Girl Got Game, Vol. 1

Power!! #1

by Shizuru Seino, Maya Atsunaga (Translator)

Kyo dresses as a boy in order to get into an all boys school, which happens to have the best basketball team!

Genres: Manga, Romance, Young Adult, Sports, Graphic Novels, Shojo, Comics

176 pages, Paperback

First published December 9, 1999

About the author

Current Residence: Sapporo
Zodiac: Gemini
Blood Type: A
Likes: potatoes, tea, karaoke

Reviews

[James DeSantis · Rating 3 out of 5]

Overly cute and stupid all at once. A girl who is forced to go to school to be a basketball player has to dress up as a boy and live in the dorms with one. If looking for comedy it isn't half bad, some pretty funny gags, and some silly situations. The obvious love story is corny but charming in its own way. And it ends on a...interesting cliffhanger. A 3 out of 5.

[Ester Eriksson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Gillar den här serien väldigt mycket. Man tröttnar inte på den eftersom boken är ganska kort och ska nu läsa del 2.
Den handlar om Aizawa som börjar på en skola för att vara med i deras basketlag, problemet är att det är ett lag där bara killar får spela. Så hon blir tvungen att klä ut sig till kille och dela rum med en lagkamrat som heter Eniwa. Hon blir lite förälskad i honom och hon är ofta nära att avslöjas att hon inte är en kille. Har dock bara läst del 1 av 10.

[Jenifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was the first Manga book I've ever read. I got used to the style (reading backwards) pretty easily and I read the entire book in one sitting.

I read this as a preview for my 9 year old niece, however, I don't think it'd be wholly appropriate for her yet. There are some older teen topics in it. Plus if I found the narration and characters confusing in this, I can only image that she would as well and probably even more so.

I might continue on in this series as it was entertaining to me but I think I'll skip on giving this one to my niece until she's a bit older.

[Tib · Rating 4 out of 5]

I may be a little biased as this was the first manga I ever picked up, and it feels like coming home despite it not aging super well.

[Leeni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Päädyin tutustumaan tähän takavuosina suomennettuun shoujosarjaan näin hieman jälkikäteen. Tälle ekalle osalle annoin vielä kolme tähteä, mutta loppuosat ovat osoittautuneet aika lailla kahden tähden kamaksi. Osassa kirjoista on valtavasti outoja ja ongelmallisiakin lyhäreitä, jotka eivät ainakaan paranna tilannetta. Sarjan hahmoilla ei paljoa järki päässä paina, eikä kukaan heistä ole erityisen pidettävä. Mainitsemisen arvoista on, että tässä lähennellään välillä jotain shounenmaista meininkiä koripallon ja tulisen ystävyyden kautta. Lisäksi arvostan mangassa klassista genderbending-aspektia. Ei kuitenkaan näin vuonan 2023 mitenkään erityisen hyvä tekele :D

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm rereading manga to try to get myself out of this reading slump. This one I haven't read in a while. It was one of my favorites cause it was ridiculously funny and includes a gender bender where the girl is disguised as a boy which is an auto buy subject for me. It's still funny and cute, but it's definitely cheesier than I remember but it has been at least 6 years since I last read it

[Maed Between the Pages · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 stars.

After restarting Hana-Kimi, I remembered this manga...one that I also read in high schools. It’s basically Hama-Kimi but less well done. It got a couple chuckles, the sports aspect is really fun, and the sassiness of the two main characters’ relationship is enjoyable to read, but things happened wayyyy too fast. It’s a predictable plot, but usually That doesn’t bother me if it’s done well. This one was rushed.

BUT it’s super nostalgic for me so I’ll be reading the whole series again I’m sure :)

[-moonprismpower- · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as funny as Seino’s other series I’ve read …but it has just started… We will see what happens…

[Emmers]

I found my box of high school manga and I am gonna reread all these bad boys.

[Jessi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Girl Got Game starts with Kyo's father announcing that he has enrolled her as a boy at a new school so that she can play on the male basketball team. He wants to live vicariously through his daughter. She, pretending to be a he, ends up sharing a dorm with one of her male teammates, Chiharu. They drive each other crazy and have to learn to get along for the good of the team and their own sanity.

This series as a whole is mediocre. It starts off strong but gets weak. I started to notice it with the slap-stick silliness. It seems like the author put it in as a filler and it throws the plot off course. The writing is lacking and that is the most important thing, even with a manga.

If you like the girl pretending to be a boy theme you should go with one of the more popular series, like Hana-Kimi or W Juliet. I haven't read them but they have to be better than Girl Got Game.

[Mike · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not even sure why I read this. I pretty much knew it was going to be bad from the very beginning. And yeah, it was about as bad as I suspected, not many surprises in store. The romance is badly-written, the artwork is confusing, the scene transitions are terrible, and there's just a lack of structure. I guess the main character was alright, but on the whole, there's very little to like here.

[Tanyx · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very fast, not super big on the art style but there's a few nice pages.

[Kendra Ashcraft Coffman · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you like the movie She's the Man, then you'll like this series, since the story is in the same vein.

Kyo's dad enrolled her at her new high school as a boy so she could play on the boy's basketball team (hoping that one day she will fulfill the dream he had once of becoming a NBA player), much to Kyo's chagrin at first.

But, after she's on the team, she realizes she likes playing with the boys and actually feels a challenge in the game now. What follows are funny and heartwarming escapades of Kyo trying to keep her gender a secret while crushing on the teammate she's been roomed with.

I felt Volume 1 was a great intro to the story. It doesn't lag on getting the plot flowing and sets the characters well. I finished the series, and while I thought most of it was hilarious and great, I will admit I was disappointed in the ending (I expected more areas of the story to develop) which felt like the author just wanted to be done with the story.

If you're looking for something light-hearted with a strong female character unafraid to speak up for herself, then I'd recommend it---especially the first few volumes.

[Harumichi Mizuki · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cerita ala Hanakimi tapi versi yang lebih koplak. Ayah Aizawa Kyo dulunya seorang pebasket andal. Tapi karena cidera serius, dia jadi tidak bisa main basket lagi. Lalu dengan egoisnya dia menyuruh putrinya untuk jadi pemain basket menggantikannya di... tim basket pria di SMA Seisyu. Sekolah itu punya tim basket yang meraih peringkat 4 nasional. Edan. Ayah macam apa yang menjerumuskan anak gadisnya untuk tinggal di asrama atlet bersama para anak laki-laki?

Di tim, dia berkenalan dengan Chiharu Eniwa yang juga teman sekamarnya. Chiharu ini jutek abis, benar-benar nggak menyenangkan. Padahal, Kyo naksir dia karena terpesona dengannya saat main basket.

Setelah kejadian yang melibatkan cewek yang dulu disukai Chiharu dan teman pria SMP-nya, akhirnya Chiharu bisa melihat Kyo sebagai teman. Tapi Kyo lalu mens dan kesakitan karenanya sehingga Chiharu salah paham.

Di akhir episode, Chiharu masuk saat Kyo sedang melepas pembebat dadanya. Ketahuan?!

[Pixie 🍜 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Covers chapters 1-3 and some extra pages.

3.5

Remembering this is from 1999 the story holds up surprisingly well and is similar to she’s the man in many ways as a concept. Female athlete joins school as a boy to be on the boys team for the sport she loves. Except in this her dad enrolled her as a boy because he couldn’t ever compete and so he wants his daughter to go to the best school for basketball. Of course she then gets roomed in the dorm with the boy she clashes with a lot and they form a weird love hate roommate but omg are we gay but you’re secretly not a boy vibe. At least you can see that starting.

I saw someone else compare this to Hana kimi but I really didn’t like that manga and I’m enjoying this one more. I’ll read volume 2.

[haven ⋄ f (hiatus) · Rating 5 out of 5]

These books brought me into manga, specifically shojo. But sadly, I forgot about this book series and never rented them from the library. So they got rid of it. I'll have to find an alternate way.

(Review for most of the series)

This is a sport shojo manga where the main character, a girl, dresses like a boy in order to join the volleyball (I think?) team she wants to. All is going fairly well, until she realizes she fell for one of her fellow team mates who is also her roomie. This is a slow burn mainly focused on the sport but it focuses on the romance too.

This reminds me of Hana-Kimi.

[Snarky Hatter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I recently reread this manga volume, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that so far the story holds up after many years. It starts off as a typical gender-bender story, but by the end it started to branch out from from its genre confines. It makes me excited to reread the second volume and see how the story progresses.

I also want to note that I appreciate that so far the story has managed to not accidentally veer into sexist territory--something that is very easy to do in gender bender stories. There was one instance where it grazed into that territory, but nothing that seriously detracted from the story.

Overall, a fun and light read.

[Bryn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'd thought this was going to be a sports manga, but it seems to be more cross-dressing romcom, which is okay but I have already read a lot of that genre & am not really interested in more unless it does something New and Interesting.

[Rachel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reading this again and remembering how funny and enjoyable it is. It was one of a couple books at the time where a girl goes undercover in a boys school to play a sport. In this one her dad has signed her up as a boy at this school so she can live his dreams of playing basketball.

[Bradley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple, silly and cute. I had some trouble telling apart two of the main characters. In my head they are both blondes with short hair, ones just taller than the other, but if they aren’t in the same frame how can you tell!?!? It had me reacting even when I thought it was dumb…What can I say? Lol XD

[GG · Rating 5 out of 5]

Silly lil story the dad wants the daughter to be a pro basketballer so enrolls her in a school as a boy so she cross dresses cause she loves bball and wants to make her dad happy very shoujo giving sports

[TT · Rating 4 out of 5]

This used to be one of my favorites series!!

[Jadon G · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was interesting but after the first book it goes from a girl trying to hide the fact shes a girl, so she can stay on the boys basketball team. To just a crappy romance.

[Corrinne Jones · Rating 2 out of 5]

Manga is not really my thing but I’m doing a book bingo and I needed to read a graphic novel so I thought I would give this one a shot I wasn’t impressed it was very hard to follow

[Nav · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hilarious. I’d recommend more for comedy and gender/identity shenanigans than romance.

[Cadence]

I absolutely love this book it's amazing I can't wait to read more!😊

[Iz · Rating 3 out of 5]

this rly hit the nostalgia

[LOP_BUNNEZ · Rating 5 out of 5]

ITS LITERALLY SO GOOD

[dldlaaegn · Rating 5 out of 5]

The last scene tho HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH