Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included

Lore & Background

The story follows Shintarō Tokumitsu, a first-year high school student living alone in a studio apartment. One day, a gorgeous young girl named Towa appears near his room; she is an angel assigned by God to learn from humanity. After convincing him of her identity, she starts to live with him. The series includes a cast of supernatural characters: Tsumugi Tsutsumi, Shintarō's childhood friend who has known him since elementary school and fell in love with him at first sight; Noel Izumi, a yuki-onna workmate; Lilishka, a vampire classmate with chūnibyō personality; Hisui Tsurumi, a kappa classmate; and Shiu, a young angel who visits Earth to bring Towa home. Shintarō's aunt Mari Tokumitsu owns the apartment building and works as a manga artist.

Reader's Guide

Studio Apartment, Good Lighting, Angel Included is a romantic comedy manga that blends everyday high school life with supernatural folklore. The series gained popularity for its lighthearted tone and character-driven humor, featuring angels, yuki-onna, vampires, and kappa. The anime adaptation, produced by Okuruto Noboru and directed by Kenta Ōnishi, aired in spring 2024 and was streamed by Crunchyroll. The manga concluded in March 2025 after a four-and-a-half-year run, with eight collected volumes. Its English release by Yen Press began in 2021. The work is noted for its connection to matoba's earlier series As Miss Beelzebub Likes, sharing a similar blend of supernatural romance and comedy.

Did You Know?

• The series was serialized in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from September 12, 2020, to March 12, 2025.
• The anime adaptation aired from April 6 to June 22, 2024, on Tokyo MX and other networks.
• The opening theme song 'Your Color's Miracle' was performed by Yui Ogura, who also voiced the character Lilishka.
• The character Noel Izumi is a yuki-onna whose birthday is Christmas Eve, reflected in her name.

The Premise: An Angel in a One-Room Apartment

The story centers on Shintarō Tokumitsu, a first-year high school student navigating the independence of living alone in a modest studio apartment. Supported by a parental allowance and a part-time job at a restaurant, his quiet routine is shattered when a stunning young woman named Towa materializes near his door. She reveals herself to be an angel dispatched by God with the mission of studying human life firsthand. After convincing the skeptical Shintarō of her celestial nature, Towa moves in and takes on household chores, creating an unlikely domestic partnership. As their cohabitation deepens, Shintarō finds himself developing romantic feelings for her, while Towa—whose wings inexplicably sprout whenever she becomes excited—remains seemingly unaware of his affection even as she demonstrates genuine care for him. The premise blends slice-of-life warmth with supernatural charm, framing a coming-of-age romance through the lens of an ordinary teenager sharing his small space with a being from heaven.

A Menagerie of Supernatural Friends and Rivals

Beyond the central angel-and-teenager dynamic, the series populates Shintarō's world with an eclectic cast of mythological beings who each bring distinct personalities and complications. At his restaurant, he works alongside Noel Izumi, a yuki-onna whose emotional outbursts summon devastating blizzards; her initially frosty demeanor softens as she finds genuine friendship. In his classroom, he encounters Lilishka, an occult-club member with a dramatic chūnibyō flair who is secretly a vampire working at a maid café under her real name Sayuri Kagami. Hisui Tsurumi, a shy bespectacled girl from a wealthy lineage, is revealed to be a kappa and granddaughter of the chairman of Japan's kappa association. Tsumugi Tsutsumi, a classmate who fell for Shintarō at first sight after a brief childhood encounter, burns with jealousy whenever Towa enters the picture. Even Shintarō's aunt Mari, the manga-artist landlord, adds a layer of human loneliness to the otherwise fantastical ensemble, while a protective younger angel named Shiu descends to Earth with the intent of retrieving Towa home.

Manga Publication and International Licensing

Created and illustrated by matoba, the series ran in Square Enix's Monthly Shōnen Gangan from September 12, 2020, through March 12, 2025—a serialization spanning over four and a half years. By April 2025, the collected chapters had been compiled into eight tankōbon volumes, giving readers a complete arc of the story. The manga's international footprint expanded significantly in December 2021, when Yen Press announced it had secured the English-language licensing rights, bringing the series to North American readers. Matoba's work on this title sits alongside another series by the same creator, As Miss Beelzebub Likes, establishing a recognizable authorial voice within the supernatural-romance space. The long serialization window allowed the story to develop its ensemble cast gradually, introducing new mythological characters and deepening existing relationships across multiple volumes. The decision to conclude the run in early 2025, followed by the final volume's release, marked a definitive endpoint for a story that had been building its world one apartment at a time since 2020.

The 2024 Anime Adaptation

Announced on October 4, 2023, the anime television adaptation was produced by Okuruto Noboru and directed by Kenta Ōnishi. Shōgo Yasukawa handled both series composition and individual episode scripts, while Yūya Uetake was responsible for character designs and Shunsuke Takizawa composed the musical score. The broadcast run aired from April 6 to June 22, 2024, on Tokyo MX and other networks, with streaming available through Crunchyroll for international audiences. The opening theme, "Your Color's Miracle," was performed by Yui Ogura—who also lent her voice to the vampire character Lilishka in the cast—while the closing track, "Sunny Canvas," was delivered by the group SoundOrion. The voice cast featured Shūichirō Umeda as Shintarō, Hikaru Tono as Towa, Hana Tamegai as Tsumugi, Saori Ōnishi as Noel, Kanon Takao as Hisui, Misaki Kuno as Shiu, and Ai Kayano as Mari. The adaptation condensed the manga's four-year serialization into a single summer broadcast, offering a concentrated introduction to the series' supernatural domestic comedy.