Apprentice Nail Artist in a Foreign Land Manga Announces Anime Adaptation
Shufu to Seikatsu Sha has announced that Marukawa’s manga Apprentice Nail Artist in a Foreign Land (Ikyō no Tsumenuri Minarai) is getting an anime. No details about the format were given alongside the announcement.
The manga launched in the publisher’s Comic PASH! magazine in 2022. The fifth compiled volume came out in January 2025, and the sixth volume followed shortly after. The premise is built around Keiko Sahara, an office worker who spends her spare time designing gel nails, who finds herself transported to a world where a person’s magical power flows directly from their nail art. A skilled magic nail artist recognizes her talent and takes her on as an apprentice, setting her on a new path far from anything she imagined back home.
It is a cozy, creative spin on the isekai formula — one where the hero’s real world skill is a quiet hobby rather than a combat ability, which gives the story a gentler, more personal feel.
Tokyopop has licensed the manga in English and is planning to release the first volume on April 7, 2026.
My take: Isekai stories centered on everyday skills and crafts tend to have a warmth that the more action focused ones sometimes lack. A story built around nail art as a form of magic feels genuinely fresh, and I am curious to see how the anime brings that visual creativity to life on screen.
