Shomin Sample

Shomin Sample (庶民サンプル, Shomin Sanpuru), short for Shomin Sample: I Was Abducted by an Elite All-Girls School as a Sample Commoner (Japanese: 俺がお嬢様学校に「庶民サンプル」として拉致られた件, Hepburn: Ore ga Ojōsama Gakkō ni "Shomin Sanpuru" Toshite Rachirareta Ken), is a Japanese light novel series by Takafumi Nanatsuki. It has been published by Ichijinsha since December 2011. Eleven volumes have been published. A manga adaptation began serialization in Ichijinsha's Comic Rex magazine in July 2012. A drama CD was released on February 20, 2013. The series follows Kimito Kagurazaka, an ordinary high school student abducted by an organization, and forced to enroll in a private academy for elite young ladies.

Shomin Sample
Light novel volume 1 cover, featuring Aika Tenkubashi
俺がお嬢様学校に「庶民サンプル」として拉致られた件 (Ore ga Ojōsama Gakkō ni "Shomin Sanpuru" Toshite Rachirareta Ken)
Genre	Harem Romantic comedy
Light novel
Written by	Takafumi Nanatsuki
Illustrated by	Gekka Uruu
Published by	Ichijinsha
Imprint	Ichijinsha Bunko
Demographic	Male
Original run	November 11, 2011 – July 20, 2016
Volumes	11 + 1 short story collection
Manga
Written by	Takafumi Nanatsuki
Illustrated by	Risumai
Published by	Ichijinsha
English publisher	NA: Seven Seas Entertainment
Magazine	Comic Rex
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	May 27, 2012 – September 27, 2018
Volumes	15
Anime television series
Directed by	Masato Jinbo
Written by	Kento Shimoyama
Music by	Hiromi Mizutani
Studio	Silver Link
Licensed by	Crunchyroll BI: Anime Limited
Original network	AT-X, Tokyo MX, Sun TV, KBS, BS Fuji
English network	UK: Animax US: Funimation Channel, Crunchyroll Channel
Original run	October 7, 2015 – December 23, 2015
Episodes	12
Manga
Shomin Sample: I Was Spun Off by an Elite All-Girls School as a Sample Commoner
Written by	Takafumi Nanatsuki
Illustrated by	Risumai
Published by	Ichijinsha
Magazine	Comic Rex
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	January 27, 2016 – July 27, 2016
Volumes	2

An anime television series adaptation, produced by Silver Link, had aired from October to December 2015. It has been licensed for English release by Crunchyroll for home video release and streaming distribution.

Plot

Kimito Kagurazaka is an ordinary high school student. One day, he is forcefully enrolled in the elite all-girls school Seikain, where its sheltered noble female students are cut off from the rest of the world to preserve their innocence. However, this deep isolation leaves a large number of school graduates unable to cope with the outside world. To deal with this problem, the school has decided to kidnap a male commoner, Kimito, hoping that his "common man's" influence will be a gentle way to introduce the girls to the realities of life outside. Unfortunately for Kimito, the school only considered him a candidate for this project because they thought that he was a homosexual with a muscle fetish. Therefore, the school concluded that Kimito is no threat to the innocent girls' chastity. Once he learns that he either will face castration or exile should this be proven otherwise, he has no choice but to cooperate. Soon after his enrollment, he has a fateful meeting with Aika Tenkūbashi. Aika is a student who can alternately be shy, stubborn, and pretentious. She is also innocently fascinated by the outside world.

Characters

Kimito Kagurazaka (神楽坂 公人, Kagurazaka Kimito)

Voiced by: Kaito Ishikawa (drama CD), Atsushi Tamaru (anime) (Japanese); Dallas Reid (English)

He is a commoner who is forced to enroll at Seikain after being kidnapped. Kimito immediately notices how detached the girls are from the outside world. His first informal speech at the commencement ceremony leaves them flabbergasted. Seeing a cell phone for the first time excites the girls far more than it should. Kimito has a thing for girls' thighs. The staff has falsely announced to the school that he is a homosexual with a muscle fetish to protect the girls' pride and chastity. To help offset the strain of living up to his false credentials, his room in the school dormitory is renovated to look exactly like his bedroom at his family's home. He and Aika often chat in his room, where he enjoys trolling her with jokes about real-life topics that exploit her tendency for pretension as well as her very real innocence. As the series progresses, his childhood memories begin to resurfaces, thus experiencing a reunion with Miyuki and Aika, although Kimito's girl problems continue in the end.

Aika Tenkūbashi (天空橋 愛佳, Tenkūbashi Aika)

Voiced by: Asami Seto (drama CD), Yū Serizawa (anime) (Japanese); Sarah Wiedenheft (English)

She is childish, naive, and shy about talking to others. This distances her from them even though she wishes to be popular among her peers. Aika is strongly fascinated of the outside world. The PSP, ramen, and manga are a few of her interests. She asks Kimito to teach her how to be a commoner. Aika declares the establishment of the Commoner Club with Kimito as the master. She seems to have feelings for Kimito beyond that of master and disciple. However, it is shown in a flashback to her childhood that a young boy (Kimito) once helped her escape to see the wonderful things the outside world had to offer. When Aika's family goes bankrupt she is expelled from Seikain. In a surprise turn of events, her parents beg Kimito's family to let them stay at their renovated house for the time-being. During a short period in the outside world, Kimito and Aika get closer, then Aika's father becomes chairman in another company, allowing her to go back to Seikain.

Reiko Arisugawa (有栖川 麗子, Arisugawa Reiko)

Voiced by: Ai Kayano (drama CD), Rika Tachibana (anime) (Japanese); Mikaela Krantz (English)

Reiko is considered the most innocent, polite, and cheerful girl in the school. Because of his earnest attempts to help her and the other girls with learning the Commoner Way, she quickly grows fond of Kimito and falls in love with him. She is someone who always acts positive although has a horrible singing voice. However, her personality drastically changes when she learns about Aika's idea for helping her reconcile with her friends and classmates after a certain uncharacteristic outburst. She could not accept Aika's unexpected help and bitterly confronts her for her pity actions. In the end, the situation is resolved amiably. In turn, this breeds a rivalry for Kimito's affections. Reiko joins the Commoner Club to stay close to Kimito and interfere with the advances of other girls. She and Kimito get married in the light novel.

Hakua Shiodome (汐留 白亜, Shiodome Hakua)

Voiced by: Rina Hidaka (drama CD), Yūki Kuwahara (anime) (Japanese); Jeannie Tirado (English)

Hakua is a short, soft-spoken, and extremely youthful child prodigy who was very antisocial until she grows attached to Kimito, which shocks her maids. Due to her childlike appearance, Hakua is commonly mistaken for an elementary school student, however she is in-fact 14 years old. Hakua is a genius in the fields of engineering, mathematics, and sciences. She'll occasionally go into strange dazes and at such times, she wriggles out of her clothes as she writes, much to her friends dismay. She habitually documents new equations on any convenient wall. Hakua's maids photograph and document all of her work, as her intellect could lead to many break throughs in the fields of science and mathematics. Her family owns a cellular phone company. Hakua's maids tend to get her and Kimito into intimate moments. Whenever Hakua is with the girls and Kimito in his room or when her and Kimito are alone, she has a tendency to sit in his lap to which the latter does not mind.

Karen Jinryō (神領 可憐, Jinryō Karen)

Voiced by: Sachika Misawa (drama CD), Chitose Morinaga (anime) (Japanese); Skyler Davenport (English)

Karen is a girl from a samurai family who carries a katana on school grounds. Her fear of insects causes her to reflexively slash others nearby even though their clothes are often the primary casualties. After Karen inadvertently experiences a humiliating defeat at the hands of Kimito, she believes herself to have become weak and swears to stick closely by his side. She is determined to kill him whenever a chance presents itself. She like Aika is a typical tsundere (although more aggressive) and she masks her feelings for Kimito with a fake desire to defeat him. She is sexually attracted towards Hakua. There came a point where Karen felt overexcited for displaying her full potential the first time when invading Reiko's wedding arrangement.

Miyuki Kujō (九条 みゆき, Kujō Miyuki)

Voiced by: Aoi Yūki (drama CD), Saori Ōnishi (anime) (Japanese); Mallorie Rodak (English)

Kimito's personal and head maid (in name only). She is a very sadistic person, often carries out severe punishment whenever Kimito commits a blunder, yet she secretly kisses him in the morning to wake him up. Miyuki knows Kimito because he switched places with her older brother Itsuki (whose face resembles Kimito's but is really aggressive) when they were young to comprehend each other's worlds, and she becomes attracted to him. After switching back; however, Kimito developed a terrible fever which causes him to lose the memories of the events. Soon, Kimito dreams of his past enough to remember Miyuki, having her smile again in a long time.

Eri Hanae (花江 恵理, Hanae Eri)

Voiced by: Yumi Hara (Japanese); Jad Saxton (English)

Kimito's childhood friend and an idol voice actress. For unknown reasons, she claims to be his girlfriend and is upset about his sudden transfer away from home. In middle school, she was bullied for her unique voice, but Kimito told her that she could become a voice actress. Due to a misunderstanding, she believes that Kimito would not reciprocate her feelings, and so she lied wildly about Kimito being homosexual just to have him to herself, which unintentionally led him to be chosen to enroll at Seikain. She later becomes the second commoner sample as part of a deal after finding her way to Seikain in the hopes of bringing Kimito back.

Sakimori (崎守, Sakimori)

Voiced by: Ayumi Fujimura (Japanese); Sara Ragsdale (English)

Hakua's personal maid. She also documents everything that Hakua tendency writes. Unlike the other maids, Sakimori is opening minded about leaving Hakua under Kimito's care. In an extra chapter, Kimito dreams about being married to Sakimori, with a daughter named Yukari, whom a grownup Hakua occasionally visits to tutor.

Sayuri Kimachi (来待 早百合, Kimachi Sayuri)

Voiced by: Takako Honda (Japanese); Heather Walker (English)

Principal of Seikain Girls Academy.

Sumire Kiryuu (霧生 菫, Kiryū Sumire)

Voiced by: Yūki Kaneko (Japanese); Dawn M. Bennett (English)

Reiko's personal maid.

Hōko Arisugawa (有栖川 法子, Arisugawa Hōko)

Voiced by: Ayumi Tsunematsu (Japanese); Colleen Clinkenbeard (English)

Masaomi and Reiko's Mother.

Masaomi Arisugawa (有栖川正臣, Arisugawa Masaomi)

Voiced by: Kousuke Toriumi (Japanese); Austin Tindle (English)

Reiko's older brother who is very protective of his sister, resulting in having a sister complex. He is firmly against Reiko's arranged marriage and turns to Kimito for help.

Maya Mibu (壬生 マヤ, Mibu Maya)

Voiced by: Risae Matsuda (Japanese); Alexis Tipton (English)

A friend to Reiko.

Mizuho Suehiro (末広 みずほ, Suehiro Mizuho)

Voiced by: Shiori Sugiura (Japanese); Megan Shipman (English)

She is also a friend to Reiko.

Kae Tōjō (東城 香絵, Tōjō Kae)

Voiced by: Yūka Aisaka (Japanese); Felecia Angelle (English)

She is another friend to Reiko.

Misaki Yamada (山田 みさき, Yamada Misaki)

Voiced by: Kaya Okuno (Japanese); Bryn Apprill (English)

She works along with Eri in a few projects.

Media

Light novel

Main article: List of Shomin Sample chapters

Shomin Sample began as a light novel series which was published by Ichijinsha between November 11, 2011, and July 20, 2016. The full title is Shomin Sample: I Was Abducted by an Elite All-Girls School as a Sample Commoner (俺がお嬢様学校に「庶民サンプル」として拉致られた件, Ore ga Ojōsama Gakkō ni "Shomin Sanpuru" Toshite Rachirareta Ken) but was shortened to Shomin Sample. Eleven volumes and one short story volume were released through their Ichijinsha Bunko imprint.

Manga

A manga adaptation illustrated by Risumait hat was published in the manga magazine Comic Rex from May 27, 2012, to September 27, 2018. Fifteen bound volumes in total were published by Ichijinsha.

The manga adaptation was licensed for English release in North America by Seven Seas Entertainment. The volumes were released from 2016 to 2021. In addition to the main manga series, a short spinoff called Shomin Sample: I Was Spun Off by an Elite All-Girls School as a Sample Commoner also appeared as a serial in Comic Rex. Two bound volumes were published by Ichijinsha and were released between January–July, 2016. The title uses a pun of the word "spinoff" where supinofu (拉致, "abducted") is replaced by (スピンオフ, "spunoff").

Anime

Main article: List of Shomin Sample episodes

A 12-episode anime television series adaptation, directed by Masato Jinbo and animated by studio Silver Link. It aired in Japan from October 7 to December 23, 2015. The anime has been licensed by Funimation in North America and Madman Entertainment in Australia. On November 11, 2015, Funimation began streaming the English dubbed episodes as part of its Broadcast Dubs initiative. Anime Limited is distributing the title for Funimation in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Reception

Ichijinsha announced on Thursday that Takafumi Nanatsuki's light novel Ore ga Ojō-sama Gakkō ni "Shomin Sample" Toshite Rachirareta Ken (Story in Which I Was Kidnapped by a Young Lady's School to be a "Sample of the Common People") will get an anime adaptation.

Ichijinsha published the first volume of the light novel series in November 2011, and it ran for eight volumes. A special edition of the seventh volume bundled a drama CD. Gekka Urū designed the characters for the light novel and Risumai draws a manga adaptation that is serialized in Ichijinsha's Monthly Comic Rex. The fifth compiled volume will ship on July 18 in Japan.

External links

• Official website (in Japanese)
• Official website (anime) (in Japanese)
• Shomin Sample at Funimation
• Shomin Sample (novel) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia