Tokyo Tarareba Girls

Tokyo Tarareba Girls (Japanese: 東京タラレバ娘, Hepburn: Tōkyō Tarareba Musume, lit. 'Tokyo 'What If' Girls') is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura. It was serialized in Kodansha's josei manga magazine Kiss from March 2014 to April 2017 and later collected in nine bound volumes. It is licensed for an English-language release by Kodansha USA. The manga won the Eisner Award for Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia in 2019.

Tokyo Tarareba Girls
Cover of the first tankōbon volume
東京タラレバ娘
(Tōkyō Tarareba Musume)
GenreRomantic comedy[1][2]
Manga
Written byAkiko Higashimura
Published byKodansha
English publisher
MagazineKiss
DemographicJosei
Original runMarch 24, 2014 – April 25, 2017
Volumes9
Television drama
Directed by
  • Seiichi Nagumo
  • Yuma Suzuki
  • Naoko Komuro
Produced byMasatoshi Kato
Written byYūko Matsuda
Music byYugo Kanno
Original networkNippon TV
Original run January 18, 2017 – March 22, 2017
Episodes10
Manga
Tokyo Tarareba Girls Extra Edition: Tarare-Bar
Written byAkiko Higashimura
Published byKodansha
MagazineKiss
DemographicJosei
Original runOctober 25, 2017 – December 25, 2018
Volumes1
Manga
Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns
Written byAkiko Higashimura
Published byKodansha
English publisher
  • NA: Kodansha USA
MagazineKiss
DemographicJosei
Original runOctober 25, 2018 – December 25, 2018
Volumes1
Manga
Tokyo Tarareba Girls Season 2
Written byAkiko Higashimura
Published byKodansha
MagazineKiss
DemographicJosei
Original runApril 25, 2019 – September 25, 2021
Volumes6
Live-action television film
Tokyo Tarareba Girls 2020
Directed byYuma Suzuki
Written byYūko Matsuda
Music byYugo Kanno
ReleasedOctober 7, 2020 (2020-10-07)
Runtime114 minutes

A 10-episode live-action television drama series adaptation was broadcast on Nippon TV from January to March 2017. It was followed by a two-hour television special in October 2020. The manga also inspired three spin-off manga series written and illustrated by Higashimura and serialized in Kiss magazine: Tarare-Bar (2017–2018), Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns (2018), and Tokyo Tarareba Girls Season 2 (2019–2021). The second spin-off, Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns, is licensed for an English-language release by Kodansha USA.

Plot

Rinko, a screenwriter living in Tokyo, remains unmarried at 33 years old. She has not been satisfied in love or at work and often goes out drinking with Kaori and Koyuki, her best friends since high school. One day, while the three women are dining and drinking at an izakaya as usual, complaining about the men they have dated, a mysterious and handsome young man with blond hair named Key tells them that they remain unmarried because they are always talking about "If I had done..." or "If he had been...". After hearing this, Rinko makes up her mind to get married by 2020, the year of the Tokyo Olympic Games.

Characters
Rinko Kamata (鎌田 倫子, Kamata Rinko)
Portrayed by: Yuriko Yoshitaka[3][4]
Kaori Yamakawa (山川 香, Yamakawa Kaori)
Portrayed by: Nana Eikura[5][4]
Koyuki Torii (鳥居 小雪, Torii Koyuki)
Portrayed by: Yuko Oshima[5][4]
Key (キー, Kī) / Haruki Kagitani (鍵谷 春樹, Kagitani Haruki)
Portrayed by: Kentaro Sakaguchi[5][6]
Tetsuro Hayasaka (早坂 哲郎, Hayasaka Tetsurō)
Portrayed by: Ryohei Suzuki[5][6]
Ryo Samejima (鮫島 涼, Samejima Ryō)
Portrayed by: Yūta Hiraoka[5][6]
Mami Shibata (芝田 マミ, Shibata Mami)
Portrayed by: Ren Ishikawa[5][7]
Yasuo Torii (鳥居 安男, Torii Yasuo)
Portrayed by: Akio Kaneda[5][7]
Yoshio Marui (丸井 良男, Marui Yoshio)
Portrayed by: Kei Tanaka[5][6]
Tara (タラ)
Voiced by: Ryō Katō[5][6]
Reba (レバ)
Voiced by: Ayaka Nishiwaki[5][6]

Media

Manga

Written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura, Tokyo Tarareba Girls was serialized in Kodansha's josei manga magazine Kiss from the March 24, 2014,[8] to April 25, 2017.[9] Kodansha collected the individual chapters in nine tankōbon volumes published from September 2014 to July 2017.[10][11]

Kodansha USA licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America. It was first released digitally in February 2017,[12] and later published in print from June 2018 to October 2019.[13][14]

Volumes
No. Original release date Original ISBN English release date English ISBN
1 September 12, 2014[10]978-4-06-340935-2June 26, 2018[15]978-1-63236-685-6
2 May 13, 2015[16]978-4-06-340956-7August 7, 2018[17]978-1-63236-686-3
3 August 12, 2015[18]978-4-06-340964-2October 16, 2018[19]978-1-63236-687-0
4 December 11, 2015[20]978-4-06-340974-1December 31, 2018[21]978-1-63236-688-7
5 May 13, 2016[22]978-4-06-340988-8February 12, 2019[23]978-1-63236-735-8
6 September 13, 2016[24]978-4-06-340997-0April 9, 2019[25]978-1-63236-736-5
7 January 13, 2017[26]978-4-06-398007-3June 25, 2019[27]978-1-63236-800-3
8 April 13, 2017[28]978-4-06-398017-2August 6, 2019[29]978-1-63236-801-0
9 July 13, 2017[11]978-4-06-398024-0October 15, 2019[30]978-1-63236-857-7

Spin-offs

Tokyo Tarareba Girls inspired three spin-off manga series, also written and illustrated by Akiko Higashimura.

The first manga series, titled Tokyo Tarareba Girls Extra Edition: Tarare-Bar (東京タラレバ娘番外編 タラレBar, Tōkyō Tarareba Musume Bangai-hen: Tarare-Bar), features Tara and Reba—the talking codfish milt and liver mascots from Rinko's fantasies—running a bar and giving relationship advice in response to reader-submitted questions. It was serialized in Kodansha's josei manga magazine Kiss from the December 2017 issue (released on October 25, 2017) to the February 2019 issue (released on December 25, 2018).[31][32] Kodansha collected the 10 chapters in a single tankōbon volume published on March 13, 2019.[33][34]

The second manga series, titled Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns (東京タラレバ娘 リターンズ, Tōkyō Tarareba Musume Ritānzu), follows the lives of Rinko, Kaori, and Koyuki after the events of Tokyo Tarareba Girls. It was serialized in Kiss from the December 2018 issue (released on October 25, 2018) to the February 2019 issue (released on December 25, 2018).[35][36][37] Kodansha collected the three chapters in a single tankōbon volume published on March 13, 2019.[33][38] At their 2019 Anime NYC panel, Kodansha USA announced they licensed the series for an English-language release, to be made available digitally on December 24, 2019.[39] The volume was delayed and instead released on October 6, 2020.[40]

The third manga series, titled Tokyo Tarareba Girls Season 2 (東京タラレバ娘 シーズン2, Tōkyō Tarareba Musume Shīzun 2), follows a new cast of characters and is centered on 30-year-old Reina Hirota, a single, part-time librarian who lives with her parents. It was serialized in Kiss from the June 2019 issue (released on April 25, 2019)[41][42] to the November 2021 issue (released on September 25, 2021).[43][44] Kodansha collected the series in six tankōbon volumes published from October 11, 2019, to November 12, 2021.[45][46]

Live-action

A 10-episode live-action television drama series adaptation of Tokyo Tarareba Girls was broadcast on Nippon TV from January 18 to March 22, 2017.[3][47] The series was directed by Seiichi Nagumo, Yuma Suzuki, and Naoko Komuro, and written by Yūko Matsuda. It starred Yuriko Yoshitaka as Rinko, Nana Eikura as Kaori, Yuko Oshima as Koyuki, and Kentaro Sakaguchi as Key.[5] Its opening theme song was "Tokyo Girl" by J-pop girl group Perfume.[48][49] The series was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Japan on August 2, 2017.[50]

A two-hour television special, titled Tokyo Tarareba Girls 2020 (東京タラレバ娘2020, Tōkyō Tarareba Musume 2020 or Tokyo Girls on prime video), aired on Nippon TV on October 7, 2020. It was also directed by Yuma Suzuki and written by Yūko Matsuda, with the cast of the 2017 television drama series returning to reprise their roles.[4][6][7]

Reception

Volume 2 of Tokyo Tarareba Girls reached the 5th place on the weekly Oricon manga chart[51] and, as of May 24, 2015, had sold 95,639 copies;[52] volume 3 reached the 17th place on the chart[53] and, as of August 23, 2015, had sold 110,632 copies;[54] volume 4 reached the 12th place[55] and, as of December 20, 2015, had sold 114,433 copies;[56] volume 5 reached the 6th place[57] and, as of May 29, 2016, had sold 157,244 copies;[58] volume 6 reached the 4th place and, as of September 18, 2016, had sold 112,865 copies;[59] volume 7 reached the 1st place and, as of January 21, 2017, had sold 73,574 copies.[60]

The series ranked number two on the 2015 Kono Manga ga Sugoi! Top 20 Manga for Female Readers survey,[61] and was again number two on the same list the following year.[62] Kadokawa Media Factory's book and manga news magazine Da Vinci ranked the series number 19 on its 2017 Book of the Year list.[63]

Tokyo Tarareba Girls was nominated for the 9th Manga Taishō in 2016,[64] finishing in ninth place with 29 points.[65] It was also nominated for Best General Manga at the 40th Kodansha Manga Awards in 2016.[66] It won an Eisner Award in the category Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Asia in 2019.[67]

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