Holiday Review #16: FRIDAY AT THE ATELIER

Seinen magazines seems to be the place to go these days if you want quirky romance manga starring adults, much like this one.

FRIDAYS AT THE ATELIER (Kinyoubi wa Atelier de), by Sakura Hamada.  First published in 2019 and first published in North America in 2024.

PLOT:

Emiko is so exhausted with her life that she's considering suicide, but then she comes across a man who has tripped in the street, spilling a bag of fish.  The man is Shunsui, an artist, and he believes Emiko to be the perfect model for his work.  That's how she finds herself at his studio, nude and covered in fish.  It's an odd arrangement to be sure, but Emiko usually gets a free meal of freshly cooked fish out of it so that's something.  The longer this goes on, the more Emiko wonders if Shunsui wants more from here than mere modeling...and if she does as well.

STORY:

This is the second manga I've reviewed this month that ran in Harta magazine, and while the premise is still quite quirky this is definitely the more conventional of the two.  At its heart, Friday at the Atelier is a pleasant if somewhat formulaic rom-com about two adults who can't stop talking past one another.

If you were concerned by the references to suicide in that summary, don't be too alarmed.  Emiko's issues are due less to larger mental health issues and more to workplace stress, loneliness, and a rather spacey personality.  For her, this nude modeling gig provides a welcome outlet away from work into her life, along with someone who is mindful of her and provides a regular source of delicious home-cooked meals (mostly fish).  She's not a hard woman to please, and this simplicity combined with her quiet nature seems to stymie the people around her, including Shunsui.

Shunsui a fascinating combination of tsundere and ego.  He clearly has come to care for Emiko and finds her attractive, but he voices his feelings in the most indignant, self-serving sort of way.  It would be a little insufferable if not for the fact that he's so bad at hiding his feelings, frequently blurting them out in the middle of conversations.  The only reason that they haven't started dating is that Emiko is so spacey that his intentions go right over her head.  Theirs is a very odd dynamic and I could see others being put off by Shunsui, but it's not without its charms.

That same dynamic could become the downfall of this series as it goes on.  I got some sensible chuckles out of Emiko and Shunsui's misunderstandings, but the longer these two go without making any sort of romantic progress the greater the chances that the whole series could get stale.  I think Hamada is aware of this to some degree, as late in the volume they introduce Shinsui's manager Hirano as a witness to some of their shenanigans.  I do hope that they maintain that careful balance because I love the silly yet low-key energy of this manga and do want to see where Hamada can take it.

ART:

True to form for a Harta mangaka, there's a vaguely Kaoru Mori-esque look to the character designs, although the resemblance here is mostly limited to the eyes.  The rest of their faces are quite simple in comparison, with just a simple line for the nose and small little flaps for the mouths.  There's plenty of care put into other places like the fashion and the backgrounds, but the real standout is Emiko herself.  She possesses a gentle, limpid beauty with long hair and curves that certainly evokes the rolling of waves.  You certainly see them in all their naked glory from a variety of angles, but Hamada never gets lurid or voyeuristic about it.  As such, these moments feel as sensual as they are meant to be for Shunsui (since Emiko herself has zero self-consciousness about her body).

The only real downside is that Hamada's panels are rather small.  Thus, most of this volume is just page after page of close-ups as Emiko and Shunsei talk to one another.  They're well-composed so it never feels chaotic or claustrophobic, but it made me wish this series would open up visually as our lead couple get closer to one another.

RATING:

Like Emiko herself, Friday at the Atelier has an unpretentious, oddball sort of charm.  I don't know if it'll be to everyone's taste and I wish the art was a little more impressive, but it's certainly a pleasant diversion.

This manga is published by Yen Press.  This series is complete in Japan with 4 volumes available.  2 volumes have been released and are currently in print.

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