Heaven's Memo Pad


Heaven's Memo Pad is a Japanese light novel series written by Hikaru Sugii, with illustrations by Mel Kishida. ASCII Media Works published nine volumes between January 2007 and September 2014 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation illustrated by Tiv was serialized between the August 2010 and September 2012 issues of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Daioh magazine. An 12-episode anime adaptation aired in Japan between July and September 2011.

Plot

Narumi Fujishima is the main protagonist. He is a high-school student who keeps himself uninvolved in school life to the point of not knowing most of his classmates' names. Through circumstances, he must participate in his school's "Gardening Committee", with Ayaka Shinozaki. He is also persuaded to join NEET, an amateur detective agency filled with unemployed slackers who take on and solve cases on their own. The NEET agency is led by "Alice", a childish, anti-social extreme shut-in, who never leaves her room full of computer monitors and stuffed animals. However, [|Alice] has proven herself a resourceful hacker and an astounding detective. Throughout the series, Narumi, accompanied by the other members of NEET, solve crimes, including murders, using their limited resources and Alice's genius intellect.

Characters

;Alice
;Min
;Tetsu
;Major
;Hiro
;The Fourth
;Meo

Media

Light novels

The Heaven's Memo Pad light novels are written by Hikaru Sugii, with illustrations by Mel Kishida. ASCII Media Works published nine volumes between January 2007 and September 2014 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint.

Drama CD

Three drama CDs were produced by Lantis. The first, titled Oshare Sagi-shi no Matsuro, was released on July 8, 2009. The second, titled Utahime no Kiken na Angle, was released on May 7, 2010. A third drama CD titled Shutter Chance no Uragawa was released on November 9, 2011, casting the same voice actors from the anime.

Manga

A manga adaptation illustrated by Tiv was serialized in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Daioh between the August 2010 and September 2012 issues. Three tankōbon volumes were released between April 4, 2011 and August 27, 2012 under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Comics imprint.

Anime

An anime adaptation was announced in February 2011. It aired 12 episodes between July 2 and September 24, 2011 with J.C.Staff in charge of the animation. North American licensor Sentai Filmworks simulcast the series on The Anime Network, and released the series on DVD in 2012. The opening theme is "Kawaru Mirai" by ChouCho and the ending theme is "Asunaro" by Kenichi Suzumura.
No.TitleOriginal air date

Reception

As of July 2011, the light novels have sold over 1,000,000 copies in Japan. The light novel ranked at No. 10 in 2011 in Takarajimasha's annual light novel guide book Kono Light Novel ga Sugoi!. Theron Martin of Anime News Network published a positive review of the complete anime series in 2012. Despite his criticism towards Alice for being another moe archetype for the viewers and its glorification of NEETs, Martin praised the series for its well-conceived adaptation, its understated yet eclectic score and for tackling social issues found in Japan. He concluded by saying, "Overall, Heaven's Memo Pad is a very good series which falls short of being a great series...though the stories in between also have their moments."