おおきく振りかぶって（４）

おおきく振りかぶって [Ookiku Furikabutte] #4

by Asa Higuchi

6月――夏の全国大会の抽選会に県内170校のチームが集まり、対戦表を埋めていく。“あの場所”へ行けるのはこの中のたった1校だけ！　そして全国高等学校野球選手権埼玉大会の開幕が目前に迫る。練習の時間はいくらあっても足りない。初出場でも、部員が10人でも、本気だから。西浦高校野球部、初めての「夏」が始まる。

Genres: Manga, Sports, Seinen

216 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 22, 2005

About the author

Asa Higuchi (Japanese name: ひぐち アサ) is a Japanese manga artist, born in 1970 in Urawa, Saitama Prefecture (now part of Saitama City). She graduated from Saitama Prefecture's prestigious Urawanishi High School and Hosei University's department of psychology, with a major in sports psychology. During her high school days, she was a member of her school's softball team, which would go on to be an inspiration in her work Ōkiku Furikabutte as well as her high school which is featured in detail (the school now advertising the manga and anime on their website).

In 1998, Higuchi won noted seinen manga magazine Afternoon's Shiki competition with her work Yuku tokoro. It was noted for the unique relationships shared by its characters and was subsequently published in the August issue of the magazine, thus marking her debut as a manga artist. She is currently working on Ōkiku Furikabutte, which has spanned 32 volumes to date and being serialized in the monthly Afternoon. It won the 10th Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for best creative work in 2006, and the 31st Kodansha Manga Award for general manga in 2007

Reviews

[Hiromi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rei and his baseball team member hold a birthday party in his house. They visited his practice place and understood his effort.

[faatima · Rating 5 out of 5]

This will be a combined review of the third and fourth volumes.

PROS:
- The subtlety of Higuchi's characterizations. Everything Higuchi writes has so much purpose, even the smallest things. There are throwaway lines or gestures from characters that would seemingly be unimportant but actually contribute a lot to distinguishing them as people and explaining why they act or feel a certain way. This especially holds for Mihashi and Abe, and how their trauma impacts them every day.
- Abe and Haruna. Initially, Abe comes off as being a very over-imposing and self-assured person. He only seems to want to use Mihashi as a means to an end. But we realize through this volume that his reasons for pushing so hard and aiming to form the best battery are a direct result of his trauma at the hands of his old pitcher. Their backstory gives him no excuses, but it sheds light on a lot of his behaviors.
- Abe and Mihashi's relationship is ever-evolving. I saw someone on Tumblr say that the central appeal of these two's relationship is that they are dysfunctional. Their trauma impacts them so as to ensure that there is no easy, smooth sailing. This battery is something that Abe and Mihashi really have to work for, through changes to their own behavior and constant communication.
- The Nishiura boys' support system! I love that Oofuri's world is one that exists outside of baseball; I truly can't stress this enough. There is so much focus on the boys' healthy encouragement of each other, of the support coming in from their friends and family, and of their individual growth as people, not just baseball players!
- Humanity despite dysfunction. Touching back on what I said about Abe and Mihashi, while Higuchi clearly depicts the adverse effects of various traumas on these teenage boys, she doesn't allow them to ever be villainized for their character. They're all fleshed-out human beings who have good qualities to balance out their bad ones, and we see this especially in Abe and Haruna.

CONS:
- Literally the only complaint I will ever have is that sometimes the baseball lingo can get to be really dense.

FINAL RATING: 5

[Pimplop · Rating 4 out of 5]

Es tan nanai todo 😭

[anne⁷ · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5