Asatte no Hōkō

Living for the Day After Tomorrow
The cover of the first manga volume.
あさっての方向. (Asatte no Hōkō)
Genre	Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Manga
Written by	J-ta Yamada
Published by	Mag Garden
Demographic	Shōnen
Magazine	Comic Blade Masamune
Original run	March 3, 2005 – June 15, 2007
Volumes	5
Anime television series
Directed by	Katsushi Sakurabi
Written by	Seishi Minakami
Music by	Shinkichi Mitsumune
Studio	J.C.Staff
Licensed by	NA Sentai Filmworks
Original network	TBS
Original run	October 5, 2006 – December 21, 2006
Episodes	12

Living for the Day After Tomorrow (あさっての方向., Asatte no Hōkō^?) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by J-ta Yamada. The manga was serialized in Mag Garden's magazine Comic Blade Masamune between March 3, 2005 and June 15, 2007; five bound volumes were released in Japan. The manga was adapted into an anime series produced by J.C.Staff, which aired in Japan between October and December 2006. The story is about a young girl who grows older into an adult, and an adult woman who becomes younger, turning into a child. The anime is licensed by Sentai Filmworks, and a complete series boxset was distributed by Section23 Films on DVD on April 13, 2010.

Asatte no Hōkō follows the lives of Karada Iokawa, a young girl who is set to join junior high school after summer is over, and Shōko Nogami, a young woman who has just returned from studying abroad, who also happens to be the former girlfriend of Karada's older brother. The day Shōko returns, she is dragged by Karada to the beach with her brother and a couple of their friends since she used to know Karada's brother Hiro several years before.

After becoming irritated with Hiro for leaving her alone in the United States, she purposefully tells Karada that her ribbons are childish. This upsets her greatly because she doesn't like to be treated as a child. Later that same day, Karada is found by Shōko praying at a shrine, wishing to become older. Amazingly, Karada's wish becomes true and she instantly transforms into a young woman. Incidentally, Shōko then has her adulthood taken away from her and she reverts to about eleven years old.

The manga series is written and illustrated by J-ta Yamada and was serialized from March 3, 2005 to June 15, 2007 in Mag Garden's monthly Comic Blade Masamune magazine, and spanned five volumes, with the final volume released on September 9, 2007. Compared to the anime adapted from it, the manga includes more personal drama between the leads, and introduces several more characters who are also vying for the Wishing Stone. It also clarifies several points which are left ambiguous in the anime, such as the precise nature of the relationship between Hiro and Karada.