Slow Start (manga)


Slow Start is a Japanese four-panel manga series by Yuiko Tokumi, serialized in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara since 2013. It has been collected into thirteen volumes. A 12-episode anime television series adaptation by CloverWorks aired between January 7 and March 25, 2018.

Premise

Following an unfortunately timed case of the mumps, middle school student Hana Ichinose ends up missing all of her high school exams. Unable to stay in her hometown, Hana moves into her cousin's apartment building and spends a gap year as a "middle school rōnin", before finally attending high school a year later than planned. The series follows Hana as she spends time with her new friends, Eiko, Kamuri, and Tamate, without letting on that she is a year older than them.

Characters

Main characters

;Hana Ichinose
;Tamate Momochi
;Kamuri Sengoku
;Eiko Tokura
;Hiroe Hannen
;Shion Kyōzuka
;Kiyose Enami

Classmates

;Amane Ōtani
;Maho Ogano
;Nanae Takahashi
;Sachi Tsubakimori

Second and third year students

;Kasane Oku
;Tsuzuri Chōno
;Tsukuru Mizohata

Family members

;Kyōzuka
;Hazuki Ichinose
;Takeru Ichinose
;Miki Tokura
;Saeko Tokura
;Yōji Tokura
;Takako
;Fumi
;Sengoku
;Nishiki Sengoku

Media

Manga

The manga series by Yuiko Tokumi began serialization in Houbunsha's manga magazine Manga Time Kirara in 2013. As of November 2025, the series has been compiled into thirteen volumes. An anthology comic was released on February 27, 2018.

Anime

An anime television series adaptation, directed by Hiroyuki Hashimoto and produced by CloverWorks, aired in Japan between January 7 and March 25, 2018. Mio Inoue supervised the series' scripts and Masato Yasuno designed the characters. The opening theme is "ne! ne! ne!" by STARTails☆ and the ending theme is "Kaze no Koe wo Kikinagara" by Sangatsu no Phantasia. Aniplex of America have licensed the anime and are streaming it on Crunchyroll. The series ran for 12 episodes.
No.TitleOriginal air date

Video game

Characters from the series appear alongside other Manga Time Kirara characters in the 2018 mobile RPG, Kirara Fantasia.

Reception

had four editors review the first episode of the anime: James Beckett commended the pastel colors and intricate character animation for making up the overall aesthetics to appeal to its target audience but was heavily critical of the thin setup and bland characters being similar to every other all-girl slice-of-life series; Rebecca Silverman saw some promise in the series due to Tomomi Mineuchi's performance as Eiko and an exploration into Hana's backstory and shy personality but felt the premise was put behind in favor of overly cute girls talking and having nonsensical adventures, calling it "the palest of several similar shows to debut thus far" in the season; Theron Martin gave credit to director Hiroyuki Hashimoto for competently adapting a piece of fluff with an intriguing gimmick involving Hana's situation but felt it was a lesser offering in comparison to similarly, stronger-themed slice-of-life shows filling the season. Lynzee Loveridge expressed disappointment at the characters' uninteresting conversation topics and saccharine art style. Following the first episode, Vrai Kraiser of Anime Feminist wrote that the emphasis on conversations about the mundane detracted from the series' themes about the difficulty of making friends anew.
The anime has received generally mixed to positive reviews on popular user-based review aggregation platforms. On MyAnimeList, the series holds a rating of 7/10, with user reviews holding praise for the animation quality but criticizing the lack of character depth and plot. On Crunchyroll, the series holds a rating of 4.5/5, and on IMDb a 6.2/10, with similar user reviews.