Search Results for: "cross game" "by Mitsuru adachi"
Cross Game 5 (vols. 10-11) and Cross Game 6 (vols. 12-13) by Mitsuru Adachi, translated by Lillian Olsen
Let’s play ball … While everyone else is lost to Linsanity, I’m still back in high school with ace pitcher Ko Kitamura! Volume 10 is all about the game: at the top of the fourth, Seishu Gakuen – thanks to Ko and star batter Azuma – is actually leading by a single point in the regional play-off against Ryuou, the team that’s favored (again) to win the National High School Baseball Tournament at Koshien. Aoba – who can’t play just because she’s a girl! – watches from the sidelines; they still can’t get along outside the game, but they’re in perfect synch when it comes to pitching that ball. Just at the final moment of truth, Wakaba makes her wishes known from the other side!
The games are over for now in volume 11, but life gets even more interesting when a new soba shop opens next door to Kitamura’s Sports. Everyone does a double-take each time they spot the owners’ daughter Akane Takigawa who bears an uncanny resemblance to Wakaba. In an almost too-much moment, she’s carrying a shopping bag marked “Wakaba” – “It’s from the fruit store in front of Oizumi Park Station,” she explains – when Ko and Azuma meet her face to face. Ko, Aoba, Papa Tsukishima, and especially Akaishi (who adored her like no other) don’t quite know what to do with their … well … shock!
The final year of high school starts for Ko and Azuma in volume 12: this will be their last chance to get to – and win! – Koshien. Wakaba predicted victory for this year, after all! Her presence is more than felt with Akane around: she not only looks like Wakaba, but her personality is similarly caring, nurturing, loving towards all. The school year moves quickly. Ko and Akane grow comfortably closer. Aoba breaks her leg and finds Azuma constantly by her side. Outside the hospital, Azuma has a run-in with evil coach Daimo who’s apparently back in the game …
In volume 13, the academic year is already over, but the last summer baseball season is just starting. Aoba’s on crutches, but that’s not stopping her from bossing the team to work harder, including Ko who’s still stealing all her best pitching moves: “Don’t be so stingy,” he throws back. “Think of it as borrowing my body and pitching vicariously through me.” In between training, everyone seems to be pairing off … even the youngest Momiji! Ko turns 18 at volume’s end … and his devotion to Wakaba who shares his natal day is one of the most touching manga moments ever. Sniff, sniff. Pass the tissues, already!
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2011 and 2012 (United States)
CROSS GAME © Mitsuru Adachi
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc. Continue reading
Cross Game 4 (vols.8-9) by Mitsuru Adachi, translated by Lillian Olsen
Let the games continue! Volume 8 adds a new character to the roster – cousin Mizuki Asami returns to Japan from his mountaineering adventures with his world-famous father, and moves in with the Tsukishimas.
As sweet, polite, and considerate as he is, he almost immediately announces his preference for Aoba (that cousins can legally marry is oft-repeated, ahem). Also a first-year student at Seisshu with Aoba, Mizuki becomes the new school heartthrob although he remains loyally devoted to a nonchalant Aoba.
Ko and Aoba are getting along as well as they ever have – not – and yet their inability to let go of Wakaba’s memory keeps them bound together. Baseball, too, keeps them both engaged, although Aoba can’t officially play in the games (just because she’s a girl – what’s with that??!!). Even Ko admits she’s an integral team member; Aoba makes everyone that much better with her eye-popping talent and unwavering strength.
By Volume 9, the team’s uphill battle to get to Koshien – the ultimate high school baseball competition – is well underway, and Seisshu is steadily progressing up the rankings. They’ve got their eye on the inevitable game against Ryuou, the team favored to win Koshien. Not to be outdone, Ryuou’s got quite a dugout drama of their own going on, outsized egos beware …
In spite of those detracting close-ups (see omnibus 3 if you must know), every volume of Cross Game offers plenty of clever details – a wise-cracking kitty cat, peanut gallery asides, silly little sidenotes to the editor about delayed panes – that enhance the cautious romances, underdog match-ups, unlikely friendships … and most of all, the fun, fun, fun. Let’s play ball …!
For other omnibus editions of Cross Game posted on BookDragon, click here.
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2011 (United States)
CROSS GAME © Mitsuru Adachi
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc. Continue reading
Cross Game 3 (vols.6-7) by Mitsuru Adachi, translated by Lillian Olsen
Half a century ago today – on October 1, 1961 – Roger Maris of the New York Yankees hit his 61st home run of the season, breaking Babe Ruth’s record of 60 set in 1927. I knew you needed this information today (it came in at the bottom of a listserv this morning).
To mark the anniversary (I’m not a baseball fan, but even I recognize those names!), I figure this entertaining manga is perfect for this weekend … and even though I’m hopeless when it comes to understanding the real thing, Cross Game is one ballgame I do appreciate muchly.
Volume 6 opens with two new characters. Goofy and silly Yuhei Azuma, who turns out to be ace hitter Azuma’s older brother, helps run the family produce business … and when he delivers to the Tsukishimas’ coffee shop, he’s instantly smitten with eldest daughter Ichiyo … stay tuned.
And then there’s team manager Okubo’s grandfather, a schlumpy old man who seems to know quite a bit about the Portables, even though no one seems to know anything about him … again, stay tuned. This part is just too much fun: “… justice will always prevail,” Okubo mimics her Gramps.
As good as they are – mainly because they’ve been imported by the greedy, less than upright coach – the official Seisshu Gakuen Senior High School varsity team is far from perfect. The Portables, in the meantime, seem to only be improving, especially now that Aoba has entered high school and started training with them.
When the interim principal tries to fire the Portables’ good coach Maeno and disband his players, Maeno refuses to go without one final game against the varsity team … and the losing coach will be the one to disappear! “We can win,” Maeno tells his team, then adds, “I think.” Uh-oh.
The game is on in Volume 7 and it urns out to be pretty nail-biting spectacular. While I can’t tell you the results (what would be the point of that?), I can leak a few things that happen before and after … Being at the same school doesn’t make Ko and Aoba get along any better, Aoba is quite the new heartthrob on campus although she’s great at deflecting the unwanted attention, and Ko gets a truly surprising new housemate.
The latest omnibus collection moves so quickly, you can hardly turn the pages fast enough. I must, however, add one complaint, something I didn’t notice in the other volumes but I had relentless ‘exposure’ to here: what’s with all the inappropriate close-ups of upturned skirts and peek-a-boo underthings? Okay, so the kids are in high school now and noticing each other like that, but prurience is just so unnecessary here.
Most of the time – thankfully – Cross Game is playful, delightful fun, especially when cheering for the underdog can be so rewarding. “Justice will prevail” is no understatement!
For other omnibus editions of Cross Game posted on BookDragon, click here.
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2011 (United States)
CROSS GAME © Mitsuru Adachi
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc. Continue reading
Cross Game 2 (vols. 4-5) by Mitsuru Adachi, translated by Lillian Olsen
You can’t just jump in midway with this manga … so you’ll first have to check out the omnibus debut which contains the first three volumes (as originally published in Japan) of this adorable, athletic series. The initial three contain important narrative development for its main characters that you’ll need to appreciate future volumes. And, in case you haven’t figured it out yet, I still can’t give away what happens at the end of volume 1 that’s so important to the rest of the story … so go back before you catch up!
Senior high school has already meant quite a few challenges for Ko Kitamura and his baseball buddies. Relegated to the “Portable Team” with the rest of his usual teammates, Ko has an uphill battle proving his baseball prowess against the elite recruits who make up the official Seishu Gakuen Senior High School varsity baseball team. The ‘Portables’ are led by Coach Maeno, assisted by team manager Okubo (who earnestly answers to “Tubby”!), and hang out in a makeshift annex dubbed “The Farm.” What they might not have in official support, though, they make up for in underdog tenacity (and aren’t above doing some undercover surveillance research on their elite opponents).
Volume 4 begins with an all-important game, and if anyone had any doubt as to rankings, the scoreboard lists the two teams as merely “P” and the sanctioned “SEISHU.” Clearly, the elites are expecting an easy match … but six innings later, that board shows quite a few surprises!
The gutsy match continues in Volume 5 from the bottom of the sixth. Much to everyone’s surprise – or utter annoyance, depending on whose side you’re on – the Portables are no pushovers. And no, of course I can’t tell you how the game ends (what would be the fun in that?), but inning by inning brings new revelations and excitement for sure. I can tell you that the game only drives everyone to be better and stronger, so once school is out, the Portables are eagerly off to the countryside for some “secret special training.” The good Coach Maeno is determined to prepare his players to meet (and beat?) the varsity team when school resumes.
I must point you to one touching interlude which you shouldn’t miss – at the end of chapter 36, unmarked page 302. It’s one of those touching, heartfelt moments of treasured young love that will surely, certainly make you sigh, sigh, *sigh*… (another reason you have to go back to Cross Game 1 to get the full sighing effect!).
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2011 (United States)
CROSS GAME © Mitsuru Adachi
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc. Continue reading
Cross Game 1 (vols. 1-3) by Mitsuru Adachi, translated by Ralph Yamada and Lillian Olsen
How cool is this? You can read the serialized version of this manga by clicking here. Or, you can watch the anime version online by clicking here. Although, I’ll have to admit that I much prefer having it all right here in one book (the first three volumes anyway; definitely looking forward to more!).
Even if you’re not a baseball fan, I think you’ll still find much to appreciate in this adorable, touching series. While it’s the sport that binds the characters together, those characters are what will keep you turning the pages.
Ko Kitamura (that’s him on the left) is the only child of parents who run a sporting goods store. He’s in the fifth grade, and is a bit of a salesman for the family store, especially when it comes to team uniforms. A few doors down is the Tsukishima Batting Center, owned by a boozy-but-not-unkind widower and his four daughters – from kindergartener Momiji to first-year high-schooler Ichiyo – who each help (in their own way) to run the place. Ko has grown up with all the girls, but is closest to the second oldest Wakaba (that’s her on the right), who is exactly his age. She’s got their whole life planned out, birthday by birthday as they share the exact same date!
In volume 1, Ko gets recruited to the local team – he did make them all buy uniforms, after all – and even though he’s “never played a game of baseball or even catch … [he's] been swinging the bat since [he] was three” at the Tsukishimas. With all that practice, he turns out to be pretty good; ironically, his biggest competition proves to be fourth-grader Aoba (Wakaba’s sister)! Along the way, he makes friends with the local bully, Akaishi, who has quite the soft spot for Wakaba (but who wouldn’t; she’s quite the peace-making charmer).
Jump four years to ninth grade in volume 2, when Ko and Aoba are both on the Junior High baseball team, but that doesn’t mean they get along. Akaishi has shaped up since elementary school, even becoming the team captain. In spite of the game, in spite of his friends, in spite of the Tsukishima girls, Ko’s heart is still heavy (can’t tell you why, but you’ll get teary for sure) as he matures into a thoughtful young man.
Senior high school starts off in volume 3, and Ko and his baseball buddies are low, low boys on the team’s totem pole. The less-than-forthright “interim principal” with his spoiled brat daughter and his expensively recruited take-no-prisoners-championship-promising coach are grim additions to the school. The school’s senior varsity team are populated by overprivileged, grimly thoughtless players who will do anything to win. Will Ko and his freshmen friends be able to hold their own and get in the game??!! You’ll have to read (or watch) to find out …
Readers: Middle Grade, Young Adult
Published: 2010 (United States)
CROSS GAME © Mitsuru Adachi
Original Japanese edition published by Shogakukan Inc. Continue reading
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