Adachi, Mitsuru

Kou Kitamura is a fifth grader whose family runs a sporting goods store. One of the regular customers of his family's store is the Tsukishima Batting Center, and so he gets to know the four daughters of the Tsukishima family (Ichiyo, Wakaba, Aoba, and Momiji) very well. Since Kou has spent so much time practicing in their batting cages, he has become a genius hitter, but has no knowledge of any other aspect of baseball. This is in contrast to Aoba, who, despite being a year younger, is an adept pitcher and hitter. Wakaba is a classmate of Kou's, and she seems fully intent on marrying him when she grows up. All seems idyllic in their world, until tragedy strikes. The story then skips ahead to four years later, as Kou has continued the training he began four years ago, but has not played in a baseball game since. As he finally begins playing again, it remains to be seen whether or not he will live up to the expectations of those who know the true talent he has been hiding all this time.

(Source: ANN)

Cross Game

クロスゲーム

Touch is a shounen story about two twin brothers, a pretty girl next door, and that good old pastime of baseball. The manga was written by one of the most well known manga-ka out there, Adachi Mitsuru in the early 80's (1981-1986). He's a wonderful writer who tends to write stories that are related to baseball and Koshien, the stadium where the All High School Baseball Tournament is held.

(Source: MangaProject)

Touch

タッチ

Kuramochi, Fusako

Haruto is the son of the head priest of Hibiragi shrine. Kano, the daughter of the tatami maker living next door to the shrine, began learning Japanese archery because she was deeply impressed by the sight of Haruto and him drawing a bow. Separated by a tragic event, the two meet again several years later.

The story revolves around Kano and Haruto, who remain at a cautious distance—neither too close nor too far—as they grow up. It depicts with a certain tension the fine subtleties of feeling experienced in the difficult adolescent years.

(Source: MU)

Hana ni Somu

花に染む

Inoue, Takehiko

Tomomi Nomiya, former captain of his high school's basketball team turned delinquent, decides to drop out of school after he is crushed by the guilt of ruining a young girl's life in a traffic accident. As he dedicates his free time to helping her, he stumbles upon Kiyoharu Togawa, a former sprinter who has lost the use of his right leg and now plays wheelchair basketball as an alternate outlet.

After challenging Kiyoharu to a one-on-one game, Tomomi is completely defeated. Inspired by this encounter, he realizes that he can't let his love for basketball die so easily and decides that he will do what he can to help others while striving to become a professional player. Meanwhile, Hisanobu Takahashi, Tomomi's replacement as the high school's team captain, gets into an accident and finds himself permanently paralyzed below the waist. Real tells the touching tale of these three young men as they struggle to overcome their disabilities and inner conflicts in order to achieve their dreams while igniting a passion that will bring them together.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Real

リアル

Sakamoto, Shinichi

Through pain and arduous effort, one can reach the top of the world. Standing where no man has ever set foot before, there is an exhilarating feeling of success. This is what Mori Buntarou trains, works, and lives for.

His climb to the top starts when he transfers to a new high school. Despite his lonesome and solitary nature, Mori's classmates persuade him to climb the school building. Without a harness or hesitation, he begins his scale to reach the top. Edging past the point of no return, he halts when he is faced with a final intimidating obstacle—a horizontal overhang. Adrenaline courses through him, and Mori jumps for the final hold at the summit.

From there, he casts his eyes upon something that he normally would not have seen—another peak, another goal. With an awakened passion and newfound purpose in life, Mori explores the breathtaking sport of rock climbing.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kokou no Hito

The Climber

孤高の人

Tsurumaikada

Becoming an ice dancer was not what Tsukasa Akeuraji had aimed for when he decided to take on the figure skating world. However, it is where he ended up, as he "started too late" to follow his true solo-skating dreams.

For years, he was content with being a shell of his former ambitions—that is, until he met a little girl in whom he saw himself. Inori Yuitsuka, a fifth-grader so desperate to skate that she practiced in secret, had visited Tsukasa's rink with her mother to ask for lessons. She was branded as useless by everyone around her, told it was "too late" for her to begin, and that catching up to other skaters was impossible.

With a newfound conviction and unwillingness to let another passionate skater go down the same road as him, Tsukasa takes on the responsibility of coaching her and promises to make Inori a medalist.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Medalist

メダリスト

Yumemakura, Baku

Taniguchi, Jiro

In 1924, mountaineers George Mallory and Andrew Irvine attempted a daring challenge: to be the first to scale Mount Everest. However, they disappeared during the final stages of their trek, leading to one of mountaineering's greatest mysteries—did the pair ever make it to the summit?

1993, Kathmandu. Japanese photographer Makoto Fukamachi discovers a vintage camera in an antique store, which he believes might have belonged to Mallory. However, the camera falls into the possession of "Bikha Sanp," a burly Japanese man who Fukamachi realizes may very well be Jouji Habu, a legendary Japanese mountaineer who disappeared from the scene several years ago. Unfortunately for Fukamachi however, Bikha Sanp refuses to talk to him and leaves with the camera in tow.

With the trail gone cold, Fukamachi has only one course left to pursue: to delve into Habu's past and see just what may have brought the former climber to Nepal. For the sake of rewriting mountaineering history, Fukamachi begins his investigation, a task that will bring him to the greatest height in the world—the summit of the gods.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kamigami no Itadaki

The Summit of the Gods

神々の山嶺

Tsunamoto, Masaya

Tsujitomo

East Tokyo United has been struggling in Japan's top football league for a few years. In an effort to improve their performance, ETU hires a new coach, the slightly eccentric Tatsumi Takeshi. Tatsumi was once a star player on ETU before abandoning the team, but has proven himself as manager of an English amateur team. The task won't be easy as the teams pitted against ETU have bigger budgets and better players. However, Tatsumi is an expert at Giant Killing.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Giant Killing

GIANT KILLING

Tatsumi, Yoshihiro

Over four decades ago, Yoshihiro Tatsumi expanded the horizons of comics storytelling by using the visual language of manga to tell gritty, literary stories about the private lives of everyday people. He has been called "the grandfather of Japanese alternative comics" and has influenced generations of cartoonists around the world. Now the visionary creator of "The Push Man and Other Stories" and "Good-bye" has turned his incisive, unflinching gaze upon himself. Over ten years in the making, "A Drifting Life" is Tatsumis' most ambitious, personal, and heart felt work: an autobiographical bildungsroman in comics form. Using his life long obsession with comics as a frame work, Tatsumi weaves a complex story that encompasses family dynamics, Japanese culture and history, first love, the intricacies of the manga industry, and most importantly, what it means to be an artist. Alternately humorous, enlightening, and haunting, this is the masterful summartion of a fascinating life and a historic career.

(Source: Drawn &amp; Quarterly)

Gekiga Hyouryuu

A Drifting Life

劇画漂流

Yamada, Takatoshi

After making a serious mistake in his work in Tokyo, talented surgeon Goto Kensuke is invited to take charge of the only clinic on the small island of Yonaguni, Okinawa. It is difficult to get competent doctors to serve on this remote island, and the islanders are now used to traveling for hours via boat for proper medical care. Despite seeming weak and unreliable (he gets very seasick, and does not have a driving license), he wins over the skeptical islanders with his skill and dedication. Some children of the island make a flag for his clinic, but get his name wrong. Thereafter he is known by all as Koto.

Dr. Kotou Shinryoujo

Dr.コトー診療所

Urasawa, Naoki

Inokuma Yawara is just another young high school girl. Well, not quite for Yawara is being raised by her grandfather, 7th dan Judo master Inokuma Jigorou, to be Japan's great hope for the women's Judo competition at the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. All the same, Yawara just wants to live a normal life...

Yawara!

YAWARA!

Yamada, Fuutarou

Segawa, Masaki

The Kouga Manjidani and the Iga Tsubagakure ninja clans have been sworn enemies for centuries, with only the Hanzo Hattori truce maintaining a tenuous peace between the two families. But years later, when former shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa faces a dispute to determine which of his two grandsons shall succeed their father, he decides to settle the matter through a proxy war. Selected to represent the respective candidates, the Kouga and Iga send 10 of their best fighters into a deadly battle, with the winning party deciding the rightful successor. Thus, the truce is revoked and the ruthless bloodshed begins.

But not all approve the truce's end. Gennosuke of Kouga and Oboro of Iga were to be married in hopes of ensuring lasting peace. However, unlike typical arranged marriages, they were already deeply in love. As preparations for the war ensue, Gennosuke questions his loyalties while Oboro refuses to fight. Fueled by their reawakened feud, will the two clans be consumed by hatred, or have their destinies changed by genuine love?

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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