I already loved this manga years ago, I'll admit.
Having recently decided to learn Japanese, I chose this manga to help me with that (due to its Furigana). I'm still at the very first table of contents and already discovered a pun that's too awesome to translate:
Would you ever have expected that Tatchan and Katchan would have their first syllables written like they were foreign words in the chapter title? In other words Tatchan≃Touch and Katchan≃Catch?
I already liked Adachi-sensei's humor before, this raises him even higher

... Last updated on October 3rd, 2012, 4:48pm

To be honest, I suspect that one's favorite Adachi Mitsuru Manga may depend on which of his works you read first. Nevertheless, this is definitely my favorite work of his for a long time now.

Adachi Mitsuru likes to sometimes put in random twists or new characters to compete for the female lead's affections. A lot of these twists are pretty abrupt and do not further the plot. A lot of those side characters get forgotten only to resurface for a single panel 2 volumes down the road.

Therefore, the reason I like Touch so much is because there's no pointless plot twist and every character that is introduced is developed and not forgotten like in other manga. I say no "pointless" plot twists because although there is a plot twist, it's far from pointless- in fact, it's the whole point of the manga, and it's handled beautifully. It comes just after enough plot development but before it can be called "plot twist of convenience", which Adachi Mitsuru has used in other manga.

Other than that, Touch is pretty characteristic of the mangaka's offbeat humor and slice-of-life romantic stories, plus good sports action. It's my favorite work of his, although recently Cross Game has been really enjoyable too, and I highly recommend reading this.

This manga touches the heart of the reader. Both in good and bad ways.

The humor is spot on and the characters are likable.

The biggest issue I have with the manga is the fact that he always has to have those images of bikini clad females thrown in. More tasteful than most fan service, but still detracting.

I like the humor in this manga, yea it did have its sad parts... But I think its worth it, its more like a classic that makes you feel all warm inside ^0^

Its all in the title..

I really like the slice-of-life and offbeat humor that Adachi offers in his manga. It's just so fun to read. I'm not here for the baseball -- just for the character interactions. Wow, Adachi really understands how people think.

However, you can tell how important a character is based on how 'good' they look. Henceforth, Harada doesn't even have a chance to compete with the Uesugi family for a romance. I really like Harada and Koutarou's characters, but it seems only pretty-type characters like Nitta and Tatsuya have 'raw' potential. In this respect, this is similar to Cross Game (and I suspect Adachi's other manga, as well).

I don't like the fact that most of the baseball team, save for the coach and Koutarou, hardly play a role in the story (or with the Uesugis). It's just given that Uesugi is the ace -- that he's the one that can pull the team forward. This is the same with Nitta on his team. I would've liked for a stronger team connection, considering how much the Koushien is sought after. But it seems to be all about fulfilling personal dreams and requests for the Uesugis and Minami. It would've hardly mattered what school they had chosen because even the school connection is so weak.

I'm not asking for pretty faces, but I would like for stronger relationships between characters. What we really see is a story about Tatsuya and Kazuya. This manga focuses a little bit about Minami and other characters, but this is all about a strong brotherly bond.

... Last updated on May 15th, 2011, 10:43pm

I decided to read this because I enjoyed H2 so much. But after reading H2 first, I can see a lot of "weak" points in Touch, which were later addressed in H2. H2 had much better story, characters, and jokes. Still, Touch is pretty enjoyable to read overall.

*spoilers*

This is one of the classic by Adachi Mitsuru, it wasn't just only about baseball and the such, it's actually about the burden the characters had to carry through their highschool years, while fulfilling their childhood dreams, and how one choose his own path and think for himself.

The main character have to fight with something that doesn't actually 'exist' anymore, the sibling rivalry they promised each other turned into something that's more complicated than they ever thought it would be.
It's not just a matter of doing it for himself, but for his brother. The struggle was one of the main theme in the story. The characterization was one of the best in the Adachi's line of works. To me, this is Adachi at his best, and one of the longest successful work he had pulled off.

To the comment that gave it a 5, just because you didn't see it coming, and it's depressing, you think it's a bad manga? Maybe that's what the whole story was actually about, giving it a bad rating just because you can't take a twist in the story is just immature. Not to mention you ignored the next 20 volumes or so of story which would be the core of the whole series.

PS: To Artimidorus:
I did not care what the rating the person gave it, I never said he have to agree with me or anything, I'm just not happy with the person rating something when he did not see the whole picture, that's as rating a movie when you only saw 1minute of it, yes I gave it a 9 because I thought the story was totally well done, you can point out the whole story is a mess and give it a 1, but at least give valid points, yes opinion is opinion, but I never said he was immature because he disagreed with me, but I thought if you're to criticize something, you should at least know what you're criticizing about, not just because you don't like how a story is.

Just a sidenote I didn't rate it a 9 because the amount of authors book I read and liked, this is the first manga I ever read by this author.

... Last updated on May 16th, 2007, 2:07pm

I have now read 4 of Adachi's works (Katsu, H2, Miyuki, and Touch) and this is one of the best. To be maybe because it does not really end with any of the ties incomplete, you don't really have some sort of hope that it would turn out differently. It is frustrating seeing Tatsuya struggle with his feelings and yet beautiful to see Minami so patient with him. Tatsuya never really stands out and with that it makes him a much better character. The personalities and charisma of the characters make for very admirable characters. I don't recommend watching either of the movies that take place after the manga story line, they truly ruin that open ended taste Adachi likes so much.

great manga...
some ppl may not like it cuz of lack of fan service but its still pretty funny.
Mostly its about a rivalry between two twins who seem completely different but both like the same girl...

its refreshing cuz this manga isnt about the art but more the storyline.