# Isobe Isobē Monogatari

Isobe Isobē Monogatari: Ukiyo wa Tsurai yo (磯部磯兵衛物語〜浮世はつらいよ〜, "Chronicle of Isobē Isobe: The Life Is Hard") is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Ryo Nakama. A number of one-shot chapters were published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from May to August 2013 before being serialized in the same magazine from October 2013 to October 2017. Its chapters were collected in 16 tankōbon volumes.
It was adapted into a Flash anime in October 2013, and a series of "manime" (short anime of 30 seconds) were streamed online in 2015, and appeared at Japanese cinemas as intermissions, in Japanese stores and television in 2016. A second season premiered in 2017. A stage play adaptation premiered in 2016. A ten-episode live-action television drama adaptation aired from July to September 2024.

## Characters
### Isobē Isobe (磯部磯兵衛, Isobe Isobē)

    Voiced by: Daiki Yamashita
    Portrayed by: Yosuke Sugino

### Jō Nakajima (中島襄, Nakajima Jō)

    Voiced by: Ayumu Murase
    Portrayed by: Fuku Suzuki

### Mother (母上, Hahaue)

    Voiced by: Chiaki Takahashi
    Portrayed by: Rei Dan

### Gennai Hiraga (平賀源内, Hiraga Gennai)

    Voiced by: Takashi Matsuyama
    Portrayed by: Kanji Tsuda

## Media
### Manga

Isobe Isobē Monogatari is written and illustrated by Ryo Nakama [ja]. Nakama first published various one-shot chapters of the series in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from May 27 to August 5, 2013. It was then serialized in the same magazine from October 21, 2013, to October 16, 2017. Various other chapters were published in other Shueisha's magazines: in V Jump on October 21, 2013; in Saikyō Jump on December 26, 2013, and June 4, 2014; in Jump Next! from December 27, 2013, to October 13, 2015; and Spur on May 20, 2014. Two extra chapters after the main series finished were published in Jump Giga on November 24, 2017, and another on Shōnen Jump+ digital platform on January 4, 2018. Shueisha collected its chapters in 16 tankōbon volumes, released from February 4, 2014, to January 4, 2018.

#### Volumes

| No. | Japanese release date | Japanese ISBN |
| 1 | February 4, 2014 | 978-4-08-880048-6 |
| 2 | May 2, 2014 | 978-4-08-880121-6 |
| 3 | July 4, 2014 | 978-4-08-880139-1 |
| 4 | October 3, 2014 | 978-4-08-880196-4 |
| 5 | January 5, 2015 | 978-4-08-880277-0 |
| 6 | April 3, 2015 | 978-4-08-880333-3 |
| 7 | July 3, 2015 | 978-4-08-880427-9 |
| 8 | October 3, 2015 | 978-4-08-880487-3 |
| 9 | February 4, 2016 | 978-4-08-880605-1 |
| 10 | May 2, 2016 | 978-4-08-880671-6 |
| 11 | August 4, 2016 | 978-4-08-880750-8 |
| 12 | November 4, 2016 | 978-4-08-880807-9 |
| 13 | March 3, 2017 | 978-4-08-881022-5 |
| 14 | July 4, 2017 | 978-4-08-881181-9 |
| 15 | November 2, 2017 | 978-4-08-881223-6 |
| 16 | January 4, 2018 | 978-4-08-881318-9 |

### Anime

A Flash anime adaptation was announced with the serialized manga debut in October 2013. The four episodes premiered in 2013. A series of "mame anime" (bean anime) or "manime" for short (described as a short anime of approximately 30 seconds in length) debuted online on December 12, 2015, and was available on the Japanese video streaming services GYAO! and dTV. It was also presented by Shochiku at the Shinjuku Piccadilly, MOVIX, and SMT cinemas as intermissions, in the Shosen Book Tower and Shosen Grande bookstores, in Animate stores nationwide. The episodes also appeared on television. More episodes were streamed in April and a DVD was released on April 27, 2016. The entirety of the manime and a "special video" for the series were screening at the Jump Special Anime Festa, held from November 27 and December 4, 2016. A second season of the manime premiered on March 6, 2017.

### Stage play

A stage play adaptation ran at the Osaka's ABC Hall for 10 performances from April 20–26, 2016. It starred Takuya Inoue as Isobe Isobē and Yoshihiro Nakayama as Mother. It was directed and scripted by Kenichi Suemitsu with music composed by Shunsuke Wada.

### Drama

A 10-episode live-action television drama adaptation was announced on March 13, 2024. The drama is written and directed by Toru Hosokawa, with Atsushi Hirasawa composing the music, and Haruna Ueda, Shiori Kodaka, Kōsuke Katō, and Atsushi Morii credited as producers. It aired from July 12 to September 13, 2024, on Wowow.

## Reception

The series placed 47th out of 50 titles on Da Vinci's magazine 15th "Book of the Year" list in 2014. It ranked tenth on a 2017 poll of the "strongest" gag manga to ever appear in Weekly Shōnen Jump, conducted by Goo Ranking website. In a poll conducted by Goo Ranking asking fans about what manga they think would be the next "poster manga" of Weekly Shōnen Jump, the series placed ninth out of 20 titles. The series ranked third in the first Next Manga Award in the print manga category.