L DK, stylized as L♥DK, is a Japanese manga by Ayu Watanabe that has been serialized the manga magazine Bessatsu Friend since 2009. It has been adapted into a live-action film that was released in 2014.
The story tells about the relationship between a high school girl, Aoi Nishimori, and the school prince, Shūsei Kugayama, when they come to share a small apartment. The series volumes have appeared on the Oricon comic charts a few times, and adapted into a Drama CD with the eighth volume of the manga.
Plot Shūsei Kugayama, the "Prince" of his high school, has a reputation of turning down confessions from admiring girls. Aoi Nishimori takes offense after he rejected the confession her best friend, Moe Shibuya. Later that day, Aoi is greeted by her new apartment neighbor which turns out to be Shūsei. After a kitchen fire accident ruins Shūsei's apartment, Shūsei decides to move into Aoi's flat, but becomes more casual and friendly towards her at school. Upon getting to know Shūsei better, Aoi falls in love with him, who initially did not return that feeling. Meanwhile, they must keep their cohabitation a secret. Aoi tries to confront the girls who are interested in Shūsei, the boys who are interested in her, and family members who reveal hints about Shūsei's past. Aoi and Shūsei eventually come to fall in love with one another.
Characters Main characters
Aoi is a 16-year-old high school girl who lives in her own apartment after refusing to move away with her parents. She is described as impulsive, but is inexperienced with love. She has no reservations in confronting the school prince Shūsei Kugayama over her best friend Moe 's confession rejection, but is surprised when Shūsei becomes her new next-door neighbor. She is a capable cook, however, because of Shūsei's presence, she becomes careless and a fire erupts in his kitchen. After Shūsei moves in with her, Aoi is shocked that he is so casual and friendly towards her at home and at school, but soon develops feelings for him, and becomes sensitive to other girls who express interest in him. In the live-action films, she is portrayed by Ayame Goriki, and by Mone Kamishiraishi in the sequel.
Shusei is regarded as the school prince, even though he has a habit of turning down the girls' confessions in a rude manner. He becomes Aoi's next-door neighbor in the apartments, but moves to her apartment after a kitchen fire causes the sprinklers to drench his place. Shūseilikes to tease Aoi by acting casual at home, by visiting her class, by making randomly inappropriate remarks about Aoi's undergarments and by pulling practical jokes. Despite that, he is protective of Aoi. His past relationship with Satsuki Mizuno had affected how he behaves towards women, but he warms up to Aoi and eventually appreciates her love. Media articles from Animate.tv and Animeanime.jp describe him as being tsundere. In the live-action films, Shūsei is portrayed by Kento Yamazaki and Yosuke Sugino in the sequel.
Supporting characters
Moe is Aoi's best friend. A week prior to the start of the story, she confesses to Shūsei but is turned down. She easily reads that Aoi has fallen in love with Shūsei, but Aoi has denied it. Moe is portrayed by Rei Okamoto in the first film and Sara Takatsuki in the sequel. The Moe is the landlady of Aoi and Shūsei's apartment who is a widowed mother with her son, Kota. She is interested in Wataru Sanjo. Moe is later revealed to be a former delinquent and had ridden a Harley with her husband. Her name is not given in the manga, but in the live-action film, she is named and portrayed by Miho Shiraishi.
Eri is Shūsei's older sister suspicious of his relationship with Aoi, as they have not acted like a couple. She insists that Shūsei stays with her, but later lets them be.
Shōta is a student who is than Aoi and Shūsei. Aoi describes him as a pretty boy. He shows an interest in Aoi after having a friendly encounter with her in the cultural festival the previous year, and tries to woo her after seeing her again, which makes Aoi uncomfortable and Shūsei jealous. He and Shūsei were on the basketball team together in middle school.
Sōju is Shūsei's older brother who works as a photo-journalist. He talks to Aoi about her relationship with Shūsei and gives her some advice. After Aoi failed to kiss Shūsei, Sōju demonstrates with his own kiss on her, and then gets Aoi to act affectionate with him in order to make Shūsei jealous when he visits. He is engaged to Satsuki, but their marriage registration is later called off. Sōju is portrayed by Seiji Fukushi and Keita Machida.
Satsuki is Shūsei's childhood friend in middle school who was a member of the basketball club. She was in relationship with Shūsei, but they broke up. Satsuki appears in the story as the fiancée to Shūsei's older brother, Sōju. After the marriage registration was postponed, she gets her own apartment and tries to cling onto Shūsei. She is portrayed by Anna Ishibashi in the live-action film.
Wataru enters the story as a new tenant in the apartments. He likes Aoi due to her smile at the sports festival last year. Once Aoi got upset that Shūsei revealed the cohabitation secret to him, he comforts Aoi and promises to keep it secret unless Shūsei makes her unhappy. After Shusei leaves, he confesses to Aoi and offers to support her emotionally. After realizing that Aoi is always going to put Shūsei first in her heart, he lets go. He has three older sisters and his parents are overseas in China. In the live-action film, he works at a nearby food accessories store. He is portrayed by Renn Kiriyama.
Ryōsuke is Shūsei's close friend, a high school senior, and a character exclusive to the live-action film. He ends up dating Moe. Ryōsuke is portrayed by Akiyoshi Nakao and Kazuki Horike. In an interview, Nakao said that he promises to do his best to play the character without any awkwardness.
Aoi's father visits and learns about Aoi and Shusei's cohabitation. He tries to pull Aoi out of school. He is a former bodybuilder that Aoi calls a "muscle narcissist". When Aoi gets into trouble at the park, he tries to save her but has got too old to handle the delinquents. After Aoi is rescued by Shūsei, she declares her desire to protect Shūsei as he protected her and her father agrees to let them live together under the condition they stay together but not have sex.
Media Manga The manga is written by manga artist Ayu Watanabe. The chapters have been appearing monthly in Kodansha's shojo manga magazine, Bessatsu Friend, since 2009. A drama CD was bundled with the release of volume 8 of the manga. The series concluded in the September 2017 issue. A two-chapter bonus manga was released in the magazine's OctoberNovember 2017 issue, digitally published as Volume 25. The manga series was packaged into 24 volumes. Volume 25 is a bonus chapter.
A sequel manga titled LDK Pink began serialization in Bessatsu Friend on February 12, 2022.
Volumes
Light Novels The series has been adapted into two light novels, written from the perspective of Shusei. The novels were written by Ran Satomi.
Films A live-action film adaptation was announced on May 9, 2013, and was released on April 12, 2014. The film starred Ayame Goriki as Aoi and Kento Yamazaki as Shusei. This is Goriki's first solo lead role in a romance film. The film was directed by Yasuhiro Kawamura and written by Yuko Matsuda. Filming took place in July 2013 and at the Cosmo World amusement park in Kanagawa. Goriki, who has had short hair for the past three years, wore a wig when she played Aoi.
A film adaptation sequel was released on March 21, 2019, under the title . The film stars Mone Kamishiraishi as Aoi, Yosuke Sugino as Shusei, and Ryusei Yokohama as Shusei's cousin Reo, an original character.
Reception Rebecca Silverman from Anime News Network gave the first volume an overall B grade, citing its strengths in using standard romance tropes without using the "less charming" aspects.
LDK has sold over 2.7 million copies in its first 12 volumes, and was listed as a top seller for January 2013 e-book downloads for NTT DoCoMo. It ranked first in the Shojo Manga category for the 2013 E-Book Award in the magazine Da Vinci. The series was nominated for the 38th Kodansha Manga Award for Best Shojo Manga.
+ Oricon's Japanese Comic RankingVol. no.Peak rankNotes and refs912108 3 weeks119 2 weeks 124 2 weeks137 3 weeks 14 2 3 weeks 15 6 3 weeks 16 5 3 weeks 17 6 3 weeks 18 6 2 weeks 19 12 2 weeks 20 11 3 weeks 21 22 13 2 weeks For its opening weekend, the L DK live action film ranked fourth in gross and second among Japanese-produced films. The film grossed US$3,758,081 in Japan.
Legacy L DK was known for popularizing the kabedon move where Shūsei pins Aoi to a wall using his arm
Notes
Specific "Ch." is shortened form for chapter and refers to a chapter number of the L DK manga
References
External links at Kodansha second live action film official website