Hirayasumi Volume 1 by Keigo Shinzo. Translation by Jan Mitsuko Cash. Viz, 2024. 9781974746910. 189pp. Publisher’s Rating T / Teen.
Twenty-nine-year-old Hiroto Ikuta works part-time at a fishing pond. He acts super dorky when talking to attractive women his own age, but has no problem chatting with old ladies. This helps him become friendly with his cranky older neighbor, who used to be a school lunch lady. She makes him dinner every Monday and Thursday. Then the day after they share a meal she dies and leaves her house to Hiroto.
Three months later, an eighteen-year-old distant cousin of Hiroto’s, Natsume Kobayashi, moves in with him when she begins attending art school in Tokyo. She’s awkward and is having trouble making friends. She’s also secretly hoping to become a manga artist.
This first volume is charming, and it has an honest awkwardness that I really enjoyed. (From the pitch I was hoping it was something like Yotsuba&!; it’s not, but I’m far from disappointed.) I’ve already ordered the next three volumes in the series from my local library.
