Tag: Sports

No Good Cupid

Kyousuke Motomi’s debut manga! it was put at the end of Dengeki Daisy, so I thought I’d go ahead and review it, too, since I had it!
Every post past this point will be a spoiler, so please read ahead with caution!
Review time!
3.5 stars
Plot: 1 star.  I’m going to say that the plot of this manga is for Matsuda to hit the target.  She’s new to Kyudo, and she’s never come close to hitting the target before.  Through the oneshot, she does eventually manage it.  Now, her reason for joining Kyudo club is to spend time with her crush; it has nothing to do with Kyudo otherwise.  Still, his goal for her is that she hit the target, and his training does eventually lead to that goal.  And by continuing to train and eventually hit the target, Matsuda does decide to stay in the Kyudo club, so she does end up spending more time around her crush.  Definitely one star for plot.
Art: 1/2 star.  Honestly, the art is not my favorite…  Then again, this is a debut work, and I just finished Dengeki Daisy, so my brain’s trying to make comparisons. … and there’s really not comparison.  The art in this is not at the same level as Dengeki Daisy.  For that alone, I want to be tough on it, but it came out about eight years before Dengeki Daisy.  Kyousuke Motomi’s style has improved tremendously.  If I’m being fair, I can understand what each scene is showing me.  Everyone is very expressive, and I have no trouble following who’s talking.  The art isn’t bad, but there’s definitely room to grow (which Kyousuke Motomi certainly does by Dengeki Daisy). … But I’m still not a fan of the art >.<; I’m sorry, but I’m going to give this half a star.
Story Progression: 1 star.  This is a oneshot.  There’s really not enough time to get bored, and I learned some things about Kyudo that I hadn’t known before reading this manga.  It’s a short and simple story, but I think that it flows well overall.  Some of the transitions are jarring, and I’m not very sure about the timing for a lot of things.  Time of day is not well portrayed in this story…  I have trouble telling when practice ends and begins, and I’m not sure how many days actually pass in this story.  But the story itself is well told even if the art does not always keep up with the flow of time.
Genre: 1/2 star.  Somehow, this manga doesn’t have a genre given to it (in the limited research I did for it).  It’s such an unknown, short, debut comic that most sites didn’t recognize it.  The few references I found only cited that it was Kyousuke Motomi’s debut comic and that it’s featured at the end of the Dengeki Daisy series… which I already knew.  I would give this a romance or school life genre.  Clearly, it has a genre, but since the internet has failed to assign one, I can only give it half a star.
**EDIT** (4/3/20) Sports is also a valid genre.  I would classify this as a romance/sport genre.
Enjoyment: 1/2 star.  This manga’s alright.  It is a debut manga; it feels and looks like a debut manga.  The art’s alright, and the plot’s simple; not the mention the flat and over-exaggerated characters.  Unfortunately, this manga was placed at the end of Dengeki Daisy which was fantastic to read with deep characters, incredible plot lines, and beautiful art.  By comparison, No Good Cupid just falls short in every category.  It’s not that it’s bad, but after a masterpiece, any other story even remotely related would have to be on its same level or else it’ll get worse reviews.  No Good Cupid definitely gets worse reviews from me.  Sorry, Kyousuke Motomi >.<;; she wrote that she hoped readers would see similar themes in both works, but I really can’t see it -other than female lead with mildly/excessively abusive male love interest set loosely at a high school. But protagonists have very different values and personalities; love interests have very different motivations and personalities, and other than what I state above, I have trouble seeing how they’re the same.  Their similarities could be applied to thousands of series (again, sorry, Kyousuke Motomi; I really love your work!  Honestly, I’ve loved to watch your journey as a mangaka through these works.  You’ve grown so much, and it shows so well!)  But being honest, as a stand alone work, I did not exceptionally enjoy this manga.  It wasn’t bad, but I can only give it half a star.
And that’s it!  To read my full review, then please click here.

Smokey B. B.

I wanted to try reading a sports manga -just plain shonen sports- and it’s surprisingly hard to find xD But I found this one, so here we go!

Smoky B B (image from: https://myanimelist.net/manga/51835/Smoky_BB/pics)

 

Every post past this point will be a spoiler, so please read ahead with caution!

 

Review time!

Crescent Moon review

Plot: 1/2 star. The plot was for Benten to win the Koshien tournament, but the series never got that far. In the final real chapter (not the side story chapter), there’s a montage, but I couldn’t tell if Benten actually won the tournament… So for starting a plot but being unable to finish it, I give half a star.

Art: 1 star. I really enjoyed the art style in this series. The expressions were great; I loved when the characters -especially Enjirou- would get more cartoony and stylized xD The action shots were really cool, too! When Hayata caught the ball Kitazato threw at Enjirou’s head, I felt that catch!

Story Progression: 1 star. I think the story progressed well. This definitely felt like it was going to be a medium to long series. The mangaka took the time to introduce other characters and schools and aces, so it wasn’t supposed to be just 15.5 chapters. They were supposed to go through the tournament, and I think the pacing was going great! There was a good balance between on the field and off the field action. We learned about the different characters; their hopes and fears, etc. I think with more time, we would have learned more.

Genre: 1 star. MyAnimeList says the genres are shounen and sports, and that covers it pretty well. If you wanted to add comedy, you could, but I think just shounen and sports fits better. There were funny moments, but those weren’t the main pull (though they were great xD )

Enjoyment: 1 star. I don’t know much about sports, but I generally enjoy sports manga, and this was no exception. I like the character relationships and the teamwork. I like seeing why characters are playing their sport and/or their spot. Learning about Kitazato wanting to be a pitcher but being terrified of Mikami/broken by him and actually being the ace batter was really cool! Ikki loves baseball fanatics, and I loved him for it. Toratani being a great captain and even being outvoted when he tried to quit but being a good enough guy to take the job and do it well. Sakamaki refusing to be an unfair umpire even though his team wanted him to; the guy’s got guts, spirit, and virtue! Mikami throwing away the joy of baseball in order to focus on being the best player was crazy interesting, and he started getting a change of heart at the end! I never got close with people like that when I played sports, but I think that’s half the game; yeah, you want to win, but you have to have these bonds with your team to do it, and it’s so fascinating to me!

I’m sorry I can’t give this a higher score, but I really did enjoy this manga! I can only unofficially recommend it. I will not be adding it to my “Recommended Manga!” page.  It’s too bad this series wasn’t longer…

I’ll probably read more sports manga soon; it’s been too long.
If you would like to read my full review, then please click here.