is a Japanese four-panel manga series by Quro, serialized in

Houbunsha is a Japanese publishing company founded on July 10, 1950. It is based in Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo. Magazines published by Houbunsha *''Weekly Manga Times'' *''Hana Oto'' *'' Comic Fuz'' Manga Time magazines *'' Manga Time'' *'' Manga Time Original'' ...

's ''seinen'' manga magazine ''

Manga Time Kirara Carat is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Houbunsha and mainly consisting of four-panel comic strips. The first issue was released on 18 January 2003. List of serialized titles * * *''Bad Girl'' * * * * * * *''H・R'' * *''Harumaki!'' * ...

'' since January 2017. It has been collected in four ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

'' volumes. An

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

television series adaptation by

Doga Kobo is a Japanese animation studio formed by former Toei Animation members Hideo Furusawa and Megumu Ishiguro, located in Nerima, Tokyo, Japan. The studio was established on July 11, 1973, and has been involved in the production of a large number of ...

aired from January to March 2020.

Story

During her childhood, a girl named Mira Konohata befriends Ao Manaka, who she believes is a boy, and makes a promise with Ao to discover an asteroid. Upon entering high school, Mira joins the earth sciences club, a merger of the school's astronomy and geology clubs, and reunites with Ao, who she discovers is actually a girl. Alongside their fellow club members, Mira and Ao take part in various astronomical and geological activities in the hopes of one day discovering an asteroid.

Characters

; : :The

main protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the story, who joins the earth sciences club in her first year and becomes vice-president in her second year. She took an interest in astronomy after meeting Ao as a child and is determined to discover an asteroid with her. ; : :An astronomy fanatic who was initially mistaken by Mira to be a boy when she was a child. She becomes the club's treasurer in her second year, when she also moves in with Mira to fulfill her dream with her while her parents are away. ; : :Earth sciences club member and former member of the geology club, nicknamed "Ino-senpai", who becomes the new club president after Mari steps down. She has a crush on Ibe. ; : :Vice-president of the earth sciences club before graduation and former president of the geology club, nicknamed "Sakura". ; : :President of the earth sciences club before graduation and former president of the astronomy club, nicknamed "Monroe-senpai". She aspires to become an astronaut. ; : :Mira's childhood friend, known as Suzu for short. She is particularly fond of girls and has a crush on Misa. Her family owns a bakery. ; : :Advisor for the earth sciences club. ; : :A girl who joins the club in Mira's second year, nicknamed "Nana". She wishes to pursue meteorology to help others after seeing her aunt suffer from flood damage. ; : :Mikage's younger sister, nicknamed Chika, who joins the club after Mikage graduates. She shares her sister's enthusiasm for geology. ; : :Mira's older sister who is student council president until she graduates. ; : :Suzu's younger sister. ; : :President of the newspaper club and Mai's friend, who prefers to be called "Eve". ; : :Newspaper club member and Ao's classmate.

Media

Manga

Anime

television series adaptation was announced in the April issue of ''

'' on February 28, 2019. The series was animated by

and directed by Daisuke Hiramaki, with Yuka Yamada handling series composition, and Jun Yamazaki designing the characters. Takurō Iga composed the series' music. It aired from January 3 to March 27, 2020 on AT-X,

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

SUN The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this energy mainly as light, ultraviolet, and infrared radi ...

, KBS,

TVA The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a Federal government of the United States, federally owned electric utility corporation in the United States. TVA's service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, an ...

, and BS11.

Nao Tōyama is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with the agency Intention. Before joining Intention, she was affiliated with Arts Vision. She debuted as a voice actress in 2010, and played her first leading role as Kanon Nakagawa in ''The Worl ...

performed the series' opening theme song , while

Minori Suzuki is a Japanese voice actress and singer affiliated with E-Stone Music. She started her career after passing an audition for the role of Freyja Wion in the 2016 anime television series ''Macross Delta'', beating 8,000 other auditionees for the r ...

performed the series' ending theme song . It ran for 12 episodes. Crunchyroll simulcasted the series with English subtitles, while

Funimation Crunchyroll, LLC, previously known as Funimation from 1994 to 2022, is an American entertainment company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony as a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex that specializes ...

began streaming an English dub on March 6, 2020.

Video game

Characters from the series appear alongside other ''

Manga Time Kirara is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Houbunsha which mainly serializes four-panel manga. The magazine is sold on the ninth of each month and was first published as a special edition of ''Manga Time'', another Houbunsha magazine, on M ...

'' characters in the 2020 mobile RPG, ''

Kirara Fantasia is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Houbunsha which mainly serializes four-panel manga. The magazine is sold on the ninth of each month and was first published as a special edition of ''Manga Time'', another Houbunsha magazine, on M ...

''.

Reception

Faye Hopper of Anime News Network noted that the show has "fundamental cuteness" but criticized for not having enough to sustain all the episodes. She further stated that Ao and Mira are "in the same position" at the end of the series as they were at the beginning, describing the connections between Ao and Mira as shallow. She specifically noted that the viewers "never understand how much Ao and Mira matter to each other," saying it never digs deep into the relationships between characters.

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Asteroid in Love Anime series based on manga AT-X (TV network) original programming Crunchyroll anime Doga Kobo Houbunsha manga Muse Communication Seinen manga Slice of life anime and manga Yonkoma