Show-ha Shoten!

Shy high school student Azemichi Shijima and former child actor Taiyo Higashikata both love comedy. After learning that Azemichi is a skilled joke writer famed for regular contributions to a radio show under the pen name Everyday Shijimi, Taiyo tricks him into being his partner in a sketch comedy routine for their school's cultural festival. The sketch is a hit, with the two winning the award for best performance. Realizing that each excels in the area where the other is weak, Azemichi with writing comedy and when to transition and Taiyo with performing and ad-libbing, the two decide to team up and form the comedy duo . In order to earn the blessing of Azemichi's parents, they must win the bimonthly High School Comedy Battle. There, they meet and become rivals to the duo Sprechchor and come in second place behind Rising. However, Rising resigns so that One-Way Ticket to the Top are elevated to first place and can continue comedy. Azemichi and Taiyo then enter the Kanto-2 block preliminary round of Wara-1 Koshien, or "Wara-Ko" for short, a national competition for high school students. ==Characters==

One-Way Ticket to the Top ; :A shy 16-year-old high school student who is obsessed with comedy ever since he failed to make his middle school crush, Mizuha, laugh at her request two years ago. She soon changed her last name and moved away. Not knowing her new name, Azemichi hopes he might be able to see her again if he becomes famous. He has already achieved some success by submitting jokes to TV and radio shows under the name "Everyday Shijimi", but that was anonymously because he has stage fright. ; :Azemichi's schoolmate and a former famous child actor in historical dramas. Although a natural, he only acted to make his mother smile, and switched to comedy after seeing someone make her laugh at a joke. He was in a previous comedy duo, but his partner Sakutaro Kunugi died from a disease. Carrying on his former partner's dream, he wants to become the first person to win both the Wara-1 Grand Prix, a competition for duos, and the Ultimate Comedy Battle, a sketch comedy competition. ; :Azemichi and Taiyo's who has been a big fan of comedy since she was a child. She is One-Way Ticket to the Top's biggest fan and trains them in , while becoming something of a manager to them. Other groups ; :A high school comedy duo whose name is derived from "a chorus of voices". It is composed of , a scary-looking man who is actually sensitive and caring, and , a self-confessed "prick". Although Tetta is a talented baseball player, he was bullied regularly as a first-year, and Jun found a way to let him quit the team and partner with him. As three-time finalists of Wara-1 Koshien, and with the most appearances at the High School Comedy Battle, they are the "most visible" high school duo. They form a friendly rivalry with One-Way Ticket to the Top after meeting at the High School Comedy Battle. Having placed second in the Kanto-2 regional, they are selected as one of two wild card teams to participate in the 2022 Wara-1 Koshien. ; :A cocky, new comedy duo who beat One-Way Ticket to the Top at the High School Comedy Battle, their first competition; they are and . However, they resign so that One-Way Ticket to the Top win and Azemichi's parents can not force them to give up comedy. As the winner of the Kanto-1 regional, they are competing in the Wara-1 Koshien tournament. ; :Brutus includes and , who is often seen eating, causing him to be overweight. As the winner of the Chubu regional, they are part of the Wara-1 Koshien tournament. Nazutani previously was in the duo with , but Kunugi left to team up with Taiyo, so Nazutani holds a grudge against Taiyo for "stealing" his partner. ; :A comedy duo composed of , a very muscular man, and , a small female karateka. Their comedy is atypical in in that it revolves around physical slapstick where Kanade strikes Tabata. ; :Winners of the Kyushi / Okinawa regional. Unlike the other contestants, glasses-wearing and silly have competed in the actual Wara-1 Grand Prix, reaching the third round; they are known as the top female comedians, pro or amateur. They met in high school, serving detention together as Himawari's provocation caused Rinka to lose her temper multiple times, disrupting their classes. Himawari's older brother and sister exceled in academics and athletics, so to stand out, she is the class clown; when their teacher Miss Miyuki yells at Himawari for not taking anything seriously and trying to ruin Rinka's life, Rinka defends her and vows to show the world how funny they can be together. ; :Winners of the Kansai-2 regional. and are a "mismatched" pair, Kazami delivering lines smoothly and Kamiyama slowly and awkwardly. ; :Winners of the Chugoku / Shikoku regional. and are two friends who hold a deep-seated grudge against Passionate Sandbag because they insulted and sabotaged Sweet Potato Combo at the prior year's Wara-ko finals. Oshino, their friend and coworker, was part of Sweet Potato Combo and joined the priesthood after graduation. ; :Selected as one of two wild cards; competed in the Chugoku / Shikoku regional. Unlike the other groups, there are three members: , , and . ; :Winners of the Kansai-1 regional in an upset over Pascal 800, which placed 4th at the prior year's Wara-1 Koshien. and are mismatched partners: while Shunsei smoothly delivers his lines, Yo speaks in awkward, explosive phrases, giving them a unique rhythm. ; :Winners of the Hokkaido / Tohoku regional; they placed second in Wara-Ko their first year, and won in their second year. and have a mean-spirited comedy style, ridiculing their competitors with bullying observations, and as a result, are not well liked by other comedy teams. ==Publication==

Written by Akinari Asakura and illustrated by Takeshi Obata, Show-ha Shoten! was serialized Shueisha's Jump Squares from October 4, 2021, to August 4, 2025. Shueisha is collecting the individual chapters into volumes, with the first released on January 4, 2022. Both Shueisha and Viz Media are releasing the series in English simultaneously as it is published in Japan, the former on its Manga Plus website and application. In June 2022, Viz Media announced that it would begin releasing volumes in print. The first volume was released on February 7, 2023. Volumes | }} Cover: One-Way Ticket to the Top (Azemichi Shijima and Taiyo Higashikata) }} | | }} Cover: Sprechchor (Jun Mizushina and Teppeita Onizaki) }} | | }} Cover: Kirameki Confections (Kanade Suzume and Tabata Daiboku) }} | | }} Cover: Selinenius (Sakutaro Kunugi and Ryuki Nazutani) }} | | }} Cover: Broken Glass Slipper (Rinka Iwashimizu and Himawari Saeda) }} | | }} Cover: Rising (Atsushi Ban and Bunta Harigane) }} | | }} Cover: Iwashi Tsuyoshi (Yushin Mochizuki and Kanji Atago) }} | | }} Cover: Brutus (Nitta Tsutomu and Ryuki Nazutani) }} | | }} Cover: Shiba Inu World Tour (Shunsei Mimomi and Yo Onozuka) }} | | }} Cover: Passionate Sandbag (Matsuri Okanda and Haruka Ataru) }} | | }} Cover: One-Way Ticket to the Top (Azemichi Shijima and Taiyo Higashikata) }} ==Reception==

Danny Guan of Game Rant included Show-ha Shoten! on a list of the "Best Shonen Manga of 2021". Antonio Mireles of The Fandom Post praised the teamwork between Azemichi and Taiyo as they work around each other's strengths and weaknesses, writing that the series plays to Obata's strengths by them being similar to the two protagonists of his earlier manga, Bakuman. Although he said the jokes start off strong and commended the English translator for going to great effort to make sure their meanings were not lost in translation, Mireles felt that the comedy "seams begin to rip apart" in the second chapter. He finished with, "The world needs a good laugh and Show-Ha Shoten! Is about to provide it to the world." Real Sounds Fujimoto also felt the "high school buddy" relationship was reminiscent of Bakuman, and praised Obata's art. He recommended the manga to those who want to understand the structure of . Anime News Networks MrAJCosplay gave the first volume of Show-ha Shoten! an A grade for its "surprisingly thoughtful" reflections on what makes a good comedian, "incredibly tight" narrative, and for how much characterization the side and background characters are given. He also praised the art and overall presentation of the manga; "Faces are effectively exaggerated when appropriate, but the timing of having speech bubbles interject at certain moments, the way punch lines are saved for specific panels, and the surprisingly subtle attention to detail all left me with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments". His only criticism was the few jokes that might not land as a result of translation or cultural differences, but noted he could at least understand why others might find them funny. Patti Martinson of Sequential Tart called Shijima and Higashikata a classic comedy pairing in the vein of Laurel and Hardy, and wrote that their depth as characters and the motives behind their desires to succeed in the comedy business make a solid foundation for a series. Despite enjoying nearly everything about the first volume, Martinson gave it a "mixed review" for her sole complaint of not finding the jokes and comedy sketches funny. ==Notes==