Again!! 3

Again!! #3

by Mitsurou Kubo

Aiming for the Top -- Kinichiro Imamura is trying to get high school right the second time around. So far, he's managed to reunite the old members of his school's ouendan cheer squad, saving the club from the brink of destruction, but his time-traveling troubles are far from over. With the newly-revived ouendan tasked to cheer at their school's next baseball game, they'll have to cheer harder than ever if they want to bring their team to victory. To pull it off, Kinichiro the cheering newbie is going to have to learn from the very best...

Genres: Manga, Fantasy, Sports, Time Travel, Fiction, Young Adult, Teen

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 17, 2012

About the author

Mitsurou Kubo (久保 ミツロウ, Kubo Mitsurō) is a Japanese manga artist, writer, and radio personality born in Sasebo in 1975. She is known for writing on Yuri!!! on Ice, an anime series co-created with Sayo Yamamoto. Two of her manga have been released in English; Moteki by Vertical and Again!! by Kodansha USA. She and Mineko Nomachi have a radio program called Mitsurou Kubo and Mineko Nomachi's All Night Nippon.

Reviews

[Amber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actual rating 3.5 stars.

[Artemy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very slow, hormone-filled volume that was really annoying to read. All the plots in this volume came down to someone bursting with anger at somebody else. And the abundance of sexist and demeaning slurs thrown every which way also didn't help. I still admire these kids' spirit and dedication to ouendan (and the baseball, too, for that matter), but we're three volumes in and, if I remember correctly, there still wasn't a single ouendan performance in the entire book. That's what I really want from this series — more sport, less stupid teenage drama. Some time travel wouldn't hurt at this point, too, since that aspect really doesn't play any role in the book so far.

[Mir · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is well executed, but I picked up this series for the time-slippage, not to watching obnoxious teens be petty to each other.

[Ashley · Rating 4 out of 5]

So glad to see more character development for the other members of the Ouendan, especially Usami! Her gambit of putting Kinichiro in charge is brilliant, because she was exactly right - he isn't used to people believing in him, so he can't believe in other people. I really like what this manga is saying about the value of supporting people. Can't wait to see how the Ouendan and the cheerleaders perform together in the next volume! 4/5

As a side note, the way the characters talk about/treat the girls is really irritating. I know Japanese culture is different, but Chankuma is on par with Mineta from My Hero Academia, and that's pretty bad. He's the only character I flat out dislike at this point. I hope that Kinichiro stops his rude thoughts about women soon, because I don't want to start disliking him.

[Danielle · Rating 1 out of 5]

Some characters have been sexist in the novels and it makes sense because they're challenging the plot. It's not unnecessary and just there to cause anger.

This volume though shows explicit sexism and brings up idols becoming porn stars. Some of your main female characters are also drawn explicitly with the only censor being other character's heads. It was gross and unexpected. I was reading this series as a YA graphic novel, but this specific volume is too explicit to be categorized as such in my library. There are other ways to show that a character is delusional, sexual, or that a situation looks compromising without the obscene visuals and sexist comments. I was rather disappointed that an otherwise good series had to resort to poor storytelling like that

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

The sexism, misogyny and sexual harassment go overboard this volume, threatening to derail what had been a fairly fun series about high school. Of course, high school boys are awful, so not having that crap might not be realistic, but it certainly doesn't have to be at the center of so many of the gags in this humor series.

[haven ⋄ f (hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.75 - I’m quickly finding out that this series is silly with some serious elements. The story and the way that the author is choosing to portray it is really unique and iconic.

I’m LOVING the art style. It’s proportional and nearly every face has its own unique feature.

Honestly this one was sort of random but it worked. Can’t wait to see how the author makes the story progress from here.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't tell you what a relief it is that someone finally notice how weird our two time-travelers' conversations are.

[Snail · Rating 1 out of 5]

What a horribly shallow cast of characters. I can't find anything to like about any of them.

[DonutKnow · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hehe, even though Imamura is a bit of a hopeless lazy bum, I think his honesty is changing both him and his ouendan team 💪💪

[Casey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am sure there are some who will read this book and see nothing but some sexism and misogyny and dismiss the book and the series because of it. Rather, they should be looking at WHY these things might be there and how it fits into the narrative as a whole. As this is a series, it may be difficult to see why without reading further, but with a bit of imagination, one could see it allows for growth of character. Guess I'll only know if I am right or if it really is just a poorly done bit in future volumes.

That aside -- we get some more on the baseball team and why they may have lost in the previous time, the vagaries of inter-personal relations, and the Ouendan from a different school that seems to be sort of a rival.

It ends in an interesting spot and I hope the next volume or two keep it interesting.

Verdict: While each book is a book, remember it is a series so if you find one book less than perfect, it might be worth checking out more. I for one found on the whole volume 3 to be interesting.

[Welzen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Me sigue pareciendo una serie interesante aunque no sé qué pasará con la trama y los personajes. Me está gustando el protagonista, el pobre quiere cambiar las cosas pero no sabe muy bien cómo. La presidenta del club de animadores tradicionales no me termina de convencer, estas personas tan obsesionadas con ciertas cosas no suelen ser de mi gusto, es de alabar que quieras hacer algo con pasión pero con ella las cosas adquieren un tono que a veces la hacen parecer una loca. La otra viajera en el tiempo por el momento está a un lado, no creo que tenga mucho protagonismo en el futuro.
Veré qué pasa en el siguiente volumen.

[Zian B. · Rating 3 out of 5]

More of a 2.5 but I gave this 3 stars since I do greatly enjoy Mitsurou Kubo’s art style.
I came into this series expecting to learn about ōendan as well as seeing some performances, and potentially the topic of time travel being discussed occasionally. However instead, the majority has been the team training and teenage drama. There was also some major sexism and slurs in this volume specifically, and I don’t even remember if there was a performance.
I really dislike the rival school that was shown in this volume, and won’t be continuing to read this series.

[Mohammad Musadiq Laghari · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5~ Not much happened in this volume. The cheering retreat and Usami loving the Kabokuku Ouendan Danchou weren't things I was a fan of but they were more like setups and could lead to more interesting story later on. Loved how it ended tho, best ending so far and the first mini-arc about the baseball player was very good too

Also, still funny! And thrilling which is what this book shouldn't be haha

[Katt Hansen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imamura discovers a problem with reliving his high school years - he doesn't remember enough details! When his memory is triggered by the injury of a baseball player who later wound up quitting the team, he jumps in to try to keep this from happening a second time around. Only he only complicates things and winds up in a new situation where he really needs to help the ouendan find a new way to cheer.

Fun story in so many ways! I want to keep reading to see where this goes next!

[Rachel · Rating 2 out of 5]

This volume was the end of this series for me. Definitely not worth my time - not going to bother with the remaining nine volumes.

Pretty disappointing because the first two volumes set up a potentially good story. This volume threw the story out for sex appeal. Poorly written and pieced together horribly as well.

Garbage.

[D.T. · Rating 1 out of 5]

Y’all had me, then you lost me. I mean the stupidity of high schoolers (boys) is to be expected, but it was a bit much here. There is a real lecherous vibe this volume. Don’t get me wrong teenagers be horny, but it was just portrayed gross here. But I do love seeing Imamura gaining friends! I hope Baseball Dude and him stay friends.

[Kaleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

Still good, still charming. Very annoyed by Chankuma's "antics" though. Not even remotely comical. I hope that sort of behavior will be put to the wayside, but that seems unlikely. I'm looking forward to the next volume nonetheless.

[Danielle Booey · Rating 4 out of 5]

The gang's all back together! Sorta...things still aren't looking great for Kinichiro's save the Ouendan plan. But maybe with a few more friends it just might work.

I'm super depressed to be caught up on this series and am very much looking forward to the next volume's release.

[Joshua · Rating 5 out of 5]

This manga has a bit of intensity to it that it's starting to build up to. I think that we're hitting a good stride, and I think Imamura is really hitting a good protag beat. It's sometimes nice to have a protag who isn't all happy go lucky. The way he fights back is intriguing.

[Chloe McGenn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I honestly love this series. Kubo’s artwork has always appealed to me, and to find this story about something as quintessentially Japanese as the Ouenden, portrayed with lovable, realistically flawed characters, and drawn by her has been a treasure of 2020.

[BlauPrinz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rereading the series and man, I'm not here for all the men being so sexist towards the captain. For real.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm curious to see where this goes and how much the future will change (they've changed so much of the past already).

[Gabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Starting to lose its grip on a clear direction to take the plot, but character interactions are enough to maintain any semblance of momentum.

[Wordsworn · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not loving the 'YOU CAN'T LEAD THE OUENDAN 'CAUSE YOU'RE A GIRL" thing, and Chankuma (as well as some of the other sexism) is extremely problematic, but...I want to see what happens, I guess.

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Getting the squad back together: more work than it's worth? Hollywood would tend to say "no!"

[Mariah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I would have died under that training boot camp! No wonder she rode a bike!

[Melissa Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fav one so far, extra funny.

[Kurtis Burkhardt · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not the greatest manga, the art and characters were pretty cool but I thought the story was soo boring😴👌❤️

[Pinky · Rating 3 out of 5]

Imamura and Suzuki become friends. Usami makes Imamura temporary Captain for Interclub training again.