My Neighbor Seki

My Neighbor Seki

Cover of My Neighbor Seki volume 1, published by Media Factory, featuring main characters Rumi Yokoi (left) and Toshinari Seki (right)
となりの関くん
(Tonari no Seki-kun)
Genre Comedy
Manga
Written by Takuma Morishige
Published by Media Factory
English publisher
Demographic Seinen
Magazine Comic Flapper
Original run November 2010 – present
Volumes 10
Original animation DVD
Directed by Yūji Mutoh
Studio Shin-Ei Animation
Released January 4, 2014
Anime television series
Tonari no Seki-kun: The Master of Killing Time
Directed by Yūji Mutoh
Music by Akifumi Tada
Studio Shin-Ei Animation
Licensed by
Original network TV Tokyo, AT-X
Original run January 5, 2014 – May 25, 2014
Episodes 21
Television drama
Original network MBS, TBS
Original run July 27, 2015 – September 14, 2015
Episodes 8

My Neighbor Seki (となりの関くん, Tonari no Seki-kun) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Takuma Morishige. The series follows a girl named Rumi Yokoi who is constantly distracted by her neighboring classmate, Toshinari Seki, as he indulges in elaborate hobbies and somehow never gets caught in the process. Originally published as a one-shot in 2010, it started serialization in the November 2010 issue of Media Factory's Comic Flapper magazine. Vertical publishes the manga in North America. An original video animation by Shin-Ei Animation was released bundled with the limited edition of the manga's fifth volume on January 4, 2014, and a 21-episode television series adaptation aired in Japan between January and May 2014.

Characters

Rumi Yokoi (横井 るみ, Yokoi Rumi)
Voiced by: Kana Hanazawa[1] (Japanese); Monica Rial[2] (English), Fumika Shimizu (live-action)[3][4]
Rumi is the viewpoint character and narrator of Seki's games. She continuously attempts to pay attention in class but is almost always distracted by her neighbor's antics. She sometimes tries to make Seki concentrate on class by sabotaging his projects, but usually finds herself joining in on them, though Seki misunderstands these attempts.
Toshinari Seki (関 俊成, Seki Toshinari)
Voiced by: Hiro Shimono[1] (Japanese); Blake Shepard[2] (English), Yutaro Watanabe (live-action)[4][5]
Normally referred to by his surname, Seki is Rumi's classmate, and is a cheerful but mysterious character who is always playing games at his desk, which at times, include some elaborate setups. His activity bothers Rumi to no end, although he is almost never caught in the act by the teachers. In his desk is a complex array of objects that, if disturbed by anyone but himself, are impossible to put back together.[ch. 9] He rarely speaks, but is sometimes seen chatting with his friends. Despite his normal demeanor around his fellow students outside of the classroom, he is occasionally shown to have a dark and sadistic side. This comes through his destruction, sometimes wantonly, of his games and toys. He is also slightly superstitious, as is shown when some of his projects become so intense for Rumi that she secretly gets involved, scaring Seki out of his wits and his flippant behavior towards education.

Supporting characters

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Takuma Morishige, the manga began as a one-shot published in the August 2010 issue of Media Factory's Comic Flapper magazine, and later started serialization in the magazine's November 2010 issue. The first tankōbon volume was published on April 23, 2011[6] and the ninth was released in August 2016.[7] Vertical licensed the manga for North American publication[8] under the title My Neighbor Seki, and has been releasing volumes since January 2015.

Volume list

No.Japanese release dateJapanese ISBNEnglish release dateEnglish ISBN
1 April 23, 2011[6]ISBN 978-4-8401-3791-1January 13, 2015[9]ISBN 978-1-9391-3096-9
  • Chapters 1–15
Rumi is concerned that Seki's domino show may cause a big explosion. Seki role-plays a soap opera plot with Shogi pieces. He polishes his desk. He makes a column out of sand. He makes figures out of go pieces. He plays with cats. He hosts a post office for passing class messages. He makes a huge rook out of chess pieces. Rumi looks inside Seki's desk but cannot fit the pieces back. Outside, Seki makes figures out of the chalk used to mark the lines on a field. He does origami. He plays kokkuri-san, a Ouija board-like game. He knits a cactus. He pulls out toy robots and has them go through disaster preparedness drills. While the class falls asleep to some music, Seki works on a jigsaw puzzle.
2 November 22, 2011[10]ISBN 978-4-8401-4065-2April 14, 2015[11]ISBN 978-1-9391-3097-6
  • Chapters 16–28
Seki plays Fukuwarai. He shows Rumi a card trick. At lunch, he role-plays with octopus sausages. He does another shogi soap opera. The day that Maeda, the guy in front of Seki, is absent, he plays games under his desk by using his feet. The class goes on a hike but encounter Seki's old messages about a demon and a castle. When Seki plays miniature-sized golf, Gotō watches Rumi's interactions and assumes Rumi and Seki are lovers. Seki role-plays with Othello pieces. He plays Jenga. He rolls a cube and makes stories. At swimming class, he has his robots role-play water safety. Outside, he hides in a pile of leaves. He has a group of miniature bears scale Maeda's back.
3 July 23, 2012[12]ISBN 978-4-8401-4701-9July 14, 2015[13]ISBN 978-1-9412-2048-1
  • Chapters 29–42
Seki excavates his desk for fossils and constructs a dinosaur. He tries out a variety of glasses. He pits chess pieces against shogi pieces. He tries out palm reading. When Rumi is absent, Gotō suspects Seki misses her when he role-plays with some paper dolls. He makes a flip book and annotates it with voiceover. Outside in the snow, he fashions a bunny but threatens to have it sink in the ice water, but Rumi saves it. He fashions a stamp seal out of an eraser, but Uzawa interferes. He makes a driving course with an RC car. He simulates a baseball game with magnets. Outside of class, Rumi catches Seki fabricating pictures of UFOs, and meets Seki's sister. Rumi's teacher is worried about Rumi's behavior and prepares a surprise bag inspection, but Seki uses that time to role-play with his robots. Seki has a tea ceremony. He pans for gold.
4 April 6, 2013[14]ISBN 978-4-8401-5046-0September 22, 2015[15]ISBN 978-1-9412-2049-8
  • Chapters 43–55
Seki fashions a logo and tries to brand everything in sight. He pits a rhinoceros beetle against other beetles. He plays a crane game. When Rumi, Seki, and Gotō draw each other, Gotō tries to capture Rumi's feelings, while Seki plays a marble maze game. During the sports day tamaire (ball toss game), Rumi is worried about a beehive underneath the basket. Seki does some sports day events where he paints his nails (and later his hands and feet) to emulate hard conditions. Seki pits Karuta cards against Hanafuda cards in a card-fighting game. Seki decorates a Christmas tree. During a self-study period, Seki naps on a pillow but it has a picture underneath it. On kite flying day, Yokoi spots Seki's robot family doing the activity.
5 January 4, 2014[16]ISBN 978-4-0406-6240-4November 24, 2015[17]ISBN 978-1-9412-2089-4
  • Chapters 56–68
Seki makes dango out of mud. He plays with Shogi pieces, but Uzawa interferes. He plays with a Magic Hand. He customizes a pair of jeans. Both Rumi and Seki's mother visit a lesson in class and Rumi meets Seki's mother. Seki takes care of potted plants. He uses his desk to sell various curiosities. He builds a model railroad inside his desk. He makes several clay figures. The class goes on a trip and Gotō fantasizes again about Rumi's and Seki's "relation". Seki plays with a mini pool table. He tries to fix a stubborn piece of his hair.
6 July 23, 2014[18]ISBN 978-4-0406-6819-2January 19, 2016[19]ISBN 978-1-9429-9309-4
7 April 23, 2015[20]ISBN 978-4-0406-7515-2March 15, 2016[21]ISBN 978-1-9429-9310-0
8 December 22, 2015[22]ISBN 978-4-0406-7865-8October 4, 2016[23]ISBN 978-1-9429-9350-6
9 August 23, 2016[7]ISBN 978-4-0406-8510-6May 9, 2017[24]ISBN 978-1-9450-5401-3

Anime

A 21-episode anime television series, directed by Yūji Mutoh and produced by Shin-Ei Animation, aired in Japan between January 5 and May 25, 2014 and was simulcast by Crunchyroll under the title Tonari no Seki-kun: The Master of Killing Time. The fifth manga volume was released simultaneously on January 4, 2014 with a limited edition, bundled with an original animation DVD containing two additional episodes.[25][26] The series was released on DVD in two parts on May 28, 2014, with a bonus episode on each disc.[27][28] The opening theme is "Meiwaku Spectacle" (迷惑スペクタクル, Meiwaku Supekutakuru, "Nuisance Spectacle") by Kana Hanazawa, and the ending theme is "Set Them Free" by Akira Jimbo.[25] The music in the series is composed by Akifumi Tada.

Live-action

The series was adapted into a live-action show where it was paired with another live-action adaptation titled Rumi's Phenomenon. Both programs involve a main character named Rumi. It premiered on MBS and TBS in July 27, 2015[29] as Tonari no Seki-kun to Rumi-chan no Jishō (となりの関くんとるみちゃんの事象) and ran for eight episodes.[30] Morishige said "I feel a sense of odd destiny that the heroines' names are coincidentally the same."[5][31]

Reception

Over 3 million copies of the manga have been sold as of July 2014.[32] The manga was one of the works nominated in the fifth Manga Taishō awards in 2012.[33] My Neighbor Seki was listed on YALSA's 2016 list of Great Graphic Novels for Teens.[34]

Rebecca Silverman of Anime News Network gave the first volume of the manga an overall grade of C+.[35] Karen Mead of Japanator liked that the anime put the detail into Seki's projects rather than the characters, and that while the show could have worked as a three- to four-minute short, that it gets stretched to eight minutes with opening and ending themes gives it a chance to build atmosphere and tension.[36] Richard Eisenbeis of Kotaku called it "the most basic, yet perhaps most entertaining, anime of the season."[37]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "キャラクター｜アニメ「となりの関くん」" [Character | Anime My Neighbor Seki] (in Japanese). Shin-Ei Animation. Retrieved August 4, 2014.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Tonari no Seki-kun Anime's English Dub Cast Announced". Anime News Network. March 16, 2016. Retrieved March 16, 2016.
  3. ↑ Komatsu, Mikikazu (June 26, 2015). "20-Year-Old Fumika Shimizu Cast as Rumi in "Tonari no Seki-kun" Live-Action TV Drama". Crunchyroll. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 "Cast" (in Japanese). Kadokawa Corporation. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  5. 1 2 "Main Cast Visuals for "Tonari no Seki-kun," "Rumi-chan no Jishou" Live-Action TV Drama Posted". Crunchyroll. June 6, 2015. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  6. 1 2 となりの関くん 1 [Tonari no Seki-kun 1] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  7. 1 2 となりの関くん　9 [Tonari no Seki-kun 9] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  8. ↑ "Vertical Licenses Tonari no Seki-kun School Comedy Manga". Anime News Network. January 24, 2014. Retrieved March 17, 2014.
  9. ↑ "My Neighbor Seki, 1". Amazon.com. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  10. ↑ となりの関くん 2 [Tonari no Seki-kun 2] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  11. ↑ "My Neighbor Seki, 2". Amazon.com. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  12. ↑ となりの関くん 3 [Tonari no Seki-kun 3] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  13. ↑ "My Neighbor Seki, 3". Amazon.com. Retrieved December 27, 2014.
  14. ↑ となりの関くん 4 [Tonari no Seki-kun 4] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  15. ↑ "My Neighbor Seki, 4". Amazon.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  16. ↑ となりの関くん　⑤ [Tonari no Seki-kun 5] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  17. ↑ "My Neighbor Seki, 5". Amazon.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  18. ↑ となりの関くん　6 [Tonari no Seki-kun 6] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved August 5, 2014.
  19. ↑ "My Neighbor Seki, 6". Amazon.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  20. ↑ となりの関くん　7 [Tonari no Seki-kun 7] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  21. ↑ "My Neighbor Seki, 7". Amazon.com. Retrieved August 7, 2015.
  22. ↑ となりの関くん　8 [Tonari no Seki-kun 8] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  23. ↑ "My Neighbor Seki, 8". Amazon.com. Retrieved May 2, 2016.
  24. ↑ "My Neighbor Seki, 9". Amazon.com. Retrieved September 1, 2016.
  25. 1 2 "Crunchyroll to Stream Tonari no Seki-kun Comedy Anime". Anime News Network. December 30, 2013. Retrieved January 6, 2014.
  26. ↑ "となりの関くん　⑤　DVD付き限定版" [Tonari no Seki-kun 5: limited edition bundled with DVD] (in Japanese). Media Factory. Retrieved January 6, 2013.
  27. ↑ "Tonari no Seki-Kun Part 1 of 2 Animation DVD". CDJapan (in Japanese). Neowing. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  28. ↑ "Tonari no Seki-Kun Part 2 of 2 Animation DVD". CDJapan (in Japanese). Neowing. Retrieved 2014-08-05.
  29. ↑ "放送局情報" (in Japanese). Kadokawa Corporation. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  30. ↑ "Story" (in Japanese). Kadokawa Corporation. Archived from the original on October 24, 2015. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  31. ↑ "Tonari no Seki-kun, Rumi's Phenomenon School Comedies Get Live-Action Show". Anime News Network. May 27, 2015. Retrieved May 17, 2016.
  32. ↑ "Tonari no Seki-kun Manga Has Over 3 Million Copies in Print". Anime New Network. July 7, 2014. Retrieved August 7, 2017.
  33. ↑ "15 Titles Nominated for 5th Manga Taisho Awards". Anime News Network. January 16, 2012. Retrieved April 2, 2013.
  34. ↑ "A Silent Voice Ranks in YALSA's Top 10 Graphic Novels for Teens". Anime News Network. January 22, 2016. Retrieved May 18, 2016.
  35. ↑ Rebecca Silverman (January 31, 2015). "My Neighbor Seki GN 1". Anime News Network. Retrieved February 3, 2015.
  36. ↑ Mead , Karen (January 11, 2014). "First Impressions: Tonari no Seki-kun". Japanator. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
  37. ↑ Eisenbeis, Richard (February 18, 2014). "The Five Anime of Winter 2014 You Should Be Watching". Kotaku. Retrieved March 31, 2014.
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