Chiisakobee

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Japanese: ちいさこべえ

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Type: Manga

Volumes: 4

Chapters: 44

Status: Finished

Published: Sep 3, 2012 to Feb 9, 2015

Genres: Award Winning, Drama

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Big Comic Spirits

Authors: Mochizuki, Minetarou (Art), Yamamoto, Shuugorou (Story)

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Score: 7.39¹ (scored by 847 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #4090²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #6749

Members: 3,440

Favorites: 35

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7.39

Ranked #4090Popularity #6749Members 3,440

MangaBig Comic SpiritsMochizuki, Minetarou (Art), Yamamoto, Shuugorou (Story)

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Volumes: /4

Chapters: /44

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Synopsis

A new interpretation of Yamamoto Shuguro's period novel Chiisakobee, transplanting the Edo era in the original with a modern setting.

A young carpenter, Shigeji, who lost his parents and his father's building company called Daitome in a fire, swears to himself he will rebuild the company according to the words of his father, Tomezoh, "What is important for people throughout the ages is humanity and strength of will." He hires Ritsu, who has no place to go, as an assistant at Daitome. Some children from an orphanage, who lost their home, also show up at Daitome. The bearded young carpenter's decision to take over his family's business is a drama filled with the milk of human kindness.

(Source: MU)

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Background

Chiisakobee won the 17th Japan Media Arts Festival Excellence Award in 2013.

The series was published in French by Le Lezard Noir from October 2, 2015, to November 17, 2016; in Spanish by ECC Ediciones from April 29, 2016, to July 29, 2016; and in Italian by J-POP from February 28, 2018, to August 29, 2018.

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Characters

Ritsu

Main

Shigeji

Main

Fukada, Yuko

Supporting

Reviews

Aug 5, 2025

BakaBoysClub

Recommended

Very striking and unique.

There is a giant fire in a small neighborhood, and the parents of our main character, Shigeji, pass away, leaving him a family carpentry company. At the same time, he hires a housekeeper, Ritsu. She takes in the 5 kids from the local orphanage that burned down, and now they become a family of 7 people.

The narrative might seem a little odd; that’s because our man Minetarou adapts a novel that takes place in the Edo period into a manga taking place in the 21st century. The transition could have been rough, but luckily, the narrative is not that important. Sure, ... it’s there, but we more so concentrate on the characters and their lives.

Some examples of chapters are - going to the park, calming down one of the kids after they started to cry, and a conversation about life in the kitchen. If you wanted to read a wholesome slice of life, this is not really it. The manga requires your full attention to be enjoyed (kinda).

Something that’s said multiple times in here is that “it’s the small things that matter”, and believe me, the manga embodies that in every way. All the chapters I listed stand on their nuance. Their realistic portrait of real life and how complex it can be. If you indulge me a little more and read ahead, you will see what I mean.

Visually, the manga is clean. Everything is conveyed to the reader in a clear, well-packaged, minimalistic way. So much so that at first, you might be fooled into thinking that everything is too clean. For example, the characters don’t behave like normal manga characters; they don’t move too much, don’t make exaggerated faces, and so on. If you are not paying too much attention, the whole thing might even seem bland.

That’s where the trick is, engaging properly with the title. Once you do that, you begin to notice the small things; characters may not be conventionally expressive, but that’s because they are emulating real life. Think of a normal conversation between you and a random person, you don’t notice a cartoonish drop of sweat on their forehead, you notice their posture, how they fiddle with their hands, the intention in their eyes… THAT is what the manga illustrates.

Once you put that into perspective, the “bland” art style turns into a place where subtlety can thrive. Characters don’t say “I’m angry”, “I’m confused”, “I’m sad”, they behave like that’s how they’re feeling through their body language. Beautiful work.

I wish I could say this is a masterpiece. And it was really close, but there is a dude that takes pictures of his adult daughter while she is changing… yeah bro, I don’t know why either.

This takes down the thing for me to an 8/10. If you want to know more about my thoughts, I have a review for the manga on youtube.

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Dec 19, 2023

typewritermonkey

Recommended

Chiisakobee by Mochizuki is an adaptation of an Edo era novel of the same name, but from what I can gather, Mochizuki has changed the primary conflict and a lot of the characters. The 1964 movie adaptation's synopsis, if it's the more faithful adaptation, suggests a plot revolving around a scrooge-type ML being shown the meaning of life by the FL and her dozen orphans she's taken under her wing. In Mochizuki's version, the focus is on persevering with dignity against what life throws at you despite feelings of inadequacy.

I have only read his earlier work Tokyo Kaido, but not his even earlier Dragon ...

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Apr 9, 2022

drazorback

Mixed Feelings

ORIGINAL REVIEW IN FRENCH BELOW

Chiisakobé is the adaptation of an age-old Japanese novel, transposed into a contemporary bled where the hero, who has been given the panoply of total vintage hipster, is a carpenter responsible for taking over the family business following a fire that led to the death of his parents. Without knowing the original work, it seems quite obvious that this is a transposition as various events seem anachronistic, even in a society sometimes as patriarchal and traditional as Japan. Thus, a few slaps or spankings appear as relics from another age, and even when these gestures are questioned, they end -problematically- by ... being dubbed by history (by extrapolating and amplifying: we find the old adage "beat your wife, if you don't know why, she will know"). For the somewhat critical and alert reader, it seems precisely that the discrepancy between modernized decorum and archaic behavior produces a dissonance that is not without mental fruitfulness, through the art of contrast (these gestures potentially appear all the more shocking that they are located in a modern setting, supposedly more sanitized, comprehensive and benevolent).

The story itself deals with timeless subjects: mourning, education, work, love... Which may explain the ease of transposition, moreover. But as such, Chiisakobé, despite some incongruous elements (the carpenter's home becomes a refuge for several colorful orphans, which is easier to imagine in a post-war or crisis period than in the 21st century), is often content to unfold well-known patterns: debt problems to overcome (and they will be... by ellipse), mourning to digest and, mainly, a love triangle, which places us much more side of the young Ritsu, a kind of adoptive mother of the children of the household, a woman devoted to maintenance and domestic chores, rather than that of the beautiful Yuko, a more dynamic woman who clearly has a crush on our head Hipster. Here again, everything follows without taking a big risk, with a vision that is still quite backward-looking (in the end, the choice falls on the housewife rather than her more independent counterpart). Despite everything, by its delicate line, quite sensual in its way of anchoring (inking?) the slender bodies, and by light touches of humor, far too timid, we end this short saga without suffering too much either. With all the same a feeling of relative emptiness, but good.

_________________________________________________________________

Chiisakobé est l'adaptation d'un roman japonais séculaire, transposé dans un bled contemporain où le héros, à qui on a donné la panoplie du totale hipster vintage, est un menuisier chargé de reprendre l'affaire familiale suite à un incendie ayant entraîné la mort de ses parents. Sans connaître l’œuvre originale, il apparaît assez évident qu'il s'agit ici d'une transposition tant divers évènements semblent anachroniques, même dans une société parfois aussi patriarcale et traditionnelle que le Japon. Ainsi, quelques claques ou fessées apparaissent comme des reliquats d'un autre âge, et quand bien même ces geste sont-ils questionnés, ils finissent -problématiquement- par être adoubé par l'histoire (en extrapolant et amplifiant : on retrouve le vieil adage "bats ta femme, si toi, tu ne sais pas pourquoi, elle le saura"). Pour le lecteur un tant soit peu critique et alerte, il semble justement que le décalage entre le décorum modernisé et les comportements archaïque produit une dissonance qui n'est pas sans fécondité mentale, par art du contraste (ces gestes apparaissent potentiellement d'autant plus choquants qu'ils se situent dans un cadre moderne, supposé plus aseptisé, compréhensif et bienveillant).

L'histoire en elle-même traite de sujet intemporels : deuil, éducation, travail, amour... Ce qui peut expliquer la facilité de transposition, d'ailleurs. Mais à ce titre, Chiisakobé, malgré quelques éléments incongrus (le domicile du charpentier devient un refuge pour plusieurs orphelins hauts en couleurs, ce qu'on imagine plus aisément dans une période d'après-guerre, ou de crises, qu'au XXIème siècle), se contente de souvent de déplier des schémas bien connus : problèmes de dettes à surmonter (et ils le seront... par ellipse), deuil à digérer et, principalement, un triangle amoureux, qui nous place bien d'avantage du côté de la jeune Ritsu, sorte de mère d'adoption des enfants du foyer, femme dévouée à l'entretien et aux tâches domestiques, plutôt que de celui de la belle Yuko, femme plus dynamique ayant clairement le béguin pour notre Hipster en chef. Là encore, le tout se suit sans prendre de gros risque, avec une vision encore assez passéiste (in fine, le choix se porte sur la femme au foyer plutôt que sur son pendant plus indépendant). Malgré tout, par son trait délicat, assez sensuel dans sa manière d'ancrer (encrer?) les corps grâciles, et par de légères touches d'humour, bien trop timides, on finit cette courte saga sans non plus trop souffrir. Avec tout de même un sentiment de vacuité relative, mais bon.

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Poll: Chiisakobee Chapter 1 Discussion SabreDrago - Dec 15, 2022	0 replies	by SabreDrago »» Dec 15, 2022 8:09 AM
Poll: Chiisakobee Chapter 44 Discussion Dessssy - Aug 19, 2020	0 replies	by Dessssy »» Aug 19, 2020 6:49 AM
Poll: Chiisakobee Chapter 24 Discussion Dessssy - Jan 12, 2020	0 replies	by Dessssy »» Jan 12, 2020 9:55 AM
Poll: Chiisakobee Chapter 22 Discussion Dessssy - Dec 29, 2019	0 replies	by Dessssy »» Dec 29, 2019 8:24 AM
Poll: Chiisakobee Chapter 19 Discussion Dessssy - Dec 8, 2019	0 replies	by Dessssy »» Dec 8, 2019 1:41 PM

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