mita. Nuide mita." (Japanese: 着てみた。脱いでみた。)	Takafumi Fujii	Tatsuya Takahashi	July 18, 2014 (2014-07-18)
The girls, whose unit is named Nagarekawa Girls, are joined by a mascot character, Uogokoro-kun, who is revealed to be Yui Mikoze, a petite student who is actually their senior at school. Nanako's classmates Noda and Satsuki come to their next gig. Oota gives Nanako and Yukari new uniforms. The rainy weather threatens to clear out the audience until Nanako comes up with an idea.
4	"We Tried Adding a Manager and Stuff." Transliteration: "Manējā toka Tsuite mita." (Japanese: マネージャーとかついてみた。)	Yoshihiro Hiramine	Momoko Murakami	July 25, 2014 (2014-07-25)
When the news reports of idols having their uniforms stolen by perverts and fans, Nanako becomes wary of the situation. The girls get a new manager, Saori Nishifukai, who appears to be quite reliable. In reality, she is an obsessive fangirl who secretly runs a fansite about the group. Later, Yukari takes Nanako to an amusement park, where they end up performing a guerilla concert for the children.
5	"We Tried Setting a Big Goal." Transliteration: "Bigguna Mokuhyō Tatete mita." (Japanese: ビッグな目標立ててみた。)	Yoshitaka Koyama	Tatsuya Takahashi	August 1, 2014 (2014-08-01)
As the girls think about their futures, Nanako sets her sights on a national debut for the group. The moment they set their goal, the girls learn that Uogokoro-kun will appear on a mascot athletics festival airing on national TV. Yui has a new lighter costume but it lacks the voice changers, so Nanako and Yukari are given more potential screen-time to act as Uogokoro-kun's interpreters. After Yui explains a bit about Uogokoro-kun's backstory, Yukari takes the girls to a tiny shrine to pray for good luck.
6	"We Tried Gathering Cute and Loose Characters." Transliteration: "Yuru Kyara Atsumete mita." (Japanese: ゆるキャラ集めてみた。)	Satoshi Saga	Momoko Murakami	August 8, 2014 (2014-08-08)
As the mascot athletics festival gets underway, Nanako and Yukari have to ad lib their segment promoting Nagarekawa. Uogokoro-kun advances to the finals, albeit largely due to her opponents self-destructing in various events. When Yui worries about not living up to everyone's expectations, Nanako, Yukari and Saori assure her that staying healthy and not pushing herself too hard is more important than winning.
7	"We Tried Adding a Lot of Things." Transliteration: "Iroiro Fuete mita." (Japanese: いろいろ増えてみた。)	Mitsuko Ohya	Yuniko Anaya	August 15, 2014 (2014-08-15)
The girls nervously await the airing of the mascot athletics festival. Due to their various circumstances, each of the girls end up missing Nanako and Yukari's segment as it airs, so they make plans to watch it together the next day. With Uogokuro-kun's popularity skyrocketing as a result of the program, Mirai Nazukari, one of Yui's friends from her drama club, is hired as a substitute Uogokuro-kun actor to lighten Yui's workload. Though Nanako is slightly downhearted due to Mirai being too shy around her outside of costume, she feels happy when a fan comes all the way from Tokyo to see the girls.
8	"We Tried Gathering the Courage to Call." Transliteration: "Yūki o Dashite, Yonde mita." (Japanese: 勇気をだして、呼んでみた。)	Yoshihiro Kawamine	Momoko Murakami	August 22, 2014 (2014-08-22)
Nanako tries to become closer friends with Mirai by taking her to karaoke, only to find her not very willing to sing alongside her. Later, as Mirai's responsibilities as Uogokuro-kun increases, she asks Nanako to help train her to become as good as Yui. During practise, Mirai injures her leg attempting to perform Yui's signature backflip, with Saori warning her not to do it again as kids may attempt to imitate it. On a day where Yui and Mirai are taking turns as Uogokuro-kun, Mirai receives some praise for protecting Yui's identity from a peeking child and, despite her injury, manages to give a performance on par with Yui's. Afterwards, Nanako and Mirai manage to become closer friends without even realizing it.
9	"We Tried Being Selfish." Transliteration: "Wagamama Itte mita." (Japanese: ワガママ言ってみた。)	Yoshihiro Kawamine	Yuniko Ayana	August 29, 2014 (2014-08-29)
As the girls help out at a train station for the day, Nanako meets Yukari's grandfather, the town's former mayor. As Nanako wonders why Yukari decided to become a Locodol, Yukari comes down with a fever from pushing herself too hard and is ordered to rest. While Nanako takes care of her, Yukari recalls when she first encountered Nanako whilst working as a store mascot, helping a lost girl find her mother. Despite winding up getting fired from her job in the process, Yukari became inspired by Nanako's selflessness, becoming delighted when she was able to become partners with her in Nagarekawa Girls.
10	"We Tried Working As Four." Transliteration: "Yonnin no Chikara de Yatte mita." (Japanese: 4人の力でやってみた。)	Takafumi Fujii	Tatsuya Takahashi	September 5, 2014 (2014-09-05)
The girls are informed of a Locodol Festival, where Locodols from various regions will be participating, and asked to write a new song for the Nagarekawa Girls to perform. As Nanako struggles to come up with lyrics, Mirai suggests that she write about their experiences as Locodols. After Nanako's classmates suggest she think about incorporating her feelings, she spends the night with Yukari's place, coming up with some lyrics as they talk about their memories. After some adjustments from Mirai, Yukari writes the composition whilst Yui sorts out the choreography, allowing the group to get onto practising. With the song finalized, Nanako decides she would like to debut it for the people of Nagarekawa at their next local event.
11	"We Tried Gathering Locodols." Transliteration: "Rokudoru Atsumete mita." (Japanese: ロコドル集めてみた。)	Mitsuko Ohya	Tatsuya Takahashi	September 12, 2014 (2014-09-12)
The girls learn that the Locodol Festival takes place on the same day as the Nagarekawa Summer Festival and must somehow perform at both events. Arriving in Nagoya for the first day of the Locodol Festival, where they'll be selling local specialities, Yukari takes Nanako to look at the stage they'll be performing at the next day, where they meet the previous winners, Awa Awa Girls. After the girls manage to bring attention to their booth with an on-stage presentation, the Awa Awa Girls feel downhearted that their own hometown's local specialities were ignored by customers in favor of their idol merchandise.
12	"We Tried Being Locodols." Transliteration: "Rokodoru Yatte mita." (Japanese: 【ろこどる】やってみた。)	Yoshihiro Hiramine	Yuniko Ayana	September 19, 2014 (2014-09-19)
As the girls nervously await their performance at the Locodol Festival, they are visited by Nanako's classmates, who give them some encouragement. Noticing Nanako's worries, Yukari takes her someplace quiet to calm her, reminding her not to think about trying to rank first and just focus on doing their best. When they return, they learn that, due to the other groups trying to outshine Awa Awa Girls and pushing their performance behind schedule, they may have to miss the Nagarekawa Summer Festival. Confirming the pair's desire to perform at both events, Mitsugu offers to do what he can on his end to make it happen. Stepping on stage, the girls perform the song everyone worked together on, through which they express all the experiences they've been through since becoming Locodols. After being announced as the overall winners, the Awa Awa Girls, having heard of the Nagarekawa Girls' conundrum, encourage them to head off early so they can make their Summer Festival in time, understanding the importance of supporting their local events. The group soon arrive back in Nagarekawa, where Mitsugu had kept the festival going until their arrival, and manage to perform for the town they love.

OVA episode list

No.	Title	Screenplay	Animation Director	Original release date
OVA–1	"We Tried Giving a Tour of Nagarekawa." Transliteration: "Nagarekawa, An'naishite mita." (Japanese: 流川、案内してみた。)	Satoshi Saga	Momoko Murakami	September 24, 2014 (2014-09-24)
On their day off from Locodol work, Nanako and the others are visited by the Awa Awa Girls, who ask them to take them on a tour through Nagarekawa, though it soon becomes apparent that Nagarekawa doesn't have much in the way of tourist spots. The girls soon hit the local swimming pool, where they end up playing beach volleyball with some children. By the time they have to head back home, the Awa Awa Girls come to realize that, even though there isn't much to Nagarekawa, there is a lot of warmth that comes from its people.
OVA–2	"We All Celebrated Together." Transliteration: "Minna de Oiwaishite mimashita." (Japanese: みんなでお祝いしてみました。)	Unknown	Unknown	December 24, 2015 (2015-12-24)
With Yukari's birthday falling on Christmas Day, Nanako hopes to make her birthday party a big success. After shopping for a present for Yukari, Nanako attends a Christmas party with her classmates, Misato, Satsuki, and Shouko, who give her a Santa outfit to surprise Yukari with. Although Nanako ends up forgetting to take her present, Yukari nonetheless appreciates her coming over to celebrate her birthday, with everyone else showing up the next morning to celebrate.
OVA–3	"We Tried Making a PV." Transliteration: "Pī Bui Tsukuttemita." (Japanese: PV作ってみた。)	Unknown	Unknown	June 22, 2016 (2016-06-22)
The girls learn they will be shooting a PV, though soon discover it to actually be a PR video of Nagarekawa's tourist spots as opposed to a music video. Partway through shooting, the girls are told they are being too stiff and are given free rein to come up with ideas to make the video more interesting. With Mirai nominated as director, the girls manage to shoot a more natural flowing video that also gets Nagarekawa's citizens involved. The girls soon release the finished video, which ends up resembling a music video after all.

Home release

The series was released to DVD and Blu-ray format in seven volumes. The first volume contains a full-length OVA special and six illustrated cards. In North America, Sentai Filmworks released the 12-episode series and an OVA as a boxset in Japanese with English subtitles.

(Japan, Region 2)

Volume		Episodes	DVD/Blu-ray release date
	Volume 1	1, OVA	September 24, 2014
	Volume 2	2, 3	October 29, 2014
	Volume 3	4, 5	November 26, 2014
	Volume 4	6, 7	December 24, 2014
	Volume 5	8, 9	January 28, 2015
	Volume 6	10, 11	February 25, 2015
	Volume 7	12	March 25, 2015

External links

• Official anime website (in Japanese)
• Locodol (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia