Title: Days with My Stepsister Vol. 1
Author: Ghost Mikawa (Original Story), Yumika Kanada (Story), Hiten (Characters)
Publisher: Yen Press
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 180
Genre: Slice-of-Life, Drama
Publication Date: October 22, 2204
The Story
Yuta comes home and is told by his father that he is going to re-marry. Yuta isn’t bothered by this and says whatever makes him happy is fine with him. He’ll just continue to do whatever and that’s that. His father tells him that’s impossible because his soon-to-be stepmother has a daughter so he will be gaining an imouto! Thanks to the word choice and an old picture, Yuta figures she’s much younger.
Nope.
She’s only younger than him by a month! Now, they have to learn to live under the same roof; however, they both agree to just be casual, yet, not truly force any issue upon one another. They both just want to live average normal lives and that’s what we see here. Yuta goes to work and gets teased by his co-worker while Saki simply exists in the house. He helps her move in and unpack her stuff just to be helpful and is even courteous when it’s time to take a bath by asking her what preference she has in the order in which they use the tub.
Things get a bit awkward when Yuta tries to get information on Saki at school by asking his friend Maru who tells him there are rumors of Saki being a prostitute! Of course, it’s not true but he does eventually have a discussion with her about it. Despite not being a prostitute, she is looking for a way to make money so that she can eventually move out after high school. Yuta goes back to Maru for some money-making advice and even asks Shiori, his co-worker at his part-time job at a bookstore. Both give some drastically different answers, none of which help the situation. In exchange for getting her money-making information, Saki agrees to cook him dinner every night which also turns into her cooking breakfast as she likes to give more than she takes.
Even though they agreed to keep it a secret from everyone at school, things change when Maaya from the tennis club (to which they both just so happen to be a part of as well) comes over to see Saki’s new house and discovers that the two of them are now step-siblings. It’s a rather awkward visit from beginning to end all because Maaya can be quite the handful.
Once the visit is over, life is back to normal… until Saki catches Yuta in her room taking a peek at her underwear! He has to apologize for it but the volume closes with a question that nobody saw coming!
Characters
Starting off, we have Yuta Asamura. To be honest, there isn’t anything remarkable about Yuta; however, that’s what makes him remarkable. I know that doesn’t make much sense but when you look at his qualities, he’s pretty laid back albeit thoughtful, he’s helpful and doesn’t mind lending support whenever it’s needed, he’s responsible as he has a part-time job at a bookstore, and he often becomes the voice of reason when it comes to bringing his co-worker Shiori back to reality. So, when you look at him from an external lens, there isn’t anything remarkable about those qualities. Nothing truly stands out as he seems as if he’s just a normal person but when you see the efforts that he goes through to just be a “normal” person, that is where he shines and becomes remarkable This is a very difficult thing to achieve in any medium and Yuta, as a character, pulled it off impressively.
The same can be said for Saki who had a few more layers to her. While she is on the same page as Yuta, she does seem a bit more forward than him. Still, she shares the idea that they should just keep to themselves but the more the co-exists, the more she realizes that it isn’t possible; however, that’s not an annoyance or inconvenience with her as she rolls with the punches but it doesn’t stop her from wondering why Yuta does things to help her out. In fact, when they first meet, she does say that she should expect anything from Yuta and vice versa. Her desire to move out so quickly after high school, though, can be seen in a couple of ways. The first would be that she’s so used to her independence due to her mother working all the time that it feels normal for her; however, the other way to look at it is she feels this new marriage is just a burden on Yuta and his father having her around. Either way, you look at it, it shows that she’s constantly thinking about things which makes her a deeper character than Yuta who seems more reactionary.
Shiori is an energetic college student who works at the bookstore with Yuta. She loves teasing him to the point where it’s hard to know if she has any romantic interests in him; however, she did call him into work because a customer was trying to hit on her so he showed up and pretended to be her boyfriend. She made a remark of disappointment that could either be taken seriously or not. Regardless if there are any romantic feelings there, you can tell that they have a special relationship… even if it is just as co-workers.
Next up we have Maru who gives off a couple of different vibes. The first is that he knows what he’s talking about when it comes to things like finance; however, on the flip side, it’s hard to take him seriously because he’s gullible enough to believe a rumor about Saki without doing any fact-checking. I guess you could say he’s smart but an idiot at the same time? He does look after Yuta which shows that they are good friends so his heart is in the right place but sometimes you just have to realize you need to take some things he says with a grain of salt.
Lastly, we have Maaya. If you thought Shiori was energetic, then hold on because you haven’t seen anything yet. Maaya reminded me of a kid on a constant sugar high. When they described her as very personable and outgoing, they meant it. She has no trouble teasing Yuta and even going so far as to make Saki feel a bit threatened! It’s all in good fun but she is a very hands-on type of person and she’s also a gamer so that’s pretty cool, too. I can’t see her getting involved too much but she’s the type to guarantee that it won’t be a dull moment whenever she gets screen (or page, in this case) time.
Final Thoughts
I won’t lie. This is one of those rare times when I’ve seen the anime first, loved it so much and decided to pick up the manga. What’s going to be fun is noticing if there are any differences in the anime and manga; however, so far, everything seemed pretty spot on. Despite that, it also makes a HUGE difference whether you’re reading this in black and white or watching it in animated form. In the anime, the tones were very serious and they used silence quite masterfully to drive home the drama.
Reading the manga, you don’t get any of that. Instead, despite knowing what the characters sound like, their dialogue, mannerisms, and expressions don’t paint that picture at all. Sure, some of the conversations have hard pivot points like in the anime but it comes off more as if they are changing the subject more than having a serious conversation. The lighthearted moments in the manga also balance things out, as well making this, in my opinion, a much different experience.
The downside is that black and white manga often dilutes some of the more dramatic scenes like the crosswalk scene, for example. It was way more dramatic in the anime while in the manga, it just happened and that was it.
But enough comparing. As a manga, this was still an excellent read. It tells the tale of a remarriage and, for once, it DOESN’T jump into a step-sibling forbidden romance story. Instead, it’s a serious look at how a new stepbrother and stepsister adjust to their new lives while learning about one another. It’s definitely a breath of fresh air and I’m looking forward to reading more!
If you haven’t seen the anime or want a slice-of-life drama series that’s well thought out and well-written, then give Days with My Stepsister (Japanese title: Gimai Seikatsu) a try! The first volume was a very fun and excellent read!
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This item was provided for review by Yen Press
