Ichiro Kuga has two young siblings (Machi and Fumio), a dead father and a mother who couldn't be bothered with three brats. She found another man and waltzed off with him, leaving Ichiro to support his sibling. "I've got a new life now," was her goodbye note.

Fortunately, Ichiro, Machi and Fumio are serious about what they do. Ichiro's a manga artist, although it's not very profitable. "I began living off manuscript fees and the rent from the apartment building I inherited. My manga doesn't sell well, to be honest, but I've got to work hard to send my sister and brother to college." As for Machi and Fumio, they're so much younger than Ichiro that one wonders if they're only half-siblings... but they understand the situation, they're determined to support Ichiro in every way they can and their main character flaw is a tendency to be self-sacrificial.

Ichiro needs a manga assistant. Definitely not a girlfriend. He's far too focused and busy for skirt-chasing. He needs someone to ink pencils. His editor finds Shiori Goshiki, a self-taught artist who's both fast and good, making her a life-saver for Ichiro... but she has quirks. She has a hidden tail, for instance. She calls it a "stinger". Another is what we'll call Anime Girlfriend Tendencies, i.e. she'll glomp on to Ichiro in the first episode and assume that they'll get married. However, Ichiro's admirably strait-laced and would sooner lose a leg than act unprofessionally, so he'll spend a lot of time trying to talk Shiori down. I'm fond of this show and its cast, but those Anime Girlfriend Tendencies are its weak spot. You'll watching with half an eye on a sometimes dodgy genre.

The show's gentle and likeable, though. Almost everyone's nice, even the love rival (who's given up on him and isn't rival-like). The only exception is mothers. Ichiro, Machi and Fumio have severed ties with their dirtbag mum, while Shiori's mother is determined to find fault and drag Shiori back to the island. Prove her wrong and she'll just adopt different ones, equally insulting. She's not evil, but she has a pessimistic view of the outlook for anyone who shares her biology and heritage.

I liked the minor insights into how the manga industry's changed. "Last year I got married and went full digital, so all my assistants ask to work from home."

This isn't particularly dramatic. You'll never doubt that Ichiro and Shiori will end up together and that they'll be happy (although there are times when Ichiro could have been more reassuring). There's an SF/supernatural angle related to Shiori's powers that they do experiments to gauge, but that adds distinctiveness. I laughed when they test it by re-enacting tame scumbag cliches from shoujo manga. Ichiro tries to be a bad guy and has to ask Shiori not to laugh at him. (You can see she's enjoying it. Look at that cat smile.) I've seen reviews calling this show bland and underwhelming, but I enjoyed it. It made me laugh sometimes and of course I was cheering for our manga-making couple. I'd happily watch a second season if they made it.