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Sunny #6
Sunny núm. 06
En el último volumen de Sunny, Taiyô Matsumoto sigue mostrándonos la parte más humana de la vida, detalles tal vez insignificantes pero que explican mucho más de lo que parece, como la desesperación de Sei cuando no encuentra a su rana o la tristeza de Yuri y su rechazo al parque de atracciones por el simple hecho de haber perdido una cantimplora. El desenlace de algunas de las historias que se han ido hilvanando a lo largo de varios capítulos a veces será el esperado y otras nos sorprenderá, pero al final nos quedará la sensación de un trabajo bien hecho y la ternura con la que el autor ha creado a sus personajes permanecerá, dejándonos una huella indeleble.
264 pages, Paperback
First published October 30, 2015
3 people are currently reading
294 people want to read
About the author
Taiyo Matsumoto
165 books627 followersSee also: 松本大洋 and 松本 大洋
Although Taiyo Matsumoto desired a career as a professional soccerplayer at first, he eventually chose an artistic profession. He gained his first success through the Comic Open contest, held by the magazine Comic Morning, which allowed him to make his professional debut. He started out with 'Straight', a comic about basketball players. Sports remain his main influence in his next comic, 'Zéro', a story about a boxer.
In 1993 Matsumoto started the 'Tekkonkinkurito' trilogy in Big Spirits magazine, which was even adapted to a theatre play. He continued his comics exploits with several short stories for the Comic Aré magazine, which are collected in the book 'Nihon no Kyodai'. Again for Big Spirits, Taiyo Matsumoto started the series 'Ping Pong' in 1996. 'Number Five' followed in 2001, published by Shogakukan.
Source: Lambiek website bio .
Although Taiyo Matsumoto desired a career as a professional soccerplayer at first, he eventually chose an artistic profession. He gained his first success through the Comic Open contest, held by the magazine Comic Morning, which allowed him to make his professional debut. He started out with 'Straight', a comic about basketball players. Sports remain his main influence in his next comic, 'Zéro', a story about a boxer.
In 1993 Matsumoto started the 'Tekkonkinkurito' trilogy in Big Spirits magazine, which was even adapted to a theatre play. He continued his comics exploits with several short stories for the Comic Aré magazine, which are collected in the book 'Nihon no Kyodai'. Again for Big Spirits, Taiyo Matsumoto started the series 'Ping Pong' in 1996. 'Number Five' followed in 2001, published by Shogakukan.
Source: Lambiek website bio .
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 70 reviews
February 27, 2021
For a series that, to put it lightly, always felt more about the journey then the destination I was really swept away by this conclusion. Not settling on somewhat tired and cliché (even if they are very true) notions about childhood lost and having to grow up too soon, Matsumoto brings this meandering narrative back full circle by showing us just how childish his subjects really still are. Mixing melancholy and sadness with hope and change, the series remains painfully intricate up to the very end. If anyone ever asks me for reading recommendations ever again this series will likely be high on my list.
November 7, 2016
Último número de un manga imprescindible :___D
February 1, 2026
Terminé con el corazón destrozado pero llenito de amor. Creo que leería esta saga para siempre y en eterno loop del 1 al 6, del 1 al 6, del 1 al 6...
May 26, 2019
This month I finished the Sunny series by Taiyo Matsumoto. Sunny, a slice of life manga, is a series of six drawn by Taiyo Matsumoto (Tokyo Japan, 1967) and tells the story of a group of foster children and their caretakers who live together in a family home called the Star Kids. Outside stands The Sunny, an abandoned, rusted-out car, where the children like to crawl into to dream their dreams and thus flee from the raw reality of their lives. The book not only tells the story of these discarded children, but also the story of Taiyo Matsumoto, who grew up in a home himself.
I don't think this is a read for every one, it is slow paced and where I think there happens a lot I am pretty sure there will be a lot of readers waiting for something to happen. But if you like to dive into the life of these children and how they cope this is a very good read. With each book I felt more attached to the children from Star Kids home, the way they struggle, feel for each other, their hopes and dreams. All sharing the fact that they are being abandoned by their parents. It's a bittersweet story and I often felt touched, it's a story that still lingers.
Most of the story is told by the images rather than by its words. I like Matsumoto's sense for detail and composition a lot and love his artwork. Most of the story is in black and white, but he ads a few very atmospheric coloured ones in between. The series is translated superb by Michael Arias, not only did he catch the rural Japanese dialects he also puts in typical Japanese details in tiny scribbles beneath a picture so as an European reader I felt a lot closer to a totally different culture from mine. It was quite fun to hear those typical Japanese hit songs from the seventies on YouTube.
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Taiyo Matsumoto quoted from an interview:
I don't think this is a read for every one, it is slow paced and where I think there happens a lot I am pretty sure there will be a lot of readers waiting for something to happen. But if you like to dive into the life of these children and how they cope this is a very good read. With each book I felt more attached to the children from Star Kids home, the way they struggle, feel for each other, their hopes and dreams. All sharing the fact that they are being abandoned by their parents. It's a bittersweet story and I often felt touched, it's a story that still lingers.
Most of the story is told by the images rather than by its words. I like Matsumoto's sense for detail and composition a lot and love his artwork. Most of the story is in black and white, but he ads a few very atmospheric coloured ones in between. The series is translated superb by Michael Arias, not only did he catch the rural Japanese dialects he also puts in typical Japanese details in tiny scribbles beneath a picture so as an European reader I felt a lot closer to a totally different culture from mine. It was quite fun to hear those typical Japanese hit songs from the seventies on YouTube.
.
Taiyo Matsumoto quoted from an interview:
“I don’t know why I felt compelled to write this,” he said, “but it was important to do it. It was important for me to take on this challenge… I’m sure children who are raised by their parents have their own issues and problems, and I wouldn’t say I grew up necessarily misfortuned, but I think there’s a particular set of things you grow up with in a foster home. That’s what I wanted to depict. I can’t say exactly why. It’s something only someone who grew up this way would understand.”
December 28, 2017
Taiyo Matsumoto's Sunny, despite sticking to a realist, quotidian mode, is every bit the epic that Black and White or GoGo Monster is. I would gladly spend more time with all of these characters, even after closing this elegant final volume.
July 22, 2021
Matsumoto Taiyo's art style looks simultaneously masterful and yet wildly childish at the same time, and the product is something so incredibly wonderful, and something perhaps unique to the manga genre.
The series is set in a rural orphanage, and every chapter centers around a slice of life of a specific orphan. Sometimes a guy would try to run away from home, or a girl would try to go back to living with the parents that abandoned her. Some attempts end in failure, others in success, but at the end of the day, everyone would return to the orphanage; to the loud, and chaotic orphanage with creaky floorboards and unconditional acceptance and unrelated brothers and sisters that will sprint to them at the first sound of their footsteps.
In every chapter, though the main story surrounds one character, the author never forgets to add in speech bubbles with familial side conversations, and background characters living their own, secret stories that the readers will never see.
And yet despite the realism of these details, the author's style is so incredibly messy and unique, like that of a child's (but consistent, and actually good). His perspectives are right but never normal, sometimes crooked, sometimes warped. Most panels are drawn with a combination of ink, pen, and chalk, and as a result, everything looks beautifully experimental.
Though there have been fantastic anime adaptations of two of his other series, Ping Pong and Tekkon Rinket, they still look rather different from the actual manga, because they look normal (especially Tekkon Rinket). Animation requires a much larger team of people working together, so the style needs to be much more standardized. You need to draw how these characters walk, how their strange faces speak, and give them a voice. These adaptations are impressive, and more realistic, but that sacrifices the craziness, and the innocent professionalism of the mangas.
Matsumoto Taiyo's works seem like they were created without deadlines, without consideration for public acceptance, but rather just out of love, just his.
The series is set in a rural orphanage, and every chapter centers around a slice of life of a specific orphan. Sometimes a guy would try to run away from home, or a girl would try to go back to living with the parents that abandoned her. Some attempts end in failure, others in success, but at the end of the day, everyone would return to the orphanage; to the loud, and chaotic orphanage with creaky floorboards and unconditional acceptance and unrelated brothers and sisters that will sprint to them at the first sound of their footsteps.
In every chapter, though the main story surrounds one character, the author never forgets to add in speech bubbles with familial side conversations, and background characters living their own, secret stories that the readers will never see.
And yet despite the realism of these details, the author's style is so incredibly messy and unique, like that of a child's (but consistent, and actually good). His perspectives are right but never normal, sometimes crooked, sometimes warped. Most panels are drawn with a combination of ink, pen, and chalk, and as a result, everything looks beautifully experimental.
Though there have been fantastic anime adaptations of two of his other series, Ping Pong and Tekkon Rinket, they still look rather different from the actual manga, because they look normal (especially Tekkon Rinket). Animation requires a much larger team of people working together, so the style needs to be much more standardized. You need to draw how these characters walk, how their strange faces speak, and give them a voice. These adaptations are impressive, and more realistic, but that sacrifices the craziness, and the innocent professionalism of the mangas.
Matsumoto Taiyo's works seem like they were created without deadlines, without consideration for public acceptance, but rather just out of love, just his.
July 24, 2024
So concludes Taiyo Matsumoto's Sunny, a wistful, slice-of-life manga featuring a group of kids living in the Star Kids Home. Outside the home resides the Sunny, a beaten down, rusted over car which the kids use as a means of escaping their current dour realities and instead living out their wild imaginations. Matsumoto uses the series to distill down his own experiences in a foster home, thus adding further depth to an already layered series that grapples with themes of abandonment, grief and fellowship.
A slow moving story (if you can even consider there to be a structured story at all), Sunny serves more like a series of vignettes featuring a diverse cast of characters all dealing with familiar yet tragic stories. Matsumoto's majestic stroke here is the rawness through which each character is realized, making every person who comes in and out of Star Kids equally empathetic. The kids can be brash and rude in one moment, and deeply sympathetic the next, all within a matter of a few pages as Matsumoto's storytelling remains masterfully economical. Though the ending is less than conclusive, it's clear that the journey is more important than the destination. It's melancholic yet hopeful in one stroke, and the feeling you're left with is bittersweet.
Visual language is at the core of Sunny, with Matsumoto's compositions telling as much story as the dialogue itself. Atmospheric and expressive, the artwork lends a lot towards connecting with the characters themselves. This is masterful work on all fronts, but it will be Matsumoto's artwork that will leave the most indelible mark on me.
A slow moving story (if you can even consider there to be a structured story at all), Sunny serves more like a series of vignettes featuring a diverse cast of characters all dealing with familiar yet tragic stories. Matsumoto's majestic stroke here is the rawness through which each character is realized, making every person who comes in and out of Star Kids equally empathetic. The kids can be brash and rude in one moment, and deeply sympathetic the next, all within a matter of a few pages as Matsumoto's storytelling remains masterfully economical. Though the ending is less than conclusive, it's clear that the journey is more important than the destination. It's melancholic yet hopeful in one stroke, and the feeling you're left with is bittersweet.
Visual language is at the core of Sunny, with Matsumoto's compositions telling as much story as the dialogue itself. Atmospheric and expressive, the artwork lends a lot towards connecting with the characters themselves. This is masterful work on all fronts, but it will be Matsumoto's artwork that will leave the most indelible mark on me.
February 6, 2017
Having finished all of the Sunny books, I now feel that this is an even more impressive series than originally thought. Each volume is made up of brief glimpses into the lives of the kids (and some adults) at the Star Kids Home, and place for foster children whose family cannot care for them. Each story, by itself, is a satisfying narrative with an open or equivocal ending (the kind I prefer). But all of them taken together, across all six volumes, paint a much broader and more ambitious picture. This work will stick with me for quite some time. And it reminds me that I really need to go back and reread Tekkon Kinkreet.
January 21, 2026
Someone's gonna end up crying, probably me 🤍
October 1, 2022
Sunny, c'est le nom de la voiture abandonnée près du foyer pour enfants Les Enfants des Étoiles, se trouvant dans une commune rurale du Japon. La plupart des enfants ont été abandonnés (oubliés, le temps que ça aille mieux, le temps de se remettre sur les roues), d'autres sont là le temps que leurs parents sortent de l'hôpital, certains sont orphelins.
C'est doux, c'est triste, c'est du pur slice of life ; chaque chapitre se concentre sur un moment de la vie d'un des enfants, tout en permettant, tous assemblés, de faire une continuité. Il ne se passe, en soi, rien. On sent la marque de l'auteur, qui a lui même grandi en foyer (?), avec son style à la fois enfantin et appliqué, aux perspectives étranges - mais qui collent bien aux points de vues d'enfants. On y explore réellement la façon dont les protagonistes vivent avec leur situation, l'assimilent ou la refusent, essaient d'évoluer, mais également l'attention portée par les adultes du foyer.
C'est doux, c'est triste, c'est du pur slice of life ; chaque chapitre se concentre sur un moment de la vie d'un des enfants, tout en permettant, tous assemblés, de faire une continuité. Il ne se passe, en soi, rien. On sent la marque de l'auteur, qui a lui même grandi en foyer (?), avec son style à la fois enfantin et appliqué, aux perspectives étranges - mais qui collent bien aux points de vues d'enfants. On y explore réellement la façon dont les protagonistes vivent avec leur situation, l'assimilent ou la refusent, essaient d'évoluer, mais également l'attention portée par les adultes du foyer.
February 28, 2017
Extraordinary.
November 13, 2024
Na kraju ovog šestog tankobona, dao bih osvrt za ceo serijal.
Pojedinačni tankoboni se kreću neggde između ocena 3 i 4. 3,5 bi možda bila ocena za ceo serijal, ali u nedostatku te opcije odlučio sam se za 4 ako će moja ocena uopšte uticati na neki ukupan score i ako će ukupan score navesti ikoga ko se dvoumi da li da pročita da ipak pročita onda neka bude 4.
Sunny sam čitao malo u nekim scanovima i radovao sam se kad je bilo najavljeno da će Laguna da ga izda. Smatram da je Matsumoto mangaka koga zaslužujemo na ovim prostorima. Ipak na kraju je bilo sve za nijansu ispod očekivanja.
Priča, ili bolje rečeno priče, prate decu u sirotištu u Japanu u 70im godinama. I priča je formirana iz 37 kratkih priča koje formiraju jednu veliku sliku dešavanja i emocija dece u sirotištu i ljudi koji ih okružuju. Priče osciluju od dobrih do odličnih i nekad možda i bolje funkcionišu kao zasebne priče nego kao celina. Samim tim što je i 37mo poglavlje koje zaokružuje sve dotadašnje priče i čini neku završnicu za moj ukus malo podbacilo.
Crtež je fenomenalan. Mada se Matsumoto pokazao kao mnogo bolji ilustrator nego pripovedač kroz formu stripa. Njegovi zasebni kadrovi su pojedinačno fenomenalni kao i njegov autentičan stil koji mi je jako prijao i bio interesantan. Sa druge strane dinamika kroz crtež mi je delovala prebrzo, pogotovo za tematiku kojom se bavi. Nekako je felilo malo dodatnih kadrova koji bi usporili priču i dali joj prostora da "diše". Tok radnje je na momente akcioni, a meni je falilo malo više drame kroz kadrove.
Sve u svemu Sunny je jedno dobro delo koje bi trebalo pročitati i Matsumotov crtež će definitivno dati prostora za uživanje.
Postoji još jedna stvar, a ona je vrlo subjektivna i komentarišući mangu sa jednim prijateljem, možda čak i generacijska. Pričamo o generaciji (kojoj pripadam) ljudi rođenih početkom 80ih na prostoru bivše Jugoslavije. Verujem da će pripadnici te generacije, kao i ja, imati malih poteškoća da se emotivno povežu sa likovima i dešavanjima. Iako su priče emotivne i vrlo teskobne i tužne, generaciji koja je odrasla (kao vrlo mala) na "Zaboravljenima", "Sivom domu", "Specijalnom vaspitanju", itd. će možda cela priča delovati rutinska, iako bi trebala da je teskobna. Razlog je samo taj što spram jezivih priča koja se tiču odrastanja mladih bez roditelja i po domovima na kojima smo odrasli, ova priča deluje vrlo "light" i samo pokazuje koliko je Japan bio ispred nas po pitanju nekih socijalnih tema.
Pojedinačni tankoboni se kreću neggde između ocena 3 i 4. 3,5 bi možda bila ocena za ceo serijal, ali u nedostatku te opcije odlučio sam se za 4 ako će moja ocena uopšte uticati na neki ukupan score i ako će ukupan score navesti ikoga ko se dvoumi da li da pročita da ipak pročita onda neka bude 4.
Sunny sam čitao malo u nekim scanovima i radovao sam se kad je bilo najavljeno da će Laguna da ga izda. Smatram da je Matsumoto mangaka koga zaslužujemo na ovim prostorima. Ipak na kraju je bilo sve za nijansu ispod očekivanja.
Priča, ili bolje rečeno priče, prate decu u sirotištu u Japanu u 70im godinama. I priča je formirana iz 37 kratkih priča koje formiraju jednu veliku sliku dešavanja i emocija dece u sirotištu i ljudi koji ih okružuju. Priče osciluju od dobrih do odličnih i nekad možda i bolje funkcionišu kao zasebne priče nego kao celina. Samim tim što je i 37mo poglavlje koje zaokružuje sve dotadašnje priče i čini neku završnicu za moj ukus malo podbacilo.
Crtež je fenomenalan. Mada se Matsumoto pokazao kao mnogo bolji ilustrator nego pripovedač kroz formu stripa. Njegovi zasebni kadrovi su pojedinačno fenomenalni kao i njegov autentičan stil koji mi je jako prijao i bio interesantan. Sa druge strane dinamika kroz crtež mi je delovala prebrzo, pogotovo za tematiku kojom se bavi. Nekako je felilo malo dodatnih kadrova koji bi usporili priču i dali joj prostora da "diše". Tok radnje je na momente akcioni, a meni je falilo malo više drame kroz kadrove.
Sve u svemu Sunny je jedno dobro delo koje bi trebalo pročitati i Matsumotov crtež će definitivno dati prostora za uživanje.
Postoji još jedna stvar, a ona je vrlo subjektivna i komentarišući mangu sa jednim prijateljem, možda čak i generacijska. Pričamo o generaciji (kojoj pripadam) ljudi rođenih početkom 80ih na prostoru bivše Jugoslavije. Verujem da će pripadnici te generacije, kao i ja, imati malih poteškoća da se emotivno povežu sa likovima i dešavanjima. Iako su priče emotivne i vrlo teskobne i tužne, generaciji koja je odrasla (kao vrlo mala) na "Zaboravljenima", "Sivom domu", "Specijalnom vaspitanju", itd. će možda cela priča delovati rutinska, iako bi trebala da je teskobna. Razlog je samo taj što spram jezivih priča koja se tiču odrastanja mladih bez roditelja i po domovima na kojima smo odrasli, ova priča deluje vrlo "light" i samo pokazuje koliko je Japan bio ispred nas po pitanju nekih socijalnih tema.
August 31, 2023
4.5 - a story about childlike innocence, the yearning for freedom, and dreams as survival, all wrapped up in canny explorations of class. I don't know if I prefer this to Ping Pong but its art and episodic storytelling work so so well. The third to last chapter and the penultimate chapter brought tears to my eyes. "Someday your pain will be your strength" omg.. 😭😭😭
Read
January 6, 2022[2022 no.7]
April 2, 2024
décidément à chaque fois que je lis un manga de taiyo Matsumoto ça me met une claque mais celle là elle est violente, c'était incroyable, peut être mon œuvre pref de l'auteur au final
August 7, 2024
necesito estar lendo as suas vidas ate que sexan vellos….. los kiero
June 25, 2025
4,50
Un autore che riesce a farti trasalire speranza, ma anche malinconia con questi bambini, è prezioso. I personaggi sono grandiosi. I caratteri dei bambini li trovo simili (in quanto bambini) ma ben distinti parlando di emozioni. Il modo in cui disegna questi bambini è veramente dolce ed è pazzesco come ogni capitolo (tranne forse due di questi, che sono riempitivi ma nel senso buono del termine perché sono divertenti) racconti delle sfaccettature sempre diverse che in qualche modo fanno crescere questi ragazzini. Gli adulti sbagliano. I bambini sbagliano. Delle volte capiscono, ma altre volte dicono di non farlo più e invece ripetono gli sbagli perché sono B A M B I N I. Bravissimo Matsumoto. Sei riuscito a cogliere in pieno l'atmosfera di questo orfanotrofio/ casa famiglia e le sfaccettature di adulti e bambini, che sono umane e di conseguenza naturali.
Un autore che riesce a farti trasalire speranza, ma anche malinconia con questi bambini, è prezioso. I personaggi sono grandiosi. I caratteri dei bambini li trovo simili (in quanto bambini) ma ben distinti parlando di emozioni. Il modo in cui disegna questi bambini è veramente dolce ed è pazzesco come ogni capitolo (tranne forse due di questi, che sono riempitivi ma nel senso buono del termine perché sono divertenti) racconti delle sfaccettature sempre diverse che in qualche modo fanno crescere questi ragazzini. Gli adulti sbagliano. I bambini sbagliano. Delle volte capiscono, ma altre volte dicono di non farlo più e invece ripetono gli sbagli perché sono B A M B I N I. Bravissimo Matsumoto. Sei riuscito a cogliere in pieno l'atmosfera di questo orfanotrofio/ casa famiglia e le sfaccettature di adulti e bambini, che sono umane e di conseguenza naturali.
March 2, 2025
Taiyo Matsumoto might just be the best to ever do it. He's certainly comics' greatest chronicler of childhood and all its melancholy.
Sunny is many things but what stands out most in nearly every chapter is how Matsumoto's empathetic touch, always subtly attuned not just to his adolescent characters' fragile emotional states but the complex, largely unspoken dynamics of their group home setting, highlights without a hint of triteness how meaningful small acts of kindness can be in a child's life. But it's the elderly director of the group home who gets the series' most powerful moment: a reunion with his most troublesome foster child, now a devoted family man, that validates his life's work.
Manga's decompressed nature encourages artists to give space to environment, to punctuate their pages with panels of nature, architecture, animals, background characters, passing cars and power lines, like the montages used to indicate the passage of time in Ozu films. But Matsumoto takes this technique farther than any mangaka I've encountered. Close to half the panels in Sunny are devoted to these snapshots of environment, integral not just to pace and tone but to Matsumoto's characters--his sense of what a character, a person, is: not an internal process but a delicate web strung over time between an individual and their environment. The children of Sunny are not just kids, they're the group home and the eponymous vehicle in the yard, they're their school, their strained relationships with their families, their critical relationships with each other. To understand them one must first understand the precarious makeshift world of the group home, and the fantastical reflection of it the children create amongst themselves to alleviate their boredom and despair.
Sunny is many things but what stands out most in nearly every chapter is how Matsumoto's empathetic touch, always subtly attuned not just to his adolescent characters' fragile emotional states but the complex, largely unspoken dynamics of their group home setting, highlights without a hint of triteness how meaningful small acts of kindness can be in a child's life. But it's the elderly director of the group home who gets the series' most powerful moment: a reunion with his most troublesome foster child, now a devoted family man, that validates his life's work.
Manga's decompressed nature encourages artists to give space to environment, to punctuate their pages with panels of nature, architecture, animals, background characters, passing cars and power lines, like the montages used to indicate the passage of time in Ozu films. But Matsumoto takes this technique farther than any mangaka I've encountered. Close to half the panels in Sunny are devoted to these snapshots of environment, integral not just to pace and tone but to Matsumoto's characters--his sense of what a character, a person, is: not an internal process but a delicate web strung over time between an individual and their environment. The children of Sunny are not just kids, they're the group home and the eponymous vehicle in the yard, they're their school, their strained relationships with their families, their critical relationships with each other. To understand them one must first understand the precarious makeshift world of the group home, and the fantastical reflection of it the children create amongst themselves to alleviate their boredom and despair.
September 27, 2023
The closing volume in Taiyo Matsumoto's Sunny series brings the story to a hopeful end, as several of the central characters leave the Star Kids foster home for new arrangements that address at least some of their challenges.
On one level, that conclusion has a warm fuzziness that wraps up the narrative with a shiny bow. But it seems significant to me that the very last image in this long series is one of Taro, the simple-minded adult who seems to be a permanent resident of the Star Kids home (no details about Taro's history or situation are provided anywhere in the many pages of Sunny).
In the final chapter of this final volume, Taro spends his time blowing bubbles and eating rice balls, all while keeping a watchful eye on the couple of toddlers that also reside at Star Kids. Taro is gentle, reliable, and generally undemanding (outside of his considerable craving for food). Matsumoto seems to be ending the series with the suggestion that Taro's uncomplicated approach to life is a way-post for both readers and for the young residents of the Star Kids home.
On one level, that conclusion has a warm fuzziness that wraps up the narrative with a shiny bow. But it seems significant to me that the very last image in this long series is one of Taro, the simple-minded adult who seems to be a permanent resident of the Star Kids home (no details about Taro's history or situation are provided anywhere in the many pages of Sunny).
In the final chapter of this final volume, Taro spends his time blowing bubbles and eating rice balls, all while keeping a watchful eye on the couple of toddlers that also reside at Star Kids. Taro is gentle, reliable, and generally undemanding (outside of his considerable craving for food). Matsumoto seems to be ending the series with the suggestion that Taro's uncomplicated approach to life is a way-post for both readers and for the young residents of the Star Kids home.
December 9, 2021
I don't have anything to say here that I haven't already said - I really like this series, and this final volume is no different. I love the art style and the narratives, and I'm really glad I've read this series of books.
Read
September 29, 2017Genial hasta el final.
November 25, 2016
There are few books I love more than this series. Will try to find the words to explain why.
April 14, 2019
This series was simply perfect. It reminded me of the quiet, simple moments of Studio Ghibli films that resonate with emotion. Beautiful ending to an elegant story.
March 16, 2020
as heartbreaking as strikingly beautiful
April 9, 2021
Unforgettable. So vivid and vibrant it seems like a memory.
January 31, 2026
With this volume 6, (2016) Sunny concludes, bittersweet to the end, achingly beautiful and sad and hopeful for the kids living in the Star Home, a foster home not unlike the place creator Tiayo Matsumoto grew up in. It's a slice-of-life manga series, where the kids must rely on themselves, as adults fail them.
Sunny is an abandoned car in a lot near the home that the kids sit to imagine they can go anywhere. And in this one kids do get out, though it is not clear their lives will vastly improve for doing so, but escape is initself an act of volition, self-efficacy. in a late volume image, we join with the kids in their fantasy, as the car flies out of the lot, at last.
This is a story mainly told through the images. People talk, but you look at the hopeful, sad, anguished faces and hear what is important in the unsaid. Unconscionable that children should have to live like this, abandoned by screwed-up adults, and you care so much for them. You feel sorry for them, but you also admire them for hoping, for not giving up. Masterful.
Fast Car, Tracy Chapman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOAl...
Sunny is an abandoned car in a lot near the home that the kids sit to imagine they can go anywhere. And in this one kids do get out, though it is not clear their lives will vastly improve for doing so, but escape is initself an act of volition, self-efficacy. in a late volume image, we join with the kids in their fantasy, as the car flies out of the lot, at last.
This is a story mainly told through the images. People talk, but you look at the hopeful, sad, anguished faces and hear what is important in the unsaid. Unconscionable that children should have to live like this, abandoned by screwed-up adults, and you care so much for them. You feel sorry for them, but you also admire them for hoping, for not giving up. Masterful.
Fast Car, Tracy Chapman:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIOAl...
May 1, 2019
Pocas historias tienen personajes tan vivos como los de Sunny, tanto que a uno a veces se le olvida que está leyendo ficción: los niños entran y salen de la historia según les va viniendo en gana, se comportan de manera inocente o infantil o miserable como lo haría cualquier persona de esa franja de edad, son buenos y malos y evolucionan, cada uno con sus aristas y sus rasgos distintivos, con la máxima naturalidad. Es ese ambiente tan realista lo mejor de Sunny, que va a más una vez te encariñas con los personajes y luego a menos cuando el esquema de las historias se empieza a repetir y a resultar monótono —el final en bajo de todas las historias, los momentos buscando a veces la lágrima fácil—. Probablemente Sunny funcione mejor cuando se lee de manera espaciada y sin más pretensiones que pasar un buen rato una vez a la semana (o al mes); cuando se busca algo más que enganche a querer leer el siguiente capítulo, se viene un poco abajo.
June 3, 2017
Beautiful water color illustrations, an emotionally fraught storyline, the everyday struggles of the kids living at Star Kids home, all come together to make this one of the best series I've read. This would be another manga to own, to discuss with others. Scenes that could make you cry or laugh or wonder at the injustice of the world, or the beauty of it.
It's also not a long series, this one, Volume Six, is the last of the series and although, like life, the ending could be another beginning, I was happy with the journey was able to take with these characters.
This is the type of series that helps usher in new readers, who might not realize that manga goes beyond comics for children, but also has really nuanced works that would appeal to all ages.
It's also not a long series, this one, Volume Six, is the last of the series and although, like life, the ending could be another beginning, I was happy with the journey was able to take with these characters.
This is the type of series that helps usher in new readers, who might not realize that manga goes beyond comics for children, but also has really nuanced works that would appeal to all ages.
December 1, 2025
Un manga per a gent que diu que no li agraden els manga (com jo), col·lecció sencera prestada pel Gregori. És una història sense grans subtrames, ni acció, ni triangles amorosos ni a priori res gaire “emocionant”. Una obra més aviat contemplativa, que segueix la vida d’uns nens en una casa d’acollida, en la que, amb cada capítol, descobreixes una mica més a fons la història de cada un i les relacions amb els uns i els altres, les diferents personalitats, les manies... Us asseguro que després dels sis volums pensareu que, tot i ser uns gamberros, us els estimeu com si fossin els vostres germans petits. Còmic per plorar i emocionar-se amb la simplicitat de la vida, els obstacles del dia a dia, i els nens amb famílies complicades. No podria recomenar-vos mes aquests llibres!!!! Feu el favor!
January 6, 2026
Reseña global a los seis volúmenes
Un grupo de niños, abandonados u obligados por varias circunstancias a estar lejos de sus familias, viven en una casa de acogida.
Mostrando momentos de la vida de estos niños, Matsumoto nos ofrece un retrato emotivo: sus deseos, sus miedos, sus circunstancias que les han marcado....Ternura, inocencia, dureza, melancolía o imaginación plasman cada una de las viñetas, con un halo poético, que hacen un manga único y especial.
Mención especial al gran dibujo y a Sunny, viejo coche que se convierte en un oasis y puerta a la imaginación para huir momentáneamente de la dura realidad.
Un grupo de niños, abandonados u obligados por varias circunstancias a estar lejos de sus familias, viven en una casa de acogida.
Mostrando momentos de la vida de estos niños, Matsumoto nos ofrece un retrato emotivo: sus deseos, sus miedos, sus circunstancias que les han marcado....Ternura, inocencia, dureza, melancolía o imaginación plasman cada una de las viñetas, con un halo poético, que hacen un manga único y especial.
Mención especial al gran dibujo y a Sunny, viejo coche que se convierte en un oasis y puerta a la imaginación para huir momentáneamente de la dura realidad.
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