is a Japanese four-panel

surreal comedy Surreal humour (also called surreal comedy, absurdist humour, or absurdist comedy) is a form of humour predicated on deliberate violations of causal reasoning, thus producing events and behaviors that are obviously illogical. Portrayals of s ...

manga are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...

series written and illustrated by

Tsukumizu is a pseudonymous Japanese manga artist. Their notable works include the post-apocalyptic ''iyashikei'' manga ''Girls' Last Tour'' and the four-panel surreal comedy manga '' Shimeji Simulation''. Biography Tsukumizu had been reading extensiv ...

. It was serialized in

Media Factory , formerly known as , was a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History The company was founded on December 1, 1986, and was a subsidiary of Recruit (Japanese company), Recruit Co., Ltd., based in Shibuya, Tokyo. ...

's ''

Comic Cune is a Japanese seinen manga magazine which mainly serializes 4-koma manga published by Media Factory. The magazine originally began to be published as a supplement 4-koma magazine in Comic Alive in October 2014 but in June 2015, the publisher an ...

'' magazine from January 2019 to November 2023 and compiled into five ''

tankōbon A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...

'' volumes.

Plot

''Shimeji Simulation'' follows Shijima Tsukishima, a former

hikikomori ''Hikikomori'' (, "pulling inward, being confined") are reclusive adolescents or adults who withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement. The term refers to both the sociological phenomenon in gener ...

who decides to attend high school after spending two years in her closet. As she gets ready for school, she finds

shimeji ''Shimeji'' (Japanese: , or ) is a group of edible mushrooms native to East Asia, but also found in northern Europe. ''Hon-shimeji ( Lyophyllum shimeji'') is a mycorrhizal fungus and difficult to cultivate. Other species are saprotrophs, and ...

mushrooms have sprouted from her head. Later, at school, Shijima is approached by Majime Yamashita, a girl with a fried egg on her own head, which she says she was born with. The two bond while more strange events happen in their town.

Characters

; : (voice comic) :A former

with shimeji mushrooms growing from her head, who decides to go to school after two years of living in a closet. ; : (voice comic) :A girl born with a fried egg on her head, who becomes Shijima's first real friend after a prolonged period of self-isolation. ; : (voice comic) :Shijima's unnamed sister who dropped out of university and is currently conducting mysterious research. She is Shijima's sole caretaker and helps her study for her high school entrance exams. ; :One of the teachers in Shijima's school. Her subject is art, and she serves as the curator of the Hole-Digging Club. She is a known alcoholic. ; :A second-year student and member of the Hole-Digging Club. Due to her lack of social skills, Sumida communicates by writing in a sketchbook that she always carries with her. ; :A third-year student and member of the Hole-Digging Club. She has a book on her head, which represents her hobby as an avid reader. ;Shijima's neighbors :Two unnamed characters that live in the same apartment complex as Shijima. They are cameos of Chito and Yuuri, the main characters of Tsukumizu's previous work ''

Girls' Last Tour is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Tsukumizu. It was serialized monthly through Shinchosha's ''Kurage Bunch'' manga website from February 2014 to January 2018 and collected in six volumes. An English release of the manga ...

''. Yuuri's counterpart is a convenience store worker.

Publication

''Shimeji Simulation'' is written and illustrated by

. The series ran in

's ''

'' magazine from January 26, 2019 to November 26, 2023. The first volume was released on February 28, 2020, and the last on January 26, 2024.

Volume list

Reception

Jacob Parker-Dalton of ''Otaquest'' calls Shimeji Simulation a continuation of the imaginativeness of

, and compares the dour/dashing dynamic between Shijima and Majime to Chito and Yuuri in a May 2020 review. Matthew England of ''CBR,'' meanwhile, ranks it as number eight on their list of ''5 Manga That Need An Anime Adaptation (& 5 That You Didn't Know Already Have One).''

References

External links

* Media Factory manga Kadokawa Corporation franchises Seinen manga Surreal comedy anime and manga Yonkoma {{manga-stub