Gaku Tanigaki Launches the Manga Takami no Takami-san

The 45th issue of Shueisha’s Young Jump revealed on Thursday that Gaku Tanigaki is launching a new manga, Takami no Takami-san, which translates roughly to Takami in the Heights. It begins on Shueisha’s Tonari no Young Jump website on Friday.

The series grows out of an earlier one shot by Tanigaki about a window cleaner, which debuted on the same site over the summer and clearly struck enough of a chord to become a full serialization.

The story follows Arai, a former high school teacher who takes a new job at a building cleaning company, spending his days washing skyscraper windows from an aerial work platform high above the city.

Showing him the ropes is Takami, a younger co worker who is nonetheless his senior on the job, setting up a fun dynamic between the two as he learns the trade.

Tanigaki has experience with grounded, character driven work, having previously handled the manga adaptation of Mitsuo Iso’s The Orbital Children.

My take: A workplace story set hundreds of feet up on the side of a skyscraper is a wonderfully specific premise. I love manga that find drama and warmth in unusual jobs, so this one has my curiosity.