57 replies to this topic

[svines85]

A great sports manga, all about baseball..........and I mean that literally too. Of all the "sports" stories I read or have read, this is the one that's the most focused on the sport itself. This one  revolves around baseball........the games, the practices, interaction of the characters in regards to baseball ...............a story that's just perfect for big baseball fans. Since I'm a baseball nut, it's perfect for me.

 

Mostly slice of life type story content outside of the baseball drama, we've got many, many very interesting characters with lots of different backgrounds and motivations.........a really great story that's full of action. 

 

Hopefully people will take the opportunity to discuss this wonderful manga here.

[201katara]

I agree with you completely!!! I've read a lot of other baseball manga, but I like that this isn't just mainly focused on one particular type of player in baseball like in Major, but that it is focused on the entire team in all. In Major, our main character's the one who leads the team to victory 99% of the time--> I don't like its too unrealistic and a typical powerhouse character driven story. What I like about Oofuri is that it treats baseball as a TEAM game. The entire team working together is what leads Nishiura to victory and its the little faults that every player makes that makes them loose when they do loose... 

 

This is my favorite sports anime after Chihayafuru  

[svines85]

I agree with you completely!!! I've read a lot of other baseball manga, but I like that this isn't just mainly focused on one particular type of player in baseball like in Major, but that it is focused on the entire team in all. In Major, our main character's the one who leads the team to victory 99% of the time--> I don't like its too unrealistic and a typical powerhouse character driven story. What I like about Oofuri is that it treats baseball as a TEAM game.

I've heard a lot about Major but not had the opportunity to read it yet. And yeah, I agree with you, this story........while of course we have our MC........has done an absolutely awesome job of keeping a "big picture" view going. And not just "our" team but characters on other teams and "regular" characters as well.............parents, teachers, supporters, extended family members.........a really, really well rounded story outside of all the baseball action. Frankly it's almost hard to keep track of all the different support characters.

[201katara]

I've heard a lot about Major but not had the opportunity to read it yet. And yeah, I agree with you, this story........while of course we have our MC........has done an absolutely awesome job of keeping a "big picture" view going. And not just "our" team but characters on other teams and "regular" characters as well.............parents, teachers, supporters, extended family members.........a really, really well rounded story outside of all the baseball action. Frankly it's almost hard to keep track of all the different support characters.

You're right the side characters are well developed too. Its very rare to see that happening in manga and so far I've only encountered two manga where side characters are just as important as main characters: this and Chihayafuru. Sakitama--> the baseball team with Ichihara or It-chan as their pitcher and Daichi and Tosei's Kawai and Junta are my favorite side characters. I honestly don't look at them as side characteres at all

[svines85]

You're right the side characters are well developed too. Its very rare to see that happening in manga and so far I've only encountered two manga where side characters are just as important as main characters: this and Chihayafuru. Sakitama--> the baseball team with Ichihara or It-chan as their pitcher and Daichi and Tosei's Kawai and Junta are my favorite side characters. I honestly don't look at them as side characteres at all

And I'm guessing you're right to do that too. I'm expecting most of the "side" characters that the author is exploring will have further roles to play...........I have to say though, I'm most  curious about Ren's cute cousin and our team's manager   (hey, I'm a big romance fan, what can I say xD )

Edited by svines85, 28 April 2013 - 08:31 PM.

[201katara]

I'm most  curious about Ren's cute cousin and our team's manager   (hey, I'm a big romance fan, what can I say xD )

I'm rooting for Kanou and Ren's cousin(what was her name again?) (can't help it, I just love Kanou too XD) 

and Abe and Chiyo(she's such a nice and hardworking manager) (Chiyo's interest in Abe was kind of surprising and a little unexpected..., for me at least XD) 

[svines85]

I actually thought chiyo was interested in Ren at first, but it must have just been that he and Abe were always together........time will tell, though even she recognized the problems of having a romance with a team member while being the mangaer, so, no telling xD

[svines85]

Man I am just loving the frequent releases we're getting right now, so awesome to be able to keep advancing the story like we are.

 

It's really an interesting twist right now to watch Momoka's strategy of getting experience for Ren and Tajima as a battery during the practice match that's going on (in other words her plan of not being as concerned with winning over trying pitch strategy)..............my opinion would be that our team should really be at quite an advantage against the all the other "teams" present.

 

As I understand things, the other teams present are strictly the first years of their respective teams (with a few second years thrown in). Given how our team advanced in the earlier tournament against the regular, "first string" teams........ even though our team is also only first years............  I'd think they were superior to the competition present at this camp. 

[naphack]

lmfao

That pitcher got no control

Tajima so wanted to hit a big one and then he got a dead ball^^

 

Also, Hanai can't cleanup for shit.

[svines85]

lmfao

That pitcher got no control

Tajima so wanted to hit a big one and then he got a dead ball^^

 

Also, Hanai can't cleanup for shit.

I gotta say, I've really been waiting for Hanai's character to start becoming a little more reliable...........though by all indications he really does have natural athletic talent and in all fairness he is still just a first year. LIke Momoka has said, there's really no telling just  how far any of the members can go at this point in time...........some just develop faster than others. Tajima being a good  example of that........... Hanai seems to have some minor confidence issues just like Mihashi. Well, nobody quite has the issues Mihashi has, but that's another story altogether.  

Edited by svines85, 30 April 2013 - 11:39 PM.

[ojisan]

This last month or so has been like heaven - a release every few days! For the last two years I've been wondering what's been up since the big loss in the summer tournament. And the directions it's gone in since then have been really rich in detail and development.

 

OK, discussion. It scared the crap out of me to see Tajima nearly get nailed by that dead ball! In a way, he's another big vulneralility to the team, same as Mihashi. We've seen that they can get by without Abe for a while, but the team is dead without Mihashi...and maybe without Tajima too.

 

Interesting to see another player in the practice teams who's nearly as socially awkward and shy as Mihashi too -

[svines85]

This last month or so has been like heaven - a release every few days! For the last two years I've been wondering what's been up since the big loss in the summer tournament. And the directions it's gone in since then have been really rich in detail and development.

 

OK, discussion. It scared the crap out of me to see Tajima nearly get nailed by that dead ball! In a way, he's another big vulneralility to the team, same as Mihashi. We've seen that they can get by without Abe for a while, but the team is dead without Mihashi...and maybe without Tajima too.

 

Interesting to see another player in the practice teams who's nearly as socially awkward and shy as Mihashi too -

I'd kind of wondered about that, I've had this title on  my follows lists for quite a while now but hadn't been noticing releases on it until just recently. It's what gave me the incentive to finally get the chance to read it. And yeah, it is a very good story, very well rounded (as long as you think of everything revolving around baseball that is xD ) and frequent releases are one of the best ways to get more people interested in any story. 

 

Yeah, you're right, that kid was wild...............and absolutely, with the members on the team this year, they'd probably be dead without Mihashi. Tajima is certainly the focal part of their offence right now, but from what we've been shown both Hanai and Abe have the potential to be big cogs in the batting order as well. 

[svines85]

Wow, I see volume 21 of this must have just come out in Japan, it's #3 on the comic ranking list this week.........over 225,000 sold in its first week.  

[201katara]

I really want a season 3 of this anime in a few years. I wish it would come in a few years instead of now because I want the manga to have more chapters... until the manga is at least at volume 28 they shouldn't attempt to make another season-> It would just end up being a 13 episode season again.. I don't want that!

 it should be like 40 episodes long  : )

[ojisan]

The last anime series was...what, four years ago? Yet they really painted themselves into a corner at the time. As far as I can tell, they juuuuuust caught up to the manga, using up all their material - and then shortly after, the manga writer took a year's leave. I get the impression that it's been a slow restart for her as well -

 

The way the story's going, it would suck to have a 13-episode anime season next - we're going into a long, long training arc here, with lots of personal stories and diversions like the trip to Koshien thrown in as well. And since the beginning, Higuchi-san has shown that she's setting up a long, complicated,carefully-thought-out plot in which we're expected to know the names and characters of a lot of players on a lot of teams. Things like the friendship between Kanou & Mihashi, the fate of the catcher who's blackmailed into injuring players, the former captain of Tosei who's actiong as a conscience for the ethics of the game, the mystery of Momoe-san's high school managing experience...there are so many slow-burning fuses built into the story that I hope to be seeing them resolved over the next 10 years or so.

 

What matters is the manga's popularity in Japan - as long as it's selling well, we have a good hope of seeing another anime season.

[svines85]

The last anime series was...what, four years ago? Yet they really painted themselves into a corner at the time. As far as I can tell, they juuuuuust caught up to the manga, using up all their material - and then shortly after, the manga writer took a year's leave. I get the impression that it's been a slow restart for her as well -

 

The way the story's going, it would suck to have a 13-episode anime season next - we're going into a long, long training arc here, with lots of personal stories and diversions like the trip to Koshien thrown in as well. And since the beginning, Higuchi-san has shown that she's setting up a long, complicated,carefully-thought-out plot in which we're expected to know the names and characters of a lot of players on a lot of teams. Things like the friendship between Kanou & Mihashi, the fate of the catcher who's blackmailed into injuring players, the former captain of Tosei who's actiong as a conscience for the ethics of the game, the mystery of Momoe-san's high school managing experience...there are so many slow-burning fuses built into the story that I hope to be seeing them resolved over the next 10 years or so.

 

What matters is the manga's popularity in Japan - as long as it's selling well, we have a good hope of seeing another anime season.

I think you're very right in your assessment of the current state of the story.  Even though almost everything centers around the sport itself, the author really has built an extremely complex story with a wide variety of separate components all being explored at different times throughout. A really outstanding job of story telling so far. 

 

And yeah, these things seem to happen all the time with anime adaptations of ongoing works.........I suppose it's understandable for the powers that be to try to capitalize on a work's current popularity, but it can lead to some disappointment since they often create artificial endings for the anime versions. Not that I'm saying that's how this one is, I haven't watched this one...........but that's often been my experience in this situation. In the past I've watched many animes and then gone on to be shocked that the mangas were still running..........kinda made me wish I'd never watched the anime version in the first place. But I usually prefer the original written works anyways

[ojisan]

Yeah, it's weird to think that the Fruits Basket story actually ended... I followed the Kare Kano story to the bitter end too, and hope to catch up to whatever's happening in Genshiken. But then, those are all stories I can get at the local library, legally & printed on paper : )

[201katara]

I think you're very right in your assessment of the current state of the story.  Even though almost everything centers around the sport itself, the author really has built an extremely complex story with a wide variety of separate components all being explored at different times throughout. A really outstanding job of story telling so far. 

 

And yeah, these things seem to happen all the time with anime adaptations of ongoing works.........I suppose it's understandable for the powers that be to try to capitalize on a work's current popularity, but it can lead to some disappointment since they often create artificial endings for the anime versions. Not that I'm saying that's how this one is, I haven't watched this one...........but that's often been my experience in this situation. In the past I've watched many animes and then gone on to be shocked that the mangas were still running..........kinda made me wish I'd never watched the anime version in the first place. But I usually prefer the original written works anyways

You haven't watched the anime for Oofuri yet?? You should, its really faithful to the anime! Both seasons and neither go off on their own tangent. The animation is just mindblowing honestly! The best animation I've seen for any baseball anime!! certainly give it a try!! If you can watch the english dub for it, Funimation's voice actors were simply amazing!! 

Edited by 201katara, 03 May 2013 - 11:49 PM.

[svines85]

You haven't watched the anime for Oofuri yet?? You should, its really faithful to the anime! Both seasons and neither go off on their own tangent. The animation is just mindblowing honestly! The best animation I've seen for any baseball anime!! certainly give it a try!! If you can watch the english dub for it, Funimation's voice actors were simply amazing!! 

I haven't, though I certainly went and looked into it and got it added to my "to watch" list since you mentioned it

 

I read a lot more manga anynmore than the anime I watch, though  I still watch plenty of anime, so I'll definitely give it a try soon...........I just have to finish the last episode or two of the series I'm watching right now. xD

[svines85]

the new chapter (82) is out......

 

http://oofuri.livejournal.com/147590.html

 

very, very good........lots of action xD