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H2 #1

H2 Vol. 1

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Hiro has two loves: baseball and porn. But due to an elbow injury he gives up baseball choosing a school with no baseball team. His childhood friend Hikari attends a different school with baseball ace Hideo and the two wish Hiro had not given up baseball. Hiro joins the soccer team but meets Haruka, a very clumsy girl, who is manager of the unofficial baseball club. When the soccer team challenges the baseball club to a game, with hopes of humiliating them, the baseball club nearly loses until Hiro, disgusted by the soccer team`s arrogance, switches to the baseball club.

A not-to-be-missed series for all, and you don't need to be a baseball fan to enjoy this!

187 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 1992

10 people are currently reading
98 people want to read

About the author

Mitsuru Adachi

693 books221 followers
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.

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5 stars
134 (40%)
4 stars
137 (41%)
3 stars
46 (13%)
2 stars
13 (3%)
1 star
2 (<1%)
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
Profile Image for Sushi (寿司).
611 reviews162 followers
January 9, 2020
Rilettura di tutti e 34 volumi. La prima lettura ovviamente risale a 18 anni fa (o 18 e 1/2) quando uscì. Ormai sapete il mio amore per Adachi Sensei e i suoi manga baseball o meno.
Profile Image for Eduardo.
21 reviews1 follower
July 14, 2011
It's hard to hate Adachi, even when he tries to make you hate him.
This series broke my heart, but I can't say it was anything but awesome.
Profile Image for Dustin.
121 reviews1 follower
June 11, 2024
This is for all 34 volumes, which would be closer to a four if the women in this story were given any agency at all. Keeping in mind that this is 90's Japan, the women are slaves to their raging emotions and any joke with a woman is at their expense. I guess I missed all of those in my youth or a different translation lightened the atmosphere.

Otherwise this is a wonderful slice of life sports manga with sharp jokes when they aren't about women in traditional roles. Somehow daily life seems interesting in this world and even the slowest chapters were an exercise in youthful exuberance and the type of innocent dreaming we all did at that age.

The strongest aspect of the writing was not relying on the crutch of comedic misunderstandings. They are set up several times, but not unjustly and mature communication wins the day
2 reviews
March 5, 2021
Slight splolier read on your own risk.

Read this one in 2021 fucking love it, but I was rooting for Hiro x Hikari and I reaally fell in love with Adachi Sensei work so much that I had read touch, h2, mix, cross game, itsumo misora, katsu, hiatari ryoukyu within a week his artwork style was had Vintage touch to it with a better clarity of surrounding and character just love it
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Bye bye, Midori..
13 reviews
November 28, 2023
Mình đánh giá đây là bộ hay nhất của bố già Adachi trong lòng mình. Không bi thương như Touch, và kết theo mình thì tròn hơn Rough, H2 vừa tình tứ vừa khéo léo lại rất dễ thương. Highly recommend dù bạn có ở bất cứ độ tuổi nào
Profile Image for Stella.
162 reviews15 followers
May 16, 2019
Me encantan tanto el dibujo de Adachi como su narración.

Por otra parte, no sé si es buena idea comenzar a leer H2 mientras veo Cross Game.
Profile Image for Kurtis Burkhardt.
6,000 reviews51 followers
December 31, 2020
Pretty great baseball manga, really good story and character development and love the art style ⚾️😁👌❤️
Profile Image for Rosie.
59 reviews11 followers
January 9, 2021
Rất thích nét vẽ của tác giả. Mình không hỉu nhìu về bóng chày lắm nên đôi lúc khó hỉu.
Profile Image for Shin Donghae.
2,256 reviews8 followers
May 26, 2021
Menarik.
Jilid I langsung diberikan premis yang menjanjikan.
Satu pahlawan (harfiah eigo) satu lagi pahlawan (harfiah kaji) :))
Profile Image for Philippe Lhoste.
381 reviews11 followers
August 4, 2011
Comme j'ai déjà écrit ici, j'adore Mitsuru Adachi. Je l'ai découvert avec les séries télé (Théo ou la batte de la victoire, entre autres) et j'ai aimé le style de narration et l'humour. Du coup, j'ai quasiment les œuvres complètes (arrêtées il y a quelques années) en japonais. Mine de rien, le style Adachi, avec ses planches parfois quasi-muettes, son humour souvent visuel, ses scènes d'action, sont bien adaptées à une « lecture » style « film dont on a coupé le son » (ma connaissance du japonais étant fort rudimentaire...).

J'ai même acheté un livre sur les règles du baseball pour comprendre les règles complexes de ce jeu souvent mis en scène par l'auteur.

H2 est justement à propos de ce sport, même si le héros tente de se mettre au football, ayant une blessure au coude l'empêchant de jouer au baseball.
Pourquoi H2 ? Je pense que c'est parce que les prénoms des deux personnages principaux commencent par cette lettre, mais peut-être aussi parce que l'auteur multiplie les allusions coquines (ce sont des ados, après tout), encore plus que dans ses autres manga : H est l'abréviation de hecchi, signifiant lubrique ou pervers...

J'ai trouvé ce tome d'occasion, mais malheureusement je n'ai pas trouvé la suite. Faudra payer le prix fort...
Profile Image for anne⁷ .
572 reviews64 followers
April 10, 2016
3.5/5 – This baseball manga is soooo good! Hiro is a talented pitcher in middle school who can throw balls at 140kph. Unfortunately, he injured his elbow before he graduated so when he went to high school, he opted to put his love for baseball behind and chose a different sport, soccer.

I’ve always wanted to try Mitsuru Adachi’s works. His name always comes up whenever I search for good baseball manga recs online. I even daresay he’s the most popular mangaka when it comes to baseball. H2 is not that old but the art is old-school. It’s also a bit ecchi-ish. Well, I wouldn’t really call it ecchi. It’s got too many panty shots to be a clean manga, but not enough lewd elements to be called ecchi so I guess it really just has numerous fanservice? Anyway, the panty shots don’t really sit well with me because it doesn’t suit the art style and also because I’m just not a fan of it
Profile Image for Olivia.
17 reviews6 followers
December 22, 2008
i guess having all 34 books already explain how much i loved this title from adachi-sensei...
like all his other series, H2 dipenuhi becandaan garing yang minim kata2, dengan judul tiap bab yang ga' kalah hemat ataupun garing nya (such as "Kaing!")
H2 bercerita tentang, well, baseball... or mungkin cerita persahabatan tiga anak cowo' yang gila baseball... or mungkin something in between...
sejujurnya bukan jenis buku yang bisa diprosakan kembali menggunakan kata2 sendiri... harus dialami untuk bisa dimengerti (or, rather, harus dibaca sendiri, biar ga' dikira gila klo tiba2 ktawa2 sendiri) hehehehe
2 reviews
May 24, 2008
hehehe
satu lagi masterpiece dari Adachi Mitsuru
Hiro Kunimi, tokoh utama, pitcher berbakat yang terlibat cinta segi empat
lucu
masih dengan sentuhan narsis khas Adachi-sensei (menampilkan dirinya sendiri di komiknya)
Profile Image for Mimna.
247 reviews35 followers
March 24, 2012
ชอบเรื่องนี้มากๆๆๆๆๆ

สนุก ตลก เศร้านิดๆ ที่สำคัญทำให้นึกถึงตอนเป็นเด็กม.ปลายมากๆ
โหยหาอดีต
Profile Image for Hyo Jung.
8 reviews2 followers
April 10, 2012
Faint memories of the first things and the first love...
Profile Image for Simbahenom.
190 reviews2 followers
July 31, 2012
pernah nonton doramanya.

sekarang baca manganya.

^^

------------------------

Tetep suka banget....koga-chan!!!
Profile Image for Ipang.
27 reviews2 followers
October 12, 2007
Salah satu karya Adachi Mitsuru dgn gaya komedi yg khas. Kebetulan baseball olahraga favourite gua.
Profile Image for Yu_cha.
18 reviews
April 21, 2008
gak ada karya adachi mistsuru sama yang gak oke,,wajib baca semua karyanya....
Profile Image for Maricar Dizon.
Author 97 books178 followers
May 2, 2017
Status: Completed

This review is for the whole story (volume 1-34)

I tend to marathon-read Mitsuru Adachi every summer. Though the first baseball manga I've ever read was Major, it was Adachi-sama that made me hooked with this genre. So after three days, I've finish reading H2 again. 34 volumes, 187 pages each and I still wish there was more. H2, though not as perfect as Cross Game in terms of art and story, is still my most favorite work of Adachi.

This story is not only about baseball. It is also a coming of age story centered around four characters, Hiro, Hikari, Hideo and Haruka. Hiro and Hikari has been friends forever but Hikari was the one who matured first. Back in seventh grade she fell in love with Hideo, one of Hiro's male best friends. They had been dating ever since. Hiro matured late and only grew tall and became aware of the opposite sex when he was in eight grade. By that time, he was already too late to realize that he's in love with Hikari. Now, when they reached high school, Hiro met Haruka Koga, an avid fan of high school baseball and the manager of the team. They grew to like each other but it was obvious that Haruka likes Hiro more, at least at the first half of the story.

The conflict began when Hikari suddenly grew confused about her feelings for Hideo and Hiro. I kinda understand why she became that way since her childhood friend grew up right before her eyes. And of course their bond is very strong in a way that they know what each other is thinking. Plus they began to notice that as they grow older they are starting to see less of each other.It made Hikari think hard about what she really feels.

Anyway, her confusion made Hiro confused too and at the middle of the story it was hard to know who will really end up with who. Hideo became doubtful and angry. But what made me really cry about this whole scenario was Haruka Koga. Sure she was afraid and frustrated but she also didn't reject the fact that Hikari will always be special to Hiro. She waited and she tried to understand. And in the end it was all worth it. She was selfless but she never looked pathetic or masochistic. Haruka Koga was my favorite Adachi heroine.


The baseball story line sure makes this story exciting, but it was the character development and the relationship of these four characters that really made me love H2. I love that Adachi's writing style is a combination of action, comedy, romance and slice of life drama. The romantic element of H2 was subtle but with a punch. For example, in one volume (i forgot the exact number) Hikari's father told Hiro, "Marry a girl who will live a long time." Then around volume 31, just when I'm getting confused about who Hiro really likes, he told Haruka, "Koga, live a long time, all right?"

Another example was when at the start of the story Haruka said her dream is to become a stewardess or an actress because that's usually the job of a professional baseball player's wife. Then in volume 34, just when they were about to win the semi-final game of the national championship, Hiro told her to "Be a stewardess when you grow up. Do it."

I'm not going to write the ending of H2 here but all I can say is that it was satisfying. I didn't regret not doing anything for three days but read. :)
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews

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