By Eurielle
Written on January 17, 2022
Please do not copy or post to another site. Thank you. Enjoy reading.
Sports manga was one genre of manga I totally enjoy reading. My category for great sports manga were those that seemed life-like or didn't exaggerate on things that happened inside the court or game base. For me, sports manga didn't stop with ball games but expanded to board games, dances, and even swimming. Although most hardcore sports manga focuses mostly on the game or training, and so on, I love to read those that also added "life" into it, like school life, house life, love life, and so on.
Here are some of the sports manga I fell in love with (limited to those that I've read before; anime not included - like SlamDunk, Hajime no Ippo, etc.)
1. Haikyu!! By Furudate Haruichi
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It could be said that without Hinata's natural speed and high jump, this manga would fall under too-many underdog-to-powerful Japanese shounen mangas. It even had the "genius" rival/best friend in the category. Truthfully, if this manga followed that of Kuroko no Basuke or Prince of Tennis, I might have dropped it already. And no--- I didn't drop those two mangas. In truth, I had fun reading them. But the seemingly overpowered moves didn't fit in on its present-day setting. They're very fantastical - plus their moves having extraordinary names made me think of Dragonball Z and the likes. However, I'm not here to talk about them, I'm here about Hinata and Kageyama's dynamics and growth. In this manga, even the geniuses have flaws that were true-to-life. I like that each main character, and other side characters, had very good characterization and character growth. In addition, you wouldn't think, "Ah, this cannot happen in real life," because it definitely could. It was a great read for me and the anime totally rocked the whole thing. I binge-watched all seasons a couple of times in a span of days, then re-watched it again. It was totally worth it.
2. Days By Yasuda Tsuyoshi
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Another manga wherein the two MCs were underdog-genius best friends. Tsukushi was a wimpy kid who tends to apologize about everything and anything, but meeting Jin, a genius soccer player, gave him a goal and also friends. I really like this manga because of its true-to-life depictions of problems and solutions. The MCs highlighted each other's flaws, but it didn't deter them from becoming friends; instead, they used the realizations that they have flaws to work on and become a better version of themselves. In addition, like Haikyu!!, it didn't have those overpowered, magical moves that seemed to be out of reality. Not only that, but the other characters in the manga have each of their own's character growth that was inspiring. There was the anime as well, but I felt off because of its pilot episode. Either way, since I've re-read the manga a bunch of times already, it just meant that it was too good to ignore - the manga, not the anime pilot episode.
3. A Bunch of Adachi Mitsuru's Mangas
Cross Game
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Touch
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Mix
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Katsu
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Rough
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... and so on
Not only the sports parts of the mangas but even the romance arena was really good. In addition, it was written/drawn in an old-style manga wherein not only the people or characters or objects within the character's range but also the faraway surroundings were depicted so well that it seemed like every single setting were part of real life. For example, a focus on the clouds/sky or santan flowers along the road, or even a puddle after a rain, and so on. You could feel a countryside vibe even though they're probably not even in the countryside. The mangas reminded me so much of living in the province. But more than that, the focus between sports, romance, and the day-to-day lives of the characters were balanced. Each and every single one of Adachi's works gave calming effects, but there were times they would make you curious and read more as well. In other words, they were not boring.
4. Happy! By Urasawa Naoki
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Although I've only read this manga once, I remembered mixed emotions while reading it. The manga had a Drama tag, and I tell you, it's really a drama. I couldn't remember much about the details, but I know it was a good read. It was also one of those rare sports manga wherein a woman/girl was the protagonist.
5. Soda Masahito's
Dance! Subaru
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Moon - Subaru Solitude Standing -
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Capeta
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Soda's works were highly recommended, especially Capeta and Dance! Subaru. Moon, on the other hand, was like a stand-alone sequel of Dance! Subaru. Dance! Subaru and Moon were really great manga about ballet, but they also grappled at human emotions, being alone, loneliness, romance, and so on. Capeta, on the other hand, was a racing sports manga, and I totally loved it. When I was a child, I happened to watch a bunch of racing animes, though I forgot their titles already, and I wasn't sure if Capeta was one of them (maybe). When I read Capeta, I was mesmerized. it was exciting but more so, the drama and life-like problems and solutions were mind-blogging. These works were really amazing.
6. Hikaru no Go By Hotta Yumi
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This manga gave rise to my interest in board games manga. I loved the character growth, ability progressions, the tension, the comedy. I loved everything, even the idea of an old ghost. Really, I binged-read this manga and even re-read it. That's how much I loved it. I even watched the anime, and recently, the Chinese adaptation of its live-action. I was disappointed with the latter quarter of the manga though because it was rushed and ended so abruptly; it felt flat and unfulfilling. I already accepted that Sai would move on, but the progression of the story after that was bad. It was really bad, I resorted to reading fanfiction - which was mostly bad as well. Hikaru had a lot of potentials, the story had a lot of potentials, it could go on until Hikaru himself surpassed the Meijin, but what happened? It felt like the author and mangaka ran out of ideas. I still recommend reading the manga and watching the anime, but ultimately, I recommend watching the Chinese adaptation instead because the ending was a bit more acceptable.
Let's end it there for now. Hope you enjoyed my insights.
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