Days With My Stepsister Manga Starts With Teenagers Recovering From Trauma

When you find a manga about new stepsister and stepbrother who are the same age living together, odds are it seems like it’d be romantic in nature somehow. While volume 1 of Days with My Stepsister does tease that possibility, with even Yen Press’ official description for the manga suggests it the new relationship could involve “simple admiration, familial love, or something more.” However, what makes this series appealing is watching teenagers who grew up with trauma due to their family life learning to recover and reach out to others again.

Editor’s note: There will be spoilers for volume 1 of the Days with My Stepsister manga below.

In the case of new stepsiblings Yuuta Asamura and Saki Ayase, each one is dealing with trauma and unresolved issues that come from their home lives prior to the start of their story and interactions with other people. As we’re initially seeing things from Yuuta’s perspective, his are more obvious. His parents constantly fought. His mother cheated on his father, resulting in their divorce. Throughout the entirety of the first volume of the manga, his mother is absent. So must so, she doesn’t have a name. There are suggestions she was verbally abusive. 

As such, we see a number of ways in which Yuuta adjusted his life and personality to avoid those sorts of situation and that kind of trauma again. In addition to deciding to avoid women and romantic interactions, it seems he avoids people in general. We really only see one friend of his, with Yuuta mentioning he doesn’t have many. Is he protecting himself? Absolutely. Is it healthy? No. 

In the case of Saki, it isn’t as immediately obvious that she’s suffering from similar issues. However, after the first meeting and an agreement to respectfully coexist, but not expect anything from each other, it becomes obvious she’s dealing with similar problems. After all, her reactions to simple kindnesses like assistance unpacking, a tub being refilled for her. Once school starts, we see that there’s not only the hurt caused from her own past family life with an absent father who cheated on her mother and a mother who had to be constantly working to support them affected her deeply. 

That, paired with people making negative assumptions about Saki based on her appearance, leads to her being in a situation similar to Yuuta at the outset. She also doesn’t expect anything from anyone and seems detached. She’s learned from experiences with her family and with strangers that misjudge her that it might not be possible to connect with others. So, like Yuuta, she strives for independence. 

Being forced into a situation in which they learn to connect and consider another person feels like it could be healing for them. They go in expecting nothing from each other. However, they immediately start showing each other common consideration. They agree to avoid each other at school and pretend they aren’t related, but talk in secret. When Saki is looking for a well-paying, part-time job and mentions it to Yuuta, he immediately starts helping her find a solution. Already, in a single volume and short span of time, the two are gradually growing and helping each other start to recover by forming a more positive relationship built on mutual respect and understanding.

I mean, those following the Days with My Stepsister light novel will know where the manga is heading and what will happen between Yuuta and Saki. Still, the progression and character development keeps this from feeling like a contrived situation. What’s happening her feels more meaningful. The characters aren’t just typical teenagers or enamored with the situation. This really is about growth and a possible genuine relationship.

Volume 1 of Days with My Stepsister is now available, and Yen Press will release volume 2 on January 21, 2025. The anime is streaming on Crunchyroll. Yen Press also published the light novel outside Japan.