News
Viz Co-Produces Anime of Hirayasumi Slice-of-Life Manga
posted on by Egan Loo
Viz Media announced on Monday that it is co-producing an anime adaptation of Keigo Shinzō's Hirayasumi manga with Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Co., Ltd. Production +h. (The Orbital Children, Dead Dead Demon's Dededededestruction) is animating the project.
Viz describes the story:
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 around him are all just doing their best to figure out this thing called life.
Shinzō celebrated the anime news with an illustration (shown above) and a message:
I'm so happy to hear it's being adapted into an anime and a drama! I'm really looking forward to seeing both shows!
Shinzō launched the manga in Shogakukan's Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine in April 2021. Shogakukan will publish the manga's ninth compiled book volume on July 30, and the series has over 1.1 million copies in circulation worldwide.
The manga was nominated for the 15th Manga Taisho awards in January 2022, ranked #18 in the 2023 edition of Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook in December 2022, nominated for the 27th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in February 2023, and nominated for Best Continuing Manga Series in the 2nd American Manga Awards.
Viz Media licensed the manga and began publishing it in May 2024, with six volumes now in print.
Denpa has also licensed Shinzō's Holiday Junction collection of short manga. The book contains seven one-shot manga. Shogakukan shipped the book in Japan in July 2016.
Update: As noted in Shinzō's message above, Comic Natalie reports that the manga is also inspiring a live-action television series. The public broadcaster NHK will begin airing the 15-minute live-action version this fall, every day from Monday to Thursday at 10:45 p.m. (9:45 q.m. EDT) in the broadcaster's "Yoru Dra" (Evening Drama) programming block.
Source: Press release
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