Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Adapted from the manga series written and illustrated by Jinushi, ‘Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You’ follows Sasaki (voiced by Takuya Satō), a single, perpetually exhausted office worker whose only bright spot is visiting the supermarket to see Yamada, a cute cashier who always greets him with a smile. Sasaki expects nothing more than that small moment of kindness to brighten his bleak workdays. But things take an unexpected turn when Tayama (Seena Hoshiki), a young woman, invites him for a smoke, and the two become unlikely smoking buddies. But Tayama isn’t who she seems to be.
Of-course, if you’ve seen the trailer for ‘Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You’ or have read the manga, you know that Yamada simply pretends to be a different personal called Tayama as a way to pull Sasaki’s leg when he doesn’t recognize her. But when he continues to not figure it out, she has a ball pretending to be two different people, Yamada as the cashier, and Tayama during the smoke breaks.
Aptly enough, episode one of ‘Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You’ opens with Sasaki quietly smoking alone on his office terrace until a colleague comes looking for him. At first, it’s easy to assume he’s simply lonely. But the colleague remarks that he’d already checked the smoking room, subtly revealing that Sasaki deliberately chose the off-limits terrace instead. It’s a small but telling detail that suggests he actively seeks solitude, with smoke breaks offering him that space.
The animation by Asahi Production transforms Jinushi’s manga into a glossy, colorful slice-of-life anime while remaining faithful to the original character designs. One small change from the manga actually works in the anime’s favor. Rather than opening immediately with Sasaki’s encounters with Yamada and Tayama, the adaptation first shows his dreary office life. As a result, the contrast between his monotonous routine and the simple joy he finds in seeing Yamada at the supermarket becomes much more effective. A lot of episodes of ‘Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You’ have the same rhythm: they begin with a hectic office day, before shifting to his conversations with Tayama as they share a smoke.
Going by this season’s 12 episode run, ‘Smoking Behind the Supermarket’ is a more of a slice-of-life tale about different people forging a friendship over shared smoke breaks. There’s very little romance in the series, and any sort of flirtation is always initiated by the younger Yamada/Tayama. In-fact, if you’re expecting a love story, you’re going to be thoroughly disappointed by the end. This is more of a slow-burn buddy drama that may or may not turn into romance in a season 2.
It’s both hilarious and refreshing how completely antithetical the dynamic between Sasaki and Tayama is. Despite being the taller, older, and more intimidating-looking stranger, Sasaki is the one who’s nervous, flustered, and practically frightened when Tayama invites him over for a smoke. Their interactions are usually casual, comical, and driven almost entirely by Tayama, who effortlessly dictates the flow of the conversation. As Yamada, her interactions with Sasaki is limited to bright smiles, while as Tayama she constantly pulls his leg and even teases him about the fact that he is always lining up for Yamada’s cash register.
Months of little chats eventually turn their smoking breaks into something more meaningful, particularly for the younger Yamada, who starts developing some increasingly complicated feelings for the much older Sasaki. Sasaki himself remains almost comically gentlemanly about the whole thing. Rather than making a move when she gets closer, he’s the one freaking out over the slightest accidental touch and wondering if she’s going to think he’s a creep.
For instance, in one of the earlier episodes, Tayama offers Sasaki Yamada’s phone number. To his credit, he refuses to accept such private information behind a woman’s back and is content with watching her smile. And of course, these are the small gestures and quirks of his personalities which make the young cashier like him more and also maker her want to keep teasing him. She hilariously starts to call him things like ‘Dense-saki’ or ‘Slow-saki’ behind his back though.
Sasaki is such an endearingly decent guy that Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You could’ve ditched the romance entirely and just followed Sasaki trying to survive his exhausting sales job and make some friends, and I probably would’ve watched that too. Amid the usual Sasaki-Yamada smoke-break interactions, the episodes consistently offer glimpses into the workplace pressures faced by both protagonists. Sasaki having a hard time at work, getting anxious over his boss’s tantrums and struggling with the everyday salesman grind: those are the bits that give the series its most relatable layer of drama.
Much of the comedy in Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You stems from Sasaki’s inability to realize that Yamada and Tayama are the same person. Even some of Yamada’s colleagues eventually figure out that she’s fooling the poor old guy. Among the supporting characters, Yamada’s boss Goto is easily the most entertaining. A huge manga fan, she instantly begins rooting for Yamada and Sasaki, convinced that there’s a love story unfolding right in front of her.
“I am not exactly sure as to how you’d describe us. We’re not so distant as to be mere acquaintances, but there’s enough that we don’t know about each other that we’re not quite friends.”
Sasaki describes his relationship with Tayama perfectly while talking to a colleague in the final episode of Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You. It’s a fitting description of a relationship that’s spent the entire season existing somewhere in that strange space between strangers, friends and something more.
Overall, this is a leisurely paced anime that doesn’t demand much from the viewer, offering a relaxed story about two very different people gradually building a lasting connection over shared smokes. It’s a slice-of-life tale that finds meaning in ordinary moments, reminding us that sometimes a small chat with a friend is enough to make your day a little brighter.
The Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You finale ends on a light-hearted note, with Tayama and Sasaki smoking and chatting away on a cold winter night. Their casual banter about this and that, as cigarette smoke drifts through the chilly air, makes for a simple but warm ending to the anime.
Watch Smoking Behind the Supermarket with You is on Netflix/ Crunchyroll.
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