Sundome
Sundome is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Kazuto Okada. It was serialized in Akita Shoten's manga magazine Young Champion from 2006 to 2009, with its chapters collected in eight volumes. It was adapted into four live-action films released from 2007 to 2009 and two more released in 2017. A live-action television drama miniseries was released in 2023. The manga is licensed in North America for English release by Yen Press.
Plot
The story is centered on a 15-year-old high school student named Hideo Aiba, a member of a school club called the Roman Club. The story centers around his transactional relationship with a girl named Kurumi Sahana. Most of the events begin as an outing of the Roman Club. Occasionally, Hideo will be out on his own with Kurumi. This is usually at night, serving to contrast the playful daytime events.Characters
;Hideo Aiba;Kurumi Sahana
;Katsu Toshitsuku
;Tatsuya Yatsu
;Ex-president
;Kyouko
;The O.B.
;Yasu
Media
Manga
Sundome is written and illustrated by Kazuto Okada. It was serialized in Akita Shoten's manga magazine Young Champion from May 23, 2006, to October 13, 2009. Eight bound volumes of the manga have been released by Akita Shoten between November 20, 2006, and November 20, 2009. It has been licensed in English by Yen Press, which released the volumes between January 2008 and December 2010. It has also been licensed in Taiwan by Ever Glory Publishing and in Spain by Editorial Ivrea.Film
The manga was adapted into four films. All the films are directed by Daigo Udagawa. The first film premiered in Japanese cinemas on November 20, 2007. The first film was released on a DVD on December 21, 2007, the second DVD on March 23, 2008, the third DVD on December 22, 2008, and the fourth DVD on November 6, 2009. The box set containing all four movies was released on November 6, 2009. Two other films, titled Sundome New and Sundome New 2, were released in April 2017.Drama
A live-action television drama miniseries was announced on October 17, 2023. It is directed by Kenichi Kudan with scripts written by Cha Kondō. All six episodes premiered on Abema TV on November 1, 2023.Reception
Manga Worth Readings Ed Sizemore commends the first volume's artwork saying, "Where it really stands out is in the emotionally intense moments. Here Okada uses true blacks and darker greys to really contrast these panels with the normal narrative panels. It’s an effective device that intuitively lets the reader know something significant is happening. Also, Okada is an excellent cheesecake artist. This is best seen in those moments when Hideo is awash in desire as he is looking at Sahana. Okada draws her in such a way that we can feel his desire as well." A review of the second volume by Sizemore commented on the "difficult, almost stomach-churning" relationship between Kurumi and Hideo. He further commented that Hideo "reminds me of the Mark Heard lyric, "You will weather well, in a climate of love." I can't help but hope that he will rises from the ashes of this relationship. I want him to make friends with people who will genuinely care for him and nurture him to become a well-rounded, well-adjusted man". Sizemore commented that "the Roman club is a twisted version of Genshiken for its members". He also commends Okada's artwork, stating that he is "a master of communicating emotional content. Not just the simple emotions of happiness and sadness, but even the complex emotions of desire, pensiveness, gentleness, and frustration. In volume three, we get to see him be visually playful when drawing the student council president and his many exaggerated facial expressions". On the fifth volume, Sizemore commented "I love the scene where Katsu is showing Kyouko how to get to the next level of a game. It's refreshing and cute to see them bond like that". Kevin Leathers reviewing for the UK Anime Network criticizes the artwork for exaggerating "certain aspects of the body". He commented that the artwork of the manga "seem to take cues from series like GTO and every other manga that has characters drawn in over the top ways to show how crazy they are acting". Comic Book Resourcess Danielle Leigh commented on the manga's art, saying " is very disturbing since Kurumi really is just a young adolescent girl and Hideo a very young man — seeing them depicted so graphically bothers me, but what bothers me more is knowing this comics' primary goal is to titillate its audience through these depictions, and because I think it does do more than that I can't simply dismiss it because I dislike its sexualized representations of young adults". Pop Culture Shocks Erin Finnegan criticizes the manga by saying "I found the book neither funny nor titillating. Everything is toned too dark, and the characters designs are unappealing". Jason Thompson, in his online appendix to Manga: The Complete Guide, states that the manga is "like a porn film which never quite gets to the money shot". He further commented that "love comedy fans will shy away from the general mood of degradation, not to mention the grotesque art, but to its credit the manga never pretends to be cute; it's florid sex-obsession and adolescent angst from beginning to end, and gradually it turns into a psychodrama about Kurumi's upbringing and the connection between these two lonely souls".The Japan Timess Mark Schilling condemns the first Sundome film for trying to be a pink film by illustrating "its fetishistic eroticism and raunchy sense of humor" through "Atsushi Ninomiya as the hugely frustrated hero, behave as much as possible like the manga originals, which involves much exaggerated posing, moaning, howling and other hormone-driven behavior".