“Sumida craves normalcy but faces abandonment, inner demons, and a struggle to find meaning in an unremarkable life.”
Himizu
ヒミズ
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AI-powered analysis tailored to your taste
Based on your preference for character-driven stories with layered emotional arcs, this title's exploration of identity and belonging would deeply resonate. The pacing mirrors series you've rated highly, and its thematic depth aligns with your appreciation for nuanced storytelling...
However, the slow initial episodes might test your patience given your history of dropping shows that don't hook you early. The art style shift in the middle arc could also be a concern...
Synopsis
Sumida craves normalcy but faces abandonment, inner demons, and a struggle to find meaning in an unremarkable life.
Every day in Japan, 2500 people die due to any number of causes. Do you think you'll be one of the ones to die? No, of course not. Do you think you'll win the lottery? You'd like to think so, we all would. But Sumida is different. He wants the status quo to remain in every way; live a normal life, get a normal job, have normal kids, never to be anyone fortunate or unfortunate, content in normalcy. Anyone who doesn't agree is foolish, doomed to live their life scraping up a mountain that they can never conquer, fated to die in despair wishing things had been better. When his mother kicks his father out of the house and onto the streets, he thinks he'll be fine. When his mother leaves him to live with her boyfriend, he makes the best of it. When he realizes that he's no longer average, he strives to make his life worthwhile the only way he knows how. When the demons in the back of his mind speak to him, he tries his best to ignore them. (Source: MU)
What people say
Community consensus
Derived from 13 sampled reviews
What 13 readers settled on.
Polarized
σ 2.03 · split reception
5.3 pts
Recommenders 8.8 · others 3.5
↓ 1.85
Running avg · Feb 2010 → Mar 2026
- 8 “I don't really know how to feel about this manga. It's really a low mental state messed up manga, feels like the mc has Schizophrenia or Bipolar Disorder with the creatures he sees. Which may not...”
- 10 “Damn. If you want to feel pain, read this manga. I just finished the final chapter and I genuinely feel broken in a way I didn’t expect. Himizu hits with a kind of emotional weight that creeps up...”
- 9 “Himizu, we could quite fairly say, is a mature slice-of-life manga but with a dark setting and focusing more on the evils of society, rather than the flowery elements that a lot of people are...”
Read Order & Related
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A Manga Publication
- Format 43 × 4 ch × vol
- Total read 5h 44m approx
- Published Jan 2001 – Mar 2002
- Source Manga media type
- Ref. BS-M3761 catalog