Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru
Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru | |
![]() First tankōbon volume cover | |
妻、小学生になる。 | |
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Genre | Drama[1] |
Manga | |
Written by | Yayū Murata |
Published by | Houbunsha |
Magazine | Weekly Manga Times |
Demographic | Seinen |
Original run | July 27, 2018 – December 2, 2022 |
Volumes | 14 |
Television drama | |
Directed by |
|
Produced by |
|
Written by | Satomi Ōshima |
Original network | TBS |
Original run | January 21, 2022 – March 25, 2022 |
Episodes | 10 |
Manga | |
Hatsukoi Aite no Kimi wa Dare? | |
Written by | Yayū Murata |
Published by | Houbunsha |
Magazine | Weekly Manga Times |
Demographic | Seinen |
Original run | March 8, 2024 – May 10, 2024 |
Anime television series | |
Directed by | Noriyuki Abe |
Written by | Sawako Hirabayashi |
Music by | Hiroko Yamasaki |
Studio | Studio Signpost |
Original network | Tokyo MX, BS11 |
Original run | October 2024 – scheduled |
Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru (Japanese: 妻、小学生になる。, "My Wife Will Become an Elementary School Student.") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yayū Murata. It was originally a one-shot published in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Manga Times in April 2018, before being serialized in the same magazine from July 2018 to December 2022. The series has been collected into fourteen tankōbon volumes. A television drama adaptation aired from January to March 2022. An anime television series adaptation produced by Studio Signpost is set to premiere in October 2024.
Plot
[edit]After his wife Takae Niijima's untimely death by a car accident, Keisuke Niijima, an honest, loving but overly dependent family man, becomes despondent and a shell of his former self. He closes himself off, wallowing in his own despair, not paying any attention to his now adult daughter, Mai. One night, while having store-bought dinners, they answer the door to an elementary school student named Marika Shiraishi, who claims to be a reincarnation of Takae. Keisuke dismisses her, only for Marika to tell him such facts that only Takae would have known, proving that she is in fact, Takae Niijima in an elementary school student's body. Takae immediately scolds both of them for living such unfulfilling, sad lives and helps them get back on track by helping Mai get more confident, pursue a more social job, through which Mai is able to meet a seemingly rude and blunt, but actually kind man named Renji Aikawa, whom she ultimately gets close with and decides to marry. Takae, through Marika, also helps Keisuke regain his old cheery but rash self by meeting with him often to give him handmade bentos.
Throughout the first half of the story, the Niijimas (with Marika) enjoy travelling to many different places, making memories along the way. Marika's mother, Chika Shiraishi is also introduced as a mostly absent mother who shows little to no love towards her daughter's kindness and who also skips out over her annual sports day to go spend the day with her lover named Hiroki, who is revealed to have been two-timing with her.
After some time meeting with Marika in secret, Keisuke finds out about Chika's reputation as an absent mother and confronts her for it, after which the Niijimas come out about their secret to Chika regarding Takae's "reincarnation". Chika, although very skeptical at first, begins to believe after seeing how Marika/Takae acts with the Niijimas. Although happy that Marika is occupied when she is busy, it is revealed that she has developed an irritable personality after having her ex-husband leave her due to a gambling addiction and not having caring parents herself. She does regret her past actions and is shown to truly care for her daughter as Marika discovers a photo from long back, consisting of her and Chika smiling at an amusement park inside a box named "Treasure".
Throughout the story, Chika tries to get her act back together for Marika as she quits her part-time job for a more stable paying one. She also shifts to an apartment near the Niijimas so that Takae can get closer to them as well as for her new sales job. After a meeting with Renji's family who lives far away, Takae feels very content with her former family's situation, which inadvertently causes her to temporarily switch with the original Marika Shiraishi, a middle schooler now, who has no recollection of the past year she spent with the Niijimas as Takae or how her mother has started to soften around her.
After a while, Takae comes back. Due to this experience, Takae begins to question if her coming back is really a reincarnation, as Takae does not have any recollection of the time that she was not in control of Marika's body. Concerned with this, she decides to go meet the young author of a best-selling book, Izumo Rion, whose book shares an eerily similar plot and setting to that of Takae and who also had a freakout on television like her own. After meeting up with him, she discovers that Izumo is in fact, a 30-year-old man who has possessed the body of the 15 year old Izumo Rion after having the regret of not being able to pursue his dream of becoming a successful novelist. Izumo also mentions that after he felt content with what he had achieved after publishing the book, Izumo's soul had come back, shocked to see himself in the middle of all that attention out of nowhere. Takae, after hearing this, connects the dots and realizes that Takae had possessed Marika's body after regretting dying and worrying about her family, and that Marika came back to her body after Takae felt content with how her family was feeling and living, but came back after thinking about Keisuke's reaction to her leaving forever.
After a long conversation with Chika, Takae feels sorry for her as she is inadvertently, taking Marika's time on Earth from her while using her body, while also not allowing Chika to have a chance to be with her daughter as a changed woman. She finally decides that she has to eventually leave this body for the better of everyone else but knows that she would have to convince Keisuke and Mai to learn to let go of their sorrows.
After an emotional conversation during an onsen trip with the Niijimas, Takae convinces Keisuke to begin to let go of his former spouse and learn to live life with no regrets and live like the parent that Mai truly deserves. Slowly but surely, with the help of his colleague, Konomi Moriya, he begins to have a more positive outlook on life and starts to become more self-dependent by making his own bentos, learning to live without meeting Takae/Marika often and not being as rash as before. After a long, heated and emotional conversation with Mai, he manages to convince her to begin to let go of her mother as well. Although it is tough for Mai to lose her mother again in a sense, she decides to listen to her father as she knows Keisuke is hurting more so than she ever could, having to make the conscious choice to lose his loving wife again.
They finally decide to stage a fake proposal between Keisuke and Konomi to convince Takae that they have moved on from her demise, which leads to Takae's soul finally having no regrets and for her to leave Marika's body, leaving for her heavenly abode to rest in peace, urging her daughter to "be strong and live a good life".
Finally, the story ends with everyone having changed as people from this entire experience, with Izumo's other soul moving on as well after confessing to the partner he wasn't able to in the past, with Marika's and Chika's relationship improving, and with the Niijimas finally having learnt to live their life with no regrets, with Mai having a daughter with Renji and Keisuke shown to be living with happiness with his own, now happy family.
Characters
[edit]- Keisuke Niijima (新島 圭介, Niijima Keisuke)
- Voiced by: Daisuke Hirakawa[2]
- Takae Niijima (新島 貴恵, Niijima Takae) / Marika Shiraishi (白石 万理華, Shiraishi Marika)
- Voiced by: Aoi Yūki[2]
- Mai Niijima (新島 麻衣, Niijima Mai)
- Voiced by: Maiko Nomura[2]
- Konomi Moriya (守屋 好美, Moriya Konomi)
- Voiced by: Kana Okazaki[3]
- Chika Shiraishi (白石 千嘉, Shiraishi Chika)
- Voiced by: Sachiko Kojima[4]
- Renji Aikawa (愛川 蓮司, Aikawa Renji)
- Voiced by: Mutsuki Iwanaka[4]
Media
[edit]Manga
[edit]Written and illustrated by Yayū Murata, Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru was initially a one-shot published in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Weekly Manga Times on April 27, 2018.[1] It was serialized in the same magazine from July 27, 2018,[5] to December 2, 2022.[6] Fourteen tankōbon volumes were published from April 2019 to March 2023.[7][8]
A spin-off manga titled Hatsukoi Aite no Kimi wa Dare? was serialized in the same magazine from March 8 to May 10, 2024.[9][10][11]
Volumes
[edit]No. | Japanese release date | Japanese ISBN |
---|---|---|
1 | April 16, 2019[7] | 978-4-83-223671-4 |
2 | June 13, 2019[12] | 978-4-83-223681-3 |
3 | October 16, 2019[13] | 978-4-83-223698-1 |
4 | February 14, 2020[14] | 978-4-83-223714-8 |
5 | June 16, 2020[15] | 978-4-83-223748-3 |
6 | October 15, 2020[16] | 978-4-83-223773-5 |
7 | February 16, 2021[17] | 978-4-83-223804-6 |
8 | July 15, 2021[18] | 978-4-83-223842-8 |
9 | January 15, 2022[19] | 978-4-83-223884-8 |
10 | February 16, 2022[20] | 978-4-83-223893-0 |
11 | March 16, 2022[21] | 978-4-83-223901-2 |
12 | July 14, 2022[22] | 978-4-83-223929-6 |
13 | November 16, 2022[23] | 978-4-83-223953-1 |
14 | March 16, 2023[8] | 978-4-83-223977-7 |
Drama
[edit]A television drama adaptation was announced on November 3, 2021. It was directed by Toshio Tsuboi, Takeyoshi Yamamoto, Maiko Ōuchi, and Naoki Katō, based on a screenplay by Satomi Ōshima. Yoshihiko Nakai and Chie Masuda served as the producers.[24][25] The series aired on TBS from January 21 to March 25, 2022.[26] Yuga performed the theme song "Tomoshibi" (灯火).[27]
Yako, Shōgakusei ni Naru, a spin-off series featuring an original story, was released on the Japanese streaming service Paravi from February 11 to March 25, 2022. Hidetaka Sakamoto, Hiroyuki Tamekawa, and Saya Hirosawa directed the series from a screenplay by Masashi Suwa.[28][29]
Anime
[edit]An anime adaptation was announced on March 16, 2023.[30] It was later confirmed to be a television series produced by Studio Signpost and directed by Noriyuki Abe, with scripts supervised and written by Sawako Hirabayashi, characters designed by Narihito Sekikawa, and music composed by Hiroko Yamasaki. It is set to premiere in October 2024 on Tokyo MX and BS11.[31][2] The opening theme song is "Ai no Reunion" (アイノリユニオン) performed by Pachae.[4]
Reception
[edit]In 2019, Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru ranked 11th at the fifth Next Manga Awards in the print category.[32]
References
[edit]- ^ a b 週漫読み切り「妻、小学生になる。」死んだ妻が女子小学生になってカムバック. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. April 27, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ a b c d Cayanan, Joanna (June 20, 2024). "'Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru.' Anime's Teaser Video Reveals Main Cast, More Staff, October Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 20, 2024.
- ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (July 31, 2024). "'Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru.' Anime's Teaser Reveals Kana Okazaki as Konomi". Anime News Network. Retrieved July 31, 2024.
- ^ a b c Pineda, Rafael Antonio (August 27, 2024). "'Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru.' Anime Reveals More Cast, Opening Song Artists". Anime News Network. Retrieved August 27, 2024.
- ^ 死んだ妻が女子小学生になって戻ってきた「妻、小学生になる。」連載化. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. July 27, 2018. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 亡き妻が女子小学生になって戻ってくる、村田椰融「妻、小学生になる。」が完結. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. December 2, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ a b 【4月16日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. April 16, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ a b 【3月16日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. March 16, 2023. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 「妻、小学生になる。スピンオフ」白石万理華に恋した同級生・タケルの物語. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. March 8, 2024. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ Tai, Anita (March 11, 2024). "'Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru.' Gets Spinoff Manga". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 11, 2024.
- ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (April 29, 2024). "'Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru.' Spinoff Manga Ends on May 10". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 29, 2024.
- ^ 【6月13日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. June 13, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【10月16日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. October 16, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【2月14日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. February 14, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【6月16日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. June 16, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【10月15日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. October 15, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【2月16日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. February 16, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【7月15日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. July 15, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【1月15日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. January 15, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【2月16日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. February 16, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【3月16日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. March 16, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【7月14日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. July 14, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 【11月16日付】本日発売の単行本リスト. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. November 16, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ ドラマ「妻、小学生になる。」来年1月、TBSで放送決定!主人公・新島圭介役は堤真一. Comic Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. November 3, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 堤真一、TBSドラマに“16年ぶり”出演 『妻、小学生になる。』実写化決定 (in Japanese). Oricon. November 3, 2021. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 妻、小学生になる。:守屋さん、全て察した? 万理華から「“圭介”をよろしく」 もう「おじちゃんじゃないんだね」. Mantan Web (in Japanese). March 26, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 優河がドラマ「妻、小学生になる。」主題歌として優しいバラード書き下ろし. Music Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. January 21, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ 世にも奇妙な⁉恋探し成長物語 Paraviオリジナルストーリー「ヤコ、ショウがクセになる。」 (in Japanese). TBS. February 4, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ ヤコ、ショウがクセになる。:「妻、小学生になる。」のオリジナルストーリー最終回 “ヤコ”小椋梨央が最後に行きついた答えとは?. Mantan Web (in Japanese). March 25, 2022. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (March 15, 2023). "Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru Manga Gets Anime". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
- ^ Pineda, Rafael Antonio (February 29, 2024). "'Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru.' Anime Reveals Staff, 2024 TV Debut". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
- ^ Loveridge, Lynzee (August 22, 2019). "SPY × FAMILY, Kusuriya no Hitorigoto Win Tsugi ni Kuru Manga Award 2019". Anime News Network. Retrieved March 16, 2023.
External links
[edit]- Official manga website at Weekly Manga Times (in Japanese)
- Official anime website (in Japanese)
- Tsuma, Shōgakusei ni Naru (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
- Manga series
- 2018 manga
- Japanese television dramas based on manga
- 2024 manga
- 2024 anime television series debuts
- Upcoming anime television series
- 2022 Japanese television series debuts
- 2022 Japanese television series endings
- Anime series based on manga
- Drama anime and manga
- Fiction about reincarnation
- Grief in fiction
- Houbunsha manga
- Kin'yō Dorama
- Manga adapted into television series
- Seinen manga
- Studio Signpost