Dagashi Kashi

Dagashi Kashi
Cover of Dagashi Kashi volume 1, featuring the heroine Hotaru Shidare
だがしかし
Genre	Comedy
Manga
Written by	Kotoyama
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Sunday
Original run	June 2014 – present
Volumes	6
Light novel
Dagashi Kashi: Mō Hitotsu no Natsu Yasumi
Written by	Manta Aisora
Published by	Shogakukan
Demographic	Male
Imprint	Gagaga Bunko
Published	December 18, 2015
Volumes	1
Anime television series
Directed by	Shigehito Takayanagi
Written by	Shigehito Takayanagi Yasuko Kamo
Music by	Tomotaka Osumi Nobuaki Nobusawa
Studio	Feel
Licensed by	‹See Tfd› ^AUS Madman Entertainment ^NA Funimation
Network	TBS, CBC, SUN, BS-TBS,
Original run	January 7, 2016 – March 31, 2016
Episodes	12

Dagashi Kashi (だがしかし) is a Japanese manga series by Kotoyama. It has been serialized in Shogakukan's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday since June 2014 and has been collected in six tankōbon volumes. A light novel adaptation titled Dagashi Kashi: Mō Hitotsu no Natsu Yasumi, written and illustrated by Manta Aisora, was published in a single volume by Shogakukan on December 18, 2015 under their Gagaga Bunko imprint.^[1] An anime television series adaptation by Feel aired in Japan between January 7, 2016 and March 31, 2016.^[2][3] "Dagashi Kashi" means "cheap sweets candy", but if read "Daga Shikashi", it also means "however".^[4]

Characters

Kokonotsu Shikada (鹿田 ココノツ Shikada Kokonotsu)

Voiced by: Atsushi Abe (Japanese); Todd Haberkorn (English)

Kokonotsu and his father Yō live in a countryside town where they run a small sweets store. He aspires to be a manga artist, an ambition that puts him at odds with his father who wants him to inherit the store which has been run by the family for eight generations. He constantly finds himself manning the cash register, more often than not a result of his father's trickery. After Hotaru's arrival, he also has to put up with her antics as well. He is nicknamed Kokonatsu (ココナツ^?, "Coconuts") . His given name is a Kun'yomi pronunciation of the Japanese numeral 九, Kokonotsu (ここのつ^?, "Ninth") ; it works as a pun, referring to his being the ninth generation of the family that will run the store.

Hotaru Shidare (枝垂 ほたる Shidare Hotaru)

Voiced by: Ayana Taketatsu (Japanese); Tabitha Ray (English)

An eccentric girl who is very passionate about sweets and snacks. Her father owns a famous snacks company and she came to Shikada store to recruit Yō. As Yō will not leave as long as Kokonotsu is unwilling to succeed him as Shikada storekeeper, she quickly strikes a deal with him: she will convince Kokonotsu to take over the store in return for his employment. From then on she tries to persuade Kokonotsu using many different ways such as games, stories, and riddles.

Saya Endō (遠藤 サヤ Endō Saya)

Voiced by: Manami Numakura (Japanese); Sara Ragsdale (English)

Kokonotsu's classmate and childhood friend who runs a nearby cafe. She has a longstanding crush on Kokonotsu. At first alarmed by Hotaru's presence, she quickly befriends her, as their goals are aligned: Hotaru wishes Kokonotsu to run the store while she wants him to keep staying in town. Saya has a hidden talent of toy mastery. At one point she defeats a well-prepared Hotaru at a Menko game, an event that leads Hotaru to start addressing her with suffix shi (師), an antiquated designation used by disciples to their masters.

She is the younger twin sister of Tō.

Tō Endō (遠藤 豆 Endō Tō)

Voiced by: Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Japanese); Justin Pate (English)

Older twin brother of Saya and a good friend of Kokonotsu. A laid back person who usually wears a Hawaiian shirt and sunglasses. He and Saya run a cafe named "Cafe Endō".

Yō Shikada (鹿田 ヨウ Shikada Yō)

Voiced by: Keiji Fujiwara (Japanese); Jeremy Inman (English)

Kokonotsu's father as well as the current owner of Shikada store. He is desperate to make his son the 9th head of the shop so that his legacy will continue. He agrees to Hotaru's bargain that if she can convince his son to be the next head of his shop, he would start working for Hotaru's company. Like his son, his given name is a Kun'yomi pronunciation of the Japanese numeral 八, Yō (ヨウ^?, "Eighth") , and works as a pun for his generation of shop owner.

Media

Anime

Episode list

No.	Official English title[lower-alpha 1] Original Japanese title[5]	Original air date
1	"Umaibō, Fries, and... / Coffee Milk Candies, Young Donuts and..." "Umaibō to potefu to... / Kōhī gyūnyū kyandī to yangu dōnatsu to..." (うまい棒とポテフと… / コーヒー牛乳キャンディとヤングドーナツと…)	January 7, 2016
Kokonotsu Shikada wants to be a manga artist, but his father Yō forces him to inherit the family's dagashi shop. At that time, a beautiful and eccentric girl named Hotaru Shidare comes to their home and asks Yō to work at her family's candy developer. Yō refuses because he couldn't leave the shop if Kokonotsu doesn't want to inherit the shop. Thus, Hotaru decided to stay until Kokonotsu agreed to inherit the shop. Later, Kokonotsu meets the Endō twins - Tō and Saya - at their cafe and tells them about Hotaru without mentioning her name. Saya later meets Hotaru in person without knowing she's the one that Kokonotsu mentioned earlier.
2	"Kinako-bou, Namaiki Beer, and... / Fue Ramune, Menko, and..." "Kinakobō to Namaiki bīru to... / Fue Ramune to Menko to..." (きなこ棒と生いきビールと… / 笛ラムネとめんこと…)	January 14, 2016
Hotaru arrives at the Shikada shop (san Yō) and continues her eccentric and sexually oblivious sweets-related behavior, culminating with her passing out from drinking a non-alcoholic candy beer mix. Kokonotsu later meets with Saya and Hotaru meets up with them while playing with candy that can also function as a whistle. She then spins a tale relating to the snack; Saya believes it is nonsense, but Kokonotsu catches on that it is allegorical and also implies that Hotaru's ditzy antics may not be completely sincere. Saya defuses the situation when she imagines all the sweets she could get for free if Kokonotsu were to succeed the shop. The three then play Menko into the evening as Saya stuns both Kokonotsu and Hotaru with instances of beginner's luck.
3	"Buta-men, Kuru Kuru Bou Jelly, and... / Bontan-ame, Seven Neon, and..." "Butamen to kurukuru bō zerī to... / Bontan'ame to Sebun Neon to..." (ブタメンとくるくるぼーゼリーと… / ボンタンアメとセブンネオンと…)	January 21, 2016
Hotaru, along with Tō, arrive at the shop on a rather hot day and decide to boil water inside the shop in order to make butamen. While Hotaru insists that eating the snack in sweltering heat is the best way to enjoy it, Tō admits to Kokonotsu that he's only here to fantasize about Hotaru while she sensually eats the snack. Once the air conditioning breaks and Kokonotsu tells Hotaru that some dagashi might go bad due to the heat, the three decide to go to the pool while Tō contacts Saya about the meetup. Kokonotsu and Tō meet Yō (moonlighting as a lifeguard) and the girls at the pool; it is then revealed that Yō and Hotaru conspired the pool meeting in an effort to once again bring Kokonotsu closer to sweets. The plan backfires, however, when dagashi planted by the pair in the pool cannot be eaten because of a "No Food or Drink" sign they forgot to remove. The next day, Hotaru arrives at the shop to find Tō but no Kokonotsu, who is busy moving dagashi that might have gone bad from yesterday. Hotaru attempts to strike up a conversation with Tō about dagashi, but mistakes his aloofness towards the subject as a challenge. This culminates with Hotaru fast-balling candy into Tō's mouth as Kokonotsu stumbles upon the scene with no context and an air-conditioning repair crew. Kokonotsu makes Hotaru stay with Saya at the cafe shop and the two hit it off.
4	"Fugashi, Fugashi, and... / Glico, Glico, and..." "Fugashi to fugashi to... / Guriko to Guriko to..." (ふがしとふがしと… / グリコとグリコと…)	January 28, 2016
Kokonotsu arrives at the shop to find Hotaru blindfolded. She challenges him to a blind taste test using various flavors of fugashi; she also includes the stipulation that the taster has to have their hands tied behind their back so as to not cheat by identifying the snack just based on texture. The two guess each flavor fed to them correctly, but Kokonotsu tries to trick Hotaru with a rare flavor of fugashi when the ones they were tasting run out. Much to his dismay, she still guesses it correctly. When it is Kokonotsu's turn, however, Hotaru complains of dry mouth and runs off to buy a drink, leaving him blindfolded and tied up. Yō, unluckily, returns to the shop before Hotaru and incorrectly infers the situation. Afterwards, Tō and Kokonotsu meet up at Cafe Endō. Tō notices Kokonotsu's doodles of the girls and literally draws attention to the difference in their breast size. Upon returning to the sweets shop, Kokonotsu bumps into Hotaru and realizes he left his notebook with the drawings at the shop. Hotaru, sensing Kokonotsu's predicament, tosses him a box of Glico caramel as the two use the kilocalories in the candy to race back to the cafe as fast as they can. Hotaru, however, runs out of candy and energy when the two are 300 meters away; Hotaru offers him her last piece as she collapses from exhaustion. As Kokonotsu makes it to the cafe, he unfortunately meets Saya already looking at the doodles.
5	"Bottle Ramune, Baby-Star Ramen, and... / Yatta Men, Watch Out for the Sour Grape, and..." "Binramune to bebī sutā rāmen to... / Yattā men to suppai budō ni goyōjin! to..." (ビンラムネとベビースターラーメンと… / ヤッターめんとすっぱいぶどうにご用心!と…)	February 4, 2016
Kokonotsu interrupts his father and Hotaru enjoying binramune late at night. While Hotaru explains the oddities of the dagashi, Kokonotsu comments on the apparent addictiveness of the snack, especially after watching Yō greedily drink it despite the fact it is supposed to be for sale. The two decide to make themselves right while Kokonotsu goes back to bed. Sometime later (1:30 am), Kokonotsu is once again reawakened, this time by his father making food vlogs; Yō states that he's doing it to make money from YouTube's ad reveune, but also admits to only having 13 views in total among his videos. When Kokonotsu decides to watch his father record, he sees that he reads from a script and doesn't have much to say about Baby Star Ramen; he decides to help by naming facts about the dagashi's origins, mascots and naming convention without realizing that the webcam is still recording. This ends up netting the video over 100 views. Later, Hotaru drops by after hearing that Kokonotsu & Tō are broke. She introduces them to prizes located inside packages of yattamen, even though the prizes function more as coupons rather than yen and that Hotaru goes through several without winning anything. She confesses that she's actually never won a candy prize in her life, but nonetheless introduces the boys to the "Sour Grape challenge". This involves a three-pack of grape-flavored gum with one of them being extremely sour; the person who eats the sour one has to do something for the winners. Hotaru believes she has the boys beat due to the gum's packaging giving away which one is the sour one, but she realizes she purchased a pack with new packaging upon double-checking it. The three eat a piece and Hotaru loses. Kokonotsu tries to encourage a dejected Hotaru by saying that her rotten luck could be seen as a type of talent. Regardless, Hotaru runs off in frustration before Kokonotsu & Tō realize she never upheld her part of the deal.
6	"Super Himo Q, Ohajiki, and sometimes Maken Gumi... / Yoguret, Coconuts, and..." "Chō himo Q to ohajiki to... Tokidoki makengumi / Yōguretto to kokonatsu to..." (超ひもQとおはじきと…ときどきまけんグミ / ヨーグレットとココナツと…)	February 18, 2016
Hotaru invites the three to a temple to try to discuss Super Himo Q, a dagashi resembling a elongated gummi worm. Tō interrupts her with a different dagashi, Maken gummies (a pun on jan-ken). He opens the package to find that he has the Paa (paper) version of the candy and then, noticing the similarities to the stretchy hand toy and with a confirming glare from Hotaru, decides to play a prank. He purposefully flips his sister's skirt up, angering Saya and causing her to punch him and send him several meters away. Hotaru tends gets back on the subject of Super Himo Q and demonstrates the different ways one can play with it. This leads to a modified game of tug of war between her and Kokonotsu in order to determine the succession of the shop. The game ends with a draw, so Hotaru moves on and tells Kokonotsu and Saya about the history of the dagashi's length while using it as nunchaku. The wild flinging causes a piece to snap off and fly into the air; Kokonotsu instinctively gives chase, grabs it with his mouth and lands on top of Tō. The four then decide to play Ohajiki in order to settle the succession matter. When Saya once again shows proficiency in a game she's never played, Hotaru brings the possibility of Saya working at the Shikada shop. She turns red at the thought as she stares at Kokonotsu. Later on, with Hotaru at last place, she pulls out a trump card, the forbidden ohajiki. It, unfortunately, slips from her hand and shatters once it hits the ground, leaving her in tears. The next day, Saya thinks about Hotaru's offer. She thinks back to a time when her and Kokonotsu were younger and played doctor with Yoguret, a nutritional dagashi that comes in a blister pack. Saya checked Kokonotsu's temperature with a hand on the forehead, but pushed him back when they made eye contact and insisted on him being doctor instead. Saya then tried to use the situation to get Kokonotsu to touch her body, but he obliviously prescribed "medicine" each time and sends her on her way. When they moved on to pretend surgery, Kokonotsu gave Saya the last piece of Yoguret as an anesthetic and sadly released he had no more left. When she tried to comfort him, they both fell over and locked hands. In the present-day, Saya shakes off the embarrassing memory, comments that Kokonotsu's probably forgotten it by now and resumes her walk to the Shikada shop. Hotaru tends introduces today's dagashi, Yoguret; both Kokonotsu and Saya look away from each other in embarrassment and Saya darts off. She expresses some relief in the fact that Kokonotsu still remembers.
7	"Summer Festival, Hotaru, and... / Summer Festival, Saya, and..." "Natsu matsuri to Hotaru to... / Natsu matsuri to Saya to..." (夏祭りとほたると…/夏祭りとサヤと…)	February 25, 2016
Kokonotsu tags along with his father to set up their yearly monjayaki stand the day before the summer festival starts. The next day, he, Tō and Hotaru arrive at the festival. After announcing how much money they each have (¥2500, ¥3000 and ¥200, respectively), Hotaru informs the boys that she'll be able to earn more money by playing katanuki. After carefully cutting out a difficult tulip design and winning ¥5000, Tō decides to try his hand at the game and cuts out an umbrella design after several attempts. Unfortunately, he trips and breaks it on the way to redeem his prize. Later, Kokonotsu helps out Yō at the monjayaki stand. Saya shows up and Yō decides to let him Kokonotsu explore the festival with her while Tō takes over his friend's spot. After some games and food, Kokonotsu decide to try goldfish scooping. When he fails multiple times, Saya thinks back to a time when they were younger and Kokonotsu also failed repeatedly at the game. After using up all of his money to no success, the stand owner gave him a goldfish out of sympathy, which Kokonotsu decided to give to Saya. Coincidentally, the same thing ends up happening again; Saya accepts the goldfish with a blush and a thank you.
8	"Super Scary Story Gum, Typhoon, and... / Kendama, Popping Fortune-Telling Chocolate, and..." "Chō kowai hanashi gamu to taifū to... / Kendama to puchipuchi uranai choko to..." (超怖い話ガムと台風と…／けん玉とプチプチ占いチョコと…)	March 3, 2016
Kokonotsu, Tō, Hotaru and Saya sit out a typhoon in the powerless shop while Tō tells scary stories which frighten Saya but leaves Kokonotsu with questions about the inconsistencies in their plots. Hotaru offers an explanation; Tō is retelling stories from packages of Super Scary Story Gum that are entirely fictional. Regardless, they still frighten Saya. Later, after receiving inspiration from a YouTube video, Tō buys a pair of kendama for him and Kokonotsu to try to master. After failing repeatedly, Saya shows up and effortlessly juggles the ball while also revealing that Tō already had a few kendama back home, solidifying his ineptitude with the toy. After finding Tō near an embankment and a short discussion about popularity, he introduces Kokonotsu to Popping Fortune-Telling Chocolate. The dagashi manages to perfectly predict Tō's good health and the fact that neither of the boys have started their summer homework. After popping the "Wish" chocolate and wishing to see a panchira, Hotaru shows up looking for Kokonotsu. After agreeing to meet up at the shop later, Hotaru leaps off the ledge she was standing on, offering the boys an incidental glimpse. The three coincidences leave them astonished.
9	"Wata-pachi, Lucky Choco-droppings, and... / Sakura Daikon, Egg Ice Cream, and..." "Watapachi to un choko to... / Sakura daikon to tamago aisu to..." (わたパチとうんチョコと... /さくら大根と卵アイスと...)	March 10, 2016
Saya arrives at the shop to find that no one is there. Hotaru, however, arrives a bit later with a mouth ulcer, but continues to eat dagashi against Saya's advice. She continues to eat but the fizzy reaction of Watapachi ends up irritating her ulcer. Later, Saya notices a dagashi she's never seen before. Hotaru tells her about the Un-Choco, whose name and method of dispersal remind Saya of defecation. When Saya tries to hint at it, Hotaru misunderstands and assumes that Saya is insinuating that the dagashi's appeal is outside of their age bracket. After having a few of the grape and chocolate-flavored candies, Hotaru then wants to talk about the dagashi's innuendo, only to mistake it as eggs instead of feces. About two hours later, Kokonotsu arrives at the shop to find Hotaru eating rice and Saya having gone back home. Hotaru reveals that she is from Osaka and often represses her kansai dialect. After a discussion about Sakura Daikon and the fact that some dagashi are region-specific, Hotaru leaves and reveals that she lied about her origins. She then returns to ask Kokonotsu if he likes boobs. He lies, believing that this is a trick questions, but changes his answer once Hotaru starts to walk out. Hotaru then introduces Egg Ice Cream, but she and Kokonotsu have a disagreement of whether to colloquially call it Boob Ice Cream or Bomb Ice Cream, respectively. She then decides to eat hers, causing the warm ice cream to explode all over her body. She remarks that she now understand why it could be referred to as a bomb, while Kokonotsu now understands why it could be referred to as a boob.
10	"That's Dagashi!" "Dagashi janē ka!" (駄菓子じゃねえか！)	March 17, 2016
In the middle of the night, Tō is approached by Hotaru who asks for his help with something. Some days later, Kokonotsu realizes that Hotaru has not appeared at the shop at all recently and, after consulting with Saya, the two decide to pay a visit to the mansion where she is staying. Much to their surprise, they find a bedridden Hotaru who refuses to eat any kind of dagashi Kokonotsu brought with him as gifts for her and ,after some inquiring, she reveals that her mouth ulcer had worsened. She wanted to get better in time to eat a new flavor of Baby Star Ramen that was about to be released. She also reveals that she decided to follow Tō's advice to stop eating dagashi at all to help her recuperation, but this triggers some withdrawal symptoms that lead her to attack Kokonotsu to claim the dagashi he brought. After calming her down, Kokonotsu and Saya discover that the "medicine" she was taking to treat her ulcer were bought at Kokonotsu's shop and were in fact, dagashi, thus not helping at all with her condition, much to their chagrin.
11	"Cola Gum, Yo and... / Miyako Kombu, Ramune and..." "Kōragamu to you to... / Miyako Konbu to ramune to..." (コーラガムとヨウと... /都こんぶとラムネと...)	March 24, 2016
After questioning Hotaru about why she thinks Yō is qualified to work for her father's company, Kokonotsu, Hotaru, and Saya spy on Yō from inside of a box while he works the shop. Although the endeavor initially seems useless, Yō ends up displaying his people skills when he covers for a boy buying Cola Gum for a girl he's trying to impress. This ends up giving Kokonotsu a slightly better impression of his father, until he almost starts to read through Kokonotsu's unfinished manga. Sometime later, Kokonotsu and Hotaru sit and wait for the next available train at a train station. To kill time, the two enjoy some Miyako Kombu and Ramune (the latter of which Kokonotsu inadvertently doesn't get to drink) that Hotaru brought while she tells the stories of both of their origins. The discussion then shifts towards the hopes and future plans for both of the characters; Hotaru then reveals, as she steps onto a train that just arrived, that she won't force him to succeed the shop, but she'll be available should he change his mind. The revelation causes Kokonotsu to miss the train.
12	"I’m Gonna Eat It-Hi, Poem of Cherries, and... / Morinaga Milk Caramel, Sakuma Drops, and..." "Taberundesu hai to sakuranbo no uta to... / Miruku carameru to sakumashiki doroppu to..." (食べるんですHiとさくらんぼの詩と… /ミルクキャラメルとサクマ式ドロップと…)	March 31, 2016
A day after the previous episode, Hotaru and Saya discuss the flavor of love on a beach pier. Tō and Kokonotsu once again work on becoming popular through fortune-telling dagashi. When the two groups end up seeing each other from afar, Kokonotsu remembers his previous conversation with Hotaru at the train stop. He decides to give Hotaru an answer. Kokonotsu fears that his indecisiveness is tying Hotaru down to the town.

Notes

1. All English titles are taken from Funimation.

References

1. "Dagashi Kashi Gets Light Novel Adaptation by Haiyore! Nyaruko-san Creator". Anime News Network. October 22, 2015. Retrieved December 24, 2015.
2. "Dagashi Kashi Manga Gets TV Anime Adaptation". Anime News Network. September 19, 2015. Retrieved September 19, 2015.
3. "Dagashi Kashi Anime's Staff, January Premiere Revealed". Anime News Network. October 14, 2015. Retrieved October 29, 2015.
4. "Dagashi Kashi Manga Gets TV Anime Adaptation". Anime News Network. September 9, 2015. Retrieved January 10, 2016.
5. "STORY" (in Japanese). Retrieved January 6, 2016.

External links

• Official anime website (Japanese)
• Dagashi Kashi (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia