Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki
Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki, also known as The Low Tier Character "Tomozaki-kun", is a Japanese light novel series written by Yūki Yaku and illustrated by Fly. Shogakukan has published the series since May 2016 under their Gagaga Bunko imprint. A manga adaptation with art by Eight Chida was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga magazine Monthly Gangan Joker from December 2017 to February 2021. It has been collected in six volumes. The light novel is licensed in North America by Yen Press. An anime television series adaptation produced by Project No.9 aired from January to March 2021. A second season aired from January to March 2024.
Plot
Fumiya Tomozaki is a high school student who is on top of the leaderboards of the popular online game Attack Families under the in-game handle "nanashi". A social outcast, he regards Attack Families as a "godly game" that has perfect balance where equal amounts of effort is rewarded with equal amounts of success. In contrast, he considers real life to be a "trash game". One day following a match against the number two player "NO NAME", they agree to meet in person. When they do so, Tomozaki is surprised to find out NO NAME is actually a classmate of his named Aoi Hinami. Taken aback that Tomozaki is nanashi, Hinami decides to help him overcome his issues.Characters
;Fumiya Tomozaki;Aoi Hinami
;Minami Nanami
;Fūka Kikuchi
;Hanabi Natsubayashi
;Yuzu Izumi
;Takahiro Mizusawa
;Shūji Nakamura
;Takei
;Erika Konno
;Tsugumi Narita
Media
Light novels
Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki is written by Yūki Yaku and illustrated by Fly. Shogakukan began publishing the series under their Gagaga Bunko imprint on May 18, 2016. Eleven volumes have been released as of January 18, 2024.Yen Press has licensed the series in North America. The first volume was published on July 30, 2019. The English translation was done by Winifred Bird. Starting with volume 9, the novels were translated by Jennifer Ward.
Manga
A manga adaptation illustrated by Eight Chida was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Gangan Joker from December 22, 2017, to February 22, 2021. Its chapters were collected in six tankōbon volumes. The manga adaptation is licensed digitally in North America by Comikey.A spin-off manga series, illustrated by Bana Yoshida, titled Minami Nanami Wants to Shine, started in Shogakukan's MangaONE app and Monthly Sunday Gene-X magazine on July 18, 2020. The series focuses on the character Minami Nanami. It finished in Monthly Sunday Gene-X on January 19, 2023. Its chapters were collected in three tankōbon volumes. The series is also licensed in English by Yen Press.
Volumes
''Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki''
''Minami Nanami Wants to Shine''
Anime
An anime adaptation was announced by Yūki Yaku and Gagaga Bunko on October 11, 2019, which was later confirmed to be a television series on March 21, 2020. The series was animated by Project No.9 and directed by Shinsuke Yanagi, with Fumihiko Shimo handling series composition, and Akane Yano designing the characters. Hiromi Mizutani composed the music.The 12-episode series aired from January 8 to March 26, 2021, on AT-X, Tokyo MX, and BS11. The opening theme song is "Life Easy?", while the ending theme song is "Ayafuwa Asterisk", both performed by Dialogue+. An OVA is bundled with the third Blu-ray and DVD volume of the series, which was released on May 7, 2021. Another OVA is bundled with the fourth Blu-ray and DVD volume of the series, which was released on June 2, 2021.
Funimation licensed the series and streamed it on its website in North America and the British Isles, in Europe through Wakanim, and in Australia and New Zealand through AnimeLab. On March 11, 2021, Funimation announced the series would receive an English dub, with the first episode premiering the next day. Following Sony's acquisition of Crunchyroll, the series was moved to Crunchyroll. In Southeast Asia, the series has been simulcast on Aniplus Asia.
On January 14, 2022, it was announced that a new anime project was green-lit, which was later confirmed to be a 13-episode second season, titled Bottom-tier Character Tomozaki 2nd Stage, with the cast and staff from the previous season reprising their roles. It aired from January 3 to March 27, 2024. The opening theme song is "Easy? Hard? But Let's Move On!", while the ending theme song is "Because It's Not Someone", both performed again by Dialogue+. Part of the story in the fourth volume of the novel series was trimmed to leave more time for the story afterwards.