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 behaviours that are obviously illogical. Portrayals of surre ...

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) 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 prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

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 extensively ...

. It was serialized in

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was poss ...

's '' Comic Cune'' magazine from January 26, 2019 to November 26, 2023. The first ''

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or m ...

'' volume was published in Japan on February 28, 2020, while the last was released on January 26, 2024.

Plot

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

hikikomori , also known as acute social withdrawal, is total withdrawal from society and seeking extreme degrees of social isolation and confinement. ''Hikikomori'' refers to both the phenomenon in general and the recluses themselves. ''Hikikomori'' ha ...

who decides to attend high school. As she gets ready for school, however, 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, an ...

(a type of mushroom) sprouting from her head. At school, Shijima befriends Majime Yamashita, a girl sporting a fried egg on her head.

Characters

; : (VOMIC) :A former

with shimeji mushrooms growing from her head, who decides to go to school after two years of living in a closet. ; : (VOMIC) :A girl born with a fried egg on her head, who becomes Shijima's first real friend after a prolonged period of self-isolation. ; : (VOMIC) :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. ; :Originally appearing in ''

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 ''tankōbon'' volumes. An English release ...

'', another work by Tsukumizu, Chito and Yuuri have a cameo in ''Shimeji Simulation''. Yuuri is a convenience store worker, and both girls happen to live in the same apartment complex as Shijima.

Publication

''Shimeji Simulation'' is written and illustrated by

. The series ran in

's '' Comic Cune'' 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 Dwango franchises Seinen manga Surreal comedy anime and manga Yonkoma {{manga-stub