The top 2 panels of a 4 panel comic meant to be read in a downwards direction. In the first panel, A woman with a wavy ponytail, Lena, is seen leaving the restroom at Normal Bookstore. She thinks to herself, "now that I've taken care of it, maybe it wasn't so bad? Almost funny, actually." It is implied she has done something to finally address her itchy nipples problem from the previous comic strips. In the second panel, Lena is seen entering a room while thinking, "I should tell June and Shoko, they'll get a laugh out of it, I bet!" June and Shoko, meanwhile, are barely seen in the foreground and are saying, "it's ready- oh! There she is!" They are clearly up to something.

The final 2 panels of a 4 panel comic strip meant to be read in a downwards direction. In the first panel, June and Shoko - the two coworkers of Lena at Normal Bookstore - are seen cheekily gesturing to a package on a table. They excitedly explain, "Lena! We noticed you were very down today, so we got you... a slice of cake from the café!" In the second panel, Lena wears a slightly confused smile with blank eyes. June and Shoko continue to ramble, "We just want you yo know that we really appreciate you and no matter what's going on, we support you..." and their text bubble becomes overlapped by Shoko saying "Oh! Wow! Haha, thanks, guys." She is clearly having a hard time focusing. She thinks to herself, "I can never tell them." Of course, how could she? To explain that their caring yet misguided gesture isn't because she is having some kind of miserable home life experience, but... that her nipples were itchy and she could not scratch? Too embarrassing!

This is the full 4 panel comic strip of Normal Bookstore - Struggles 3.

Normal Bookstore - Struggles 3 (conclusion)

2 panels of a 4 panel comic meant to be read in a downward direction. Two coworkers watch Lena, another worker at Normal Bookstore with wavy hair in a ponytail, shake and look miserable while carrying a box. They watch her, worried. Shoko, who has glasses and a spiky bob hair style, says to her male coworker "June. Don't you think Lena looks... stressed?" June, who is taller than Shoko, replies "Yeah. Something's definitely up." He adds, "she did that weird fake smile..." in reference to the previous manga strip.

June and Shoko continue to watch Lena. Lena is in the foreground of panel 1, grimacing and shaking while carrying a box. It is implied she is still suffering from itchy nipples, which she will tell no one about. Shook remarks, "She's not the type to voice her problems..." and June replies with "I heard her family isn't doing so well, though..." They are leaning towards one another like obvious gossips. In panel two, Shoko and June look at each other and determine "We should get her something nice during lunch break." No matter what, they want to make sure their friend is happy.

The Normal Bookstore comic "Struggles - 2" in full 4 panel layout.

Normal Bookstore - Struggles 2

A two panel comic, read in a downwards direction. A character with wavy hair in a ponytail stares at her coworkers who are in front of her and out of focus. She thinks, "truly, sometimes we must be alone with our struggles." In the second panel, she reaches out towards the arm of a coworker, but does not touch them. There is a shine of light in the empty space. She thinks, "It would be nothing to simply reach out... But, they can never know."

Another set of two panel downward reading comic. The wavy-haired ponytail character stares at her coworkers in front of her, as they talk and laugh, out of focus. She thinks, "the bra I put on today is kinda old. And now my nipples are itchy." In the final panel, one of her coworkers notices her and addresses her by name, offscreen, and asks "Oh, hey Lena. You good?" Grimacing, Lena grates out the response "yeah. I'm good." She is clearly not good. She thinks, "why, god? Why must we be so lonesome in this world?" She is having an existential crisis over her itchy nipples that she cannot complain about.

The comic about Lena's itchy misfortune as a complete 4 panel piece.

Normal Bookstore - Struggles

Three drawings of Hatsune Miku in outfits inspired by the lily-of-the-valley flower

Miku, Miku, I like the Furyu lily-of-the-valley Miku alright, but it did make me want to try and design my own flower outfit for her..!

a poorly drawn wide cat

a black cat is viewed through a clear glass of water held in front of it. the glass magnifies and distorts the cat’s face, making its eyes appear enlarged and slightly warped

w i d e

A hand-drawn comic that reads from right to left like a manga. It is done in dark blue gel pen ink and colored in places with a light blue color pencil. A man asks a bookstore employee if they have Jojo's in the dub. The employee answers that the store does not carry DVDs when the man interrupts to clarify that he means the books, but in the dub. The store has the Japanese books, after all. The employee then realizes the man means to ask for the English-language translations of the manga, but is using the term "dub" like one would for an English-dubbed anime.

Every now and again I get a question that truly floors me (for a moment, anyway)

3 blackwing pencils and a pack of midori color pencils sit atop a packet of original crown mill finest quality laid paper. They all sit on a linen tablecloth.

The blackwing pencils, a tombow 2b pencil, and the three midori color pencils have been switched on the laid paper.

There are multiple art supplies strewn across the white linen tablecloth; a tin of holbein color pencils is at the top, a tin of various prismacolors and a cutting mat to the right, the midori pencils to the left, and in the center the laid paper with the pencil swatches in the upper left and a new doodle of a cat by a bush and some flowers in the bottom right, colored in with colored pencil.

New stationery, new stationery, I love new stationery!

Only one way to get better at using color pencils: actually using color pencils...

I should have known this would come back to haunt me

A page in a notebook decorated to look like a page from an illuminated manuscript. The text reads "ye olde LinkedIn beinge for jobbe-seekers & professionals" in a hastily scribbled script. The LinkedIn logo looks remarkably modern and jarring.

Coworker: [makes some kind of silly little remark]

Guy who loves spending 20 minutes on a joke (me): wait, I can draw that

There was a thing a few months ago when I had to move products from one end of the store to the other, and I had to get so loud! But the deer in the headlights look ppl give even when you have a stack of boxes in your arms and you're clearly walking by them... ah, it's both funny and frustrating!

A chibi-styled pink-haired person pushes a bright yellow book cart. On the cart is a bicycle bell going "ding ding ding ding" as they ring it. They yell "Excuse me! Coming through!" They want to do this so they can navigate crowds during busy days at the book store. This is on the January 10th page of a 2026 Hobonichi Techo Original.

Ah, the weekend shifts always make me consider new innovations in being obnoxious at work 🔔

A picture of a busy workstation with an open box of mixed chalk pastels above an open sketchbook - one page drawn on with a pink-haired anime style woman staring back at the viewer a la girl with the pearl earring. It says "kawaii club" across the top.

A closeup of the kawaii club poster with the character in girl with the pearl earring pose. She has pink hair and wears a pink printed shirt. The background is black.

We're making cute - with chalk pastel!

Crafting Kawaii Club is having fun this fine Thursday night!

A cute, anime-style girl holds her hands in a heart shape while a bright pink frame surrounds her and an announcement proclaiming "KAWAII CLUB. Dreamy cute? Twisted cute? Ugly cute? Questions about cute? Come hand out and let's work on all things cute!" The girl herself has a speech bubble by the right side of her head saying "let's make cute!"

Hello, hello!

Let's make cute! I'll be hosting Kawaii Club at Austin's Craft Room - Let's Make Something! Come hang out, doodle, craft, and chat!

Date & Time: Thursday, January 8 from 4pm-8pm!

madeatcraft.com

A cute, anime-style girl holds her hands in a heart shape while a bright pink frame surrounds her and an announcement proclaiming "KAWAII CLUB. Dreamy cute? Twisted cute? Ugly cute? Questions about cute? Come hand out and let's work on all things cute!" The girl herself has a speech bubble by the right side of her head saying "let's make cute!"

Hello, hello!

Let's make cute! I'll be hosting Kawaii Club at Austin's Craft Room - Let's Make Something! Come hang out, doodle, craft, and chat!

Date & Time: Thursday, January 8 from 4pm-8pm!

madeatcraft.com

A partially finished pen sketch of a girl holding a book, entwined in a serpent-like mass with leaves spreading around her.

You ever abandon something and then stumble across it later thinking "huh. Shoulda finished that."

wikipedia article of the creature: "What the fuck" which kinda looks like a seal but i'm unsure. what the fuck is that: idk???? Туре: large guy. Place of origin? the water. Net worth? 29 dollars. Gravel or Soggy? Not right now.

Thank you! It's a fun thing to do, to put little things around everywhere and wonder who sees them, if they like them, etc

Hobonichi doodle highlights (6)

Hobonichi doodle highlights (5)

Hobonichi doodle highlights (4)

Hobonichi doodle highlights (3)

Hobonichi doodle highlights (2)

Hobonichi doodle highlights (1)

We will see! If it happens, I will 1000% make a post about it >:3

Hello to everyone finding me from that Kinokuniya post. Thank you for enjoying my artwork!

I might have to start actually updating on this page regularly!

People started using the sign as sample paper. Despite there being plenty of sample paper 🥲

From when I considered doing a comic about working in a bookstore (and might pick up again)

Read in columns, left to right

#doodles #sketchbook #manga #bookstore #midorimddiary

Comic from a while back about helping find comic books (left to right)

#doodles #sketchbook #dailylife #manga

UNOWN COOL S

Repost this if Trans people should have Samus Arm Cannons (below, a diverse collection of implicitly trans people wielding trans pride flags and also huge scifi arm cannons)