Short Game: Mitsuru Adachi's Baseball Short Story Collection

by Mitsuru Adachi

Play Ball!

A collection of shorts from the hands of the legendary Mitsuru Adachi, previously found in the pages of Superior, Spirits, and Shonen Sunday... each focusing on a common theme -- high school baseball.

This book also features a rare appearance from a super-short last seen in the 80's era Shonen Sunday Graphic Touch.

Genres: Manga, Comics, Graphic Novels, Short Stories

202 pages, Paperback

First published December 12, 2014

About the author

Mitsuru Adachi (あだち充 in Japanese) is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kieta Bakuon, based on a manga originally created by Satoru Ozawa. Kieta was published in Deluxe Shōnen Sunday (a manga magazine published by Shogakukan).

Adachi is well known for romantic comedy and sports manga (especially baseball) such as Touch, H2, Slow Step, and Miyuki. He has been described as a writer of "delightful dialogue", a genius at portraying everyday life, "the greatest pure storyteller", and "a master manga artist". He is one of the few manga artists to write for shōnen, shōjo, and seinen manga magazines, and be popular in all three.

His works have been carried in manga magazines such as Weekly Shōnen Sunday, Ciao, Shōjo Comic, Big Comic, and Petit Comic, and most of his works are published through Shogakukan and Gakken. He was one of the flagship authors in the new Monthly Shōnen Sunday magazine which began publication in June 2009. Only two short story collections, Short Program and Short Program 2 (both through Viz Media), have been released in North America, though Viz is scheduled to begin publishing Cross Game in October 2010.

He modeled the spelling of あだち (rather than 安達) for his family name after the example of his older brother, manga artist Tsutomu Adachi. In addition, it has been suggested that the accurate portrayal of sibling rivalry in Touch may come from Adachi's experiences while growing up with his older brother. Adachi did the character designs for the OVA anime series Nozomi Witches, so he is sometimes incorrectly given credit for creating the original series.

Reviews

[Sushi (寿司) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Arrivato ieri da Amazon. Adoro Mitsuru Adachi e ormai lo sanno tutti. Se non fosse per la sfiga che alcuni volumi che volevo erano finiti non avrei mai fatto un ulteriore ricerca e Amazon non mi avrebbe mostrato questo. All'inizio ero un po' indecisa perchè stavo già facendo Mix e Cross Game e non mi piace mischiare le cose dello stesso autore e stesso sport. Entrambi sono già sul Baseball e un altro anche se amo alla follia Adachi Sensei sarebbe stato troppo. Poi però il fatto che era un volume unico mi ha dato una spinta a prenderlo e ho fatto bene. Non si è mai delusi da Adachi Sensei. Ho anche notato che ho perso un casino di cose dal 2010 e diciamolo pure al 2018 visto che raramente ora, Mix a parte, faccio cose in corso sia in Giappone (non finite) sia qui (in uscita). Anche Mix era stata una lotta contro me stessa con il primo in fumetteria ma poi dopo mezzora ha vinto lui. Adachi Sensei avrà sempre la meglio su di me. Ora prima di un altro di Adachi aspetterò di finire Cross Game o pareggiare con Mix ... ma tanto dico così poi non è vero. Oltre ad avere delle riletture made in Adachi da fare. ⚾

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you go into this looking for baseball stories, you may be disappointed. While baseball features in all of them at least a bit, none of the tales are actually about the sport. Instead, Adachi focuses on the players and their relationships, mostly in terms of teammates who have graduated reconnecting. It's a very good book, just not quite what was advertised by the title.

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoy this mangaka’s longer stories but I can’t say that I was impressed by most of these short stories. Short stories are just hard to enjoy. As soon as you get to know the characters, it’s over! Too short to make a significant impact.

(Also, try not to notice the characters’ bigger ears…after I did that, it was too hard to focus LOL)

[Tamara · Rating 4 out of 5]

Could not find the English version of this book that I read on here, so my review is for that edition.
This was a nicely spaced shorts comics collection that held a lot of charm and appeal in both the art and the short stories told in this collection. The panelling was nice all around, and the stories ranged from silly little artist self insert comics that were chuckle worthy to poignant slice of life musings. It was a quite enjoyable read.

[Soobie has fog in her brain · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beh, questa è stata una sorpresa...

Ho un rapporto complicato con Mitsuru Adachi. Per me ci sono più fallimenti che opere riuscite tra tutta la sua produzione. Questo l'ho comprato perché l'ho trovato di seconda mano, anche se non avevo molta fiducia in Adachi come autore di storie brevi.

E invece...

Le storie sono delicate e tenere. Certo, c'è lo sport ma c'è anche tutto quello che gira intorno al baseball. Bellissime le storie più lunghe.

Inutili, per me, le gag cortissime.

Decisamente soddisfatta!

[Min (slowest reader ever) · Rating 4 out of 5]

ฉบับแปลเป็นภาษาไทย: 4.25-4.75 ดาว











* อาจจะมาเขียนรีวิวถ้ามีเวลา ถ้าไม่ขี้เกียจ ถ้ายังจำได้
* เรตติงรวมไม่ใช่ค่าเฉลี่ย อาจมีการปรับเพิ่ม-ลดในอนาคต ความคิด/ชอบเปลี่ยนแปลงทุกวัน -- การให้ดาวพิจารณาบริบทของปีที่ตีพิมพ์ครั้งแรก ลักษณะการอ่าน และบริบทอื่น ๆ นอกเหนือจากที่พูดถึงในรีวิวด้วย
* เกณฑ์การให้ดาวแต่ละ genre ไม่เหมือนกัน เป็นความชอบส่วนบุคคล อย่าเชื่อถือมากนะคะ ถ้าอยากอ่านก็อ่านเลย
* บางเรื่องที่ให้ดาวน้อย แต่ ณ ช่วงเวลาหนึ่งเราก็สนใจที่จะซื้อ/หยิบมาอ่าน คืออย่างน้อยก็ชอบกว่าบางเรื่องที่ไม่ได้สนใจจะซื้อมาอ่านค่ะ

[Matt Ely · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been aware of Adachi by reputation. If you're interested in baseball manga, Touch is pretty much unavoidable.

It never really spoke to me, but the idea of getting a condensed version of his work with this collection of short stories was appealing. I at least wanted to get a better sense of what his output was like.

One criticism of Adachi I've heard is that he basically retells the same stories over and over with minor differences. And, well, this volume will not disprove that critique.

Aside from the short gag comics, most of the longer stories have a central idea that the quiet nerd on the baseball team is the one that the girl actually has a crush on, not the ace player. The way that this revelation comes about is different each time, but it definitely reads like drafts of a single idea.

The artwork is great, and perhaps reading a condensed version of this is more fun than having it dragged out over dozens of volumes. I'm glad to get some Adachi exposure and it was fun, but it's not the kind of thing I'd need to reread. You're practically rereading it even as you read it for the first time.

[Fabioreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

The stories are short and feature relatively little baseball, yet they work remarkably well. The artwork is beautiful, a refreshing breeze of ’80s nostalgia that feels especially welcome. The only weak point is the brief gag interludes between stories, but the stories themselves are unmissable, particularly if you enjoyed his masterpiece Touch.

[Ek Guevara · Rating 4 out of 5]

รวมเรื่องสั้น เสียดายที่บางตอนสั้นไปนิด เลยทำให้ไม่ได้ความรู้สึกร่วมเท่าไหร่ แต่ทุกตอนคือทำให้เราประทับใจได้หมด ชอบเรื่องสุดท้ายที่ว่าด้วยเรื่องทีมเบสบอลที่มีผู้เล่นคนหนึ่งโดดเด่นและที่เหลือคือไม่เอาไหน แต่เรื่องไม่ได้พูดถึงการเล่นเบสบอล ชอบการโทรศัพท์คุยกันของตัวละครสามสี่คนตอนจบเรื่องมาก