Dogsred, Vol. 4

ドッグスレッド [Dogsred] #4

by Satoru Noda

Rou and the other Oinokami first-year students survived their first day on the ice hockey team and made the cut, but their training has only just begun. Despite the warm days of summer, Oinokami moves ahead, practicing in indoor ice rinks. The former team captain, Higuchi, has come back to town, but guilt over the team’s loss has taken him down a dark path. Will the new team members follow him? Then it’s time for the first-years to play in their first real game, against the decidedly delinquent players of Sekka High.

Genres: Manga, Sports, Fiction, Comics, Seinen

168 pages, Paperback

First published November 19, 2024

About the author

Satoru Noda (野田サトル, Noda Satoru) is a japanese mangaka.

Reviews

[Kelli]

It’s no “Heated Rivalry” but it’s fine~

[Ampion]

This series would be markedly better if every other character didn't look identical

[Sol]

"Kengo, get revenge for me. ... If Oinokami can't be champs, then the team shouldn't exist at all."

Whew, this volume was full of twists and turns. As always, some of the hockey parts were a bit lost on me -- and there's so many characters that it's easy to get very overwhelmed if it's been a while since you've read the last volume. But Dogsred never ceases to put either compelling, emotional, or hilarious circumstances to the page.

My two favorite parts of this volume were the introduction of the adorable Wakami Isono, a 6' speed skater with a major crush on Rou, and getting to see what became of ex-Oinokami hockey team captain Higuchi. Isono is way too precious, and I'm glad that she's already becoming good friends with Haruna!! She really took the cake for this volume for me because there's more than a couple panels involving her in this book that made me laugh out loud. Noda's comedic timing kills me, as always.

Conversely to Isono's pleasant presence is the grim outcome of Higuchi displayed here. I could feel deep in my bones how the loss of that winning streak has completely broken him. It's easy as an outsider to think, "It's just a high school hockey game, why are you taking it so hard?" -- but I know for athletes, especially athletes like the ones from Oinokami who hold a lot of local, cultural, and family pride in their sport, it must be so devastating. I can totally see and understand why he's going down the rage-filled, inconsolable, dangerous path he's going down now. The way Noda draws him reeks of barely contained hatred and disgust.
I thought it was very powerful, compelling, and scary, and I'm nervous for the choice that Kengo is going to have to make in future volumes now that he's been given performance-enhancing drugs by Higuchi... if he goes down this path, his dreams for the NHL may end before they're given a chance to begin, and I wonder if he realizes that.

As always, I have such a fun time reading Noda's work. I'll reiterate again and again that I think Noda is one of the best living mangaka today. I'm so glad for Dogsred's English releases! <3

[Cristhian]

!!!!!!

[Samuel]

33%

Gaaaaaaaaahh… damn it. I want to like this manga so bad. Golden Kamuy is one of my favourite manga of all time. But while this series started off good, and definitely had potential, I think this volume finally lost me and my interest, sadly.

One big issue for me is how all over the place this series is. It bounces between like a dozen different characters almost every few pages, and somehow after only three volumes you’re expected to remember everyone and understand what’s going on. If it was just the first years and a couple second years that were focused on, that’d probably be doable - but for some reason, Noda keeps spending precious screen-time on the graduated, older students who I have no reason to really care for at all. All I’ve seen of them was that one game from the school hockey finals in the second volume - why should I care about how one graduated guy is depressed about having lost that aforementioned final, two volumes later?

It’s frustrating because I know Noda has the chops for a really entertaining manga, and there was definitely potential with this series. There’s quite a few funny moments, even in this volume. But the overly large cast of characters and frantic pacing gut the enjoyment out of what could have been a sports manga to rival Slam Dunk, if done right with a more focused story and pacing. I think Noda just rushed waaaay too many characters and history into only three / four volumes.

I’m sorry Noda… I’ll probably be dropping this series… sigh.

[adrian37]

I’ve been really enjoying the Dogsred series so far—it’s the reason I started getting into manga! The only downside is that it can be a bit tough to get attached to some of the side characters, since many of them don’t have much backstory yet. However, that may change in future volumes—who knows! Other than that, it’s been a great read, and I can’t wait for Volume 5!

[Aaron Meyer]

Wakami is a beast! She might become my favorite side character yet lol. The way she picks up Rou in that fight and runs had me rolling. This series has so many funny moments. That ending though, come on, I can't wait to see how that turns out in the next volume. It can't get here fast enough.

[Uzi Rahmah]

4.5🌟

[Andrea Lin]

不知不覺開始帶出了學長們的故事，野田果然沒有忘記這是個運動競技漫畫？？好多頁內心都突然沈重，好希望大家都好好的，不要被過去的失敗束縛。

但我宣布我在野田宇宙找到心靈可以投射的角色了！就是和歌美！！！他的出現是這個故事裡美好的粉紅光芒，最喜歡這種強大的追星美少女，每次出現都是經典畫面🥰

[nash [larrythelatypus]]

oh no the boys are gonna get killed in the next volume 😵

[Sara]

I get through these volumes far too fast.

[Spudpuppy]

Absolute banger yet again but I felt a thousand years old when the translation notes had to explain what a VHS is

[Sofia]

Slower than I would have liked. Hopefully it picks back up on vol.5.

[Beth]

Five stars for Wakami and Wakami only

[Philip McCarty]

I enjoyed reading this volume and it had some truly laugh out loud moments (the vhs spitting out the dvd and the old man looking teen saying they're defintiely teenagers being my favorites). The issue for me with this series is that it continues to feel like it's all over the place and I can't help but compare it to Blue Lock as the other sports series I'm reading. I think the issue here is that we don't have a clear point of view. If it had kept with Rou as our point of view character this series could be way stronger. But at this point it feels like the story is about all of the characters but without giving us the time to get to know them. Now with that out of the way, this volume introduces us to Wakami, a super strong woman with epic thighs, who is a fun character and more distinct than many of the team members. We also have the old team captain return and offer drugs to one of his old teammates. The crew also begins a violent game against another school for their first big match. It feels like the main thread here is the weight of dreams and stagnation, with some folks being okay with it and others not. Which is a great theme to explore, but it gets muddied with all the noise.