Which Was Chiikawa's First Post and Episode 1? The First 10 Posts Explained

Conclusion: The First Post Is "Kurashitai" from May 1, 2017

The piece to read as Chiikawa's first post is "Kurashitai," published on May 1, 2017. Chiikawa becomes something small and cute; when struck hard by something unpleasant, it cries out and runs away, and wishes it could simply fall asleep where it collapsed from exhaustion. Where it wakes up, it is shown jumping for joy together with other small beings just like it. Confusion, escape, rest, and delight all connect in a single breath—an introduction that feels true to the work's origins.

Because it is also placed at the start of the "Kurashitai" chapter in volume 1 of the collected books, the very first piece published on X and the entry point for readers starting from the books overlap. Rather than searching for an "Episode 1" number, it is easier to find it by its publication date and chapter name. Before the later subjugation quests and long-form stories, there is first the wish "this is how I want to live," and Chiikawa's driving motivation is already visible.

The First Post's Publication Date and How to Tell the Early Series Apart

Coming right after the first post in order of publication is nagano's bear, posted on September 14, 2017. It carries bite after bite of food from a plate to its mouth, drains its drink too, expresses the joy of fullness with its whole body, and then heads straight to bed. Just like Chiikawa's "Kurashitai," the focus is a longing for a life of eating until satisfied and then resting right there—but the character depicted is nagano's bear. Multiple characters appear side by side in the early posts, so it is essential to look at both the figure and the content.

On October 12, 2017, a piece appeared showing Chiikawa imagining itself burying into and eating a cream puff nearly the size of its own body. When it finishes eating, it cries over both being covered in cream and the pastry being gone, then gets washed up, dried with a towel, and goes to sleep. It is the same wish-fulfillment scene as the first post, but the sweetness, the mishap, the care, and the afterglow are all rendered in fine detail, blending charm and pathos vividly.

Reading the First 10 Posts in Order of Publication

The first 10 posts are not a continuous ten-episode long-form story. Chiikawa wish-fulfillment scenes, a nagano's bear piece, a picture of nothing but a held food item, a Usagi gag doubling as a book announcement, unnamed character design sketches, and a standing illustration of the Chimera appear sporadically from May 2017 to July 2019. Reading them while knowing the later stories reveals that this was not a period heading straight toward the finished settings, but one in which everyday fantasies and trial designs of the characters gradually took shape.

The big hat in November 2017 is an imagining in which, after everyone calls it cute, Chiikawa wants to use that hat as its bed and sleep in it. The cart in December carries Chiikawa, exhausted to the point of collapsing from the rain and its baggage, luggage and all, inside the house. The nagano's bear post from August 2018 lines up four states—standing calmly, wearing sunglasses, eating, and crying—without explanation. That each short piece lands on a different wish is what makes this period fun.

Chiikawa's Everyday Life as Seen in the Early Posts

What recurs from the very first post is not the wish to accomplish some grand goal, but the wish to rest safely after a hard moment. When it gets dirty eating a cream puff, it gets washed; when praised for its big hat, it returns to that soft bed; when worn out by rain and luggage, it gets carried home. Rather than erasing troubles, it is the fact that care and sleep await after the crying that creates Chiikawa's distinctive sense of daily life.

In the piece from November 17, 2018, Chiikawa holds a rice ball to its chest, facing forward without yet taking a bite. There is no table and no companion, and it is never shown who gave it the rice ball. Instead of any big event, the picture shows anticipation purely through the sight of Chiikawa carefully supporting the rice ball with both hands. It conveys that, before food became a tool for hijinks, it was already depicted as a small joy held in the hands.

The January 22, 2019 post is an unconventional piece in which nagano's bear sings to announce the release of an eating-and-walking guidebook, and Usagi is brought into the leftover panels. Usagi bounces while laughing, shudders and shouts, and finally flops onto its back. Even though it is not a formal introduction into the story, the entrance—etching its personality through movement before any explanation—is striking.

From Design Sketches to the Chimera's Standing Illustration

The May 3, 2019 post is scattered all over with multiple character design concepts based on round bodies: a face with the top of its head colored black, a small figure holding a drink-like container, a sideways figure stretching out a long tail, and a rear view showing a horizontally striped lower body and a thick tail. There are no panel borders or dialogue, and it is not a comic tracking the changes of a single individual. It is a sketch for comparing candidate faces and bodies, and the appeal lies in seeing the wavering before things were finalized.

About two months later, on July 4, 2019, the Chimera appeared as a standalone standing illustration. Black-tipped ears, whiskers extending to both sides, a white oval on its belly, small wings, a long horizontally striped tail, and tears streaming from both eyes were consolidated into a single figure, with its name placed at the top. Neither the cause of the tears nor any counterpart is shown, but the design alone leaves a memorable unease. It is a turning point from the scattered sketches to the impact of a named figure.

The Chimera has its mouth open, tongue visible, while shedding long streams of tears. The cute round outline coexists with the wings, the striped tail, and tears of unknown cause, so the emotion cannot be pinned down by appearance alone. The Chiikawa of the first post also showed itself crying, but here the surrounding events are omitted, leaving a piece that gives ample room for the viewer's imagination.

How to Read Before Moving On to the Later Long-Form Stories

The first 10 posts lack arc names or clearly connected incidents like the current long-form stories. Viewed first in order of publication, you can savor the rhythm of the world expanding piece by piece, as Chiikawa's wish scenes are interspersed with nagano's bear's daily life, standalone illustrations, and character trial designs. Rather than forcing the ten pieces into a single continuous storyline, each one's food, sleep, tears, and movement stands out more clearly. The abundance of digressions is itself part of the freedom unique to the early period.

After finishing the early posts, it becomes easier to follow by continuing in order of publication from the post list, or by moving to the collected long-form stories from the arc list. Tracking the dates without interruption keeps the standalone illustrations and small gags, while arc-by-arc reading lets you take in each incident from beginning to end. Since some characters—like Usagi—first left a strong impression in a short gag, mixing in off-arc standalone pieces, not just the long-form stories, enriches how you see the characters.

The Difference Between the First Post and Volume 1 of the Collected Books

The first post on X is a self-contained single piece, an introduction linking Chiikawa's wished-for life with arrows. In volume 1 of the collected books, the same "Kurashitai" is placed at the opening and can be read as a chapter together with the stories that follow. If you want to check just the first post quickly, go to the original post; if you want to read in an organized order, volume 1 is the right choice. Even with the same entry point, the impression changes depending on whether you see it as a single discovery or receive it as the beginning of a book.

Meanwhile, the first 10 posts include nagano's bear, the standalone rice ball piece, the book announcement with Usagi, the character design sketches, and the Chimera standing illustration, none of which are collected in the books. The appeal of the post list is being able to see, in order of publication, even the digressions that do not line up within volume 1's chapter structure. Rather than stopping after confirming "Episode 1," going as far as the July 2019 Chimera lets you savor the change from wish-centered single pieces to characters' appearances taking shape.