The Comic Artist and His Assistants

The Comic Artist and His Assistants (Japanese: マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと, Hepburn: Mangaka-san to Ashisutanto-san to) is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Hiroyuki. It was serialized in Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Young Gangan from February 1, 2008 to September 21, 2012 and the chapters collected into 10 tankōbon volumes. A sequel titled The Comic Artist and His Assistants 2 was serialized from August 2, 2013 to June 6, 2014. An anime television series adaptation animated by Zexcs aired between April 7, 2014 and June 23, 2014.

The Comic Artist and His Assistants
Cover of the first manga volume
マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと (Mangaka-san to Ashisutanto-san to)
Genre	Comedy, slice of life[1]
Manga
Written by	Hiroyuki
Published by	Square Enix
Magazine	Young Gangan Shōnen Gangan Gangan Online
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	February 1, 2008 – September 21, 2012
Volumes	10
Audio drama
Released	January 26, 2011
Episodes	1
Manga
The Comic Artist and His Assistants 2
Written by	Hiroyuki
Published by	Square Enix
Magazine	Young Gangan
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	August 2, 2013 – June 6, 2014
Volumes	1
Anime television series
Directed by	Takeshi Furuta
Produced by	Jun Fukuda Hiroyuki Tajima Yukie Iwashita Shintarō Yoshitake Takayoshi Takeuchi Daisuke Tatsumi Sayaka Suzuki Takuya Narita
Written by	Aki Itami
Music by	Tomoki Kikuya
Studio	Zexcs
Licensed by	NA: Sentai Filmworks UK: Animatsu Entertainment
Original network	Tokyo MX, AT-X
Original run	April 7, 2014 – June 23, 2014
Episodes	12 (List of episodes)
Original video animation
Directed by	Takeshi Furuta
Produced by	Jun Fukuda Hiroyuki Tajima Yukie Iwashita Shintarō Yoshitake Takayoshi Takeuchi Daisuke Tatsumi Sayaka Suzuki Takuya Narita
Written by	Aki Itami
Music by	Tomoki Kikuya
Studio	Zexcs
Licensed by	NA: Sentai Filmworks UK: Animatsu Entertainment
Released	June 25, 2014 – November 26, 2014
Runtime	6-10 minutes (per episode)
Episodes	6 (List of episodes)

Plot

Manga author Yūki Aito is an incredibly perverted man whose main loves and desires is to love everyone close to him and draw ladies' underwear. His assistant, Ashisu, is constantly put into awkward situations and is forced to cope with Aito's shenanigans.

Characters

Main characters

Yūki Aito (愛徒 勇気, Aito Yūki)

Voiced by: Yoshitsugu Matsuoka (anime), Jun Fukuyama (drama CD)

Yūki is the manga artist of the currently serialized "Hajiratte Cafe Latte" (HajiCafe). He is mostly viewed as perverted by many and does not hesitate to tell his interest or asking his assistants to be his model for reference. Yūki has an uncontrollable fetish for women's undergarments, specifically panties, even so that his main philosophy and theme of his manga revolves around panties, much to the chagrin of others. Yūki has the habit of doing his manga work at the last minute before fixed deadlines due to engaging in his interests, much to his editor's distress. Yūki's goal in life is to be confessed to by a girl before he dies. Yūki is said to be a very skilled manga artist, who could rank much better if he truly wanted, but his interest in drawing panties as his priority gives him only a decent ranking at best. He is 22 years old and happens to be a major masochist.

Sahoto Ashisu (足須 沙穂都, Ashisu Sahoto)

Voiced by: Saori Hayami (anime), Mamiko Noto (drama CD)

Sahoto is Yūki's 19-year-old assistant. Sahoto is described as serious on her work ethic yet very down-to-earth. She is often the target of Yūki's mischief, much to her chagrin, and doesn't hesitate to lash out at him. Albeit as a manga artist assistant, Sahoto also aims to serialize a manga series of her own; however, her attempts in doing so were constantly rejected by editors. Although she is more often than not annoyed by Yūki's antics, she deeply respects him as a manga artist.

Mihari Otosuna (音砂 みはり, Otosuna Mihari)

Voiced by: Arisa Noto (anime), Haruka Tomatsu (drama CD)

Mihari is Yūki's editor. Mihari is usually violent around Yūki, often scolding and beating him for his shortcomings. She is conscious of her small breast size and thus has a breast complex. She and Yūki were once classmates and is noted to have a liking for the latter at the time. Despite constantly berating Yūki for his irresponsible or otherwise perverted behavior, she's been shown to be quite tolerant on his deadlines, and she constantly encourages him to do better, knowing he is more than capable of doing so. She denies it, but it is hinted that she has not completely gotten over the enormous crush on Yūki she has had forever from high school, to which Yūki sometimes teases her for it.

Rinna Fuwa (風羽 りんな, Fuwa Rinna)

Voiced by: Yuka Iguchi (anime), Aki Toyosaki (drama CD)

Rinna is one of Yūki's assistants. Despite being an assistant, Rinna knows nothing about drawing manga, as she was hired by Mihari due to Yūki wanting someone who is cute. Rinna greatly admires Yūki and his work, being one of his fans. She is easy going and is generally cheerful, playing along with Yūki's weird perverted ideas. Rinna is 18 years old.

Sena Kuroi (黒井 せな, Kuroi Sena)

Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (anime, drama CD)

Sena is a recurring assistant of Yūki. Sena is known by the manga industry as a hardworking and reliable assistant. Due to her small, childish stature, Sena is usually mistaken as a child and, at times, acts like one, especially when she is drunk. At first, she is shown to have weak strength, being unable to even open an ink pot, causing her to leave many manga artists out of pure embarrassment, which was rumored to be because the manga artists had offended her. She later develops feelings for Yūki. Sena is 19 years old and happens to be a major sadist.

Branya (ブラニャー, Buranyā)

Branya is Yūki's pet cat and mascot character. It can draw very well, and has been the subject of jealousy from Ashisu, who notes that it can draw better than her despite being a cat.

Monthly Shōnen Gongon manga artist team

Kazuma Tsuranuki (貫 一真, Tsuranuki Kazuma)

Voiced by: Eiji Miyashita (drama CD)

Kazuma is the manga artist of the currently serialized "Hot Blooded (Fire) Fighter". His manga's popularity is 14th out of 20 works in Gongon Comics.

Meisei Tomito (兎美都 冥聖, Tomito Meisei)

Voiced by: Hikaru Midorikawa (drama CD)

Meisei is the manga artist of Gongon Comics' second most popular manga "J.O.D (Judgement of Darkness)". He has a habit of looking down on others.

Ichika Konno (今野 一華, Konno Ichika)

Ichika is the manga artist of Gongon Comics' most popular manga "Adventure World". She is almost 30 years old but has never been in love before because she has spent most of her time on manga.

Tamako Motoki (元木 たまこ, Motoki Tamako)

Tamako is the manga artist of Gongon Comics' new manga "Tension 1000%". She speaks like a cat and is a very energetic girl.

Monthly Shōnen Gongon editing department

Matome Minano (皆野 まとめ, Minano Matome)

Voiced by: Manami Tanaka (anime)

Matome is the chief editor of Monthly Shōnen Gongon. Despite her position, people sometimes get confused about her identity due to her young age and small stature.

Kouken Tomito (富都 剛健, Tomito Kōken)

Voiced by: Hiroki Yasumoto (anime)

Kouken is the assistant chief editor of Monthly Shōnen Gongon. He is Meisei's older brother and his editor.

Aoi Tanemochi (種持 葵, Tanemochi Aoi)

Aoi is a new editor of Monthly Shōnen Gongon. He looks like a girl.

Others

Sahono Ashisu (足須 沙穂乃, Ashisu Sahono)

Voiced by: Miku Itō (anime)

Sahono is Sahoto's 13-year-old little sister.

Manabi Namida (波田 まなび, Namida Manabi)

Manabi is Yūki's 14-year-old student. She is a middle school student who wants to become a manga artist.

Sasae Enoshita (榎下 紗々絵, Enokishita Sasae)

Sasae is Ichika Konno's chief assistant and manager.

Mamori Sumino (住野 まもり, Sumino Mamori)

Mamori is Yūki's apartment manager.

Mirei Sumino (住野 美麗, Sumino Mirei)

Mirei is Mamori's older sister.

Rinna's father (りんなの父, Rinna no Chichi)

Rinna's father visits Yūki and tries to make Rinna to quit as Yūki's assistant.

Jun Kiyosaki (清崎純, Kiyosaki Jun)

Jun is Ashisu's first assistant after Ashisu successfully becomes a manga artist. She is introduced in the manga The Comic Artist and His Assistants 2.

Panchū (パンチュー)

A mascot character created by Yūki.

Media

Manga

The Comic Artist and His Assistants was serialized in Square Enix's seinen manga magazine Young Gangan from February 1, 2008 to September 21, 2012. It was compiled in 10 volumes released between October 27, 2008 and December 25, 2012.^[2][3] A sequel titled The Comic Artist and His Assistants 2 was serialized from August 2013 to September 2014.^[4] It was compiled in 1 volume on June 25, 2014.^[5]

Drama CD

A drama CD of The Comic Artist and His Assistants has been released on January 26, 2011.^[6]

Anime

An anime television series adaptation animated by Zexcs aired from April 7 to June 23, 2014. Crunchyroll hosted a simultaneously released English subtitled version.^[7] Shortly after, Sentai Filmworks licensed the series for digital and physical release in North America.^[8] The series was released in Japan on 6 Blu-ray and DVD discs at a rate of one per month from June to November 2014.The series upcomingly was released in Mexico after Yowu Entertainment fired the show and being released by Televisa airing on three channels bitMe, the gaming channel, Golden Premier, The premium movie channel and Telehit, the music channel, and web airings on Blim The mexican VOD subscription free-on-demand service as well as Canal 11 in Costa Rica, ETC in Chile, America TV in Peru, La Tele in Paraguay and Canal Uno in Colombia. Mini OVAs were included with each volume of the Blu-ray/DVD packages.^[9] Sentai released the series on subtitled-only Blu-ray and DVD on September 15, 2015.^[10] The opening song titled "Pure Impurities" (純粋なフジュンブツ, "Junsuina fujunbutsu") and ending song titled "Spica" are both sung by idol group StylipS. The Show was dubbed in French and aired on two channels Gong and Nolife, and the show until Nolife ceased operations Game One continued to air the show as well.

Episode list

No.	Title	Original airdate
01	"Master the Boobs!" Transliteration: "Oppai o kiwamero!" (Japanese: おっぱいを究めろ！)	April 7, 2014 (2014-04-07)
	"The Dream job" Transliteration: "Yumemiru oshigoto" (Japanese: 夢見るお仕事)
	"Panty wars" Transliteration: "Pantsu wōzu" (Japanese: パンツウォーズ)
	"Mihari Otosuna's Day Off" Transliteration: "Otosuna mihari no kyūjitsu" (Japanese: 音砂みはりの休日)
02	"The New Assistant" Transliteration: "Shin ashisutanto tōjō" (Japanese: 新アシスタント登場)	April 14, 2014 (2014-04-14)
	"That's Most Important" Transliteration: "Sore ga daiji" (Japanese: それが大事)
	"Together for the First Time" Transliteration: "Hajimete no futari" (Japanese: はじめての二人)
03	"Smutty Magazine Panic" Transliteration: "Etchi-bon panikku" (Japanese: エッチ本パニック)	April 21, 2014 (2014-04-21)
	"Can I Nurse Her to Health?" Transliteration: "Kanbyō dekiru ka na" (Japanese: 看病できるかな)
	"The Black Comet" Transliteration: "Kuroi suisei arawaru" (Japanese: 黒い彗星現る)
04	"S & M" Transliteration: "S to M" (Japanese: SとM)	April 28, 2014 (2014-04-28)
	"The Mascot Character" Transliteration: "Mascot Kyara" (Japanese: マスコットキャラ)
	"Introducing Bra-Mew" Transliteration: "Buranyā Tōjō" (Japanese: ブラニャー登場)
	"Seventeen Mihari" Transliteration: "Sebuntīn Mihari" (Japanese: セブンティーンみはり)
05	"Shock in the Park" Transliteration: "Kōen Shokku" (Japanese: 公園ショック)	May 5, 2014 (2014-05-05)
	"Someday" Transliteration: "Itsuka wa" (Japanese: いつかは)
	"Using Those Around You for Inspiration" Transliteration: "Midjikana Hito o Sankō ni" (Japanese: 身近な人を参考に)
06	"Let's Go to a Hot Spring" Transliteration: "Onsen ni Ikou" (Japanese: 温泉に行こう)	May 12, 2014 (2014-05-12)
07	"The Attack of the Little Sister" Transliteration: "Imouto Shuurai" (Japanese: 妹襲来)	May 19, 2014 (2014-05-19)
	"Their Night Together" Transliteration: "Futari no Yoru" (Japanese: 二人の夜)
	"A Piggyback for the Super-Assistant" Transliteration: "Super Assistant o Onbu" (Japanese: スーパーアシスタントをおんぶ)
08	"Looked Over by the Editor-in-Chief" Transliteration: "Henshū-chō chekku" (Japanese: 編集長チェック)	May 26, 2014 (2014-05-26)
	"To Feel Like a Girl" Transliteration: "On'nanoko no kimochi ni" (Japanese: 女の子の気持ちに)
	"Overdoing It" Transliteration: "Yari-sugi" (Japanese: やりすぎ)
09	"Past Mistakes" Transliteration: "Kako no Ayamachi" (Japanese: 過去の過ち)	June 2, 2014 (2014-06-02)
10	"Sena's Close Call" Transliteration: "Sena-chan Kikiippatsu" (Japanese: せなちゃん危機一髪)	June 9, 2014 (2014-06-09)
	"I'll Cheer You on!" Transliteration: "Ōen shimasu!" (Japanese: 応援します!)
	"Rain Talk" Transliteration: "Ame Tōku" (Japanese: 雨トーク)
11	"The Feared Transformation" Transliteration: "Osoreteita Henka" (Japanese: 恐れていた変化)	June 16, 2014 (2014-06-16)
	"You Can Do It, Sena" Transliteration: "Ganbare Sena-chan" (Japanese: がんばれせなちゃん)
	"Know Thyself" Transliteration: "Jibun o Shirou" (Japanese: 自分を知ろう)
12	"Progress" Transliteration: "Zenshin" (Japanese: 前進)	June 23, 2014 (2014-06-23)
	"The End of Summer" Transliteration: "Natsunoowari" (Japanese: 夏の終わり)
	"Psychological Profiling Using Underwear" Transliteration: "Pantsu de Wakaru Seikaku Shindan" (Japanese: パンツで分かる性格診断)
OVA–1	"Ashisu's Holiday" Transliteration: "Ashisu-san no Kyūjitsu" (Japanese: 足須さんの休日)	June 25, 2014 (2014-06-25)
	"You Never Know Until You Try" Transliteration: "Yatte Minakucha Wakaranai" (Japanese: やってみなくちゃわからない)
OVA–2	"The Dreaming Comic Artist" Transliteration: "Mangakka-san no yume" (Japanese: 漫画家さんの夢)	July 23, 2014 (2014-07-23)
OVA–3	"Study Date" Transliteration: "Date de Obenkyou" (Japanese: デートでお勉強)	August 27, 2014 (2014-08-27)
OVA–4	"Protect the cute" Transliteration: "Kawaii o Mamorou" (Japanese: かわいいを守ろう)	September 24, 2014 (2014-09-24)
OVA–5	"Little Sister VS Editor-in-Chief" Transliteration: "Imōto VS Henshū-chō" (Japanese: 妹VS編集長)	October 29, 2014 (2014-10-29)
OVA–6	"The Perfect Day for a Nap" Transliteration: "O Hirune Biyori" (Japanese: お昼寝日和)	November 26, 2014 (2014-11-26)
	"When Assistants Snap" Transliteration: "Kireta Ashisutanto" (Japanese: キレたアシスタント)

References

1. Foronda, Anthony (March 23, 2014). "Anime Spotlight Spring 2014". Anime News Network. Retrieved June 25, 2016.
2. マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと 1 (ヤングガンガンコミックス). Amazon Japan. 27 October 2008. ISBN 9784757524088. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
3. マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと(10)(完) (ヤングガンガンコミックス). Amazon Japan. 25 December 2012. ISBN 9784757538368. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
4. コミック情報 (in Japanese). Square Enix. Archived from the original on August 3, 2013. Retrieved August 8, 2014.
5. "マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと - 月刊少年ガンガン" [With Manga Artist and Assistant - Monthly Shonen Gangan]. Square Enix (in Japanese). Retrieved 19 June 2022. ISBN 978-4757543423
6. "マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと Drama CD". Retrieved July 7, 2014.
7. "Crunchyroll Adds The Comic Artist and His Assistants Anime Shorts". Anime News Network. April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 8, 2014.
8. "Sentai Filmworks Licenses The Comic Artist and His Assistants". Anime News Network. April 17, 2014. Retrieved April 17, 2014.
9. "Products". Retrieved April 8, 2014.
10. "Hamatora Anime Gets English Dub". Anime News Network. 2015-05-19. Retrieved 2015-05-20.

External links

• Manga official website (in Japanese)
• The Comic Artist and His Assistants 2 manga official website (in Japanese)
• Official website (in Japanese)
• The Comic Artist and His Assistants (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia