Slow_Start_(manga)

<i>Slow Start</i> (manga)

Slow Start (manga)

Japanese manga series

Slow Start (スロウスタート, Surou Sutāto) is a Japanese four-panel manga series by Yuiko Tokumi, serialized in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara since 2013. It has been collected into eleven tankōbon volumes. A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by CloverWorks aired between January 7 and March 25, 2018.[lower-alpha 1][2][3]

Quick Facts スロウスタート (Surou Sutāto), Genre ...

Premise

Following an unfortunately timed case of the mumps, middle school student Hana Ichinose ends up missing all of her high school exams. Unable to stay in her hometown, Hana moves into her cousin's apartment building and spends a gap year as a "middle school rōnin", before finally attending high school a year later than planned. The series follows Hana as she spends time with her new friends, Eiko, Kamuri, and Tamate, without letting on that she is a year older than them.[4]

Characters

Main characters

Hana Ichinose (一之瀬 花名, Ichinose Hana)
Voiced by: Reina Kondō[5]
Hana is a shy, modest girl who is good at studying, though not athletic. After catching mumps and missing out on her high school entry exams, she was forced to take a gap year and moved into her cousin's apartment building before attending Hoshio Private Academy as a first year. As a result, she is very self-conscious about her current standing and that she does not have anyone of her old school friends in her company, and is therefore very glad to build up an immediate friendship with Eiko, Kamuri and Tamate. Named after 1 (一, Ichi).
Tamate Momochi (百地 たまて, Momochi Tamate)
Voiced by: Ayasa Itō[5]
Tamate is a bubbly, energetic girl from Hana's class who likes to be friends with everyone she meets. She is notable for her protruding upper-jaw incisors, and likes to be called "Tama", due to her dislike for her full name's association with the word tamatebako. She lives with her two grandmothers and enjoys cooking. Named after 100 (百, Hyaku, Momo).
Kamuri Sengoku (千石 冠, Sengoku Kamuri)
Voiced by: Maria Naganawa[5]
Kamuri is a childlike girl whose physical development greatly lags behind her actual age. She is an old friend of Eiko from elementary school, whom she adores, and becomes timid around others whenever she is absent. Whenever she is addressed with a sensitive topic, she somehow manages to twitch her hair ribbon as an expression. Her main hobbies are eating and sleeping (the latter of which is perhaps the primary reason for her belated development), although she is an extremely fast runner at sports. Her name is derived from kanmuriwashi. Named after 1,000 (千, Sen).
Eiko Tokura (十倉 栄依子, Tokura Eiko)
Voiced by: Tomomi Mineuchi[5]
Eiko is a gentle and level-headed girl with a natural charisma which has made her very popular with her peers without any effort. She likes making accessories, and has a crush on her homeroom teacher Kiyose Enami. Named after 10 (十, Jū, Tō).
Hiroe Hannen (万年 大会, Hannen Hiroe)
Voiced by: Maaya Uchida[6][7]
A resident of the apartment building where Hana and Shion live. After an experience not dissimilar to Hana's led her to miss her university exams, the guilt of lying to her peers caused her to become a shut-in. She soon starts to become more confident after meeting Hana and is one of the few people who knows about her situation. Named after 10,000 (万, Man, Han).
Shion Kyōzuka (京塚 志温, Kyōzuka Shion)
Voiced by: M.A.O.[6]
Hana's adult cousin and the landlady of a boarding house, where Hana resides for the duration of her high school period. She is pretty and extremely well-endowed, but behaves more like a teenager than an adult woman. Her favorite hobby is taking a close interest in Hana's private life. Named after 10,000,000,000,000,000 (京, Kei, Kyō).
Kiyose Enami (榎並 清瀬, Enami Kiyose)
Voiced by: Manami Numakura[6]
Hana's homeroom teacher, who appears lethargic all the time and uninterested in performing her job. It is because of these traits that she becomes an object of interest for Eiko.
She was originally scheduled to play a supporting role, so she is the only main character not named after a unit of numbers.[8]

Classmates

Amane Ōtani (大谷 周, Ōtani Amane)
Voiced by: Yuna Yoshino[9]
She is the manager of the track and field club.
Maho Ogano (小鹿野 真秀, Ogano Maho)
Voiced by: Yuka Nukui[9]
She is a member of the track and field club and runs a short distance.
Nanae Takahashi (高橋 菜々恵, Takahashi Nanae)
Voiced by: Inori Minase[9]
She is a member of the gardening club and goes to school early in the morning to take care of the flowerbeds.
Sachi Tsubakimori (椿森 幸, Tsubakimori Sachi)
Voiced by: Marika Kōno[9]
She likes Eiko and is stalking her.

Second and third year students

Kasane Oku (億 果実, Oku Kasane)
A second year student. Kasane transferred to school in the fall. Kasane was Hana's classmate at the end of her third year of junior high school. When Kasane reunited with Hana, Hana's gap year became known to Eiko, Kamuri and Tamate. Named after 100,000,000 (億, Oku).
Tsuzuri Chōno (兆野 綴, Chōno Tsuzuri)
A second year student and the vice-president of the student council. She often strives to become reliable to Hana, unaware that they are the same age. Named after 1,000,000,000,000 (兆, Chō).
Tsukuru Mizohata (溝端 創, Mizohata Tsukuru)
A third year student and the student council president. She has a weak constitution as a result of constantly neglecting her health and is often helped out by Tsuzuru. Named after 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (溝, Kō, Mizo).

Family members

Kyōzuka (京塚, Kyōzuka)
Voiced by: Kenta Sasa
Hazuki's father, Hana and Shion's grandfather. His first name is unknown.
Hazuki Ichinose (一之瀬 葉月, Ichinose Hazuki)
Voiced by: Yoko Hikasa[9]
Hana's mother. Her maiden name is Kyōzuka.
Takeru Ichinose (一之瀬 健, Ichinose Takeru)
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama[9]
Hana's father. He is two years younger than Hazuki.
Miki Tokura (十倉 光希, Tokura Miki)
Voiced by: Tomori Kusunoki[9]
Eiko's younger sister, who is a year younger than her. She is supportive of her older sister and makes her soup everyday. Her similarity in appearance to Eiko is what led Kamuri to choose to go to Hoshio Private Academy.
Saeko Tokura (十倉 紗枝子, Tokura Saeko)
Eiko and Miki's mother.
Yōji Tokura (十倉 耀司, Tokura Yōji)
Eiko and Miki's father.
Takako (多桂子, Takako)
Voiced by: Kiyoko Miyazawa
Tamate's maternal grandmother. Her surname is unknown.
Fumi (史生, Fumi)
Voiced by: Chika Makihara
Tamate's paternal grandmother. Her surname is unknown.
Sengoku (千石, Sengoku)
Kamuri's mother. Her first name is unknown.
Nishiki Sengoku (千石 錦, Sengoku Nishiki)
Kamuri's father.

Media

Manga

The manga series by Yuiko Tokumi began serialization in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara in 2013. As of July 2023, the series has been compiled into eleven tankōbon volumes.[10] An anthology comic was released on February 27, 2018.[11]

Anime

An anime television series adaptation,[12] directed by Hiroyuki Hashimoto and produced by CloverWorks,[lower-alpha 1] aired in Japan between January 7 and March 25, 2018. Mio Inoue supervised the series' scripts and Masato Yasuno designed the characters.[2] The opening theme is "ne! ne! ne!" by STARTails☆ (Reina Kondō, Tomomi Mineuchi, Maria Naganawa, and Ayasa Itō) and the ending theme is "Kaze no Koe wo Kikinagara" (風の声を聴きながら, While Listening to the Wind's Voice) by Sangatsu no Phantasia.[3] Aniplex of America have licensed the anime and are streaming it on Crunchyroll.[15] The series ran for 12 episodes.[7][16]

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Video game

Characters from the series appear alongside other Manga Time Kirara characters in the 2018 mobile RPG, Kirara Fantasia.[17][18]

Reception

Anime News Network had four editors review the first episode of the anime:[19] James Beckett commended the pastel colors and intricate character animation for making up the overall aesthetics to appeal to its target audience but was heavily critical of the thin setup and bland characters being similar to every other all-girl slice-of-life series; Rebecca Silverman saw some promise in the series due to Tomomi Mineuchi's naturalistic performance as Eiko and an exploration into Hana's backstory and shy personality but felt the premise was put behind in favor of overly cute girls talking and having nonsensical adventures, calling it "the palest of several similar shows to debut thus far" in the season; Theron Martin gave credit to director Hiroyuki Hashimoto for competently adapting a piece of fluff with an intriguing gimmick involving Hana's situation but felt it was a lesser offering in comparison to similarly, stronger-themed slice-of-life shows filling the season. The fourth reviewer, Lynzee Loveridge, was put off by the infantile cast of high school girls having "caricatures of female relationships" with uninteresting topics and the overly sweet art style encompassing the episode without a hint of realism to ground it.[19] Vrai Kraiser of Anime Feminist, reviewing the show's first episode, was critical, saying they felt uncomfortable after watching the first episode, that the characters feel "manufactured to be pwecious and kyoot", argued that the series is "extremely alienating...hollow and dead-eyed," and said that fans of moe "deserve better" than the series.[20]

The anime has received generally mixed to positive reviews on popular user-based review aggregation platforms. On MyAnimeList, the series holds a rating of 7/10, with user reviews holding praise for the animation quality but criticizing the lack of character depth and plot.[21] On Crunchyroll, the series holds a rating of 4.5/5, and on IMDb a 6.2/10, with similar user reviews.[22][23]

Notes

  1. The anime adaptation was originally credited to A-1 Pictures.[2] However, the credit was transferred to CloverWorks after their separation from the studio in October 2018.[13][14]
  2. All English episode titles are taken from Crunchyroll.

References

  1. [1]
    "Aniplex of America to Stream New Slice of Life Comedy, Slow Start, on Crunchyroll in January 2018". Anime News Network. December 13, 2017. Archived from the original on August 27, 2019. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  2. [2]
    Pineda, Rafael Antonio (July 30, 2017). "Slow Start TV Anime's Visual, January Premiere Revealed". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 28, 2021. Retrieved July 31, 2017.
  3. [3]
    Hodgkins, Crystalyn (December 9, 2017). "Slow Start Anime's TV Ad Reveals January 6 Premiere". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved December 10, 2017.
  4. [4]
    "Tvアニメ「スロウスタート」".
  5. [5]
    Sherman, Jennifer (September 26, 2017). "Slow Start TV Anime Reveals Main Cast, Key Visual". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on February 26, 2021. Retrieved September 26, 2017.
  6. [6]
    Sherman, Jennifer (November 24, 2017). "Slow Start Anime Videos Introduce 3 More Characters". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved November 24, 2017.
  7. [7]
    Mateo, Alex (January 6, 2018). "3 More Slow Start Anime's Character Videos Streamed in English". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  8. [8]
    "【連載】TVアニメ『スロウスタート』原作者・篤見唯子先生インタビュー！ 花名たちの創作秘話を披露！". Animate Times. February 3, 2018. Retrieved November 17, 2020.
  9. [9]
    "Tvアニメ「スロウスタート」".
  10. [10]
    スロウスタート [Slow Start] (in Japanese). Houbunsha. Retrieved April 13, 2024.
  11. [11]
    Sherman, Jennifer (March 1, 2018). "20+ Creators Contribute to Slow Start Anthology Comic Book". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  12. [12]
    Loo, Egan (May 6, 2017). "Slow Start 4-Panel Schoolgirl Manga Gets TV Anime". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved May 10, 2021.
  13. [13]
    "Slow Start". CloverWorks. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  14. [14]
    Hodgkins, Crystalyn (1 October 2018). "CloverWorks Anime Studio Separates from A-1 Pictures, Remains Subsidiary of Aniplex". Anime News Network. Retrieved 3 September 2022.
  15. [15]
    Pineda, Rafael Antonio (December 13, 2017). "Aniplex USA to Stream Slow Start Anime on Crunchyroll". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 13, 2021. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
  16. [16]
    "BD/DVD". Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  17. [17]
    "「きららファンタジア」，「スロウスタート」が参戦決定。TVCMも公開中" (in Japanese). 4Gamer.net. January 9, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  18. [18]
    "「きららファンタジア」，3月31日24:30より「スロウスタート」＆「ゆるキャン△」正式参戦記念特番を放送" (in Japanese). 4Gamer.net. March 30, 2018. Retrieved January 14, 2021.
  19. [19]
    "The Winter 2018 Anime Preview Guide – Slow Start". Anime News Network. January 6, 2018. Archived from the original on May 27, 2019. Retrieved January 22, 2019.
  20. [20]
    Kaiser, Vrai (January 6, 2018). "Slow Start – Episode 1". Anime Feminist. Archived from the original on June 22, 2021. Retrieved June 6, 2022.
  21. [21]
    Slow Start, retrieved 2024-02-13
  22. [22]
    "Slow Start". Crunchyroll.
  23. [23]
    "Slow Start". IMDb.
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