Manga Debuts: Hito no Yomei de Seishunsuru na
Ryoko Fukuyama is perhaps best known at this point for Anonymous Noise, a shojo manga that ran for 18 volumes and was lucky enough to receive an anime adaptation in 2017. However, Fukuyama is quite the prolific creator in the shojo world and has several other popular titles to her name, including Nosatsu Junkie and Monokuro Shonen Shojo. Today, I'm here to talk about her latest work Hito no Yomei de Seishunsuru na (also known as Don't Spend My Last Years on Your Youth), which is both a return to the mangaka's roots and a confident step forward.
The series has been serialized in shojo magazine Hana to Yume since July 2024 and the first compiled volume was released in December 2024, with Volume 2 set for release in late March. The manga can be read on Japanese manga app Manga Park. In terms of language for Japanese learners, it's fairly accessible with furigana to help with kanji. However, like many of Fukuyama's stories, the cast has a tendency to live their lives to the fullest (for good or ill), which often presents itself in lengthy rambles which can be overwhelming depending on what you're used to.
The Premise
Our story follows Noe Kurusu, a first-year in the Futakotamagawa High School for performing arts. She's a no-name actor who's given up on everything, having failed so far to break into the industry. However she continues to attend auditions in the hopes of achieving her dreams.
It's in this school that she meets Neji Ninomiya, who is also a no-name actor and quickly becomes frustrated with Noe's attitude toward the work. To turn their fates around, Neiji declares that the two need to go all out for their three years of high school and gain the life experiences they're lacking. For Noe who's always been by herself and unable to understand the roles she's auditioning for, this could be her chance to break out, but she'll need Neji's help to move forward towards the goals she's chasing. This is a tale of youth, acting and maybe of even falling in love...
What Led Us Here
If you're familiar with Ryoko Fukuyama's prior works then you'll know that youth is a theme she often uses for her shojo titles. Both Anonymous Noise and Nosatsu Junkie were about characters chasing their dreams, embroiled in the chaos of adolescence and falling in love. But recently Fukuyama has taken a break from this, with her last shojo work Koi ni Mudaguchi (serialized in Hana to Yume) being more of a school life comedy and ongoing Kikenai Yoru wa Nai offering a darker emotional story for the seinen magazine Young Animal Zero.
Koi ni Mudaguchi despite running for 12 volumes, felt like an experiment in many ways with Fukuyama trying out new visual styles and new ways of telling her stories. But it also felt like she was beginning to grow tired of, or at least disillusioned with, the shojo genre which is perhaps what led her to stepping away and launching Kikenai Yoru wa Nai.
And that assumption turned out to be correct. Alongside volume 1 of Hito no Yomei de Seishunsuru na, Fukuyama released a short story collection including (and named after) one shot Kouchou no Hanashi ga Nagai. Speaking on social media at the time and in the commentary for the story, Fukuyama talks about how this is what helped her fall in love with shojo manga again and that Hito no Yomei de Seishunsuru na is the work only made possible the combination of that single story and the third volume of Kikenai Yoru. Together they've shaped her into the mangaka she is now, embarking on this new adventure.
Charms of the Series
As mentioned earlier, this is a series that returns to the roots of what makes a Fukuyama series special. It's not the author's first dive into the entertainment world as Anonymous Noise was about music and Nosatsu Junkie was based in the modelling industry, and that experience shines through here.
Neji and Noe are teenagers with dreams, aspirations and the heightened emotions that come with that age group. One of Fukuyama's strengths is the ability to make that relatable to the audience, while dialing it up to eleven with an extreme outpouring of emotions. Like we see in the image above where Neji and Noe are talking and both upset, but able to empathise with one another and come out the other side better for it. They get frustrated, laugh, cry and spend time together in a way that's only possible because they're still in school, sharing the same dream and looking toward the same future.
Noe, as it turns out, isn't a bad actor. Her problem is that she can't emphasize with the character she's auditioning for, having not lived through similar experiences. Neji, meanwhile, is jealous of Noe's talents and frustrated with her initial negative outlook on the world. He's been working in the entertainment industry prior to this as an idol, but from what we see hinted at in Volume 1 something happened that led to his change in direction. Whatever happened clearly haunts him and leaves him with self-loathing, enough that he can relate to Noe's struggles at least. The two balance one another out relatively well and once they become friends you couldn't imagine them ever being apart.
There are only four chapters in Volume 1 but that's enough for both Neji and Noe to be developed into interesting characters. They're energetic and come to life on the page through Fukuyama's polished artwork. Character designs are unique and while reminiscent of Fukuyama's other series, clearly stand on their own. Noe especially is a strong female lead, who isn't waiting around for a savoury and can stand on her own two feet. Frankly, all of Fukuyama's female leads are like that which is one of the reasons I'm so fond of her work. Both the male and female characters are lovable idiots in different ways.
As an artist, Fukuyama has always put a great deal of emphasis on the expressions of her characters, but since her debut in 1999, she has been constantly developing this. Now not only is the cast more expressive than ever, but Fukuyama has nailed down how to frame her panels in a way to delivers the most emotional impact. This is especially true of sequences that happen over the course of a single moment, which she often divides across into two or three panels. You can tell she's taking great joy in her work. There's simply a level of polish and attention to detail that elevates it above a lot of similar romance series.
In Closing
Ryoko Fukuyama's return to shojo scene is not to be missed by existing fans or newcomers to her work. Her heroine is relatable, charming and betting her whole career on what she can achieve in these three years of high school. This is a story about youth, living life to the fullest and chasing your dreams no matter what.
Hito no Yomei de Seishunsuru na can be read in Japanese bi-weekly in Hana to Yume or on the Manga Park application. The mangaka also uploaded a behind the scenes look at the creation of the series to her YouTube channel, which sadly isn't subtitled but still very interesting if you understand Japanese.
©Ryoko Fukuyama/HAKUSENSHA