Live Action Tokyo Tarareba Girls Comes to Netflix October 22

Manga creator Akiko Higashimura shared on X last week that the live action series based on her manga Tokyo Tarareba Girls is coming to Netflix. It begins streaming on October 22 across the United States, Europe, and Asia, and the show is already listed on the service.

Kodansha USA publishes the original manga in English. It follows Rinko, a woman who spent years wondering what if, only to look up one day and realize she is thirty three and single. She sets her heart on being married by the time the Tokyo Olympics arrive, though that proves far easier said than done. The story is known for its sharp, funny take on adult life and relationships.

This live action adaptation first premiered back in 2017 and was followed by a television special in 2020, so its arrival on Netflix gives a wider audience a chance to discover it.

Higashimura ran the original manga in Kodansha’s Kiss from 2014 to 2017, later adding side story chapters collected as Tokyo Tarareba Girls Returns, and then a second series with a new protagonist, a part time library worker, that ran from 2019 to 2021.

The manga’s quality has been recognized internationally too, winning a Will Eisner Comic Industry Award in 2019 for its English edition.

My take: Higashimura has such a witty, honest voice when it comes to grown up worries about love and ambition. A wider Netflix release is great news, since this is a story that deserves to find more readers and viewers.