Tonari no Seki-kun

Add to My List

Add to Favorites

Alternative Titles

Japanese: となりの関くん

More titles

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: Unknown

Chapters: Unknown

Status: Publishing

Published: Jul 5, 2010 to ?

Genre: Comedy

Theme: School

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Comic Flapper

Authors: Morishige, Takuma (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 7.68¹ (scored by 6,345 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #1941²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1032

Members: 20,863

Favorites: 259

Available At

Kodansha USA

Resources

Wikipedia

7.68

Ranked #1941Popularity #1032Members 20,863

MangaComic FlapperMorishige, Takuma (Story & Art)

Add to My List

Volumes: /?

Chapters: /?

Edit
Synopsis

The boy who sits next to Yokoi in class, Seki-kun, is always up to something at his desk. He manages to somehow play very elaborate games without attracting the teacher's attention. From dominos, to shogi, to go, to mecha models, to playing with cats and more, he always has something new to do. Yokoi often finds herself getting reluctantly interested in his games, even though they always seem to end up getting HER in trouble with the teacher!

(Source: MU)

Edit
Background

In 2012, Tonari no Seki-kun was nominated for the 5th Manga Taishou Award.

The series has been published in English as My Neighbor Seki by Vertical Inc. under the Vertical Comics imprint since January 13, 2015 and in Spanish by Tomodomo Ediciones since May 18, 2015.

Edit

Related Entries

More characters
Characters

Seki, Toshinari

Main

Yokoi, Rumi

Main

Gotou, Sakurako

Supporting

Maeda, Takahiro

Supporting

Tani

Supporting

Uzawa, Akiyasu

Supporting

Seki, Mother

Supporting

Japanese Teacher

Supporting

Seki, Jun

Supporting

PE Teacher

Supporting

Reviews

Nov 14, 2013

5camp

Recommended

Preliminary (Unknown/? eps)

Tonari no Seki-kun is about a girl trying to be diligent and pay attention in class but she keeps being distracted by the guy sitting next to her. He never talks to her, or says anything over the entire course of the manga. She gets distracted by the weird and wonderful games and distractions he cooks up during class. These include things like modelling a miniature driving school complete with handmade driving license for when he finishes. Or dramatic re-enactment of historical betrayals and wars through the use of shogi pieces. Try as she can to continue paying attention in class, she can’t help but ... get drawn into the fantastical stories being played out on his table, which always mysteriously disappears as soon as she tries alert the teacher to his actions.

The comedy in Tonari no Seki-kun is contrasting the absurdity with the mundane. The juxtaposition between the mundane classroom and worries of Yokoi, the distracted girl, and the fantastical absurd creations of Seki, the dude next to her, go a long way to drawing out the inherent humour of his actions. Making a joke about the crushing fear of driving tests is made funnier when presented as someone’s tabletop construction, doubly so when the nervousness is entirely of his own creation. It would be very easy for this formula to base all the jokes around how random the activity Seki is doing because lol random nichijou is my favourite anime ever because I have no concept of what constitutes humour lol random etc. That’s how a fair number of the jokes start out, but they work because of how Yokoi gets invested in the story being built on Seki’s table. She starts trying to ignore him but then gets invested and often actively involved in proceedings. Throwing random shogi at his creation to dramatically change the narrative Seki is building and other such acts make her an active participant in the story and draws the two of them together in a silent war.

That is about it. Every chapter revolves around this formula, with Yokoi and Seki being practically the only characters. They introduce a lady friend later on who gets convinced Yokoi and Seki are dating and, along with a few male characters, but the trick is none of them realise what Seki is doing. The lady friend believes Yokoi’s intense fascination with the contents of Seki’s table are because she’s lovestruck. She may have a point too. The two of them do seem rather taken with each other. Obviously we hear what Yokoi is thinking, but between the facial expressions and reactions of Seki, you get the feeling he does enjoy the attention Yokoi gives him. Yes I’m reading too much into this, but it’s a sign of how surprisingly well the characterisation of Seki and Yokoi is that I’m able to draw these conclusions. Seki is not just a guy who does fantastical things and Yokoi is not just a girl who goes “WHAAAAAAT” at his actions. They are human beings reacting to each other and that’s what makes it funny.

I’ll admit that Tonari no Seki-kun is totally My Kind of Thing. There isn’t anything resembling a plot in the slightest and every chapter follows the same formula. I can see why someone would find this repetitive and get old quickly. But for what it’s worth, I find the author plays around with the inherently funny formula enough that the jokes continue being funny. Give the first chapter or two a shot and you’ll very quickly see what kind of manga it is and whether you would enjoy it.

Open

Gift

Oct 21, 2013

OverkilledRed

Recommended

Preliminary (22/? eps)

Have you ever got bored on class? Probably yes. And you probably tried to do everything but listen to it, setting your own games with what you have in hands. That’s how Seki, the main character, passes his days on school. To minigolf with cracks on the table to a war game with pieces of chess. But what if someone on the class notice what are you doing and try to go along? And so you have Yokoi, the classmate who is the only one that noticed Seki and his games, and do some sort of narration for them, which are also the punchlines and ...

Open

Gift

Aug 11, 2025

Demolished002

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (46/? eps)

Spoiler

How or what to tell anyone about this manga… I finally decided to review this on a whim.

It’s interesting because when the author sets up the whole situation between Seki and Rumi, from day one, it’s disturbingly consistent with its synopsis. This doesn’t sound bad at all, except for the fact that IT DOES SO RELIGIOUSLY; the characters stagnate since you’ve met them.

The whole idea is that you’re obviously supposed to be entertained with each of Seki’s stunts, but this quickly loses its novelty because YOU CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH. This means the characters have to, at some point, develop some personality to make ...

Open

Gift

More stacks

Interest Stacks

The Boy, the Girl and Their School Days

by H1lbert_Jun

42 Entries · 18 Restacks

Slice of Life Manga with physical english license

by Indigoblau

49 Entries · 7 Restacks

Best Of 2010

by azadoderso

50 Entries · 15 Restacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

View All

More news
Recent News

North American Anime & Manga Releases for February

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for February Week 1: February 6 - 12 Anime Releases Gedo Senki DVD Gedo Senki Blu-ray & DVD Combo Heisei T...read more

Feb 5, 2018 10:23 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (5 comments)

North American Anime & Manga Releases for May

Here are the North American anime & manga releases for May Week 1: May 2 - 8 Anime Releases Garo: Guren no Tsuki Part 2 Blu-ray & DVD Combo Hai to Gensou no ...read more

May 1, 2017 10:58 AM by Sakana-san | Discuss (6 comments)

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

The manga will resume it's serialization Azuchi - Jul 11, 2024	3 replies	by Mr_Sai »» Aug 27, 2:56 PM
Poll: Tonari no Seki-kun Chapter 1 Discussion removed-user - Jun 10, 2012	5 replies	by OnigirisBasket »» Jan 25, 2022 9:54 PM
Poll: Tonari no Seki-kun Chapter 128 Discussion Kuma - Apr 12, 2018	3 replies	by WNightfall »» Oct 18, 2021 11:09 PM
Poll: Tonari no Seki-kun Chapter 120 Discussion Kuma - Mar 24, 2018	3 replies	by WNightfall »» Oct 18, 2021 9:36 PM
Poll: Tonari no Seki-kun Chapter 98 Discussion Kuma - Mar 22, 2018	2 replies	by WNightfall »» Oct 18, 2021 8:20 AM

Tonari no Seki-kun
My Neighbor Seki
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Related Entries

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Tonari no Seki-kunMy Neighbor Seki Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links

Alternative Titles

Information

Statistics

Available At

Resources

EditSynopsis

EditBackground

Related Entries

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More charactersCharacters

Reviews

Interest Stacks

More recommendations Recommendations

More newsRecent News

More discussionsRecent Forum Discussion

MoreTop Anime

MoreTop Airing Anime

MoreMost Popular Characters

Tonari no Seki-kun
My Neighbor Seki
Edit

What would you like to edit?

Edit
Synopsis

Edit
Background

Visit MALxJapan
MALxJapan -More than just anime-

More characters
Characters

More recommendations
Recommendations

More news
Recent News

More discussions
Recent Forum Discussion