Suppli

Suppli (サプリ) is a manga series by Mari Okazaki. It is published by Shodensha, and has been running in the magazine Feel Young since 2004. It ended its serialisation in the December 2009 issue, and a sidestory to Suppli also ran in the magazine. It has been collected in seven volumes so far, and is published in English by Tokyopop. Tokyopop had put the release of Suppli on hold for some time, but the fourth volume will be released in English in 2010. Suppli was adapted into a Japanese drama series which aired in Japan on Fuji TV in summer 2006. It stars Misaki Itō, Kazuya Kamenashi, Eita, and Miho Shiraishi.

Minami is a 27-year-old female office worker in an advertisement agency. Though she has a boyfriend, she spends the majority of her time working and appears to feel ambivalent about the relationship at best. When the boyfriend finally breaks up with her, it's the push she needs to start a social life with her co-workers. In-office romances soon follow. Much of the story is told through Minami's thoughts, which are full of self-doubt.

Cast

 * Minami Fuji - Misaki Itoh
 * Yuya Ishida - Kazuya Kamenashi
 * Satoshi Ogiwara - Eita
 * Yoko Yugi - Miho Shiraishi
 * Kunio Sakuragi - Kazuyuki Aijima
 * Yuri Watanabe - Reina Asami
 * Yoshihide Matsui - Akimasa Haraguchi (原口あきまさ)
 * Keisuke Mita - Shigeyuki Sato
 * Natsuki Konno - Mirai Shida
 * Mizuho Tanaka - Ryo
 * Kyotaro Imaoka - Koichi Sato

Minor Cast

 * Konishiki in episode 1
 * Nozomi Saito - Naomi Akimoto in episode 2
 * Masako Umemiya in episode 4
 * Shin Yanase - Mantaro Koichi in episode 5
 * Mika Kazuki - Sayo Aizawa in episode 5
 * Yumiko Hirano - Megumi Yokoyama in episode 7
 * Isao Yatsu (谷津勲) in episode 8
 * Shinshou Nakamaru in episode 10
 * Kei Sunaga (須永慶) in episode 10
 * Seiji Rokkaku in episode 11

Reception
Suppli is regarded as being more realistic in its depiction of working life than Tramps Like Us or Happy Mania. Deb Aoki of About.com called it "refreshingly real", in contrast to shoujo manga stories. Nadia Oxford of Mania Entertainment regarded the first volume as being a "fairly standard romance novel" in manga format. Margaret O'Connell, writing for Sequential Tart, described Minami as suffering from "internalized misogyny", noting that she has no female support network.