Neighborhood Story
Story. Mikako Kōda and Tsutomu Yamaguchi are students who attend Yazawa Art Academy, a special high school for the arts in Tokyo (named after the author, who makes a cameo appearance as the school's principal). They reside in the same apartment building where they have built a long-standing friendship since infancy. However, as has been humorously pointed out by their apartment manager, Mikako and Tsutomu's feelings have undergone an unmistakable metamorphosis. Mikako and Tsutomu's friends inside and outside of the Akindo club also detect this change and wonder one thing: Will Mikako and Tsutomu  embrace what is already community discourse or will they deteriorate into leading very bitter adult lives of not-at-all-significant brevity and dysphoria? Main characters. Secondary Characters. Nakasu family. She later marries her Shuuichi, and has a son. Tertiary Characters. She later marries Yuusuke (which now makes her Ayumi Toshiro) and she is last seen pregnant with his child. Initially considered an 'older-brother' type figure to Miwako, his role is late replaced by Seiji. Anime. An animated adaptation of the manga ran for 50 episodes from September 10, 1995 through September 1, 1996. Produced by Toei Animation, Asahi  Broadcasting Corporation and Asatsu-DK, the series is directed by Atsutoshi Umezawa, with Aya Matsui handling series composition, Yoshihiko Umakoshi designing the characters and Masahiro Kawasaki composing the music. A DVD box set containing all episodes was released on September 28, 2005. The opening theme is "He.Ro.I.Ne", the first ending theme is "Don't You Know?!" and the second ending theme is "NG!", all sung by Rumi Shishido. The animated "Gokinjo Monogatari" movie has a 30-minute runtime and was released on March 2, 1996. It is an alternate retelling of the beginning of the series. It was  released theatrically as a back-to-back presentation alongside "". Ai Yazawa, the original author of the manga, makes a cameo appearance in the final episode, voicing a flea market customer. Since the original story was not completed at the time of the TV broadcast, the second half of the anime features original content such as Mariko not dropping out of Yazawa and starting a career in interior design.