{"id":2233,"date":"2026-11-11T09:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-11-11T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmanga.kodansha.com\/blog\/?p=2233"},"modified":"2026-11-10T18:14:00","modified_gmt":"2026-11-10T09:14:00","slug":"off-script-manga-for-anyone-who-hasnt-figured-it-out-yet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmanga.kodansha.com\/blog\/article\/off-script-manga-for-anyone-who-hasnt-figured-it-out-yet\/","title":{"rendered":"Off Script: Manga for Anyone Who Hasn\u2019t “Figured It Out” Yet"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

November 11 is packed with reasons to celebrate, from Pocky Day snack runs to Bass Day tributes (because “11\/11” looks like four strings, naturally). But, it\u2019s also Singles’ Day: an invitation to celebrate independence, carve your own path, and ignore arbitrary societal timelines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whether you\u2019re happily solo, coupled up, or somewhere in the messy middle, adulthood rarely looks the way the rulebook promised. Here are a few fantastic manga celebrating the late bloomers, the misfits, and the art of growing into yourself on your own terms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tokyo Tarareba Girls<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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A sharp new comedy about female friendship from the creator of Princess Jellyfish! Rinko has done everything right. She hustled her way through her 20s to make it as a screenwriter, renting her own office in a trendy Tokyo neighborhood. Everything should have gone according to plan \u2026 So at 33, she can\u2019t help but lament the fact that her career\u2019s plateaued, she\u2019s still painfully single, and she spends most of her nights drinking with her two best friends in their favorite pub. One night, drunk and delusional, Rinko swears to get married by the time the Tokyo Olympics roll around in 2020. But finding a man\u2014and love\u2014may be a cutthroat, dirty job for a romantic at heart.
Don’t forget to check out Tokyo Tarareba Girls RETURNS<\/a><\/em> when you’re done!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Masterful Cat is Depressed Again Today<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Saku is an ordinary young woman who works long hours and lives alone with her cat, Yukichi. Yukichi, however, is not an ordinary house cat. For one, the temperamental feline towers over Saku and walks around on two legs. Instead of playing with toy mice, he scours supermarket flyers for good deals and keeps the house spotless. With a pet like that, it’s hard to tell who’s taking care of who!<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Princess Jellyfish<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tsukimi Kurashita has a strange fascination with jellyfish. She\u2019s loved them from a young age and has carried that love with her to her new life in the big city of Tokyo. There, she resides in Amamizukan, a safe haven for girl geeks who regularly gush over a range of things from trains to Japanese dolls. However, a chance meeting at a pet shop has Tsukimi crossing paths with one of the things that the residents of Amamizukan have been desperately trying to avoid\u2014a beautiful and fashionable woman! But there\u2019s much more to this woman than her trendy clothes! This odd encounter is only the beginning of a new and unexpected path for Tsukimi and her friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Sweat and Soap<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Don\u2019t miss a romcom manga like no other! In an office romance, there\u2019s a fine line between sexy and awkward \u2026 and that line is where Asako\u2014a woman who sweats copiusly\u2014met Koutarou\u2014a perfume developer who can\u2019t get enough of Asako\u2019s, er, scent. Asako\u2019s living her dream, working at the toiletry maker Lilia Drop. Little do her coworkers know, the reason she loves the company so much is that she\u2019s ashamed of her body odor, and their soap is the only thing that does the trick. So when the company\u2019s lead product developer, a perfuming genius, approaches her in the lobby and wonders what \u201cthat smell\u201d is, she\u2019s terrified \u2026 but could it be \u2026 that he likes it? And, even more surprising to Yae \u2026 does she like him?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Space Brothers<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Two brothers looked to the starry skies as children and made a promise \u2026 Now, in the year 2025, the younger brother, Hibito, is carrying his out. He is an astronaut who has been selected as a crew member for mankind’s first long-term base on the moon. Meanwhile, the older brother, Mutta, has just been fired from his job and is unemployed, but decides to trust himself just one last time. A text message from Hibito sends him applying to be an astronaut too and shooting for the stars \u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Uramichi is a 31-year old children\u2019s TV host who leads physical exercises and teaches life lessons colored by one main theme: adulthood sucks. Alongside mascots played by a couple of bushy-tailed millennials, and a singing duo whose music embodies the notion of being kicked while you\u2019re down, Uramichi wades through the misery of working life, one sardonic comment at a time\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

November 11 is packed with reasons to celebrate, from Pocky Day snack runs to Bass Day tributes (because “11\/11” looks like four strings, naturally). But, it\u2019s also Singles’ Day: an invitation to celebrate independence, carve your own path, and ignore arbitrary societal timelines. Whether you\u2019re happily solo, coupled up, or somewhere in the messy middle, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"kmanga_work_term":[544,290,133,334,332,530],"kmanga_creator_term":[298,136,545,336,338],"class_list":["post-2233","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-misc"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t