Kakukaku Shikajika

Akiko Hayashi has soaring but strangely specific dreams: to make a successful manga debut while still in school, have her favorite actor star in its adaptation, and end up marrying him. However, she is far from having the motivation or skills to realize these hopes. When a friend introduces her to an unorthodox, backstreet art class taught by the strong-armed Kenzou Hidaka, called simply as "sensei," Akiko decides to enroll, expecting an easy ride and an automatic improvement in her art skills. To her chagrin, what she gets is something else entirely—a tough, demanding, and uncompromising teacher with absolutely no interest in manga.

But when Akiko takes up Sensei's challenge of an intense schedule, she comes to recognize how much he cares about his students and forms a close bond with him. With Sensei's guidance, Akiko learns what is necessary to become a successful mangaka as well as what it means to be an adult.

Kakukaku Shikajika is an autobiography detailing the life of author Akiko Higashimura. It consecutively ranked in the Kono Manga ga Sugoi! for the Female Readers division from 2013 through 2016. In 2015, it won the eighth Manga Taisho Award and the 19th Japan Media Arts Festival Awards Grand Prize.

The series was published in English as Blank Canvas: My So-Called Artist's Journey by Seven Seas Entertainment from May 21, 2019, to July 14, 2020.