Manga Time Kirara is a manga magazine published by Houbunsha.
It was started in 2003 as an offshoot of the Gag Series magazine Manga Time, but specializing in moe yonkoma. Because of the popularity of the moe style in the 2000s, Kirara became a family of four magazines (five before October 2017), three (plus the one cancelled magazine) of which continues with the original specialization of moe Slice of Life yonkoma. The other one, Manga Time Kirara Forward, while maintaining the moe style, serializes non-yonkoma series with more traditional narratives — for example, Dream Eater Merry is a supernatural action series that wouldn't be too out of place in a shounen mag like Shonen Sunday.
The Kirara family of magazines have also become somewhat infamous for carrying works with high levels of Homoerotic Subtext, or in some cases out-and-out seinen Yuri Genre series, Sakura Trick being one of the biggest examples that got an anime. Though in most of the 2010s, it seems at least one manga from the Manga Time Kirara family gets adapted into an anime nearly each season, sometimes more than one. It is common enough that Moe Slice of Life comedies get called "Kirara-esque" even if they are not from a Kirara manga.
Many of their anime adaptations are licensed by Sentai Filmworks for North American viewers, and some have also received English dubs, such as Kill Me Baby, Dream Eater Merry, and Hanayamata.
In addition, because of the format, each monthly release of one of the five magazines under the family can carry up to 26-27 series per issue. Works in these magazines are often authored by novices of professional manga; many of them were (or still are) doujinshi authors or illustrators.
In December 2017 Aniplex launched Kirara Fantasia, a Massive Multiplayer Crossover smartphone game which transports numerous characters from various Kirara properties into a fantasy setting. The game is currently only available in Japan.
Series Run in Manga Time Kirara
- Castle Town Dandelion (adapted by Production IMS)
- Chotto Ippai
- Doujin Work (adapted by Studio Remic)
- K-On! (adapted by Kyoto Animation)
- Place to Place (adapted by AIC)
- Shoulder-a-Coffin Kuro
- Slow Start (adapted by A-1 Pictures)
- Three Leaves, Three Colors aka Sansha Sanyou (adapted by Dogakobo)
- Urara Meirocho (adapted by JC Staff)
- Yuyushiki (adapted by Kinema Citrus)
Series Run in Manga Time Kirara Carat
- A Channel (adapted by Studio Gokumi)
- Anima Yell! (adapted by Doga Kobo)
- Asteroid in Love (adapted by Dogakobo)
- Blend-S (adapted by A-1 Pictures)
- GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class (adapted by AIC)
- Gokicha
- Ichiroh!
- Hidamari Sketch (adapted by Studio SHAFT)
- K-On! (adapted by Kyoto Animation)
- Kill Me Baby (adapted by JC Staff)
- New Game! (adapted by Dogakobo)
- Swap Swap
- The Demon Girl Next Door (Adapted by JC Staff in 2019)
Series Run in Manga Time Kirara Forward
- Anne Happy! (adapted by SILVER LINK.)
- Dream Eater Merry (adapted by JC Staff)
- Hanayamata (adapted by Madhouse)
- Harukana Receive (adapted by C2C)
- Itoshi no Karin
- Laid-Back Camp aka Yuru Camp (adapted by C-Station)
- Puella Magi Kazumi Magica
- Puella Magi Suzune Magica
- School-Live! (adapted by Lerche)
- Tamayomi (adapred by Studio A-Cat)
- Tonari no Kashiwagi-san
Series Run in Manga Time Kirara Max
- Comic Girls (adapted by Nexus)
- Ichiroh!
- Is the Order a Rabbit? (adapted by White Fox, second season co-produced by Kinema Citrus)
- Kanamemo (adapted by JC Staff)
- Kiniro Mosaic (adapted by Studio Gokumi)
- Magic of Stella aka Stella no Mahou (adapted by SILVER LINK.)
Series Run in Manga Time Kirara Miracle! (Cancelled in October 2017)
- Castle Town Dandelion (adapted by Production IMS)
- Gourmet Girl Graffiti (adapted by Studio SHAFT)
- Sakura Trick (adapted by Studio DEEN)
- Sweet Magic Syndrome
- Urara Meirocho (adapted by JC Staff)
Tropes common in Manga Time Kirara works
- Early Installment Weirdness: If it was made today, a series like Doujin Work wouldn't be allowed to be serialized on Kirara per se. It could probably be serialized on Miracle! or Forward, though.
- Iyashikei: Most of them are sweet and heartwarming. School-Live! is a big aversion, though; it's supposed to be very Tearjerkingly nightmarish. note
- Nice Girl: It's usually expected to have at least one girl fitting into this bill.
- Romantic Two-Girl Friendship: Sexuality is never really brought up, but there is a lot of subtext in more than a few works.
- Schoolgirl Series: Also very common in these works.
- Schoolgirl Lesbians: It would be hard to find a work that didn't have one or more girls with blatant crushes on one another.
- Seinen: Many of these works are usually geared towards an older adult male audience.
- Slice of Life: A common theme in these works.
- The One Guy: Recurring male characters are very very rare in non-Forward Kirara series, enough so that when a series DOES feature a regular male cast it's noticeable (see Place to Place, Castle Town Dandelion, Doujin Work, GA Geijutsuka Art Design Class, and Blend-S).
- Token Mini-Moe: It is expected that at least one female character will fit into bill in any Manga Time Kirara works.
Tropes pertaining to the Manga Time Kirara family itself
- Artifact Title: It is editorially independent of Manga Time for a long time.
- Darker and Edgier: Manga Time Kirara Forward. In contrast to the Slice of Life Iyashikei works of the other magazines, often features more action-heavy like Dream Eater Merry, horror-themed like School-Live!, not to mention two Puella Magi Madoka Magica Expanded Universe manga, Puella Magi Kazumi Magica and Puella Magi Suzune Magica, both of which happen to even more darker and bloodier than their parent series. That said, Forward also has Iyashikei like Laid-Back Camp.
- Massive Multiplayer Crossover: Kirara Fantasia
, a fantasy RPG which takes the girls of various Kirara magazines and gives them fighting prowess. - Network Red-Headed Stepchild: Forward is a magazine edition, in that it has very different editorial directions, despite sharing the
moe connection with the other four. - Word Salad Title: "Kirara" ("Shiny") is not particularly meaningful as a title, and "Caret," "Miracle" and "Forward" are not helpful additions to "Kirara" title-wise.
- "YEAH!" Shot: one of these happens in the openings of almost every anime based on a Kirara Manga, enough that it is called the "Kirara Jump", and occurs even in non-Kirara slice of life anime openings.
- This is referenced in Kirara Fantasia: whenever a character uses a special move, they do the famous Kirara Jump first.
