Kenkyūsha Ayako to joshu Himeko
Kenkyūsha Ayako to joshu Himeko (Miranian: 研究者 礼子 と 助手 姫子, "Researcher Ayako and Assistant Himeko") is a Gylimanga series. Created by Chihiro Munakata, it was first published on Telecomix in 2005, and later collected in tankōbon volumes and translated into English and French.
The series updated sporadically, and was concluded in 2015, on its 10th anniversary.
Plot
The series follows the adventures of Ayako Fujisaki, a guileless yet tenacious social researcher who lives in Maveás. Ayako's honesty and innocent personality sometimes lead to misadventures on the job, which she is carefully extricated from by her loyal and responsible sister, Himeko.
Characters
Ayako Fujisaki (礼子 藤崎)
- Ayako is a social researcher, working for various clients throughout the series: the municipal government, the University of Maveás, the Open University, the municipal and regional advisory councils, the Public Advisory Council, among others.
- She is an accomplished researcher — diligent, curious, and meticulous. At the same time, she is remarkably guileless, a wide-eyed idealist and optimist who naturally believes in the goodness of people. Her innocent optimism withstands any challenges she faces at work.
- While she appears surprised by people finding her attractive, she is enthusiastic about sex and always manages to have at least one sexual encounter during her assignments.
- She is extremely close to her sister Himeko, sharing a private language with her.
- She has red hair and is usually seen dressed in a pinstriped Kaede Nakano skirt suit.
Himeko Fujisaki (姫子 藤崎)
- Himeko is a self-employed freelancer. She is seen doing various jobs throughout the series, most in retail or entertainment, and all of them part-time, supplementing her income with assistance payments and public dividends.
- She is a worldly and sophisticated woman. She leads a somewhat georgette-like lifestyle, and jokes about her "expensive tastes", such as "brand name" clothing, her prized handbag, and her love of French wine.
- She is fully aware of her attractiveness and is very sexually active, enjoying flirting with people almost as much as sexual encounters themselves. She is not above using her feminine wiles to get her way at times, particularly when looking after her sister.
- She is extremely close to her sister Ayako, sharing a private language with her. Himeko is extremely protective of Ayako, helping preserve her charmingly naïve view of the world and quietly keeping her out of trouble. She jokes that either of them marrying would be "redundant" since they're already so tight-knit as siblings. This becomes ironic in the series epilogue, which shows them both happily married and their families living together as an extended family.
- She has brown hair and is usually seen dressed in a Kaede Nakano skirt suit.
Background
Kenkyūsha Ayako to joshu Himeko was Chihiro Munakata's first work under the pseudonym, having previously worked for various magazines as a writer and illustrator. He described the series as containing his main preoccupations: "busty ladies wearing double-breasted suits getting into cute hijinks, in bed and out of it."
Chihiro based Ayako and Himeko's dynamic on that of the Gish sisters, and found it fascinating to portray Himeko as a protective and almost maternal figure who "coddles and spoils" her adoring younger sister. The characterisation of Himeko as something of a carefree freelancer with "expensive tastes" served to play with the Miranian Gylian stereotype of successful and industrious entrepreneurs.
A running joke is that others who encounter Himeko assume her to be exactly that, and she plays along to maintain the façade, bluffing her way through conversations instead of admitting that she doesn't know something.
Chihiro set the series in Maveás, feeling that the city's reputation for elegance provided a suitably "classy" backdrop to make the sex comedy funnier.
Reception
Initially published on Telecomix, Kenkyūsha Ayako to joshu Himeko was met with a positive reception. It slowly built up a large following, and was later collected in tankōbon volumes as Chihiro gathered new chapters, and translated into English and French.
The Maveás Free Press published a positive review describing the series as "a sex comedy that warms the heart as well as the genitals", praising its "sweetly happy-go-lucky tone" and the "tender" central dynamic between Ayako and Himeko.