New to Sunday: Takeru Atsumi's "Chiisai Boku no Haru"

Late but still great! Here we go with week four of five of the new Sunday serials. This time we're seeing a familiar face in Takeru Atsumi. Let's dig right in.

The Artist

Takeru Atsumi

It's hard to tell when exactly Asumi-sensei appeared on the manga creation scene, but they've been hanging around Sunday for a little while. (How I wish sources had a comprehensive timeline of artists rather than just a brief write up of their works.) They've done a few oneshots such as the one above: Robot to Seikatsu from issue #1 of 2022. The title "Life with a Robot" depicts just that with Atsumi's off kilter sense of humor. In this oneshot the robot girl is well, a wreck to put it politely. She can't seem to do anything right, and even snores as she recharges, but what she provides her human friend is a sense of fun and energy he couldn't get without her, so when he is given a chance to trade up he doesn't. Perhaps the biggest thing to note of Atsumi-sensei's works is that they balance a deft sense of humor with a surprising amount of heart.  

I should also add that Atsumi was a former assistant of Oda (not that one), Tomohito Oda. That's right, he worked for some time under the man who brought us Komi can't communicate! Which honestly explains some of the sensibilities in his artwork and storytelling.

Other oneshots Atsumi has done is Senobi no Arisa-chan and Baka to Tensai about a short girl and her tall male friend and their interactions (Sounds familiar doesn't it?) to the other oneshot about a boy who's smart but stuck in his ways and a girl who's not quite the sharpest pencil but has a fulfilling and fun life. Atsumi-sensei's forte is finding fun in the mundane.

Which leads to my favorite oneshot of Atsumi's --Soshite Sekai Ni Heiwa Ga Otozureta. Which ran in WSS issue #11 of 2021. This one starts off as an Ultraman parody right up until the monster reveals his buddies have called off their global conquest. 

What this means is both the hero and the monster are out of a job, a purpose and thus have to result to delivering for oober eats (that's the way it's written in the oneshot) and well, living in the park. The hero who's name is Jun Hiiro feels bad for his monster opponent and helps it cobble up a resume which is tougher than it sounds since the monster has no name or permanent address. So they go with Conan Edogawa -- once again a nod to Atsumi's oddball sense of humor. 

Ultimately, Jun is able to help Conan get a job and realizes his new calling isn't defeating monsters but opening an agency to help them find jobs. It's the sort of thing one can come to expect from Atsumi. Weird, but heartfelt. I've gone through their one-shots, so why don't we flip the script and talk about their previous serialization?

Ikeda-kun

Running in Sunday in 2020 from issue #26 to 45, Ikeda-kun follows the titular character who has a high amount of baseless confidence in his looks and how his extremely inflated sense of self brings together a motly crew of fellow students who have their own issues, be it low self-esteem to a honor student with secret shame of being into tokutatsu, these characters feel ostracized until they meet Ikeda whose disposition makes it impossible for him to feel down for long. Together they start a "Ikemen club" (Ikemen is Japanese for "hottie") and while said club has very little to do with what it's named after, it gives these characters a sense of self, lead by Ikeda who despite seeming vapid is surprisingly insightful.

With Ikeda-kun it's hard to tell if the series was cancelled or wasn't meant to run long, though its sales suggest the former rather than the latter. That being said, it was a great showcase of what makes Atsumi stand out. 

Also if one didn't believe Atsumi was under Oda (not that one)'s tutelage, these pages should serve as more than enough evidence of that. The sharp lines, the storyboard like pacing, and the silliness are all hallmarks of Komi's storytelling. Sadly Ikeda-kun didn't last nearly as long as Komi (or it should have) but it leads us to where we are now with Takeru Atsumi's newest work.

The Serialization

Chiisai Boku no Haru

Starting in Shonen Sunday's #24th issue in 2023 is Atsumi's second long term serial, Chiisai Boku no Haru. Which sees Atsumi not stray far from a school setting. The blurb associated with the pre serialization artwork describes the titular couple as two who don't have anything in common, and says this is a volleyball love story about accepting what you don't have and in spite of this, challenging yourself. 

The Premise:

Souta Suzuki is a boy who loves volleyball and idolizes Daiki Saionji who's one of the best in the game. As a kid he wanted nothing more than to be his hero, but there's a major tiny problem. His height. He's just not tall enough to play the game on Saionji's level which has left Souta aiming low. He started a Volleyball club just to stay fit, but then they actually started performing well which lead to them being a serious club.

It doesn't help that even the girls tower over him, and the son of his hero, Taiyo Saionji attends the school and is every bit as talented as his father while having the height to match. He could totally go to a better school too, but says this one is closest to his house, hah. 

Enter the heroine of this work, Asahi Shinonome. Tall, pretty and popular, Souta says she's the definition of "out of his league." The girls and guys were about to get into a squabble over who gets to use the court in this instance, but Asahi puts an end to that by suggesting they all play together. Souta develops a plan of attack for dealing with this which is: "If I don't see it, I don't have to worry about it." Which has worked for him so far, however...

Asashi calls him out to practice volleyball, going from an object to ignore to a person who keeps his head in the game. I mentioned on the twitter that the set-up (and even the art in some ways) is similar to Norio Sakurai's The Dangers in My Heart what with the tall heroine and short protagonist, but I think the major difference in this work aside from its sports bent is the heroine is less of an enigma.Souta doesn't treat her as a mystery or put her on a pedestal, rather as an annoyance. They met in high school but Asahi treats him like a longtime friend. It hurts since that implicitly gives him hope, but he knows she's friendly with everyone, so what makes him special? He thinks this, and yet she calls him out to practice with every evening.  

Despite himself, however, he agrees to helping her practice receiving which she says is her weakness. Which is to say a girl who's been playing volleyball since middle school and has ben chosen to join a prefectural team in the following year is asking little ol' him to train her. Though why? She could have anyone she wants to teach her how to receive, right? What's special about him? 

She just straight out says that she thinks he's cool. He was able to receive a spike that not even adults could, and his control with the ball left her awestruck. Again, the difference between this and Dangers is the sense of distance (or lack thereof in this case). To be clear, I'm not suggesting Dangers is wrong in it's approach --it works well for the story it's trying to tell, nor am I saying that this series is doing a better job. I think both approaches are valid, I just find it interesting that here both leads are established to be on equal footing from the start with the admiration for each other's talents going both ways. I'm also fond of stories where the main character is faced with an issue that can't be surmounted through hard work alone. As the text itself states:

"Height is essential in volleyball." Don't get me wrong, I know this is a shonen manga and as such the series will eventually see the characters overcome even this by trying harder, but at least so far in this first chapter it is a disadvantage Souta can't just overcome right away. In fact this is what drives a seeming wedge between the two as Asashi tries to cheer Souta on, claiming he can be the player he's always wanted to be despite his height. Souta snaps at her and says that he can't and she should leave him alone which she does, seemingly ending their evening practice sessions for good.

I haven't much talked about the art of the series yet. Atsumi's artwork is distinct enough on its own --or well their character designs. They're very simple which elevates the oddball humor, but evocative enough for those heartfelt moments to hit. Atsumi's had several oneshots and 3 years since Ikeda-kun to improve and push the artwork forward, and that comes through wonderfully here. I sense there is a little bit of inspiration from Norio Sakurai's artwork --especially Asahi's design being reminiscent of Anna Yamada's in Dangers but there's still enough Atsumi-isms for them to remain distinct. Furthermore there's the scale of what Asumi uses paneling for like above --Souta figures it's business as usual on the court, I mean why try hard to do what he's failed to before? Yet Asahi keeps her eyes on him, and he remembers what she said to him before --that she thinks he's cool. 

That's enough for Souta to get up and get moving. It's not that he gave up on his dreams, it's just he needed another reason to pursue them, and sometimes that reason is a simple as a single person seeing in yourself what you do not.

Speaking of seeing, Souta! Watch out for that wall--

Oh. Well that happened. Turns out his mad dash was all but pointless since the team lost anyway, and the ball he was chasing ended up on the second floor of the building. So much for the miracle.

Souta then agrees to practice volleyball with Asahi again which turns into a misunderstanding where she thinks he's going to be with her to play it all of the time so after she dumps her entire schedule on him and even suggests they can watch tournament vids together, she heads home happy to have her partner back. The chapter ends with Souta saying that the average height for a male volleyball player is 175 cm (or around 5'8) and that he's about 155 cm or just over 5 feet tall. He's really got his work cut out for him.

The Verdict

Perhaps because this is their second serial and they've had a ton of oneshots between Ikeda-kun and now that this first chapter feels the most confident of it's intent out of the four I've reviewed so far. Stories like these resonate with many despite being niche in their approach because everyone knows what it's like to want something that they seemingly aren't capable of getting, or to have a talent that they can't seem to grasp no matter how much they work at it, be it sports, art, or even writing. In that way, Atsumi has captured something universal in this work --that all it takes is one person to truly believe that you're talented, to see what you don't see in yourself to inspire one to keep trying against impossible odds. Sports series are a staple of shonen magazines and they all tend to inspire and speak to us in various ways, but Chiisai Boku no Haru takes the Sunday approach of meticulous pacing and down to earth storytelling to bring a first chapter that's as relatable as it is inspirational. Dreams are always best shared, and I feel like Atsumi gets that on a profound level that shows in their body of work, and will hopefully translate into a healthy run for this series.