Mai Chihara

This romantic comedy comes from a web manga by the artist Ryon. It began on the Japanese reading service Ganma! in June 2021, and the publisher Ichijinsha later collected it into books. Seven Seas Entertainment is printing it in English under the name Are You a Landmine, Chihara-san? The TV anime is made by the studio SynergySP. Yasuaki Fujii directs, Keiichirou Oochi plans the scripts, Majiro designs the characters, and Alisa Okehazama writes the music. The show was first planned for 2026 but was moved back. It is set to begin on January 7, 2027, in the Super Animeism Turbo time slot on MBS, TBS, and other Japanese channels. In Japan, "jirai" means landmine, a hidden bomb in the ground. As slang, people use it for someone who seems sweet at first but might "blow up" on you later. Young people also use the word for a certain fashion style. The title plays on this idea. Students at school whisper that Mai Chihara is one of these dangerous girls. They judge her by how she looks and the feeling she gives off. The story is told from the side of Kuroki, a second-year high school student. Kuroki is a loner. He has no close friends and has never had a girlfriend. He likes to stay quiet and out of sight. Then the seats change, and Mai Chihara ends up at the desk beside his. She is popular, eye-catching, and the subject of a lot of gossip. Kuroki expects trouble. But Mai does not act the way the rumors say. She seems curious about Kuroki and keeps trying to talk to him. This makes him nervous and very aware of himself. He is not used to anyone paying attention to him, least of all a girl everyone talks about. Little by little, he sees that she is actually kind and caring. What she really wants is simple: to be his friend. Much of the humor comes from this gap. Kuroki keeps waiting for the "landmine" to go off, while Mai keeps surprising him with gentle and honest moments. The show asks a quiet question about fairness. How much do rumors and looks really tell us about a person? For Kuroki, getting to know Mai also means slowly stepping out of his lonely shell. The anime cast is led by Sayumi Suzushiro as Mai Chihara and Kazuki Ura as Kuroki. Both played the same roles in earlier voice comic videos of the manga, so fans already know their voices. The school also has other classmates, voiced by Maaya Uchida as Chinatsu Iwakura, Tomokazu Sugita as Hibiya, and Daisuke Ono as Kazami. Before the show, Mai also got a music single, a cover of the song "Alien Alien." With its everyday school setting, slow-growing friendship, and light romance, this series should please fans of gentle, sweet love stories between two very different teens.