Hirayasumi by Keigo Shinzo
Use of * refers to ‘at the time of writing’
Publication: 26/04/2021 - present*
Volumes: 9* (6 in Eng.)*
Chapters: 77* (53 in Eng.)*
Demographic: Seinen
Genre: Slice-Of-Life, Comedy, Drama
Adaptation: 2025 TV Drama (Ongoing)*, Anime (In Production)*
I’m in my early 20’s at the moment. I work full-time at a family-run cabinetry business, Monday to Friday, sometimes on Saturday too. I started working full-time not long after finishing high school. It was 6 months into my first year of University that I quit my studies (after quite the meltdown) to find something else to do. 3 years later, I’m afraid I don’t have all that much to show for it. In fact my life has been hugely influenced by my busy work life. I’m decently well off, sure. Especially for someone around my age, but I’ve also gained weight, feel sore most evenings and am frantically trying to cling to any extra time I can get my hands on.
Most nights feel like they slip away so quickly I can’t take my time choosing what to do after work, or the hours I have before I need to sleep and do it all again seem to disappear.
I’m not starting off the review trying to set a somber tone, even if that’s how it seems. Yet it's something I’ve sort of needed to confront, and I know one day I might find myself having another meltdown and ask myself if I’m satisfied with my life.
Hirayasumi doesn’t waste time getting its message across to you. From the first chapter you meet a character in her late stages of life, Granny Hanae is 83 years old, she doesn’t move around much anymore, cooks for herself each day and lives in a tiny house around suburban Tokyo. She eats alone most days. No relatives to call or visit, no grown-up children to care for her, and no loved one to lie beside in her bed. Hanae never found a family for herself, and she’s now living these last days of her life in an empty house, alone.
For the most part.
Hiroto Ikuta is a young man who is carefree in every sense of the word, he thrives off of slacking off and taking it easy. Some might say far too easy. He’s sort of just strolling through his late 20s, but couldn’t be happier, interestingly. What’s his plan for life? Does he aspire towards something? If you’d ask him he’d probably just shrug. Now, a 29 year old working part-time at a dinky looking fishing pond wouldn’t strike you as someone who’s doing ‘great’ in life, he’s hardly the image of success for most people, but his big smile and joyful words radiate an honest warmth that you can’t help but envy a little bit.
Hiroto, some nights, visits Granny Hanae, spending some time together, chatting and laughing, enjoying each other's company. Sharing these moments together was a pleasant time for Hiroto and for Hanae it meant the world, despite her grumpy demeanor. She died peacefully knowing there was someone she could cherish, and who cherished her back.
Hiroto, now inheriting her house, soon finds himself living with Natsumi, his younger cousin, who has jumped into art college right after finishing high school. She’s a young girl still figuring out her own troubles but moving in with Hiroto brings big new changes into the life she knew.
I’ve failed to communicate that this manga is in fact a slice-of-life comedy, but Keigo Shinzo knows damn well how to hit you with a cold punch of very real and uncomfortably relatable problems.
Hirayasumi somehow manages to make every single one of its characters relatable on a fundamental level. These people are not drawings on paper, but I’ve met them in my life. I’ve been them before. I know these people all too well, and achieving that kind of resonance in a reader is a very, very hard thing to do, and what’s most mind-blowing is how seamlessly it all is. Shinzo is barely even breaking a sweat and yet when Natsumi grumbles to herself or Hiroto goofs around I know that Shinzo is well aware of the facets that make up this shared experience of life we all encounter.
Every character I’ve seen so far in this fairly small but tight cast has qualities of myself reflected back into me, these are qualities we all share I reckon, as human beings. But in manga form, they aren’t hidden like they usually are. We get to see the weakest moments of each person, and how they cope with life’s unapologetic tendency to grind you down.
It's cemented even more with a thematically spot-on art style. Hirayasumi is such a joy to even look at, there are so many panels and pages, composed with love and heart. I find my eyes stopping suddenly on panels to scan the room or environment for little details that are packed neatly into corners and surfaces. The rooms of the house are littered with everything you actually do find in your house. Sure, you might think that’s hardly worth mentioning, but to take the time in a busy medium like manga and draw in some bowls, pencils, snacks and plants gives Hirayasumi the veins connecting to its ever beating heart. Even looking at characters and their designs, the choice to lean into cartoony caricatures, with simple but distinguishable, round and soft features drives home the gentleness this series has.
When a 2-page spread appears after you turn the page, there’s just a magical feeling coming out of the paper (or screen), a moment in time you can feel yourself standing in. Feel yourself swaying against the gentle breeze of summer, the soft warmth tickling your cheek as the sun sets and bundles of clouds swim overhead in spread out patterns. It’s not every day I find I can enjoy a gorgeous moment outside along with the characters as well.
It's a pleasure to know that the 6 Volumes (53 Chapters) I’ve read so far will continue the story, as although the moment I left off was a fantastic bookmark for the series thus far, I am eager to see more of this little pocket of people and their day-to-days.
Hiroto, the main character, faces a plethora of tough moments, the traces of his difficult time as an up-and-coming actor rears its ugly head more times than he would like, but Hiroto stays true to his slow and thoughtful nature, a kind of sensibility that other characters can’t help but react to.
Natsumi, his younger cousin, finds herself frustrated plenty of times because of how easygoing he can appear. She’s a passionate artist, one who dreams of becoming a mangaka one day, but she lets her childish outbursts get the better of her on more than one occasion, throwing up her hands and running away from the things that frustrate her, leaving her to mope and sadly think about her inadequacies. It’s easy to feel like you’ve been in Natsumi’s shoes before, or perhaps in some ways, still share those shoes. I love seeing her make progress, even when those setbacks drive her into those moments of private tears. Yet she somehow manages, all the same, finding others to enjoy the company of and share joys and sorrows, like Akari, one of her classmates in art school, quickly becoming a close friend. Akari is a delightful person, and despite her timidness, shows kindness everywhere she goes.
There’s a beautiful moment where Natsumi’s stress reaches a boiling point, and she feels like she cannot make any worthwhile manga material. Her long art block leaves her lashing out at Hiroto and Hideki (A friend of Hiroto’s), she soon apologises and after helping the two with a personal project of theirs watches the clouds parting after an intense rain, sunlight cutting through the clouds and igniting some buildings with light, it’s the first time Natsumi realises that the moments where she stumbles out of her comfort zone are where life throws its best surprises.
I have yet to even mention Hideki and Miss Tachibana, two more characters with their own problems and challenges that are captivating to see unfold. There was never a moment during my reading I started to get tired of any characters, neither did I feel that story moments began to drag. I couldn't believe just how quickly pages seemed to fly past, and i was more than happy to continue reading.
Early into the review I mentioned these stresses of life I felt have loomed over me for some time, but reading Hirayasumi has a funny effect on you. It's so easy to feel alone in your struggles and issues but seeing it all unfold again in these people, of various ages and different stages of life is a breath of fresh air. That has to be the best way to describe this manga. The series is a wonderful reminder that you are in fact human, much like everybody else, and that if you take things a little slower from time to time, you can see life unfolding, unraveling and continuing for everybody, no matter what they have going on, and that it is beautiful.
Thank you so much for reading!Final Score ~ 9/10
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