ひらやすみ

HIRAYASUMI

MANGA

STATUS
RELEASING
VOLUMES
Not Available
RELEASE
Invalid Date
CHAPTERS
Not Available

DESCRIPTION

With a carefree outlook on life, Hiroto knows better than anyone that slowing down is sometimes the best way to move forward.

At 29 years old, carefree Hiroto Ikuta doesn’t have a girlfriend, a full-time job, or a plan for the future—and he couldn’t be happier. Hiroto’s breezy attitude isn’t easy for everyone to understand, though. In a world filled with anxiety, confusion, and grief, Hiroto and the people who surround him are all just doing their best to figure out this thing called life.

After developing an unlikely friendship with the grouchy old granny who lives in his neighborhood, Hiroto suddenly finds himself inheriting not just her house, but some rather difficult emotions as well. His 18-year-old cousin Natsumi moves in with him, but as a struggling art student, she has her own troubles to deal with and may just put Hiroto’s easygoing lifestyle to the test.

(Source: Viz Media)

CAST

Hiroto Ikuta
Natsumi Kobayashi
Yomogi Tachibana
Akari Yokoyama
Hideki Noguchi
Hanae Wada

CHAPTERS

REVIEWS

saulgoodman
80/100
Grove street, home.
___ #__A kid at heart__
Going about a narrative from 29-year old freeter Hiroto and 18-year old college freshman Natsumi's perspectives, the story does well appealing to both a teenaged and adult audiences. Perhaps plagued by school, work, interpersonal or personal issues, one can't help but gravitate towards these two encountering the aforementioned problems. Finding a social clique can be daunting, having no clear direction as an adult is frustrating and losing a family-more-than-friend a tragedy. Though, in the midst of it all, there's light at the end of tunnel, rather the chapters in this case.

Despite the shortcomings of life, Hiroto and Natsumi find sanctuary in each other and the mundane moments of their days. With a sibling intimacy that inspires pangs of envy in only-child readers, the cousin duo often banter, perhaps due to Hiroto's childishness and Natusmi's solemn personality despite her young age, though potent traces of concern are woven in their back-and-forths. Though, when need be, Hiroto displays admirable maturity and thoughtfulness. Bringing in flower and visiting the lonely, elderly and hospitalized Wada, bringing a frustrated Natsumi on his random excursions, Hiroto is worth more than what he might value himself at.

___ #__Never stop growing__
As if to add onto Hiroto's playful nature, Keigo Shinzo lays bright analog coloring to his color page spreads. Oft using a range of soft palette colors, these spreads visually condenses Hirayasumi's quiet, slacken-paced personality. Not to mention, Keigo gives fashionable conscientiousness to his characters, a rare sight in manga these days, gifting Hiroto some classic B&W 'Old Skool' Vans, a glaring pair of burnt orange trousers, among other stylish pieces riddled throughout the series. With a very modern fashion style grasped in one hand and a universal sense of nostalgia-or-another on the other, Hirayasumi is very much a series for most age groups. The scarce coloring aside, Keigo's character design is just as well-mentionable. Keigo perhaps draws with ambient music playing in the background and a pot of tea nearby, with the overwhelming smooth, bubbliness left behind by his pen. Opting for a sense of roundedness and a speck of chibi, his art style is match made in heaven with Hirayasumi's lightheartedness.

[Here's Keigo doing some coloring!](https://twitter.com/shinzokeigo/status/1437963891145732099) ___ #__Conclusion__ In a similar vein as *Yotsuba&!*, *Hirayasumi* sells itself as a soothing *iyashikei*. Though, the difference is that while *Hirayasumi* retains the genre-universal relaxation, it's also unafraid of depicting the sullenness of life. With playful and thoughtful writing, Keigo Shinzo scripts a fantastic up-and-coming slice-of-life for any audience.
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ContinuousKochou
100/100
Hirayasumi and the entanglements of life
It is not easy to label Hirayasumi as this or that, defining it as a single genre is difficult due to the complexity of the work, It can balance a lot of different kinds of atmospheres and make the reading experience feel refreshing. Therefore, while ones might call it a slice of life/iyashikei and others might call it a character drama (which would be the one I'd choose between the two) I think it's of the most benefit to call Hirayasumi just Hirayasumi: A heartwarming and sincere study on the entanglements of life using different points of view to make a beautiful scenario.

Hirayasumi's strategy is to, via it's diverse cast of characters, show life and it's many stages in different lights: You get to see a freeter who doesn't have big ambitions just dealing with minor occurrences, an elderly woman faced with her loneliness and regrets, a student that just got into college with a big yet risky dream, etc. Although their situations are very different to each other, you can see how not only their struggles and anxieties are similar, but their desire to earnestly overcome them are the same as well! And even if the manga does not hold back on showing that sometimes problems that are just out of our control can haunt us and how ruthless everything can be to those that try to take an optimistic attitude, it still has a surprisingly uplifting energy to it that makes you feel better about yourself. It is honest to a fault that reality is grounded and things aren't always like how we dreamed they'd be, yet it manages to perfectly bring out this feeling of self-improvement and motivation. It does not try to embellish life itself, it embellishes, truthfully, those who are trying to live.

What is exactly that brings out this intense uplifting feeling that Hirayasumi evokes is something that I think is up to each on their own to decide upon reading it. Some might say that it's how relatable the characters are (which is a strong point to be made, as I write this I encounter myself in a moment similar to Natsumi's and seeing her go through what she does reached out to me in a very genuine way. If you are in a place in your life similar to any of the characters certainly Hirayasumi will reach out to your heart even more), others might agree with me that it is the embellishment of living, perhaps some might even say that it is just the soothing art style or the masterful paneling and I am just a self-important nerd that happens to be very sentimental, which is fine too! Ultimately, it's up to you to detach what you want from the many stories that Hirayasumi tells, be it negative be it positive, I just hope that it is as strong of a feeling as the one that it harbored on me, the one that made me so deeply moved that I decided to write a review on it.

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