Manga comparing parenting to Taiko no Tatsujin's Oni mode tops 13,000 likes

Manga artist Hieda Yakko has gone viral again with her work I tried comparing the chaos of parenting to Taiko no Tatsujin. The manga, reposted on her X account, has racked up more than 13,000 likes and hundreds of comments from parents who relate to the comparison.

The premise is simple: a friend asks her what life is like raising kids. Yakko answers with the simile of Bandai Namco's popular drum game. A mother's life, she explains, works like a session in Oni mode, the game's highest difficulty, where notes fall without pause and a single mistake breaks the combo.

The idea came from a specific moment. Yakko started drawing an illustrated parenting diary when her older daughter was a baby. Years later, while watching Oni mode gameplay videos with her kids, she had a revelation: "That frantic rhythm is me parenting." She told the story in an interview with Otonanswer.

The trigger was an everyday scene. "The first thing that came to mind was wiping a sick child's nose," she says. A tiny task that, inserted into the routine, complicates everything. "The finer the rhythm, the higher life's difficulty goes. That's very Taiko no Tatsujin."

Double gastroenteritis, the final boss of parenting

The author has two children four years apart. The worst moment, she says, was when both caught a severe gastroenteritis at the same time. That day's to-do list sounds like an impossible sequence from a rhythm game:

• Call the hospital.
• Take care of the two sick kids.
• Change the dirty clothes.
• Do laundry.
• Give them water.
• Wash hands constantly to avoid getting sick.

"They threw up no matter that it was night. It was an impossible game," she recalls. Faced with a day like that, her strategy is clear: drop everything that isn't essential. "It's not something conscious, but there's no choice but to set aside everything you can live without. Rest when you can and eat when you can. Health comes first."

And she adds a line that sums up the manga's philosophy: "If the mother can't hit the drum, the game is over."

A break between songs

It's not all Oni mode. Yakko clarifies that on days with school and daycare, and with everyone healthy at home, the tempo relaxes. "Mornings are calmer, although in the afternoon the rhythm picks up again," she notes.

The public's response has surprised the author herself. The manga is a repost, not a new piece, and yet it has generated a wave of comments again. "I received many messages from people saying 'I understand perfectly' or 'what a good comparison.' It made me realize that we're all doing our best amid the chaos, and that gave me energy to keep going."

Hieda Yakko publishes content on X and Instagram for mothers who want to work from home, along with her daily life strips. In 2026 she released her first commercial book, First-year freelancer: can you teach me how to earn 100,000 more yen a month with AI?, published by Gijutsu-Hyohron. Her intention is to keep creating useful books for those looking to start in remote work.

Have you ever played Taiko no Tatsujin's Oni mode? Do you think the parenting comparison holds up? Tell us in the comments.