Akebi's Sailor Uniform

• Ja Kanji — 明日ちゃんのセーラー服 • Ja Romaji — Akebi-chan no Sērāfuku • Genre — Slice of life

• Type — manga • Author — Hiro (manga artist) • Publisher — Shueisha • Imprint — Young Jump Comics • Magazine — Tonari no Young Jump • First — August 2, 2016 • Volumes — 16

• Type — tv series • Director — Miyuki Kuroki • Writer — Rino Yamasaki • Music — Kana Utatane • Studio — CloverWorks • Licensee — * Crunchyroll • Network — Tokyo MX, GTV, GYT, BS11, MBS, BS Asahi • First — January 9, 2022 • Last — March 27, 2022 • Episodes — 12

• Portal — yes Akebi's Sailor Uniform is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiro (manga artist). It has been serialized online via Shueisha's Tonari no Young Jump website since August 2016, with its chapters collected in 16 tankōbon volumes as of May 2026. An anime television series adaptation produced by CloverWorks aired from January to March 2022.

Throughout her young life, Komichi Akebi has always loved sailor attire—being inspired by her idol Miki Fukumoto—even going so far as to allow her mother Yuwa make a sailor school uniform for her when she enters middle school. When Komichi gets accepted to her mother's old private school Roubai Girls' Academy, she is delighted that she will wear her homemade uniform; once arriving at her new school, she is surprised to find out that Roubai's dress code no longer uses sailor uniforms and have been replaced with blazers instead. Despite the circumstances, the school's headmistress happily makes an exception and allows her to wear the traditional sailor uniform. As she goes through her years of early adolescence, even experiencing some struggles along the way, she meets and befriends many of her school peers and enjoys her school life.

• Yuwa Akebi: • Komichi and Kao's mother and Sato's wife. She is an alumna of Roubai Girls Academy; Yuwa can be seen in an old photograph with two of her friends wearing Roubai Academy's original sailor school uniform, which inspired Komichi to have Yuwa create her a sailor uniform of her own. • Kao Akebi: • Kao is Komichi's younger sister who is in third grade elementary school student. • Sato Akebi: • Sato is Komichi and Kao's father as well as Yuwa's husband. He is usually away on business, but makes time to see his family whenever he does not have to work. • Miki Fukumoto: • Miki is an idol whom Komichi admires. Her use of a sailor uniform in a water bottle ad inspired Komichi to wear a sailor uniform.

Akebi's Sailor Uniform is author Hiro (manga artist)'s first work published by Shueisha. Around half year before the end of his previous work, Yumekuri, he was reached out to by the editorial department of Weekly Young Jump. He knew that it would be impossible for him to carry out a weekly serialization and therefore had little interest in working with Young Jump. He however still had a meeting with them and surprisingly found out they could provide options other than weekly serialization. Hiro and Young Jump entered in talks about crafting a school story after he showed them school-themed artwork, which included prototypes of several characters. He intended to set the story in high school, but changed it to middle school, finding it a better setting for making discoveries about life. Komichi Akebi was not planned to be the main character of the series, whose focus would instead go randomly from a character to another in an anthology of stories, but Hiro decided ultimately to make her the protagonist and give her a social personality to share the focus with the rest. Hiro created her character arc by inspiration of his mother, who once told him how Japanese school uniforms like her own used to be home made. He and his editor Hachi Okuma later came up with the plot point of her wearing a different school uniform from the rest of her class. Hiro writes the story without fixed plans, wanting it to develop naturally. He took inspiration from own experiences in his freshman year in college, which were reflected in Komichi meeting classmates from all over Japan from the first time. Hiro also read many shōjo manga in preparation, but consciously tried to avoid usual tropes and motifs of the genre. In order to draw the detailed artwork of the characters' movements, he studied videos of gymnastics and ballet, counting on his previous experience as an animator. He also studied Japanese idol MVs, including one by singer and voice actress Manatsu Murakami, who would voice the main character in the anime series. Hiro helped choose the main character's voice actress during the production of the anime, deeming Manatsu Murakami ideal. Murakami, who described herself as strikingly similar to Komichi in personality and interests, although not in background, strongly identified with the character after reading the manga, to the point of crying in joy when she was confirmed for the role. She also became close to Sora Amamiya and Akari Kitō, who played Komichi's two main friends, and to Hiro himself, who coached her briefly on how to play the character. Both Hiro and Murakami described the experience working in the production as similar to Komichi knowing her classmates within the story. Aside from Murakami, several other members of the cast, like Kitō, Amamiya, Shion Wakayama and Shuka Saitō, became fans of the manga.

Written and illustrated by Hiro (manga artist), Akebi's Sailor Uniform started its serialization in Shueisha's Tonari no Young Jump magazine on August 2, 2016. The first volume was released on April 19, 2017. As of May 19, 2026, sixteen volumes have been released.

An anime television series adaptation by CloverWorks was announced on March 26, 2021. Miyuki Kuroki directed the series, while Rino Yamasaki wrote and oversaw the series' scripts. The character designs were provided by Megumi Kōno. Kana Utatane composed the series's music. It aired from January 9 to March 27, 2022, on Tokyo MX and other networks. The 16 main cast members, under the name Rōbai Gakuen Chūtōbu 1-nen 3-kumi, performed the opening theme song "Hajimari no Setsuna", while Manatsu Murakami (credited as Komichi Akebi) performed the ending theme song "Baton". Leave it to the Wind by Manatsu Murakami (credited as Komichi Akebi) was used as the ending theme song for episode 4. A cover of the Spitz song "Cherry" sung by Mitsuho Kambe—the voice of Oshizu Hebimori—is featured in episode 7. Funimation streamed the series outside of Asia. Muse Communication licensed the series in Southeast Asia. On January 27, 2022, Funimation announced the series would receive an English dub, which premiered on January 29.