Keigo Shinzō’s Hirayasumi manga is coming to a close. This year’s 45th issue of Shogakukan’s Weekly Big Comic Spirits magazine announced on Monday, October 5, that the series will end in two more chapters. If there are no delays, the final chapter will land on October 19.
The news arrives as the series is in the middle of an unusually busy moment: Hirayasumi has a live-action adaptation already behind it and a television anime adaptation still ahead. For a quiet slice-of-life manga that built its reputation slowly, that is a remarkable amount of activity around the final stretch of the story.
What Hirayasumi is about
Viz Media is releasing the manga in English and describes the story like this:
With a carefree outlook on life, Hiroto knows better than anyone that slowing down is sometimes the best way to move forward.
At 29 years old, carefree Hiroto Ikuta doesn’t have a girlfriend, a full-time job, or a plan for the future — and he couldn’t be happier. Hiroto’s breezy attitude isn’t easy for everyone to understand, though. In a world filled with anxiety, confusion, and grief, Hiroto and the people who surround him are all just doing their best to figure out this thing called life.
After developing an unlikely friendship with the grouchy old woman who lives in his neighborhood, Hiroto suddenly finds himself inheriting not just her house but some rather difficult emotions as well. His 18-year-old cousin, Natsumi, moves in with him, but as a struggling art student, she has her own troubles to deal with and may just put Hiroto’s easygoing lifestyle to the test.
A short but decorated run
Shinzō launched Hirayasumi in Weekly Big Comic Spirits in April 2021. Shogakukan published the manga’s 10th compiled book volume on April 30 of this year, and the series has over 1.1 million copies in circulation worldwide. Viz Media released the ninth volume on May 19.
The manga’s critical record is strong for a series with a relatively modest volume count. It was nominated for the 15th Manga Taisho awards in January 2022, ranked #18 in the 2023 edition of Takarajimasha’s Kono Manga ga Sugoi! (This Manga Is Amazing!) guidebook in December 2022, was nominated for the 27th Annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize in February 2023, and was nominated for Best Continuing Manga Series in the 2nd American Manga Awards.
Its reach also extends beyond its own magazine. Denpa has licensed Shinzō’s Holiday Junction collection of short manga, a book containing seven one-shots that Shogakukan shipped in Japan in July 2016 — a sign that English-language publishers see an audience for the author’s quieter catalogue, not just his breakout title.
Two adaptations, one ending
Hirayasumi inspired a live-action series, which premiered on NHK in November 2025. The manga is also inspiring a television anime that will premiere in January 2027 in Japan on the NHK General channel — the same broadcaster, which is a notable vote of confidence in the property.
Viz Media announced a 2027 release for the anime in English, and is co-producing the anime with Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions Co., Ltd and the studio Production +h. The anime’s team was revealed in late September, with Kei Suezawa directing, Naoyuki Asano on character design and Production +h handling animation.
That means the anime will arrive after the manga has already ended — a common setup for completed slice-of-life series, and one that lets an adaptation plan toward a known conclusion instead of writing around an open-ended serial. You can read our earlier breakdown of the Hirayasumi anime teaser, key visual and cast for the full production details.
Why it matters
The ending of Hirayasumi matters mostly because of what it represents. It is a series whose reputation was built on observation and emotional restraint rather than spectacle, and its steady critical recognition — Manga Taisho, Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize, Kono Manga ga Sugoi! — came from readers responding to that approach. A clean, planned ending in Weekly Big Comic Spirits is the kind of closure that many acclaimed manga never get, and it follows other titles scheduling deliberate finales, such as My Tiny Senpai wrapping up with its 14th volume.
For anyone starting now, there is a clear window: the whole story will be finished on October 19, and both the live-action and anime adaptations are either available or on the horizon. That combination — a complete manga, a released live-action series and an upcoming anime — is the ideal moment for a reader to jump in without waiting on new chapters.
Source: Anime News Network, citing Weekly Big Comic Spirits issue 45.
Featured image: Hirayasumi manga art, via Anime News Network.
