Even a Replica Can Fall in Love
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| Even a Replica Can Fall in Love | |
 First light novel volume cover | |
| レプリカだって、恋をする。 (Repurika Datte, Koi o Suru) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Light novel | |
| Written by | Harunadon |
| Illustrated by | raemz |
| Published by | ASCII Media Works |
| English publisher | |
| Imprint | Dengeki Bunko |
| Original run | February 10, 2023 – present |
| Volumes | 6 |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Harunadon |
| Illustrated by | Momose Hanada |
| Published by | ASCII Media Works |
| English publisher | |
| Imprint | Dengeki Comics NEXT |
| Magazine | Dengeki Maoh |
| Original run | April 26, 2023 – present |
| Volumes | 5 |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Ryuichi Kimura |
| Written by |
|
| Music by | Kanako Hara |
| Studio | Voil |
| Licensed by | Crunchyroll |
| Original network | AT-X, Tokyo MX, SATV, TV Aichi, KBS Kyoto, Sun TV, BS11 |
| Original run | April 7, 2026 – present |
| Episodes | 3 |
Even a Replica Can Fall in Love (Japanese: レプリカだって、恋をする。, Hepburn: Repurika Datte, Koi o Suru) is a Japanese light novel series written by Harunadon and illustrated by raemz. It began publication under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko imprint in February 2023. A manga adaptation illustrated by Momose Hanada began serialization in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Maoh magazine in April 2023. An anime television series adaptation produced by Voil premiered in April 2026.
When she was seven years old, Sunao Aikawa created Nao, a replica of herself.[how?] Over the course of several years, Nao lives as Sunao, going to school and doing other things, while Sunao stays at home. However, as time goes on, Nao falls in love with Shuya Sanada. This complicates her arrangement with Sunao, knowing that Nao is not human and Sunao only knows about what happens at school due to Nao's reports. Nao now has to deal with her feelings for Shuya, being aware of who she is.
Characters
- Sunao Aikawa (愛川 素直, Aikawa Sunao)
- Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi[2]
- A stay-at-home girl. Due to past trauma, she stays at home and does not go to school. If she needs to go out, she sends Nao in her place, with Nao sending her reports about the day's events.
- Nao (ナオ)
- Voiced by: Sumire Morohoshi[2]
- An exact replica of Sunao that she created when she was seven. Nao goes to school as Sunao, with no one noticing her true identity or the arrangement. She is a member of the Literature Club.
- Shuya Sanada (真田 秋也, Sanada Shūya)
- Voiced by: Ryōta Suzuki[3]
- Nao's classmate and a member of the Literature Club.
- Ritsuko Hironaka (広中 律子, Hironaka Ritsuko)
- Voiced by: Yūki Takada[4]
- A fellow member of the Literature Club.
- Suzumi Mori (森すずみ, Mori Suzumi)
- Voiced by: Kaori Nazuka[4]
- Shun Mochizuki (望月隼, Mochizuki Shun)
- Voiced by: Jun Fukuyama[4]
- Kozue Satou (佐藤梢, Satō Kozue)
- Voiced by: Rina Hidaka[4]
- Haruka Yoshii (吉井春華, Yoshī Haruka)
- Voiced by: Shugo Nakamura[4]
Media
Light novel
Written by Harunadon and illustrated by raemz, Even a Replica Can Fall in Love began publication under ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Bunko light novel imprint on February 10, 2023. Six volumes have been released as of April 2026.[5]
During their panel at Sakura-Con 2024, Yen Press announced that they had licensed the series for English publication, with the first volume releasing in September 2024.[6]
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | North American release date | North American ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | February 10, 2023[7] | 978-4-04-914873-2 | September 17, 2024[8] | 978-1-9753-9241-3 |
| 2 | July 7, 2023[9] | 978-4-04-915008-7 | January 21, 2025[10] | 979-8-8554-0120-2 |
| 3 | December 8, 2023[11] | 978-4-04-915343-9 | July 15, 2025[12] | 979-8-8554-0122-6 |
| 4 | July 10, 2024[13] | 978-4-04-915694-2 | February 10, 2026[14] | 979-8-8554-1876-7 |
| 5 | August 8, 2025[15] | 978-4-04-915908-0 | October 13, 2026[16] | 979-8-8554-3821-5 |
| 6 | April 10, 2026[5] | 978-4-04-916806-8 | — | — |
Manga
A manga adaptation illustrated by Momose Hanada began serialization in ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Maoh magazine on April 26, 2023.[17] The manga's chapters have been compiled into five tankōbon volumes as of April 2026.[18]
The manga adaptation is published digitally in English on Kadokawa's BookWalker website. During their panel at Anime Expo 2025, Yen Press announced that they had also licensed the manga adaptation for English publication.[19]
| No. | Original release date | Original ISBN | North American release date | North American ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | November 27, 2023[20] | 978-4-04-915377-4 | December 16, 2025[21] | 979-8-8554-1952-8 |
| 2 | June 26, 2024[22] | 978-4-04-915809-0 | June 23, 2026[23] | 979-8-8554-1954-2 |
| 3 | December 27, 2024[24] | 978-4-04-916181-6 | — | — |
| 4 | August 8, 2025[25] | 978-4-04-916641-5 | — | — |
| 5 | April 27, 2026[18] | 978-4-04-952188-7 | — | — |
| 6 | May 27, 2026[26] | 978-4-04-952228-0 | — | — |
Anime
An anime television series adaptation was announced during the "Dengeki Bunko Winter Festival 2025" livestream event on February 16, 2025.[27][28] The series will be produced by Voil and directed by Ryuichi Kimura, with Tomoko Shinozuka handling series composition and writing scripts alongside Misaki Morie, Eiji Abiko designing the characters, and Kanako Hara composing the music. It is set to premiere on April 7, 2026, on AT-X and other networks.[2] The opening theme song, "Refrain", is performed by Shytaupe, and the ending theme song, "Awa", is performed by Asmi.[4] Crunchyroll will stream the series.[29]
Episodes
| No. | Title | Directed by [a] | Written by [a] | Storyboard by [a] | Original release date [30][b] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "A Replica Never Dreams" Transliteration: "Replica wa, Yume o Minai." (Japanese: レプリカは、夢を見ない。) | Taketomo Ishikawa | Tomoko Shinozuka | Ryuichi Kimura | April 7, 2026 | |
|
Nao is a Replica, a perfect copy of Sunao Aikawa that Sunao somehow wishes into existence through unknown means whenever she needs her. As a perfect copy Nao is used to live Sunao’s life for her whenever she doesn’t want to go outside. At school Nao is a member of the Literature Club and friends with Ritsuko Hironaka, but the better she lives Sunao’s life for her trying to make her happy, the unhappier and more isolated Sunao becomes. One day classmate Shuya Sanada joins Literature club after an injury forces him to quit Basketball club. Despite sharing Sunao’s strong memories Nao finds herself bonding with Shuya over their taste in books, whereas Sunao has no interest in him at all. Nao worries what might happen in the future since she now has goals that are different from Sunao’s, yet she only exists when Sunao wants her to. The next day Shuya is confused Sunao has no memory of anything they discussed the previous day, and seems annoyed he is talking to her. | ||||||
| 2 | "A Replica Skips School" Transliteration: "Repurika wa, Saboru." (Japanese: レプリカは、サボる。) | Satoshi Saga | Tomoko Shinozuka | Masato Takayanagi | April 14, 2026 | |
|
Suspicious, Sunao does not summon Nao for days but is eventually forced to let Nao attend school to sit Sunao’s exams. To explain Sunao’s behaviour, Nao claims to Shuya that she has extreme mood swings, so to avoid her bad moods they should only talk when she has her hair in a ponytail. Ritsuko reveals she is writing a story about doppelgangers, causing Nao to wonder about her own existence. Nao discusses a field trip with Ritsuko and Shuya, even though it will be Sunao on the trip. During the trip Shuya is disappointed he can’t talk to her. Nao attends school for closing ceremony, but Shuya convinces her to skip the ceremony with him. As she has no money, Nao retrieves ¥200,000 she has saved without Sunao knowing. She and Shuya visit a zoo but Nao realises the walking is paining Shuya’s leg. She remembers a rumour that older team members injured Shuya on purpose, but he refuses to talk about it. Sunao is upset Nao skipped the ceremony and accuses her of trying to take over her life. She then wishes Nao out of existence and to never come back. | ||||||
| 3 | "A Replica is Confused" Transliteration: "Repurika wa, Madō." (Japanese: レプリカは、惑う。) | Akira Toba | Tomoko Shinozuka | Im Ka-hee | April 21, 2026 | |
|
Sunao does not summon Nao for over a month. Returning to school, Shuya accuses Nao of not being Sunao. At first Nao is afraid, until Shuya admits he is the same as her, a Replica of the real Shuya Sanada. Nao admits she is the Replica of Sunao, so Shuya starts calling her Nao and asks that she call him Aki. Aki is surprised Nao has existed since junior school, since he only appeared several months ago, the day Shuya was supposed to return to school after his injury. Aki admits he is worried about Shuya, who hasn’t left the house since his teammate attacked him. Nao and Aki become close due to their shared secret. Thanks to Nao taking her exams for her, Sunao learns she can attend college, but is asked by a teacher if she even wants to attend college. She asks Nao about Shuya and tells her it was his teammate Koh Hayase that broke his ankle from jealousy. Nao recalls Koh tried to force Sunao to be team manager and was angry she refused. Ritsuko suggests Nao and Aki attend a local shrine festival. After enjoying themselves, Aki confesses this will be the last time she sees him as the only reason he exists was to help Shuya get revenge on Koh, so very soon Shuya won’t need him anymore. | ||||||
| 4 | "A Replica Cries" Transliteration: "Repurika wa, Naiteiru." (Japanese: レプリカは、泣いている。) | Takanori Yano | Misaki Morie | Hajime Katoki | April 28, 2026 | |
|
Aki explains he is supposed to physically cripple Koh, then when Koh tells the police Shuya will have been elsewhere with witnesses making an alibi. Nao insists it is wrong so Aki tells Shuya he will humiliate Koh instead by defeating him at basketball. Nao explains everything to Sunao, who agrees with the plan. Aki demands Koh apologise if he loses. Koh confidently assumes Aki can't run, only for Aki to steal the ball and win the match. Aki reveals he never told the police about Koh because the team wouldn't have won their preliminary matches if both Koh and Shuya were off the team. Koh insists the ankle was a genuine accident, but does apologise. Shuya thanks Aki but claims his victory must be because Aki doesn't have ankle pain. Furious, Nao reveals to both Shuya and Sunao that of course Aki feels Shuya's pain because Replicas have the same injuries and pain as their originals. Shuya and Sunao feel shame their Replicas are somehow living better lives than they are despite feeling the same pain. Aki believes Shuya will soon want to live his own life again and wish him out of existence permanently. Someone tries to push Aki under a train, but Nao saves Aki and falls under the train instead of him. | ||||||
Reception
The series won the Grand Prize at the 29th Dengeki Novel Prize in 2022.[31]
See also
- Chitose Is in the Ramune Bottle, another light novel series with the same illustrator
- If the Villainess and Villain Met and Fell in Love, another light novel series with the same writer
- Love Unseen Beneath the Clear Night Sky, another light novel series with the same illustrator
