is a Japanese comedy

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series by Honda, serialized online via '' pixiv Comic'' website between August 2015 and March 2019. It was collected in four ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes by

Media Factory , formerly known as , was a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History The company was founded on December 1, 1986, and was a subsidiary of Recruit (Japanese company), Recruit Co., Ltd., based in Shibuya, Tokyo. ...

. The manga is licensed in North America by

Yen Press Yen Press is an American manga, graphic novel and light novel publisher co-owned by Kadokawa Corporation and Hachette Book Group. It published '' Yen Plus'', a monthly comic anthology, between 2008 and 2013. In addition to translated material, ...

. An

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series adaptation by DLE aired from October 8 to December 24, 2018.

Plot

''Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san'' is based on a real-life experience of the author Honda during their days as a bookstore employee. The story follows the life of the staff while explaining how a bookstore works.

Characters

; : :The

title character The title character in a narrative work is one who is named or referred to in the title of the work. In a performed work such as a play or film, the performer who plays the title character is said to have the title role of the piëce. The title o ...

and

narrator Narration is the use of a written or spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. Narration is conveyed by a narrator: a specific person, or unspecified literary voice, developed by the creator of the story to deliver information to the ...

of the story, Honda is drawn with the appearance of a human skeleton wearing a book store uniform. Honda has been working at the book store for 10 years. Being in charge of foreign comics and art books (which is why the boxes containing their books are usually heavy), they are not good at speaking English and will only deal with one English word they know when dealing with foreign customers. ; : :Honda's co-worker who worked earlier before them. He is drawn with a

paper bag A paper bag is a bag made of paper, usually kraft paper. Paper bags can be made either with virgin or recycled fibres to meet customers' demands. Paper bags are commonly used as shopping bag, shopping carrier bags and for packaging of some co ...

covering his head. He is in charge of manga, including ''

yonkoma is a comic strip format that generally consists of gag comic strips within four panels of equal size ordered from top to bottom. They also sometimes run right-to-left horizontally or use a hybrid 2×2 style, depending on the layout requiremen ...

''. Among the workers at the comic section, Honda is his closest friend. ; : :A worker in charge of a girls-oriented section of the store. Hōtai is drawn with bandages covering her face. ; : :A woman who is drawn with a pumpkin head, Lantern is in charge of Shū-E-Sha books. She worked in the store earlier than Honda. ; : :In charge of Kō-D-Sha books, Okitsune is drawn with a ''

kitsune The , in popular Japanese tradition, are foxes or fox spirits that possess supernatural abilities such as shapeshifting, and capable of bewitching people. General overview , though literally a 'fox', becomes in folklore a ' fox spirit', o ...

'' mask on her face. ; : :A worker who is in charge of novels section of the store. She is drawn with ''omote'' mask on her face. ; : :In charge of game guide books. ; : :In charge of Sho-G-Kan books, Fullface is drawn with a full face motorcycle helmet on his head. ; : :In charge of Kadokawa men's comics. ; : ; : ; : :The manager of the store and is in charge of the

boys' love , also known by its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that depicts Homoeroticism, homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it fro ...

section of the store. Armor is drawn with a western war helmet on her face ; : :The Section Chief. A really kind woman drawn wearing a pest mask who gets scary when it's related to book distributors. ; : :Editor of the work's author who actually asked to be called by "Azarashi" in Honda's comic. ; :

Anime

An anime adaptation aired from October 8 to December 24, 2018, on

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV (channel 9), branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent station, independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city and parts ...

and other channels with each episode running for about 15 minutes. It is adapted by studio DLE and directed by Owl Todoroki. Both the opening theme "ISBN~Inner Sound & book’s Narrative~" and the ending theme "Book-end, Happy-end." are written and performed by TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND. The series aired for 12 episodes. On December 13, 2021, it was announced

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. History Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retr ...

will release the anime on Blu-ray in March 2022.

Episode list

Notes

References

External links

Manga website

Anime website - May 2021 archive
* *{{anime News Network, anime, 21115 Anime series based on manga Comedy anime and manga Fiction about skeletons Japanese webcomics Kadokawa Corporation franchises Media Factory manga Shōjo manga Webcomics in print Works set in bookstores Yen Press titles