I was drawn to pick up this manga after reading this Unshelved.com review; got this one at Barnes and Noble. Looks to be a quiet slice-of-life story about a young calligrapher who moves to a remote village.

Later: Slice-of-life, yes; quiet, not so much! Oh, the village is tiny, and there's no big-city bustle, but from the moment he arrives young Seishuu is beset by a high-energy and very curious little kid named Naru, who's not pleased that he's taking up residence in the empty house that she and her friends had been using for a clubhouse.

All sorts of entertaining fish-out-of-water situations ensue as Seishuu makes the acquaintance of the other residents and tries to work out a manageable relationship with the irrepressible Naru and her friends. Later in the book he meets Hiroshi, a teenager who's having trouble in school and has a strong dislike for doing what his parents tell him. He and Seishuu get off to a difficult start - when Hiroshi, grumbling all the way, takes some food to Seishuu's house, Seishuu pretty much faints in his arms from overwork. When Hiroshi realizes that Seishuu's success did not come easily, it looks as if he might rethink his own attitude towards studying - though not chores, as Hiroshi wants his family to stop delivering food to Seishuu. Our hero's OK with this until he finds out how very bad he is at cooking, and Hiroshi's reaction to all this amused me very much indeed.

The series has just begun and I already like these people a lot - even though I'm sure the hyperactive kids would drive me batty in no time if they kept bursting in on ME like that!

[There's a TV Tropes page on the series.]

See also Volume 2.

I'm sending this book to BCer HI77 in Florida as part of a trade. Enjoy!

Rubbing and from his eyes,

the sea sparkles
bright a child's smile.