Serialized in the manga magazine Comic Beam from September 2013 to February 2018, the series follows two veterans of the Imperial Japanese Army in the aftermath of World War II.

Described by publisher Kadokawa Shoten as a "bromance in the ruins of Tokyo",[1] Areyo Hoshikuzu is set in 1946, a year after Japan's defeat in the Second World War.

Tokutarō Kawashima, a demobilized Japanese sergeant and veteran of the Second Sino-Japanese War, reunites with Kadomatsu Kuroda, a private first class who served in his squad.

[2] As a student, series creator Sansuke Yamada fostered an interest in the post-war period and the history of occupied Japan through the works of Miyoko Matsutani, Akiyuki Nosaka, and Komimasa Tanaka.

The series was praised by HuffPost for its balancing of comedic and serious subject material, and commended its non-negationist treatment of war crimes committed by the Empire of Japan.