News

Fantagraphics Publishes Shungiku Uchida's Minami's Lover Manga in English

Fantagraphics is listing Shungiku Uchida's Minami's Lover (Minami-kun no Koibito) manga for release as a hardcover book in English on June 27, 2023.

Fantagraphics describes the manga:

In this raunchy, moving, funny manga for adults, high school student Minami's girlfriend, Chiyomi, shrinks down to six inches tall — and moves in with him! Originally appearing in the underground/alternative manga magazine Garo in the 1980s and adapted for television several times, the Japanese pop culture sensation Minami's Lover is the story of two high schoolers' romantic relationship when one of them shrinks down to six inches tall. Everyone thinks Chiyomi has disappeared, and suspicion naturally falls on Minami, identified as her boyfriend in her diary. But after inexplicably finding herself in such a state, Chiyomi moves in with him. As depicted in Uchida's clean, loose line and Zip-a-Tone textures, the two soon adapt to the unusual circumstances, devising ways for Chiyomi to use the toilet, brush her teeth and hair, attend classes, and more. After some silly sequences of trial and error, they even figure out a sex life. But in addition to learning how to navigate logistics, jealousy, and the cat, they're also growing up (if not taller). Uchida uses the conceit of a teen couple literally learning how to take care of one another to examine gender dynamics and intimacy.

Uchida first published the manga in her Shungiku manga collection. It was then serialized in Katsuichi Nagai and Seirindo Co., Ltd.'s Monthly Manga Garo magazine from 1986 to 1987, with the final chapter appearing in a volume released by Seirindo in July 1987. Bungei Shunju collected and reprinted the series in 1998, and Seirinkogeisha published a revised edition in 2004.

The manga has been adapted into a live-action television special in 1990, an 11-episode television drama in 1994, another 11-episode live-action television drama in 2004, and the fourth and most recent live-action television adaptation in 2015.

Uchida also published a short spinoff manga titled Minami-kun wa Koibito (My Sweetheart Minami) in Shueisha's Cocohana magazine in January 2013, with the premise reversed (in the spinoff, Minami is the one who shrinks down), and told from the perspective of Chiyomi. Shueisha published the manga's first and only compiled book volume in August 2013.

Source: Fantagraphics's website