Hidamari Sketch

Hidamari Sketch (ひだまりスケッチ, Hidamari Sukecchi, also known as Sunshine Sketch), is a Japanese four-panel comic strip by Ume Aoki revolving around the daily lives of a group of young girls all living in the same apartment where artists gather. It was first serialized in the seinen manga magazine Manga Time Kirara Carat in April 2004, published by Houbunsha. Yen Press licensed the manga for English language distribution, and released the first volume on May 27, 2008.

Plot
Hidamari Sketch centers around a young girl named Yuno who finally is able to get accepted into Yamabuki Art High School, which she has longed for. To attend the school, Yuno moves and starts to live in a small apartment building named the Hidamari Apartments (ひだまり荘, Hidamari-sō) located across the street from the school. Once there, she quickly becomes friends with three other occupants at the apartments, including her classmate Miyako and two second-year students: Hiro and Sae. The events of the characters' everyday lives are shown as they attend the school together and get to know each other better. As the story progresses, the characters move up a year in school as the new school year comes, and two first-year girls enter to live at Hidamari Apartments: Nazuna and Nori.

Anime
A 12-episode anime adaptation produced by Shaft aired in Japan between January and March 2007. Two more special episodes were aired on October 18, 2007. A 13-episode second season entitled Hidamari Sketch × 365 aired in Japan between July and September 2008. An original video animation episode for 365 was released in March 2009. Two special episodes for the second season were aired in October 2009. A third season, titled Hidamari Sketch × Hoshimittsu, aired between January and March 2010. Two special episodes for the third season aired in October 2010. Two additional episodes titled Hidamari Sketch × SP will air in October and November 2011. A fourth anime season has been announced. Two light novels were written by Chabō Higurashi, with illustrations by Aoki, which drew its story directly from the manga. The anime series, as well as their specials, are licensed and distributed in North America by Sentai Filmworks.