Jul 29, 2026
I really hope someone will translate more than four chapters of this. There's something interesting here that I think a lot of people would resonate with, but it takes more than what's currently available in English for the story to really hit its stride. The way the manga initially presents itself will probably also turn people off of it, which is unfortunate.
For the sake of completeness—and because the Wikipedia synopsis is unclear and kinda incorrect—here's the premise. Kiichiro Miki works as a systems engineer at your average nondescript anime company. He does the typical salaryman things: wear a white shirt and tie, ride the subway
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to work, file and review endless "reports", go to izakayas in the evening to watch his colleagues get blasted. Most of the people around him think Kiichiro is dull and uninteresting. He's awkward, stiff, and keeps an almost completely flat expression at all times. Only his younger sister, the famous idol Miki Miki (yes her name is Miki twice), knows the truth: Kiichiro is one of the greatest Hagaki Shokunin in all of Japan.
If you've consumed enough media set in modern Japan, you've probably come across the concept of Hagaki Shokunin. If you're unfamiliar, the term translates to something like "Postcard Artisan", and it refers to people who write in jokes to comedy radio programs (the postcard part comes from the fact that people would mail in actual postcards with the jokes written on them back in the day). The radio programs will have a segment where they give out a prompt like "Things on the battlefield that, even if you succeeded at, you'd be at a disadvantage", and listeners try to write in witty one-liner responses, like "Catching a sword with your bare hands". The hosts choose the ones they think are funniest to read on air, and the people who get their submissions read most often become like minor celebrities in the community. People generally submit their jokes under a pen name, which is why in the story nobody knows Kiichiro's secret identity except his sister.
Let's address the obvious: the title, premise, and front cover all make this look like a siscon story. The manga itself doesn't help its case by having the first panel of the sister be her stepping out naked from the shower. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately, for you Tsukasa Fushimi fans) the story isn't that. Miki and Kiichiro have a close relationship, but it's never once hinted at being a romantic one.
The next concern is that it could become some kind of harem plot, where all the women in Kiichiro's life start falling for him because he's such a nice guy(tm). From just the first four chapters, it's easy to imagine the story going down that route. Kiichiro's male colleagues are depicted as inconsiderate boors compared to him, and several of his female colleagues are set up as what seem to be potential love interests. But the story isn't really that, either. I don't want to get too much into spoilers, but a good amount of the romance in the manga so far doesn't actually involve Kiichiro at all.
Instead of falling into those traps, the story unfolds as a fascinating slice-of-life about Kiichiro, Miki, and the people around them: from coworkers and friends, to neighbors and even old classmates. While the manga begins with Kiichiro's perspective, it quickly starts jumping between the characters. We see Miki dealing with the entertainment industry, Kiichiro's colleagues going through their own relationship issues, another Hagaki Shokunin struggling to find full-time employment. At first I was a bit disappointed by these asides, because I was mainly interested in the radio joke writing premise. But as I kept reading I became more and more drawn in by the cast of characters and their relationships.
In terms of the characters, what got my attention initially was how the manga depicted women. The topless shot of the sister in the first chapter gave the impression this would be a male-oriented comic (note: I'm not necessarily saying that's a bad thing—lord knows I'd be a massive hypocrite if I called out people for reading something just because it has hot ladies). But then the story starts having chapters from the perspective of the female characters, and the issues they're dealing with are much more realistic than what you'd expect from a harem/ecchi plot. That, combined with a greater than zero understanding of make-up, made me look into who made this, and where it was published. Sure enough, the mangaka, Mari Gangi (no relation to the vtuber, I think), is a woman. Some more strict "death of the author" types might say that shouldn't matter, but for me it completely re-contextualized everything and changed my expectations for how the story would continue.
Of course, I have no idea what the mangaka's sexuality is, but on learning she was a woman, I briefly wondered if this was some kind of straight female wish-fulfillment, with Kiichiro being a perfect gentleman who truly understands women and never wants anything sexual. That theory quickly goes out the window though when you see the magazine this is published in (Weekly Young Magazine). There's the gag contrast aspect of Kiichiro: that he's secretly really funny while outwardly very dull/reserved. At points that makes him seem a little flat as a character, but then the mangaka adds some details that flesh him out into a believable person. An example of that is actually Kiichiro's sexuality. When he shows seemingly no interest in any of the attractive women (or men) around him, you wonder if that's for the gag/premise, or if he's completely asexual or something. The other characters in the story react to his nonreaction as well. They assume he's completely innocent of impure thoughts, or they avoid discussing adult topics with him altogether. Every so often, however, he does share something that reveals his interest. It's only a glimpse, but it's enough to give you the sense that Kiichiro does experience sexual desire, just expressed in his own, idiosyncratic way.
Something I didn't notice until writing this review is that the mangaka never explicitly reveals Kiichiro's inner thoughts. Most of the narration is done either by Miki or by whoever is the focus of the chapter. Despite being the center point that connects the stories of all the characters, Kiichiro is maybe the person we understand the least out of the main cast. We learn about him indirectly through others' observations—primarily his sister at first, but then through a widening cast as Kiichiro starts making friends and meeting new people. Several aspects of Kiichiro's personality make me wonder if he's supposed to be on the autism spectrum. He has difficulty with facial expressions, he often takes people's words too literally, and he's very adverse to change. If that is the mangaka's intention, I have to give her credit for not falling into the stereotype of autistic people being unempathetic jerks. Kiichiro is awkward and can run into misunderstandings—especially by not telling people his intentions unless explicitly asked—but he shows an incredible level of care and thoughtfulness for those around him.
If I were writing an essay for a High School English class (which at this point it feels like I am), I would say that "Thoughtfulness" is the story's main theme. If I wanted to be an annoying weeb (which I am), I'd say the even better word is "Omoiyari". The story is full of people, not just Kiichiro, taking the time to do small things for each other. We see the power of consideration to help people in distress, to cheer them up, to diffuse tensions. We see the knock on effects of kindness, where the recipients of consideration often pay the kindness forward to someone else. The premise even ties into this theme when you find out that the reason Kiichiro first got into comedy was because of its ability to stop his little sister's crying. I mentioned the "nice guy" trope earlier, and I almost feel like the story is somehow a deconstruction/rebuttal of that trope. Kiichiro isn't "nice" just by not being a dick. He's nice because he tries to consider what other people want, and because he actually gives his time and attention to those in need. The "reward" he gets from being a nice guy isn't a bunch of hot women throwing themselves at him—it's the well-being of the people he genuinely cares about.
And like I said, Kiichiro isn't the only one acting thoughtfully. One of my favorite chapters (chapter 30) involves him instead being the recipient of an act of thoughtfulness. It's a really small and simple thing the characters do for Kiichiro, but there's something so sweet about it that I couldn't help but smile. It also perfectly illustrates the involved characters' personalities and their relationships. I wouldn't call this manga full on iyashikei—there's plenty of drama and downer stuff—but there's also a lot that can warm your heart. More than that, after catching up to the current chapter, I felt an impulse to go out myself and do something nice for my friends and family. In my mind, the most powerful thing a story can do is leave a piece of its world in you, and Imouto Wa Shitteiru did that for me.
One caveat I should add is that I'm not the most well-versed in anime/manga of similar genres. There might be better stuff out there I'm simply not aware of. I usually avoid stories that get too much into relationship drama and the like. Sometimes it's because I don't want to watch/read something too heavy. Mostly though it's because I'm highly allergic to any melodrama, and, well, a lot of drama and romance in anime/manga falls on the melodramatic side. Even in Imouto Wa Shitteiru, there were some parts that made me roll my eyes. But Kiichiro's and Miki's reserved personalities help to subdue the worst excesses and make the story feel more grounded. The Wikipedia article for the manga says the mangaka "originally aimed for the Miki siblings to have a more cheerful personality, but changed them to have a more reserved personality at the suggestion of her editor." Whoever that editor was absolutely made the right suggestion.
The art quality is also something I'm probably not qualified to make an informed opinion on. It mostly seems fine to me, though there's a bit of same-face, and the character poses are sometimes a bit stiff. It kinda looks at times like they're traced over 3D models or something (apologies to the mangaka if this isn't the case). Weirdly enough though, I think the stiffness actually fits the characters. They're kind of awkward and clumsy, not at all glamorous. Even Miki, who's supposed to be a beautiful idol, is pretty mundane compared to a lot of anime/manga designs. It helps further ground the story, and punctuates the manga's dry humor. There was more than one time I got a chuckle out of just seeing Kiichiro standing somewhere, looking completely out of place with his surroundings.
Sorry, this got long and rambling. It's more a blog post than a review. But this manga has been kind of absorbing all my thoughts recently. There's a lot more I could talk about—especially on the characters besides Kiichiro. The tl;dr is this manga, while not perfect, has a lot going for it. The more I sit on it, the more I think I love it. If you can read Japanese, I say try the first 20 chapters or so. It's a somewhat challenging read, as far as manga go. I had to keep a dictionary app handy while going through it, and I'm pretty sure a bunch of the jokes went over my head. Hopefully someone with more skill (and who's less lazy) than me will come along to translate the rest.
P.S. I didn't use any AI to write this. I feel like I need to add that whenever I put em-dashes in stuff now. I was an em-dash enjoyer before the robots appropriated them, dammit.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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