Asobi Asobase (あそびあそばせ) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Rin Suzukawa. It began serialization on Hakusensha's Young Animal Densi website in June 2015; it has also been published in Young Animal since November 2016 and finished in November 2022. Its chapters have been collected in fifteen tankōbon volumes. An anime television series adaptation by Lerche aired in Japan from July to September 2018.
Plot
The series centers on Hanako Honda, Olivia and Kasumi Nomura, second-year students at an all-girls middle school and the only three members of the Pastimers Club, a not officially recognized club. The club has very ambiguous goals, usually consisting of whatever so-called "pastimes" the girls happen to think up.
Hanako is Olivia and Kasumi's classmate who is extremely energetic, dragging both of them into her pace by playing strange games at school. Despite her childish nature, she is shown to be highly intelligent in her academics and is a natural talent in sports, although she has no interest in them. Her family is shown to be wealthy, having a butler and being able to obtain objects upon request.
Olivia is Hanako and Kasumi's classmate who pretends to be an American transfer student despite having been born and raised in Japan with foreign parents. Thus, she pretends to speak in broken Japanese to keep her image while gradually getting better to solidify her act.
Kasumi is Olivia and Hanako's classmate who dislikes playing games due to her sister's constant teasing when she was younger. She is very bad at English. She enjoys writing BL fantasies, though ironically, she is extremely androphobic.
Chisato is a female teacher who is blackmailed into becoming the advisor for the Pastimers Club. She often feels downhearted over not being able to find a husband.
Maeda is Hanako's family butler. Due to being probed by aliens, he is capable of firing laser beams out of his butt. He can quickly build or procure any item that Hanako asks for, from an inflatable kiddie pool to a robot that speaks in pre-programmed English phrases.
She is a quiet, bespectacled girl whose real name has not been revealed. Despite her timid demeanor, she managed to win her position anyway due to her vice president's speech that sounded threatening to the rest of the student body. She constantly throws up procedural barriers for the Pastimers Club, and wavers between trying to be friends with them or undermining their club. She also has a habit of seeming terrifying and condescending when she is actually trying to be compassionate.
Nicknamed "Agrippa" (アグリッパ, Agurippa), Aguri is Oka's fellow member in the Occult Research Club. She was temporarily out of school for medical reasons.
Tsugumi is a classmate who the Pastimers suspect of being an otokonoko, especially after Olivia overheard Tsugumi breaks up with a boy saying that they have the same thing down there. This led the group to go to great lengths to find out if Tsugumi is really a boy who infiltrated the all-girls school. Tsugumi, being all too aware of their intentions, enjoys teasing the club in return, especially Kasumi.
Takayanagi is the school guidance councilor who is rather manly in appearance. She has an equally manly younger sister in her third year who is president of the Swimming Club.
Olivia's older brother, he is an otaku who has two PhDs.
Media
Manga
Asobi Asobase, written and illustrated by Rin Suzukawa, began serialization on Hakusensha's Young Animal Densi website on June 26, 2015,[5] which was later replaced by Hakusensha's Manga Park website on August 1, 2017.[6] The series has also been published in Young Animal since November 25, 2016.[7] The series finished serialization on November 11, 2022.[8][9] Hakusensha collected its chapters in fifteen tankōbon volumes, released from February 29, 2016,[10] to November 29, 2022.[11]
Comikey digitally published the manga in English.[12]
69. "The President's Abnormal Affection, or 'How I Stopped Caring about Everything and Started Loving Vegetable Juice'" (部長の異常な愛情または私は如何にしてもうすべてどうでもよくなっちゃってヤサイジュースを愛するようになったか, Buchō no ijōna aijō matawa watashi wa ikanishite mo usu bete dō demo yoku natchatte yasaijūsu o aisuru yō ni natta ka)
70. "Romancing Saga" (ロマンシング性, Romanshingu-sei)
71. "Time Traveler" (タイムトラベラー, Taimutoraberā)
72. "Beth's Feelings" (ベスの想い, Besu no omoi)
73. "The Elite Four's Skills" (四天王の実力, Shiten'nō no jitsuryoku)
74. "Who-Are-You" (あいつバカだから, Aitsu bakadakara)
75. "Hunter of Darkness" (闇を狩るもの, Yami o karu mono)
A 12-episode anime television series adaptation, directed by Seiji Kishi and animated by Lerche, aired from July 8 to September 23, 2018.[27][28] The scripts were written by Yuko Kakihara and the music was composed by Masato Koda.[2] The opening theme song is "Three Piece" (スリピス, Suripisu), while the ending theme song is "Inkya Impulse" (インキャインパルス, Inkya Inparusu), both by Hina Kino, Rika Nagae and Konomi Kohara.[29]Crunchyroll streamed the series outside Asia.[30] In Southeast Asia and South Asia, Muse Communication licensed the series and streamed it on Muse Asia YouTube channel.[31] An original video animation episode was bundled with the manga's seventh volume on December 26, 2018.[32]
"The Kind Pervert" Transliteration: "Yasashī Hentai" (Japanese: 優しい変態)
Annoyed by her noisy classmates Hanako and Olivia, Kasumi shows them how to play a proper game of "look over there". Struggling in her English grades, Kasumi tries to get English lessons from Olivia, who secretly does not know any English, in exchange for teaching her Japanese pastimes. To this end, Kasumi sets up a Pastimers Club and recruits Hanako and Olivia as members, with their first activity being playing in an inflatable pool.
The girls unsuccessfully try to negotiate with the student council president to get their Pastimers Club officially recognised and obtain funds. Afterwards, Kasumi confronts Olivia over how she does not actually know English. Later, Hanako tries on some makeup before challenging the soft tennis club with hagoita rackets.
3
"A Battle That Must Be Won" Transliteration: "Zettai ni Makerarenai Tatakai" (Japanese: 絶対に負けられない戦い)
"Betting My Life" Transliteration: "Inochigake" (Japanese: 命懸け)
The girls play a game in which the loser must smell the others' armpits, which turns deadly when it becomes apparent how bad Olivia's pits smell. Later, teacher Chisato Higuchi seeks the girls help in finding love, only to get blackmailed into becoming their club advisor. Afterwards, the girls are challenged by the Shogi Club for the right to use their clubroom.
4
"Lower Body Lasers" Transliteration: "Kahanshin Kara Bīmu" (Japanese: 下半身からビーム)
Not being able to tell a young Hanako the rules of shogi, her butler Maeda spends most of her childhood shooting laser beams out of his butt. Chisato hears from one of her college friends about an alleged "Lord of Pastimers", who turns out to be something else entirely. After playing teshuo sumo together, Hanako discovers Kasumi's hobby of writing yaoi novel, which happens to be a Harry Potter × Draco Malfoy BL fanfic, leading to Maeda offering advice on writing a boys' love novel.
Hanako wears a rather bizarre outfit that proves distracting for Kasumi and Olivia during a study session at a restaurant. Olivia discovers that there is allegedly a crossdressing boy attending their school, suspecting it may be their classmate Tsugumi Aozora. Oka, the sole member of the Supernatural Club, teaches the Pastimers Club an occult pastime. Later, the girls have an awkward conversation about how babies are made.
Oka learns that her former clubmate Aguri Mato fell ill and tries voodoo to make her better. Hanako feels downhearted when she places second in her class, so Maeda makes her an android to help her study. Olivia attempts to cut her own hair with disastrous results. Later, the gang play yet another bizarre pastime.
"Woman of Terror" Transliteration: "Kyōfu no On'na" (Japanese: 恐怖の女)
"Weirdo Go" Transliteration: "Denpa de Gō" (Japanese: 電波でGO)
"Boobie Tragedy" Transliteration: "Oppai no Higeki" (Japanese: おっぱいの悲劇)
Tsugumi asks the girls to sneak into the student council's office and steal something known as the "Banana Papers". After successfully stealing it without being discovered, the gang learn that the papers are in fact a log of incidents caused by the Pastimers Club. Later, Kasumi helplessly stands outside the classroom while Hanako sneaks a peek at her BL novel. Afterwards, Hanako and Olivia try to help Kasumi with a shirt that is too small for her bust.
"Divine Revelation" Transliteration: "Kami no Keiji" (Japanese: 神の啓示)
"The Evil Sugoroku" Transliteration: "Ma no Sugoroku" (Japanese: 魔のスゴロク)
Olivia plays a game about catching bacteria around the classroom. Hanako ends up regretting buying a ridiculous looking dress she bought during a shopping trip with everyone. Hanako and Kasumi decide to test Olivia's luck with a penalty-ridden game of sugoroku.
9
"Troubles of a Fake Foreigner" Transliteration: "Ese Gaikokujin no Nayami" (Japanese: エセ外国人の悩み)
Olivia asks Hanako to help change her reputation as an English-speaking foreigner. When Olivia is chosen to represent the class in an English-speaking competition, she tries to find a quick way out. Olivia's older brother is called to school to apologize to the teacher after she is caught reading manga in class.
10
"Heart Go Boing Boing" Transliteration: "Kokoro ga Pyon Pyon" (Japanese: 心がぴょんぴょん)
English-speaking classmate Fujiwara learns about Olivia's inability to speak English, while Kasumi is suddenly kissed by Tsugumi. Upon hearing about this, Hanako flips out and puts Kasumi on trial. After having a dubious dream that she cannot get her mind off of, Kasumi becomes determined to look up Tsugumi's skirt to properly determine their gender. Later, the girls film a sci-fi movie for the upcoming culture festival.
11
"Goodbye, Student Council President" Transliteration: "Sayonara Seito-kaichō" (Japanese: さよなら生徒会長)
"Face of Mass Destruction" Transliteration: "Ganmen Kyōki" (Japanese: 顔面凶器)
The Student Council President tries to sneak out to visit the nearby boys' school across the street, which the vice-president always ditches work to go to. Meanwhile, the Supernatural Club make some cookies for the upcoming culture festival, which they give to the language teacher to taste test. Later, the vice-president has to deal with the Pastimers Club members trying to get their culture festival project approved as she tries to put her makeup on.
The Pastimers Club look after Chisato's friend's baby Daniel, who they soon discover has a bad attitude for his age. Hanako looks into buying her first bra, only to discover her bust is smaller than she thought. The girls play a cutesy appearing online game, which soon turns out to be a gory battle royale game. Afterwards, the girls, along with Maeda, play a drawing battle game that makes little sense.
"To the Future Me" Transliteration: "Otona no Watashi e" (Japanese: 大人の私へ)
The Pastimers Club decide what to wear at the premiere of their movie at the cultural festival. The Eiken (Film Studies) Club, consisting of a young Chisato, Andou and Hijiri, write future letters to themselves on an iMac 15 years previously.
^Pineda, Rafael Antonio (January 25, 2018). "Asobi Asobase TV Anime's Visual Unveiled". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on September 12, 2020. Retrieved January 26, 2018. The "surreal gag" comedy manga revolves around three classmates who play traditional hand games, board games, and card games.
