Hirayasumi manga has two chapters left, Keigo Shinzo says, three months before the NHK anime begins
The Shogakukan Manga Award-winning slice-of-life series about a 29-year-old part-timer and the Asagaya house he inherited is wrapping up in Weekly Big Comic Spirits as Production +h. readies its January 2027 TV anime.
Keigo Shinzo's gentle Tokyo comedy is nearly done. In a social media message, the cartoonist let readers know just a couple of installments of Hirayasumi are left, and an identical notice closed out this week's episode in Shogakukan's weekly anthology. Publication dates for that final pair remain unknown.
The timing is notable because the animated adaptation is close: NHK's main terrestrial channel plans to start broadcasting it in January 2027.
What the story is about
Serialization began in spring 2021. Its hero is a relaxed young man nearing thirty who gets by on odd shifts, with no partner and no ambitions he cares to chase, and who is completely fine with that. His favorite company is a gruff old neighbor he nicknames Granny; when she unexpectedly dies, she turns out to have willed him her modest single-floor home in Asagaya. A few months later a much younger relative he barely knows moves from rural Yamagata into the place so she can study painting and drawing in the capital, and the two learn to share it.
The tenth tankobon hit stores at the end of April, and circulation worldwide is past 1.7 million. Accolades include this year's Shogakukan prize (its 71st edition), two Manga Taisho shortlist spots, and a series honor at Italy's Lucca festival in 2024. VIZ Media has carried an English edition since autumn 2023, and NHK already turned it into a live-action show last year.
Making the anime
Key art, a first teaser and three lead performers were shown at the end of September by VIZ Media with partner ShoPro. Production +h., known for The Orbital Children and Dead Dead Demons Dededede Destruction, animates. Kei Suezawa both directs and writes, Naoyuki Asano adapts the look of the characters, Mika Nishimura paints the settings as art director, and Kaori Sawada composes.
Yuma Uchida, recognizable as Megumi Fushiguro from Jujutsu Kaisen, voices the easygoing lead. Mayu Takahashi gives voice to the cousin, and Rikako Aikawa, Squirtle in the Pokemon anime, plays the elderly friend whose bequest sets everything in motion. Overseas streaming arrangements have not been revealed.
