Baby Steps

I haven't read a chapter since early November, but there's only two new chapters when I come back. I miss the days when there were new chapters several times a week, or even just once a week

Damn this sucks to hear.  According to one comment we still have 150 chapters, so if the translators keep at the 1 week pace, then we will get 3 years of content, but they might speed it up... who knows.

 

 

That message is sad, the mangaka blames himself  There were also some spoilers in there that make me happy for at least what the future brings...

It doesn't seem like all hope is lost.  There could be a possibility of a sequel, but who knows.....

Well, our ride is still continuing, but it sucks to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It just seems like in the last 2-3 years, so many manga have been axed/cancelled, or just ended, wtf is going on....?

Happy holidays to everyone.

She*

Someone set it up as Complete. I've set it back, since it is nowhere near complete on Batoto.

Damn this sucks to hear.  According to one comment we still have 150 chapters, so if the translators keep at the 1 week pace, then we will get 3 years of content, but they might speed it up... who knows.

That message is sad, the mangaka blames himself  There were also some spoilers in there that make me happy for at least what the future brings...

It doesn't seem like all hope is lost.  There could be a possibility of a sequel, but who knows.....

Well, our ride is still continuing, but it sucks to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

It just seems like in the last 2-3 years, so many manga have been axed/cancelled, or just ended, wtf is going on....?

Happy holidays to everyone.

Dunno about you all, but after reading about the how it ended (that it was cancelled i mean) im seriously thinking about dropping it.

 

Not only knowing its a rushed ending is a big let down, but the "rhythm" right now (not only the actual plot developing slowly, but also the slow pace releases) is killing this series for me.

Nah, we are 150 chapters behind, we still have plenty of quality chapters to read still

Basically, shounen publishers suck.  They milk series way beyond any coherent story arcs they were based on, keeping them stumbling along for ages as long as they can keep the rubes' attention, often pushing the poor mangakas to plug in the same old tired padding characters and devices even if they don't fit, and then if readership dips they ruthlessly chop them with very little warning so the huge overgrown series doesn't get a proper end.  We see it again and again.  Baby Steps is actually better than most--because of its gradual pace it was able to keep a plausible plot moving all this time, so at least it wasn't filler crap through half of its run like many series.

You'd think it would be worth giving a series a few issues to round out an ending, if only because surely tankoubon sales of a series with a proper end are likely to be better than it it's axed and dies with a whimper.  But shounen mags don't seem to think like that.  Bah!

Dunno about you all, but after reading about the how it ended (that it was cancelled i mean) im seriously thinking about dropping it.

Not only knowing its a rushed ending is a big let down, but the "rhythm" right now (not only the actual plot developing slowly, but also the slow pace releases) is killing this series for me.

... no... no way... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Yup.  Ending was rushed out blah like many canceled series have.  Been reading the raws for years, and was very disappointed.  Baby Steps was one of my favorite series.

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2017-12-20/creator-hikaru-katsuki-comments-on-baby-steps-tennis-manga-cancellation/.125501

... no... no way... NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interest/2017-12-20/creator-hikaru-katsuki-comments-on-baby-steps-tennis-manga-cancellation/.125501

Anyone found out who were all those historical players from chap 304? I know the last one is Nadal and the one before is Federer. I think the one about serve and volley is Sampras but dunno about the others.

https://www.reddit.com/r/manga/comments/7fmlgz/disc_baby_steps_chapter_304/

Anyone found out who were all those historical players from chap 304? I know the last one is Nadal and the one before is Federer. I think the one about serve and volley is Sampras but dunno about the others.

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Please don't use over-sized cover images, folks, 400x400px is the max according to site rules, whether the system will let you get away with it or not.

So why have fodder in the other matches and waste time by showing them.  Asano might be decent ,but it's silly that our MC will have trouble with him when he's trying to win against the best....  Granted I forgot these matches were to help him conserve stamina also, but after showing a little of the first match, it went into overdrive.  I just wish we had some good matches.

I actually liked all the matches in the prelims so far. The first match is getting the idea of conserving stamina. The second one is to show how far he's come in terms of analyzing opponents and destroying them (and also part of how he analyzed them). As for Asano, latest chapter does say he was one of the best, it's just that he's already past his peak.

the problem is that if you dont get inside the players's heads all you see is a ball going back and forth on the court. Without some knowledge of the sport itself a tennis match can look even more boring than a Formula 1 prix from lap 11 to lap 40. The players instead know real struggle because the perception from the court is totally different, the feeling of the ball, its spin, its strenght, the stress, the fatigue, the mental battle, the strategies: if you dont explain all of it im afraid there's not much left to play with IMO.

Yeah, for sure, and we've been shown tennis from the start, since he was a noobie from the beginning.  The problem is when you have paragraphs of notes and throw the kitchen sink at us.  At least give us pieces of information spread out throughout the chapter(s).
 

Isn't it kinda obvious? Asano is the only big fish in the preliminary, this'll probably be a real match. A sort of stepping stone for Ei-chan before he faces the rest of the adult pros.

So why have fodder in the other matches and waste time by showing them.  Asano might be decent ,but it's silly that our MC will have trouble with him when he's trying to win against the best....  Granted I forgot these matches were to help him conserve stamina also, but after showing a little of the first match, it went into overdrive.  I just wish we had some good matches.

 

I'm sure its formula must be just terrible at 453 chapters so far.  Clearly making major mistakes in terms of audience appeal . . .

the problem is that if you dont get inside the players's heads all you see is a ball going back and forth on the court. Without some knowledge of the sport itself a tennis match can look even more boring than a Formula 1 prix from lap 11 to lap 40. The players instead know real struggle because the perception from the court is totally different, the feeling of the ball, its spin, its strenght, the stress, the fatigue, the mental battle, the strategies: if you dont explain all of it im afraid there's not much left to play with IMO.

I personally am not really enjoying these "prelims" of the All Japan Tournament, as Ei-Chan is taking out everyone quickly, and all these people are no names that we will never see again.

 

We want the real matches!

Isn't it kinda obvious? Asano is the only big fish in the preliminary, this'll probably be a real match. A sort of stepping stone for Ei-chan before he faces the rest of the adult pros.

I'm sure its formula must be just terrible at 453 chapters so far.  Clearly making major mistakes in terms of audience appeal . . .

I'm not a big fan of reading the notes personally, nor giant matches like Kanda's, but just because there is a large number of chapters, doesn't mean that the manga is doing well overall.....

Also, there aren't many instances of long matches/tournaments, nor showing of notes anyways, but I agree it's not very fun.

I personally am not really enjoying these "prelims" of the All Japan Tournament, as Ei-Chan is taking out everyone quickly, and all these people are no names that we will never see again.

We want the real matches!

Baby Steps is also ending apparently, which we hope isn't due to content.

i can see the japanese readers become bored from the 150-200 chapters long tournament(s) and pages of pages of Eichan just explaining his own notes to himself....

I'm sure its formula must be just terrible at 453 chapters so far.  Clearly making major mistakes in terms of audience appeal . . .

Please do not change the volume cover to the most recent one when the scanlations are 150 chapters behind.

i can see the japanese readers become bored from the 150-200 chapters long tournament(s) and pages of pages of Eichan just explaining his own notes to himself....

Well...  There was like 50-100 chapters of just a Kanda match, so having multiple matches in a tourney shoujldn't be all that bad, but yes I find him showing his notes to be a bit annoying/useless for the reader, especially when I'm trying to skim and enjoy and not try to absorb everything unless it's important.

I do love this manga, but I can see after doing the same thing over and over that people will get bored of it...

I really hate hearing about the end....  Magi just ended and it's sad to see stories end, that I've invested so long into.

Preliminaries will end in chapter 309 and main tournament will end in chapter 373.

Most recent Raw chapter I've seen is 452, and I'm pretty sure they're up to speed...so translations still have almost 200 chapters to cover at the moment

 

Edit: Lol Duh.  The img he posted has the chapter number in it - 453  That said, the most recent chapters didn't feel like they were heading for an ending, so I'm a little disappointed.

i can see the japanese readers become bored from the 150-200 chapters long tournament(s) and pages of pages of Eichan just explaining his own notes to himself....

It's ending soon. It better end with Natsu and Eiichiro married. IT BETTER.

How far behind are we?

Most recent Raw chapter I've seen is 452, and I'm pretty sure they're up to speed...so translations still have almost 200 chapters to cover at the moment

Edit: Lol Duh.  The img he posted has the chapter number in it - 453  That said, the most recent chapters didn't feel like they were heading for an ending, so I'm a little disappointed.