Ask Dr. Rin!

• Name — Ask Dr. Rin! • Ja Kanji — Dr.リンにきいてみて! • Ja Romaji — Dr. Rin ni Kiite Mite!

• Type — Manga • Author — Kiyoko Arai • Publisher — Shogakukan • Magazine — Ciao • First — August 1999 • Last — June 2003 • Volumes — 8

• Type — TV series • Director — Shin Misawa • Writer — Atsushi Maekawa • Music — Takanori Arisawa • Studio — NAS Studio Comet • Network — TXN (TV Tokyo) • First — March 5, 2001 • Last — February 25, 2002 • Episodes — 51 • Episode List — #Anime Ask Dr. Rin! is an eight-volume manga series by Kiyoko Arai. It tells 13-year-old girl named Meirin Kanzaki who is endowed with Feng shui powers which allow her to read people's fortunes and give advice on how to receive good luck. She does this on a website under the pseudonym of "Dr. Rin". Rin is in love with her friend Asuka Yuki, who is a star of the school soccer team, but she constantly bothers him with her feng shui advice when he doesn't believe in any of that. Ask Dr. Rin! was serialized in Ciao. A 51-episode anime series was produced by NAS and TV Tokyo, animated by Studio Comet, directed by Shin Misawa and had music composed by Takanori Arisawa. It was broadcast by TV Tokyo from March 5, 2001, to February 25, 2002.

Almost as soon as she mastered talking as a young child, Meirin Kanzaki discovered her feng shui powers and developed them to such a degree that she has developed an online help desk where she guides and counsels people under the pseudonym of "Dr. Rin" with such skill that she inadvertently throws away significant commerce from her father, Shō. Meirin has a crush on her childhood friend, Asuka Yuki, who has a difficult time placing occult phenomena such as feng shui in perspective. Meirin faces mysterious events and paranormal phenomenon of such complexity and treachery that she will need all the help and luck she can muster to save the day with her feng-shui divination and the hakke crystal bestowed unto her.

• Meirin Kanzaki • Saeko Chiba • As the main character, Meirin Kanzaki is a tweenage girl with the power of feng shui divination whose potency and accuracy have been argued to exceed that of her father Shou who has his own feng shui divination service, but for Meirin and the other members of Kanzaki-ke, Meirin's online feng shui divination help desk has caused many an awkward and disconcerting moment at home because the mere mention of Dr. Rin makes Shō due to the fact that its heavy commerce is much of Shou's clientele base; as such, Meirin has to watch what she says around Shō so that her secondary identity stays a secret. • Shō Kanzaki • Kōji Ishii • Shō Kanzaki is Meirin's father who also boasts the capability of feng-shui divination; in contrast to his daughter, Shou avails his powers as more of a means of entertainment and flirtation with his female fans than as a sincere avenue of guidance although he is not hostile to doing private house calls. As has been demonstrated throughout the series, the mere mention of Dr. Rin is enough to send Shō into a not-at-all-comical conniption driven by his unwillingness to acknowledge that he is somewhat of a quack that almost forced unto his family the necessity of a clandestine nocturnal relocation to save face when he bungles an important commission at one point in the series. Shou's playboy proclivities figure heavily into his prologue of how he met his wife Emika. • Emika Kanzaki • Chisa Yokoyama • Emika Kanzaki is Meirin's mother who spends most of her time at home as a housewife who does a lot of the typical activities associated with women such as cleaning the house and going shopping. Although it is rare, the incidents of divergent concourse that she gets into with her husband Shou seem to stem from the buyer's remorse of having foregone her prologue as a wrestler, a prologue that she demonstrates as a vehicle of her intense displeasure with Shou when he makes an ill-considered comment about her cooking in one episode. Emika does not seem to realize the true nature of the danger instigated by the potency of her daughter's powers. • Kōmi Kanzaki • Eiji Moriyama • Kōmi is Meirin's older brother. He helps her keep her Dr. Rin homepage up and covers for her around their parents. He has a grudge against his father for naming him "Kōmi" using the kanji for "dumplings (Gyōza)".

• Tenshin • Junko Takeuchi • Tenshin is Meirin Kanzaki's pet monkey who likes candy. They have caused a fair share of trouble for Meirin mostly in childish ways, such as eating her lunch and snacks. In one episode, Tokiwa uses one of his Shikigami to possess Tenshin to lure Asuka into one of his traps. • Nanao • Masami Suzuki • A small, seven-tailed kitsune-shaped skikigami that belongs to Takashi Tokiwa. Nanao's name, in fact, means, "seven-tailed". He has helped Takashi develop his onmyō abilities since he was very young. As a result, he has a slightly contentious relationship with his owner. He also apparently has a fondness for eggs. • Shinshia • Yuki Kaida • A small stuffed panda with a soul, who is often seen with Banri Shijo. At the start of the series, because of her strong desire to become a human girl, she is manipulated by the Evil Being and takes over Banri's body. After the Evil Being is released from her, she and Banri become friends once again. She is interested in Asuka. • Takoyaki • Tetsuya Yanagihara • A parrot who shows up frequently with Eddy Tsukioka who likes money.

• Asuka Yūki • Takayuki Sorita • Asuka is Meirin's childhood friend whom she has a crush on. He is frustrated by Meirin incessantly offering her supernatural feng-shui counsel, oblivious to his frequently and emphatically stated aversion thereof. • Takashi Tokiwa • Yūto Kazama • Takashi is a bright and athletic student who insists he only loves Meirin, but does not complain about the attention he garners from flirting with all the other girls. • Banri Shijo • Yumi Kakazu • Banri is a boy who uses tarot cards and has black belt in karate. • Eddy Tsukioka • Hidenobu Kiuchi • Eddy is a foreigner who moved to Japan who speaks in Kansai dialect. He serves as interim coach of the soccer club after their original coach is hospitalized. Eddy is allergic to beautiful woman due to his painful childhood experiences.

• Yue Konishi • Junko Takeuchi • Yue is Meirin's classmate and one of her two best friends. She is a member of the school track-and-field team. Yue makes jokes often about being in love with Meirin, but wants Meirin's dreams of receiving Asuka's love to come true, as proved from how upset she becomes when Meirin starts dating Tokiwa. She is normally seen as a savvy and cool-headed girl • Shuuko Kasukabe • Kana Kouguchi • Shūko is Meirin's hyper-active friend who is noted for having a quick crush on boys quickly. • Daisuke Shinagawa • Kei Watanabe • Daisuke is one of Meirin's classmates. He plays on the school soccer team with Asuka and Takashi. • Keima Oimachi • Masaki Kitahara • A friend of Shinagawa, Keima is a skilled goalkeeper with a "talent" for twisting his body into weird shapes.

The 51-episode anime, which was directed by Shin Misawa and produced by TV Tokyo and NAS, was broadcast on TV Tokyo from March 5, 2001, to February 25, 2002.