I signed up just to review this because it seems to me that many people are giving this high scores based on how "great" this author seems to be. Lets start with the good points.
For one thing, even though it looks really old, the art isn't even the major concern here. I already grew accustomed to it by the time I finished reading the first volume, so I have no major complaints.
The actual interaction and dialogue between the characters was something that really took me surprise, however. It seems to be very, very, witty and sarcastic. In fact, this is probably the first time I've ever seen something of its kind. The realism that it depicts is quite masterful, and it actually makes me wonder if the author himself had similar experiences in life.
In any case, I found that the dialogue was funny, witty, and sarcastic all at the same time.
Now lets get to the bad points.
Throughout the entire series, it becomes painfully obvious that the author manipulates you into picking favorites when it came to actual relationships.
The main character here has a girl he meets (whos actually the baseball manager mentioned in the summary above) and a childhood friend from the past. The latter being the aforementioned "favorite" couple that the author tries to make you pick. Honestly after reading the manga, I don't think anyone would've supported his relationship with the baseball manager. Just because she wasn't the "favorite".
What annoyed me the most was how exactly the author "manipulates" the reader into picking the "right" couple.
He does this by bashing you in the head with the same flashbacks over and over and over again until you simply laugh the next time you see it. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about and have read the series, I'm referring to the, "Look we're the same height! Sucks to be you!" scene.
In any case, I'd like to actually talk about that last comment on the summary that says "You don't need to be a baseball fan to enjoy this!" I'd like to challenge this statement.
I went into this manga only knowing bare-bones baseball. Meaning that I only know the basics: 3 outs, 3 strikes, 4 bases, 4 balls and you walk, change sides, 9 innings, hit it into the stadium or out of the park and its a homerun.
Like I said, bare minimum.
And yet, there were many things that I did not know. Real baseball fans may laugh at me for this (>_> hey, I'm more of a football guy anyway...)
Things such as a pitching error, or generally what the hell an "error" is
eluded me. I honestly had no idea. Of course, I can't blame the manga for my own ignorance. I'm just challenging the statement 😛
In any case, the actual baseball is pretty fun to read, which is another surprising thing coming from this. I generally don't like reading sports manga because I always had this mindset that seemed to think that if it were animated, it'd probably be 10x better. Maybe that would be the case, but I still thought this manga really delivered on the actual game.
And now lets get on to what people say was one of the worst points of this manga by far: The Ending
I read comments on here before I even read the manga, so I was already "spoiled" on the fact that the ending was bad. So I came into it expecting a bad ending.
And guess what?
...it was a bad ending. ^_^
From what I've been hearing on this author, he seems to have a knack for giving people endings similar to this in all of his works (which actually really makes me hesitate to read his other stuff)
First of all, lets not talk about the ending but the stuff preluding it. I'd have to say, after all the hype on the whole "Big Showdown" facade, I was expecting a really fantastic game at the ending.
But of course, this manga surprised me again when it gave me, probably one of the worst games in the entire manga (no joke). They made it out to be so damn dramatic, but it ended up just being a big laughingstock. The "showdown" was more or less pretty damn one-sided.
When they went head-to-head with Eikyo Academy, however, THAT was exciting. Maybe its because it made you feel like there was a "real villain" on the opposing team, so the game felt more fulfilling overall.
Maybe it wasn't a bad game, but compared to all the other games in the manga, I'd say it was pretty bad. You'd also have to consider how much hype the author put into it.
Now on to the "actual" ending..
The ending was bad, yes, but when you stop and think about it, how else could it have possibly ended? I'm sorry to say, but, at that point in time, I would have to say it was impossible for the "favorite couple" to actually flourish. There was just no way. From the very beginning, I knew it to be true.
And even though I knew this, deep down inside me, I wished for some miraculous event to occur. An event that would've turned the tables in favor for the main character to actually get the girl that he desired even though he held himself back. I wished it; many others wished it, but it didn't come true.
The realism was good. Too good in fact. Ironically, its greatest flaw.
(+10)
(-90)
