My Boy (manga)
My Boy is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by. It was first serialized in Futabasha's Monthly Action from December 2015 to December 2017. It was then transferred to Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine, being serialized from May 2018 to October 2020. In North America, the manga is licensed for English release by Vertical.
Plot
One spring, Satoko Tawada, a 30-year-old office worker for a sports manufacturer in Tokyo, meets a 12-year-old elementary school student named Mashu Hayami in a park near her home and teaches him soccer. Around the same time, she is invited out for drinks by her boss and former lover Fumitaka Shiikawa. Satoko accepts the invitation but is introduced to Shiikawa's fiancé in her seat. Shocked by Shiikawa's treatment, Satoko cries in front of Mashu, who comforts her. On the other hand, Mashu has a complicated family situation, and they come to interact outside of soccer practice. When Mashu's father finds out about their relationship, he is angry and asks Satoko's employer to punish her, and she is transferred to a branch office in Sendai.Two years after her transfer, Satoko celebrates her 33rd birthday. That night, she happens to reunite with Mashu, who is in Sendai for his junior high school trip. Mashu gives her his contact information, and the two begin to interact again. Satoko is then asked by Shiikawa to join the project team he set up, and she decides to return to Tokyo.
The night of Satoko's return to Tokyo, Mashu confesses to her but is rejected on the basis that they are adult and child. Mashu is depressed but receives advice from Mayuko, Satoko's younger sister, and decides to face Satoko again. On the other hand, Satoko is driven by desire to improve Mashu's home environment but finds out that it improved once he entered junior high school. Satoko realizes that her desire to save Mashu was a pretext, and she really just wanted to be by his side.
Characters
;Satoko Tawada;Mashu Hayami
;Fumitaka Shiikawa
;Nao Ogata
;Mayuko Tawada
Publication
Written and illustrated by, My Boy was serialized in Futabasha's Monthly Action from December 25, 2015, to December 25, 2017. In April 2018, it was announced that the series would be transferred to Kodansha's Weekly Young Magazine, starting on May 28 of the same year, and despite being serialized in a weekly magazine, it would keep its monthly basis release. The manga finished on October 26, 2020. Futabasha collected its chapters in four volumes, released from June 11, 2016, to December 12, 2017. Kodansha re-released these four volumes between June 6 and October 5, 2018, and published the ninth and final volume on December 4, 2020.In North America, Vertical announced the English release of the manga in July 2017. The nine volumes were released from April 10, 2018, to May 10, 2022.