This was by far the best manga I'd read for many years. One year after, I still have many vivid memories of it. The art totally suits my taste, and I enjoy even more the characters. This is a slow and realistic story, where the two main characters are surrounded by a gallery of oddballs. The social links, through family, work, kouhai/sempai status, etc, are very strong. My only (minimal) grief is that I wanted the children to play a larger role.

This mangaka has come a long way from his first series. The drawings in Zashiki Onna were average, and Dragon Head was an forgettable survival series. Twenty years later, Chiisakobe is beautiful, sometimes deep, sometimes funny, sometimes romantic, and I recommend it very much, especially if you like slice-of-life manga.

... Last updated on March 10th, 2020, 12:57pm

Read this in one sitting, so much to think about that it ended up being a quick read. There are some humorous parts in this but it's not a feel-good kind of story. Lots of communication struggles (and overthinking) between people of very different ages and mindsets that hit home and felt realistic for the most part. Some problematic themes that are going to sit in my brain for a while too.

Really liked that there is such a focus on how the characters express themselves not only with facial expressions but also their body language, since we don't see Shigeji emote much, makes him a lot more dynamic. Definitely recommend, kept me hooked and will probably check out the film adaptation of the novel eventually too.