Spoilers for Shisa's alcohol license storyline from September–October 2026. This article is dated October 4, 2026. The latest official X post covered here shows a time of October 3, 2026, 22:55 JST.[1]
The 5-second version
The big moment in the latest strip isn't just "Will Shisa give back the real license that fell from the sky?"
It's that Shisa gets so shaken by the idea of going back to studying all over again that he's close to tears.
That only works if the exam is genuinely tough.
And remember: Shisa already passed the Super Arbeiter qualification, where just making it to the final exam is described as insanely hard.[2]
This is the same Shisa who studies late at night on top of his job, gets so tired he starts making mistakes at work, and even after the license shows up like magic, still struggles with "If I give it back, do I have to go through all that again?"[3]
Now here's the twist: Kurimanju earned this license a long time ago.
The little guy who usually drinks, nibbles on snacks and sums up his whole life with
"Haaah…"
actually studied through rain and snow to get it, and is now the one Shisa goes to for help with the hard parts.[4][5]
Hold on.
Why is Kurimanju's résumé suddenly this stacked?
1. The scary part isn't giving it back. It's what comes after
In the newest post, Shisa stares at the license and starts heading toward "I'm going to return this…"
Then, right after, comes the hesitation: "But then I'd have to…"[1]
That's the key.
If this were a test you could cram for in a few days, the story would go:
"I didn't earn this myself." → "I'll give it back." → "I'll just take the test again."
The end.
But it doesn't end there.
For Shisa, "again" probably doesn't mean one more test. It means going back to this:
Work. Come home and study. Look up the stuff you don't get. Feel sleepy. Go to work again. Mess up. Feel bad. Study anyway.
So returning the license isn't just handing back 1 piece of paper.
It's choosing to climb the whole long hill again, on his own feet, after a miracle wiped it out for a moment.
Of course he cries.
The moral test isn't "do the right thing or don't."
It's "do what you think is right, and in exchange, get all your late-night study sessions back."
That's a lot to put on a tiny character in a cute comic.
2. Shisa isn't bad at studying
There's one detail worth keeping in mind when guessing how hard the alcohol license is.
Shisa already holds the Super Arbeiter qualification.
In the write-up for anime episode 124, working at the ramen shop Rō requires that qualification, and Armor-san is shocked because just reaching the final exam is supposed to be really difficult.[2]
So this isn't a story about
"someone who's bad at tests struggling with a drinking exam."
It's closer to:
a hard worker who already cleared 1 tough exam, now stuck in a long fight with another one.
That makes the alcohol license feel heavier.
When someone who has already passed a tough exam tears up at the thought of "doing that again," you have to ask:
What kind of drink is this?
He's aging like fine wine before he even gets to taste it.
3. It feels like a "1 year or more" kind of exam, but we don't know how long it took in the story
It sure looks like the kind of license that takes a long time.
Based on the official posts, Shisa has been shown studying for it since 2022, and in 2026 that studying is still a major source of pressure in the story.[3]
But let's keep facts and guesses separate.
The comic running for more than 4 years in real life doesn't mean Shisa has studied for more than 4 years in the story.
The comic never says how much time has passed for the characters.
As far as we can tell, there are also no official numbers for things like:
- the pass rate
- how many hours of study you need
- what subjects are on the test
- how many times a year it's held
- how many levels there are
So saying "in real life this would be like a CPA exam" would be going too far.
Still, just from what we see on the page, it's a pretty safe guess that
this isn't a license you get with a little light studying.
The proof isn't an exam guide. It's Shisa's daily life.
4. When studying starts hurting your job, it's serious
The strips from September 2026 show Shisa studying late into the night for the alcohol license, getting worn out, and making mistakes at his job at Rō.[3]
This matters because it's not just a cute "he's trying his best" moment.
The studying has gone from
eating up his free time → cutting into his sleep and rest → hurting how well he does at work
That's not a hobby quiz anymore.
It's taking over his life.
So when, out of nowhere, a license shows up that basically says
"Here you go. You don't have to study anymore,"
of course that's tempting.
Not because he wants to cheat.
When you're exhausted, simply being allowed to stop is a huge reward.
That's why this dilemma hits so hard.
If trying again didn't hurt, giving the license back would be easy.
Because it hurts, both his urge to return it and the part of him that doesn't want to feel real.
5. And suddenly Kurimanju's past looks way more impressive
Enter Professor Kurimanju.
In an earlier strip, Hachiware asks Kurimanju whether getting the license was hard, and he thinks back to studying outside even on rainy and snowy days.[4]
On top of that, Shisa asks Kurimanju to teach him "the hard parts of the alcohol license," and Kurimanju takes on the teacher role.[5]
When you think about it, that's pretty impressive.
He doesn't just have the license.
People ask him about the tricky parts. He explains them. Younger folks rely on him.
So at least in the story, he works as
"a senior who actually knows the material," not just "some guy who got it ages ago."
His usual routine is:
drink → fancy snacks → grill them → drink → "Haaah…"
so it's easy to forget. But behind all that is a record of grinding through exam prep.
It's like walking up to a game NPC who's always drinking on the street corner and finding out
he's a secret instructor who's already cleared every hard dungeon.
Seriously, who is this guy?
6. The more Shisa suffers, the heavier Kurimanju's "Haaah…" gets
Before, you could just see Kurimanju as "the guy who really enjoys his drinks."
But the longer Shisa's storyline goes, the more a new thought creeps in:
"He had to climb this same hill to get to that drink."
Shisa studies at night. Gets stuck on the hard parts. Asks Kurimanju. Wants the license badly. But can't accept one he got the easy way. Giving it back means studying again.
After all that, Kurimanju casually cracks open a can and goes
"Haaah…"
Suddenly it sounds like a champion's victory sigh.
That one breath might be packing in:
"I got my license." "I'm officially allowed to drink." "I put in the work." "And I'm drinking today too."
That's a lot of information in one sigh.
7. Calling Kurimanju a genius is still a stretch
That said, it's more fun not to overhype it.
What we can actually confirm about Kurimanju is:
- he has the alcohol license
- he studied to get it
- he's shown studying even in rain and snow
- he can teach Shisa the hard parts
So we don't know whether he
"passed on the first try," "is smarter than Shisa," "is secretly an elite," or "beat an exam with a pass rate of just a few percent."
The charm is actually the opposite of genius:
even Kurimanju apparently just put in the work, step by step.
His love of drinking keeps him going.
His goal never wavers.
His motivation is perfectly tuned.
In a world where
"study, pass the exam, and you get to drink"
he may simply be
the character whose goals lined up with the rules better than anyone's.
8. This isn't just a "cheating is bad" story
If you sum up Shisa's struggle as "he doesn't want a license he got by cheating, so he gives it back," you miss something.
Shisa didn't set out to cheat or steal anything.
He helped a star. The star asked for his wish. He wished he could get the license sooner. A license that's treated as the real thing fell from the sky.[3]
So the problem isn't simple cheating.
It's closer to:
"I got the result in a way that seems legit. But can I accept it as my own pass?"
And this time, the story also shows the very real pain head-on:
give it back, and the grind starts again.
If Shisa didn't hesitate for even a second, he'd feel less human.
He hesitates.
He cries.
And he still tries to give it back.
Meanwhile, readers are thinking:
"Wait, Kurimanju just casually passed an exam THAT hard?"
The story is supposed to be about Shisa's character, but it keeps leveling up the drinker standing next to him.
Kurimanju's reputation keeps going up without him doing anything.
He's just drinking.
9. Bottom line: we don't know exactly how hard it is, but it's clearly not easy. And Professor Kurimanju is kind of scary
There's no official pass rate or required study time for the alcohol license.
So we can't flatly say "it's a tough exam that takes at least 1 year."
But put the scenes together and you get:
- Shisa already passed the tough Super Arbeiter qualification
- that same Shisa has been studying for the alcohol license for a long time
- late-night studying wears him out and even affects his job
- giving the license back would mean "studying again," which tears him up
- Kurimanju also studied through rain and snow to get it
- and Kurimanju can teach Shisa the hard parts
That's a lot.
At the very least, it makes sense to read it as a license that takes serious study in this world.
And the funniest part right now is still Kurimanju.
Normally:
"Haaah…"
On paper:
Studied hard and earned a tough-looking license. Available to tutor juniors.
Who is this little guy?
Every time Shisa struggles, Kurimanju's past quietly gets upgraded to "survivor of a brutal exam."
He's not just a big drinker anymore.
He's an endgame player who unlocked the right to drink through pure grind.
Professor Kurimanju.
Every sip hits different now.
References (5)
- Chiikawa official X post supplied in the source conversation, displayed as 2026-10-03 22:55 JST x.com
- ABEMA TIMES, 2025-08-26, Super Arbeiter qualification and the difficulty of reaching the final exam times.abema.tv
- Real Sound, 2026-09-30, current Shisa / wish-granted alcohol qualification arc realsound.jp
- Real Sound, 2026-07, Kurimanju remembering studying in rain and snow for the alcohol qualification realsound.jp
- Real Sound, 2026-08, Shisa asking Kurimanju to teach the difficult parts of the alcohol qualification realsound.jp
