The Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You manga is a Japanese romantic comedy and slice-of-life series by Jinushi. Instead of relying on dramatic romance, fantasy battles, or complicated plot twists, the manga builds its appeal around quiet conversations between two adults who repeatedly meet in an ordinary smoking area behind a supermarket.
Published by Square Enix, the story follows Sasaki, an exhausted 45-year-old office worker, and Yamada, the friendly supermarket cashier who brightens his difficult days. There is one complication: outside the store, Yamada presents herself to Sasaki as the cooler, more teasing “Tayama,” and he initially fails to recognize that the two women are actually the same person.
That simple misunderstanding creates the foundation for a slow-burning relationship filled with humor, awkwardness, workplace stress, and understated emotional development.
For readers interested in starting the series, this guide covers the story, main characters, publication history, genres, English manga releases, and what makes Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You different from many conventional romance manga.
Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You Manga Overview
Here are the essential details readers should know.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| English Title | Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You |
| Japanese Title | スーパーの裏でヤニ吸うふたり |
| Creator | Jinushi |
| Publisher | Square Enix |
| Magazine | Monthly Big Gangan |
| Genres | Comedy, Romance, Slice-of-Life |
| Main Characters | Sasaki, Yamada/Tayama |
| Original Web Debut | 2022 |
| English Publisher | Square Enix Manga |
| English Volume 1 Release | February 20, 2024 |
Square Enix categorizes the English edition as comedy, romance, and slice-of-life and gives it an Older Teen age rating. The first English paperback contains 240 pages.
What Is Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You About?
At the center of the manga is Sasaki, a 45-year-old salaryman exhausted by the pressures of corporate life.
His daily routine doesn’t offer many opportunities to relax. Two relatively simple things provide him with some relief: cigarettes and the pleasant customer service of Yamada, a cashier working at his regular supermarket.
After a particularly difficult day at work, Sasaki visits the supermarket hoping to see Yamada. She isn’t there.
While looking for somewhere he can smoke, he encounters a striking woman named Tayama, who invites him to use a smoking area behind the supermarket.
Sasaki accepts.
What he doesn’t realize is that Tayama is actually Yamada.
The contrast between the two identities becomes one of the central sources of comedy and character development. Inside the supermarket, Sasaki sees Yamada as the cheerful and reassuring cashier he admires. Behind the building, he interacts with Tayama as a considerably more casual and teasing smoking companion.
From that relatively ordinary setup, their relationship slowly develops.
There aren’t huge fantasy stakes involved. Much of the appeal comes from conversations, expressions, misunderstandings, workplace experiences, and small changes in how the characters perceive each other.
Who Created Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You?
The manga is written and illustrated by Jinushi.
The series originated online in 2022 before moving into formal magazine serialization. It subsequently became serialized in Square Enix’s Monthly Big Gangan.
Square Enix released the first Japanese collected volume on August 25, 2022.
The series attracted considerable attention relatively quickly. It also won first place in the Web Manga category of the Next Manga Award 2022.
Its journey from online manga to established Square Enix publication demonstrates how social platforms can provide manga creators with another route for introducing characters and concepts to readers.
Main Characters in Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You
Although the premise is straightforward, the personalities of its central characters give the manga much of its identity.
Sasaki
Sasaki is a 45-year-old office worker dealing with the monotonous and stressful realities of corporate life.
Rather than presenting him as a glamorous romantic protagonist, the manga depicts him as tired, somewhat awkward, and appreciative of life’s small comforts.
That makes him important to the tone of the story.
His problems aren’t supernatural. They’re familiar adult concerns involving work, exhaustion, social interaction, uncertainty, and loneliness.
His inability to immediately recognize Yamada as Tayama also creates much of the early comedy.
Yamada
Yamada works as a cashier at the supermarket Sasaki regularly visits.
To Sasaki, her friendly customer service becomes one of the positive moments in an otherwise exhausting routine.
However, there is considerably more to her personality than the version Sasaki encounters while she is working.
Tayama
Tayama is the identity under which Yamada interacts with Sasaki outside her cashier role.
She dresses and behaves differently, creating enough contrast that Sasaki doesn’t initially understand who she really is.
Tayama is cooler and more playful around Sasaki and frequently teases him.
The Yamada/Tayama dynamic allows readers to understand something Sasaki doesn’t, creating an amusing imbalance between the audience and protagonist.
Why Is the Manga So Appealing?
The unusual strength of the Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You manga is that relatively little needs to happen for a scene to feel meaningful.
Two people can simply sit behind a supermarket and talk.
In another series, that might be transitional material. Here, it is often the point.
Adult Characters and Adult Problems
Many romance manga center on school life.
Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You takes a different approach by focusing heavily on working adults.
Sasaki’s corporate exhaustion isn’t simply background decoration. His work influences his mood, confidence, daily routine, and interactions with other people.
This makes the series potentially appealing to older manga readers looking for characters whose daily concerns extend beyond classrooms and school clubs.
Slow-Burn Relationship Development
This is not a romance that races from one major relationship milestone to another.
Small interactions matter.
A conversation, expression, joke, misunderstanding, or moment of concern can subtly change the relationship between the characters.
Later volumes continue developing those feelings. For example, Square Enix’s description of Volume 5 explicitly moves the story toward Sasaki and Yamada becoming increasingly aware that their feelings for one another are taking shape.
Comedy Without Losing Its Grounded Tone
The Yamada/Tayama situation naturally creates comedy because the reader understands something Sasaki doesn’t.
But the manga doesn’t have to turn every interaction into an exaggerated gag.
The humor frequently emerges from personalities and misunderstandings, allowing the story to remain relaxed.
Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You Manga Volumes
The English edition is published by Square Enix Manga.
Volume 1 was released in English on February 20, 2024, with 240 pages and ISBN 9781646092864.
The English publication has continued steadily.
For example, Volume 5 was released on August 12, 2025, Volume 6 followed on January 20, 2026, and Volume 7 was released on July 7, 2026.
The Japanese edition is further ahead. Square Enix’s Japanese Big Gangan page announced that Volume 9 was released on July 24, 2026.
Because English and Japanese publication schedules differ, readers should check the current publisher listings when determining which volume is available in their region.
Where Can You Read Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You Manga?
Readers looking for the manga should use licensed editions and official distribution channels.
Square Enix maintains an official English series page containing individual volume information and free previews. The publisher lists both physical and digital formats for available volumes.
Official Square Enix Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You page
For new readers, starting with Volume 1 is the simplest approach because the relationship depends heavily on understanding Sasaki’s initial perception of Yamada and Tayama.
What Genre Is Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You?
Square Enix officially lists the manga under three primary genres:
Comedy, romance, and slice-of-life.
Each category accurately describes part of the reading experience.
The comedy comes from misunderstandings, teasing, character reactions, and the central identity situation.
The romance develops gradually through Sasaki and Yamada/Tayama becoming more important to each other.
The slice-of-life component is perhaps equally significant because the manga spends considerable time depicting everyday routines.
Work ends.
Sasaki visits the supermarket.
Characters talk.
They smoke.
They return to their lives.
Those ordinary repetitions become the environment in which the relationship develops.
Is Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You a Romance Manga?
Yes, but readers shouldn’t expect an extremely fast romantic progression.
The series uses a slow-burn romance structure.
The early appeal comes partly from watching Sasaki unknowingly develop different impressions of Yamada and Tayama while readers understand that they are the same person.
As the story progresses, emotional awareness becomes more significant.
Square Enix’s descriptions of later volumes show the relationship evolving beyond the original joke. Volume 6, for instance, describes the “slow burn” continuing while Yamada finds herself thinking about Sasaki.
That gradual progression is important to the manga’s identity.
Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You Anime
The manga’s popularity eventually led to an anime adaptation.
A television anime adaptation was announced for 2026, bringing Sasaki and Tayama’s conversations from the manga to animation. Reporting surrounding the adaptation also highlighted the manga’s growth from its original online publication into a successful commercial series.
For manga readers, the anime provides another way to experience the characters, while people discovering the story through animation may want to explore the original manga for the source material and later developments.
Is Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You Manga Worth Reading?
It depends on what you want from a manga.
Readers looking primarily for action, supernatural powers, major mysteries, or rapid plot developments probably aren’t the main audience.
However, the manga may be a strong choice if you enjoy:
- Adult slice-of-life stories
- Slow-burn romance
- Workplace characters
- Character-driven comedy
- Everyday conversations
- Subtle relationship development
- Relaxed pacing
- Romantic misunderstandings
Its premise demonstrates that an interesting relationship doesn’t require an extraordinary location.
A supermarket smoking area is about as mundane as a setting can get.
Yet repeated encounters transform that ordinary space into somewhere personally meaningful for the characters.
Similar Themes Readers May Enjoy
People searching for Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You manga frequently encounter concepts associated with seinen romance and adult slice-of-life storytelling.
Useful related themes include:
adult romance manga, workplace manga, slice-of-life romance manga, slow-burn romance manga, seinen romance, salaryman manga, romantic comedy manga, and character-driven manga.
These semantic relationships are important because they describe the series more accurately than simply calling it a romance.
The workplace exhaustion of Sasaki, Yamada’s supermarket job, the recurring smoking area, their age and life experience, and the gradual development of their relationship all contribute to the series’ distinctive atmosphere.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You manga about?
It follows 45-year-old office worker Sasaki and supermarket cashier Yamada. Sasaki regularly finds comfort in Yamada’s friendly service. He later begins smoking behind the supermarket with a woman named Tayama without realizing that Tayama and Yamada are the same person.
Who wrote Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You?
The manga is written and illustrated by Jinushi and published by Square Enix.
What is the Japanese title?
The Japanese title is スーパーの裏でヤニ吸うふたり (Sūpā no Ura de Yani Sū Futari).
Is Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You a romance?
Yes. Square Enix categorizes the series as comedy, romance, and slice-of-life. Its romantic development is intentionally gradual.
How many Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You manga volumes are there?
The number depends on language and publication market. Square Enix’s Japanese site announced Volume 9 in July 2026, while the English edition follows its own release schedule.
Is there an English version?
Yes. Square Enix Manga publishes the official English edition. English Volume 1 was released on February 20, 2024.
Is the manga finished?
As of the current 2026 publication information, the series continues to receive new collected volumes, with Japanese Volume 9 released in July 2026.
Final Thoughts
The Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You manga takes a remarkably ordinary situation and turns it into a charming adult romantic comedy.
Jinushi doesn’t need an elaborate fantasy world to make Sasaki and Yamada/Tayama interesting. Their story develops through supermarket visits, smoking breaks, teasing, misunderstandings, workplace frustrations, and conversations that gradually become more meaningful.
That grounded approach is precisely what separates the series from many conventional romance manga.
Readers who appreciate slow-burn romance, adult characters, workplace slice-of-life stories, and character-driven comedy may find plenty to enjoy here. And with the manga continuing to expand alongside its anime adaptation, Smoking Behind the Supermarket With You has grown far beyond the simple online manga that introduced Sasaki and his mysterious smoking companion in 2022.
References
The factual publication and series information in this guide was checked against the official Square Enix Manga & Books series and volume pages, Square Enix’s Japanese Big Gangan publication page, and current reporting on the anime adaptation.