Slow Start

"Slow Start" (スロウスタート) is a Japanese four-panel manga series written by Yuiko Tokumi. It began serialization in Houbunsha's seinen manga magazine "Manga Time Kirara" in 2013. The story centers around Hana Ichinose, a first-year high school student. Due to having the mumps before her high school entrance exams, she missed them and had to postpone her enrollment by a year. She strives to adapt to her new school life without her classmates discovering she's older, and becomes friends with three unique classmates: the lively and outgoing Tamate Momochi, the shy Kanmuri Sengoku, and the highly sociable Eiko Tokura. The manga is a light-hearted slice-of-life story depicting Hana and her friends' heartwarming school days and their growing friendships. In addition to the manga, it was adapted into a 12-episode television anime series by CloverWorks, which aired from January to March 2018.