is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Shiho Kido. It has been serialized in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Afternoon since November 2023.
In 2025, the manga won the New Creator Prize of the 29th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize.
Plot Daigo Shigaraki is seen as an outcast at school, known for his temper tantrums and strange habits. One day during art class, model student Shiro Kiyomizu notices Shigaraki making a bizarrely creative clay sculpture, and later observes him making grass dolls of his classmates in the chameleon flower fields, including one of Kiyomizu, leaving him in awe. After the flower fields are razed and the dolls start disintegrating, a manic Kiyomizu confronts Shigaraki, offering to help motivate his creativity in any way. Despite being unsettled by Kiyomizu's obsessiveness over his art, Shigaraki accepts. From there, an unusual friendship blooms.
Production When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom originated as a that was first written and illustrated in December 2021, before it was showcased at COMITIA 140 in May the following year. Author Shiho Kido was later contacted by the Monthly Afternoon editorial department, and submitted the work for the Autumn 2022 , where it won the Grand Prize. It was Kido's second work as a manga artist.
Kido's fascination for outsider art and "Art Brut" since high school, as well as the ambiguity of what would attract someone into such art, were what inspired the story for When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom. The main characters being in fifth grade was because Kido believed that was the last possible age kids are open-minded about others before they start becoming socially closed off during middle school and high school. Kido noted that had Shiro Kiyomizu been older, he would have been a less likeable character to work with.
Many character names were based on Japanese ceramics. Kido stated that this began from buying a Shigaraki ware vase, thinking it was a fitting name for Daigo Shigaraki, and replicating it for other characters.
Publication Written and illustrated by Shiho Kido, When the Chameleon Flowers Bloom was first published as a one-shot in Kodansha's manga magazine Monthly Afternoon on October 25, 2022, after it won the Grand Prize of the Autumn 2022 . It was also posted in its entirety on Kido's Twitter account that same day, where it was well received by readers. It later officially began serialization in Monthly Afternoon on November 25, 2023. Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual volumes, with the first one released on May 22, 2024. As of August 21, 2026, five volumes have been released.
In February 2025, Kodansha began publishing the series in English on its K Manga digital service.
Volumes
Chapters not yet in tankōbon format Extra Story:
Reception The manga ranked second at the 3rd Late Night Manga Awards in 2024 hosted by Bungeishunjū's Crea magazine. The manga ranked third on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2025 for male readers. It was nominated for the 18th Manga Taishō in 2025 and ranked fifth with 51 points. It received the 29th annual Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's New Creator Prize in 2025.
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Further reading
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