Chūgakusei Nikki

Chūgakusei Nikki (中学聖日記) is a Japanese manga series by Junko Kawakami. Chūgakusei Nikki is serialized in the monthly josei manga magazine Feel Young since June 2013. A live-action drama began airing in October for the Fall 2018 season.

Plot
Akira Kuroiwa, a third year middle school student, falls in love with his new homeroom teacher, Hijiri Suenaga. Akira struggles with these feelings knowing their age gap and the fact that Hijiri already has a longtime boyfriend who she is engaged to. Akira is disheartened at first, but things change by the time he is 18, when Hijiri has broken up with her fiancé.

Main characters

 * Hijiri Suenaga (末永聖)
 * Portrayed by Kasumi Arimura (drama)
 * Hijiri is a 25-year-old teacher at a middle school. Her students often refer to her by her first name instead of addressing her as a teacher.


 * Akira Kuroiwa (黒岩晶)
 * Portrayed by Kenshi Okada (drama)
 * Akira is the narrator of the story. As a 14-year-old student in Hijiri's 9th grade class, he slowly discovers that he is in love with her. By volume 3, he is a second year student in high school and his feelings towards her have not changed.


 * Shotaro Kawai (川合勝太郎)
 * Portrayed by Keita Machida (drama)
 * Shotaro is Hijiri's longtime boyfriend and fiance, whom she has dated since college. The two currently maintain a long distance relationship due to Shotaro's job. While Shotaro is in Osaka, his superior, Ritsu, begins flirting with him, complicating their relationship. Eventually, he and Hijiri break up in volume 4.

Supporting characters

 * Runa Iwasaki (岩崎るな)
 * Portrayed by Rina Ono (drama)
 * Runa is Akira's strong-willed classmate and friend. She is in love with Akira.


 * Junichiro Kokonoe (九重順一郎)
 * Portrayed by Jiei Wakabayashi (drama)
 * Junichiro is Akira's classmate and friend. He is the class clown and also a troublemaker.


 * Ritsu Haraguchi (原口律)
 * Portrayed by Yo Yoshida (drama)
 * Ritsu is Shotaro's superior at work. She begins flirting with him and eventually falls in love.


 * Aiko Kuroiwa (黒岩愛子)
 * Portrayed by Yui Natsukawa (drama)
 * Aiko is Akira's mother. As a single mother, she tries to juggle his emotional well-being along with her job. She gets along very well with Hijiri until she finds out Akira is in love with her.

Manga
Written and illustrated by Junko Kawakami, Chūgakusei Nikki started in Shodensha's josei manga magazine Feel Young on June 7, 2013. Shodensha has collected its chaptets into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on July 8, 2016. As of May 8, 2020, six volumes have been released.

Television drama
A live-action television series adaptation was announced in July 2018 and slated for release in October 2018. The series is directed by Ayuko Tsukahara, Kentarō Takemura, and Toshio Tsuboi, with Arisa Kaneko writing the script. The series stars Kasumi Arimura as Hijiri, Kenshi Okada as Akira (in his debut acting role), and Keita Machida as Shōtarō. Additional cast members include Yui Natsukawa as Aiko (Akira's mother), Yo Yoshida as Ritsu, and Mari Natsuki as Shiotani. Two original characters were also created for the television series and included Makita Sports as Shigeru and Tomochika as Chizuru. The television series aired weekly on TBS at 10 PM.

The first episode of the live-action series gained at 6.0% viewership, with many viewers expressing discomfort at the subject matter of the series. Despite that Akira is 15 years old in the series, the production opted to cast 19-year-old Okada as they could not hire an actor closer to the character's age.

Reception
Chugakusei Nikki won the 7th Anan Manga Awards in 2016.