i have always been curious i have read a fair amount of sport manga's and I'm curios to know should they be realistic. what i mean by realistic is that the manga involves the actual rules of the sport and the characters are actually "human" not some superhuman thing with some extraordinary power or gift.
the only sport manga i have managed to complete is eyeshield 21 and i thought it was brilliant that was because it was unrealistic i can't see it being as good whilst being completely realistic

Last edited by westsiders2 at 1:37 pm, Feb 16 2010

________________
.
http://westsiders2.deviantart.com/

It shouldn't be unrealistic to the point where they bend or make up rules, but a little "genius-who-is-better-than-everyone-else" is still good. Obviously there wouldn't be that much drama, but that's also a part of sports mangas.

________________
Lalala~

I say Yay for one simple reason:
I've read a fair share of manga and watched alot of anime related to sports and i always get a little bit pissed off how at the last minute the protagonists think of a way to defeat their opponents even though they're tired or losing.
In real life sports there aren't last minute wins all the time, and losses aren't just a few if a team or someone is lower ranked, not everybody gets a happy ending.
Don't get me wrong i love cheering for the underdog but people have limits and there is training involved and sometimes it takes a lot of time for some to surpass their barriers. Being realistic gives a chance to develop the characters, and characters are the ones that make the story, not just the sport.
I also think that going deeper and analizing the sport in question can be interesting.

I think that a completely realistic sport manga would be like watching sport on tv and quite boring. I like Eyeshield 21 because of the lack of realism - that's what makes it interesting. However, last chapters of Prince of tennis were too unrealistic, I think. These ridiculous playing techniques, amnesia, going blind etc were definitely too far-fetched. So, I think that in a good sport shounen manga there should be balance between being realistic and unrealistic.

My thoughts exactly. A manga such as Ping Pong excels simply because it is a fantastical take on the sport, e.g. Butterfly Joe and all that. Allows the author to break the conventions of the sport.

Well for me, nay.
They are manga and sports manga, it doesn't need to be realistic.
Would you actually like to read a manga about a no-good team with no outstanding players who maybe has a losing season? How can you make an interesting development with that? Would you like a main character that improves, but barely improves, and has no defining feature?
This is how it is with all shounen manga, not just sports. They always need to have some gift or special talent. It makes things interesting.
Like someone mentioned above, it'd be like watching sports on TV and that's pretty boring right there.


________________
♪MONSTARR~ will eat all your cookies and steal your bishies~♪ Φ_Φ

I don't know. To my knowledge it has never been done. Maybe one close example could be Real, that's a manga that got my interest pretty fast, although there are some good players in the team.
What i think is that there are inavoidable cliches in sports manga that absolutely have to be there, i would definatly like to see something that strays away from those cliches.

If it was too realistic, it would get boring... fast... Each sports manga needs to have at least a pinch of fantasy

________________

I think something in the middle is good.
For example: ADACHI Mitsuru's baseball manga is kinda realistic but it's boring. Prince of Tennis is so unrealistic, it's ridiculous. Slam dunk is perfect, I think.



________________

Just because it is realistic, doesn't mean it needs to be boring!

There are good players in real life and even they have to work hard to get better and overcome their flaws and still remain normal human beings.
Imagine a manga about Usain Bolt! He is the fastes man alive these days and still remains human. It would be very interesting to see his training routine and how he has to fight with the sudden interest of the whole world. And all the work he has to put into running...
This would not be a boring manga in the slightest and would still be realistic.

REAL is a very great sports-manga, because of it's realism and the fact that all the characters have their hardships (some are disabled). (man, I feel like I advertise this manga these days^^)

Fantasy is boring, because you can always invent a loophole for your hero to succeed.

in my opinion it has to depend on the sport and the type of manga it is...reason being some sports are just not interesting enough to be realistic and some are. example, two pros playing snooker? realiticly? talking about spin? and outcome of balls and whatnot? is that something we need? darts? there are too many sports that dont work realisticly and then there are some that work. i.e basketball, american football, soccer and maybe....maybe tennis all because of the movement in these sports and the clear gap that shows technique, preasure and excitment. those are all factors required to make something interesting man.

some sports just dont fill those criterias in a manga manuscript people...

________________

I believe in letting people do as they wish, as do I myself. Sometimes, of course, what I wish to do is kill them and they do not wish to die. This gives life interest.

to be fair H2 [and most ADACHI Mitsuru's manga] is more of a bigfeelings shoujo than a sports manga lol

i mostly read baseball manga and i do not care so much if its unrealistic

prince of tennis i get annoyed at and others like it that have
the genius12year old who beat 20yo pros just piss me off
its not even funny