Blue Box (Japanese:アオのハコ,Hepburn:Ao no Hako) is a Japanesemanga series written and illustrated byKouji Miura. It has been serialized inShueisha'sWeekly Shōnen Jump since April 2021, with its chapters collected in 24tankōbon volumes as of February 2026. Ananime television series adaptation produced byTMS Entertainment and animated byTelecom Animation Film aired from October 2024 to March 2025. A second season is set to premiere in Q4 2026.
The series focuses on Taiki Inomata, a student at Eimei Junior and Senior High, an athletics-oriented school, where he is a member of the boys'badminton team and is considered simply average. Every morning, he trains to get better early in the gym, often at the same time and place as his upperclasswoman Chinatsu Kano, the star of the girls'basketball team. Taiki quickly develops a crush on her, but is initially too shy to speak to her despite their continual alone time together. His fortunes change, however, when Chinatsu moves in with Taiki's family after her parents leave Japan towork abroad. With Chinatsu now living with him, Taiki aims to slowly develop his relationship with her as they both strive to make it to thenational championship with their respective teams.[4]
An avid badminton player, Taiki strives to succeed despite setbacks. He greatly admires Chinatsu for her dedication to basketball and harbors a huge crush on her. While he is often awkward and emotional, his unwavering determination and sincerity slowly earns him respect from others. His goal is to reach the national championship, a dream he shares with Chinatsu in their respective sports. His mother was Chinatsu's mother's teammate and friend, hence the decision for Chinatsu to move in with Taiki. He is aware of Hina being in love with him, but doesn't reciprocate her feelings and rejects her, leading to the two drifting apart. He later starts a relationship with Chinatsu.
Chinatsu is the star player of the girls' basketball team. She is one grade above Taiki and is often the first person at practice. Once a terrible basketball player, her dedication has helped her grow into a strong player with hopes of making it into the national championships. She moves in with Taiki's family when her parents leave to work abroad, and she and Taiki slowly become friends supporting each other. She is oblivious to Taiki being in love with her, but she enjoys his company and cares for him deeply. She later becomes Taiki's girlfriend. The two continue their relationship even after she moves out of the Inomata household.
Hina is Taiki's childhood friend who is on the rhythmic gymnastics team. She is quite theatrical and loves to tease Taiki. Although initially only seeing him as a close friend, she slowly realizes she has fallen in love with Taiki later on, despite encouraging him to go after Chinatsu. Taiki is completely oblivious to her feelings, and is often annoyed by her playful teasing, although he does genuinely care for her. She later confesses her feelings to Taiki, and becomes rivals with Chinatsu for his love, wanting him to be her boyfriend; however, Taiki rejects her, telling her that he doesn't reciprocate her feelings at all, which devastates her deeply. Following his rejection, she grows cold towards him and they drift apart from each other, before finally trying to repair their friendship despite still struggling with her feelings towards him.
Kyo is Taiki's best friend and fellow badminton player. Quiet and observant, he often understands more than anyone else. Though sarcastic, especially with Taiki, he is a genuinely caring and wise person.
Kengo is a skilled badminton player in Chinatsu's grade who ends up becoming a mentor and rival to Taiki. Though he is often hard on Taiki, he slowly grows to admire his tenacity and growing skill.
Written and illustrated byKouji Miura,Blue Box began its serialization inShueisha'sshōnen manga magazineWeekly Shōnen Jump on April 12, 2021,[14][15] after theone-shot version had been published on August 3, 2020.[16][17] Shueisha has collected its chapters into individualtankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on August 4, 2021.[18][19] As of February 4, 2026, 24 volumes have been released.[20]
Blue Box has been licensed for simultaneous publication in North America as it is released in Japan, with its chapters being digitally launched byViz Media on itsShonen Jump website.[21] Shueisha also simulpublishes the series in English for free on theManga Plus app and website.[22] In February 2022, Viz Media announced that they had licensed the series in print format; the first volume was released on November 1 of the same year.[23][24] The manga is also licensed in Indonesia byElex Media Komputindo.[25]
Ananime television series adaptation was announced in November 2023.[5] Planned and produced byTMS Entertainment,[a] it is animated byTelecom Animation Film and directed by Yūichirō Yano, withYūko Kakihara [ja] handling series composition andMiho Tanino [ja] designing the characters.[7] The series aired for two consecutivecours from October 3, 2024, to March 27, 2025, onTBS and its affiliates.[8][26][27][b] For the first cours, the opening theme is "Same Blue" byOfficial Hige Dandism, and the ending theme is "Teenage Blue" (ティーンエイジブルー) byEve;[26] for the second cours, the opening theme is "Saraba" (然らば) byMacaroni Empitsu [ja], and the ending theme is "Contrast" (コントラスト) byTomoo.[12]Netflix licensed the series and is streaming it worldwide.[29]
A second season was announced immediately following the airing of the finale episode of the first season.[30][31] It is set to premiere in the fourth quarter of 2026.[32]
In August 2021, the first volume of the manga had over 170,000 copies in circulation in less than a week after its release.[33] By October 2025, the manga had over 9 million copies in circulation.[34]
In June 2021,Blue Box was nominated for the seventhNext Manga Award in the Best Print Manga category;[35] it placed eighth out of 50 nominees, but won the Global Prize.[36][37] The series ranked fourth on the Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2022.[38]
Blue Box received critical acclaim. Anthony Gramuglia ofComic Book Resources (CBR) stated, "Blue Box is a sentimental story about human connection. It's beautifully drawn, at times resembling ashōjo manga more than a typicalshōnen. IfBlue Box continues, it will likely become an earnest, sincere entry inShōnen Jump's romantic catalog".[39] Timothy Donohoo ofCBR comparedBlue Box toKenta Shinohara'sWitch Watch and Shigure Tokita'sDon't Blush, Sekime-san! due to both series having concepts and romantic aspects similar toBlue Box's.[40]
^The first two episodes were released simultaneously onNetflix Japan, while subsequent episodes were released a week before their televised broadcast and international streaming release.[28]
Anime and manga portal
