Living for the Day After Tomorrow (あさっての方向.) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by J-ta Yamada. The manga was serialized in Mag Garden's magazine Comic Blade Masamune between March 3, 2005 and June 15, 2007; five bound volumes were released in Japan. The manga was adapted into an anime series produced by J.C.Staff, which aired in Japan between October and December 2006. The story is about a young girl who grows older into an adult, and an adult woman who becomes younger, turning into a child. The anime is licensed by Sentai Filmworks, and a complete series boxset was distributed by Section23 Films on DVD on April 13, 2010.

Plot

Asatte no Hōkō follows the lives of Karada Iokawa, a young girl who is set to join junior high school after summer is over, and Shōko Nogami, a young woman who has just returned from studying abroad, who also happens to be the former girlfriend of Karada's older brother. The day Shōko returns, she is dragged by Karada to the beach with her brother and a couple of their friends since she used to know Karada's brother Hiro several years before. After becoming irritated with Hiro for leaving her alone in the United States, she purposefully tells Karada that her ribbons are childish. This upsets her greatly because she doesn't like to be treated as a child. Later that same day, Karada is found by Shōko praying at a shrine, wishing to become older. Amazingly, Karada's wish becomes true and she instantly transforms into a young woman. Incidentally, Shōko then has her adulthood taken away from her and she reverts to about eleven years old.

Characters

Media

Manga

The manga series is written and illustrated by J-ta Yamada and was serialized from March 3, 2005 to June 15, 2007 in Mag Garden's monthly Comic Blade Masamune magazine, and spanned five volumes, with the final volume released on September 9, 2007. Compared to the anime adapted from it, the manga includes more personal drama between the leads, and introduces several more characters who are also vying for the Wishing Stone. It also clarifies several points which are left ambiguous in the anime, such as the precise nature of the relationship between Hiro and Karada.

Anime

An anime adaptation was produced by J.C.Staff and directed by Katsushi Sakurabi. The broadcast started in Japan between October 5 and December 21, 2006 on TBS. It made its Animax Asia debut on January 2, 2009 under the title Living for the Day After Tomorrow with an English dub. The series is licensed by Sentai Filmworks, and a complete series box set was distributed by Section23 Films on DVD on April 13, 2010. Two pieces of theme music were used for the anime; one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme is "Hikari no Kisetsu" (光の季節) by Suara and the ending theme is "Sweet Home Song" (スイートホームソング) by Yūmao. Two image song albums were released sung by the voice actresses from the anime. The first album was released on December 6, 2006 featuring songs by Ayumi Fujimura (who voiced Karada Iokawa); while most of the album is by Ayumi Fujimura, the last song, "Namida Gumo", is sung by Suara. The second image song album followed by January 11, 2007 with songs by Shizuka Itō (who voiced Shōko Nogami); both albums were released by Lantis in Japan.

Episodes