Hidamari Sketch

Vorlage:Infobox animanga/Header Vorlage:Infobox animanga/Manga Vorlage:Infobox animanga/Anime Vorlage:Infobox animanga/Novel Vorlage:Infobox animanga/Anime Vorlage:Infobox animanga/Anime Vorlage:Infobox animanga/Footer Sunshine Sketch, known in Japan as Vorlage:Nihongo, is a Japanese four-panel comic strip by Ume Aoki revolving around the daily lives of a group of young girls all living in the same apartment where artists gather. It was first serialized in the seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat in April 2004, published by Houbunsha. Yen Press licensed the manga for English language distribution, and released the first volume on May 27 2008. A twelve-episode anime based on the manga under the original title Hidamari Sketch aired in Japan between January 11 2007 and March 29 2007. Two more special episodes were aired on October 18 2007. A second season entitled Hidamari Sketch×365 began airing in Japan on July 3 2008. Two light novels were written by Chabō Higurashi, with illustrations by Aoki, which drew its story directly from the manga.

Plot

Sunshine Sketch centers around a young girl named Yuno who finally is able to get accepted into Yamabuki Art High School, which she has longed for. To attend the school, Yuno moves and starts to live in a small apartment building named the Vorlage:Nihongo located near the school. Once there, she starts making new friends like her classmate Miyako and the second year students, Hiro and Sae. The story follows the events of the characters' everyday lives are shown as they attend the school together and get to know each other better.

Characters

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Sunshine Sketch main characters: Hiro (left), Yuno (center), Sae (right), and Miyako (bottom-right).

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Yuno, sometimes called "Yunocchi" by Miyako, is a young girl and main character in the story. She lives in the Sunshine Apartments, along with her close friends and neighbors Miyako, Hiro, and Sae. Her friends think of her as a very nice person. Yuno dreams of being a great artist someday. Although she is a skilled artist overall, she considers painting and drawing her specialties. She rarely takes off a pair of X-shaped black hairpins.

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Miyako is Yuno's close friend, classmate, and next door neighbor in the apartment building where they live. Yuno refers to her as Miya-chan. She has an active personality and is always trying to have fun with her friends. Her exuberance frequently borders on the childlike, but she is undeniably creative. She is very spontaneous and claims the word "plan" does not exist in her dictionary. She loves to eat and has frequently asked for Hiro's leftovers when she is on one of her diets. She sometimes points out that Hiro may be gaining weight, which earns her a punch on the head by Hiro. Miyako's energy is frequently excessive and misplaced. Her rent is 5,000 yen cheaper than that of the other girls because her apartment is in poor repair, which is fortunate because she has less money than the other girls most of the time.

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Hiro is a year older than Yuno and Miyako, living directly under Yuno's apartment. Although she tries to be a supportive senpai to the girls, she tends to worry excessively about her weight, causing her to go on diets for periods while occasionally binging on sweets. A childhood friend of Sae, she is one of her neighbor's principal sources of support when she is involved with a deadline or other crisis.

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Sae is an upperclassman and good friends with Hiro. Her artistic specialties are photography and fiction writing; she writes fiction professionally under the pseudonym Vorlage:Nihongo and enrolled at the school specifically so she could learn how to illustrate her own work. Sae, who is tall, athletic, and generally mature, has a playful side that can be at the same time enigmatic and cunning; she has a habit of giving Yuno just enough warning about potential problems for the younger girl to fail to avoid them. She also has a fondness for playing detective when faced with such anomalies as Miyako's apartment. She tends to get upset when Miyako refers to her as having masculine qualities. She also gets very uncomfortable when asked about her love life, frequently inventing a history for herself that even cursory examination would show to be absurd, while blushing furiously.

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Nazuna is a freshman introduced in the July 2008 issue of Manga Time Kirara Carat. In the manga's canon timeline, a whole year has passed. She lives in room 203. She has sandy blonde hair, braids, and large side bangs. She used to live in the neighborhood, but after entering Yamabuki Art High School her father was transferred somewhere for work and her mother followed with him. She appears very quiet and reserved, but has an inferiority complex. She is not in the art department.

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Nori is another freshman introduced with Nazuna. She lives in room 103. She has lighter blue hair with pigtails. She is in the art department and likes to play with computers. She is honest and straightforward, similar to Miyako, but less erratic.

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Yoshinoya is Yuno and Miyako's homeroom teacher and art instructor. She is buxom, exuberant, and a cosplay maniac. So much so, in fact, that she will frequently wear incredibly complicated things that are at times truly inappropriate. She has a fondness for modeling for her class, displaying her latest outfits whenever she can, and showing off in general. Moreover, she is shown wearing a pair of squeaking sandals in the anime series. It is later revealed that Yoshinoya still resides with her parents, and would often be criticized by them for not being mature. When asked her age, she will answer "eternally seventeen".

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The Principal is a thin, aging and balding man whose teeth are almost always chattering. Although he sometimes exhibits inexplicable behavior, when he appears it is most frequently to chastise Yoshinoya over her latest excess. Miyako can do a frightening effective imitation of him. His name is unknown, but in one episode of the anime, Yuno was writing the names of people on pictures on a paper. When she got to the Principal, the whole class thought his name was "Moi".

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The Landlady is the female owner of Sunshine Apartments. She has quite a few masculine characteristics as she often wears baseball cap, goes out for a fishing in her spare time, and is a heavy smoker. Although she has a very laid-back personality, she is often seen very busy doing various part-time jobs.

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Chika is Sae's thirteen-year-old sister. She is more spontaneous and energetic than her older sister. She enjoys cooking and has an infatuation with a Kabuki actor. She has no artistic talent and prefers music and home economics to art.

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Natsume is a rival of Sae's from class D.

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They are frequently-appearing anime-exclusive characters in a fictional TV program called Vorlage:Nihongo. The characters are parodies of Behoimi in Pani Poni Dash! and Nozomu Itoshiki in Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei, respectively.

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Ume is a mysterious green creature that represents the manga's author, Ume Aoki. The character does not actually play any significant role in the story.

Media

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An example yonkoma strip from the manga.

Manga

The Sunshine Sketch four-panel comic strip manga is written and illustrated by Ume Aoki, and was first serialized in the seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat in April 2004, published by Houbunsha. As of March 13 2008, three bound volumes of the manga have been published in Japan by Houbunsha under their Manga Time KR Comics label. The second volume was released in a regular edition, and a limited edition which included a calendar. The manga was licensed in English by Yen Press, and released the first volume on May 27 2008.

Anime

Vorlage:See also A twelve-episode anime, under the original series title Hidamari Sketch, was produced by the animation studio Shaft and aired in Japan between January 11 2007 and March 29 2007. A two-episode addition aired on television on October 18 2007. The first twelve episodes were released on six DVD compilation volumes containing two episodes each between March 28 2007 and August 22 2007. A DVD containing the two special episodes was released on October 24 2007. The anime's style combines normal cel and CGI-2D animation with frequent use of still photographs for props. It is also a series that is not in chronological sequence; each episode takes place on a single day during Yuno's freshman year, but that day seems to be chosen at random. Despite this, episodes do build upon each other thematically, with details shown in earlier episodes becoming important in later ones. A second season entitled Hidamari Sketch×365 began airing in Japan on July 3 2008.

Music

The first season anime, along with the two-episode addition, used two pieces of theme music, one opening theme, and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Sketch Switch" by Kana Asumi, Kaori Mizuhashi, Ryoko Shintani, and Yuko Goto; the single containing the opening theme was released on January 24 2007. The ending theme is "Mebae Drive" by Marble; the single containing the ending theme was released on February 21 2007. The first season's original soundtrack was released on April 25 2007. A character song mini-album named Hida Chara was released on September 5 2007 containing songs sung by voice actors from the anime. For the second season, the opening theme is "Hatena de Wasshoi" by Asumi, Mizuhashi, Shintani, and Goto; the ending theme is "Ryūsei Record" by Marble. The opening theme single was released on July 23 2008, and the ending theme was sold on August 6 2008. The second season's original soundtrack will be released on October 8 2008. A maxi single entitled Vorlage:Nihongo featuring songs sung by Asumi was released on June 4 2008. Four character song singles were released on September 10 2008 for the four main female characters. An image song collection sung by the voice actors from the anime will be released on September 26 2008. Two more character songs for the character Yoshinoya (voiced by Miyu Matsuki and The Principal (voiced by Yūichi Nagashima) will be released on November 5 2008. All albums were released by Lantis.

Light novels

Two light novels written by Chabō Higurashi and illustrated by Ume Aoki were released by Houbunsha under their Houbunsha KR Bunko label. The first novel was released on March 31 2007 entitled Vorlage:Nihongo, and the second followed on September 30 2007 with the title Vorlage:Nihongo. The novels are not a new adaptation of the manga series, but instead draw directly from the manga's material.

External links

• Hidamari Sketch anime official website Vorlage:Jp icon
• Hidamari Sketch×365 anime official website Vorlage:Jp icon
• Vorlage:Ann manga