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Bat Kid
This charming bat kid plush toy from Japanese designer Kazuo Inoue is a must-have for any child's collection. With its soft cotton fabric and endearing stitched details, this little bat will become your child's new favorite bedtime buddy. Its wings wrap around for a hug, and its eyes gaze up with curiosity and wonder. Measuring 12 inches from head to toe, this plush bat is the perfect size for little arms to hold tight. Its simple yet whimsical design will fuel a child's imagination for adventures at dusk. Cuddly and cute, the Bat Kid makes a thoughtful gift for any bat or animal lover and is sure to provide countless hours of joy and comfort.
167 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2021
4 people are currently reading
34 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
December 23, 2021
Very few early manga have been translated into English. It is amazing to me that a fanzine undertook a book of this type and produced an object that is beautiful, and informative, high quality, and just cool with such a small staff.
September 4, 2022
Great presentation of a lesser-known but popular baseball manga with an excellent illustrated introductory essay by translator Ryan Holmberg to put everything into its historical and cultural contexts.
A small humble package but one worthy of receiving Best Archival Collection kudos.
A small humble package but one worthy of receiving Best Archival Collection kudos.
July 11, 2022
I’m gonna split this into two parts one for the story itself and another for Holmberg’s essay.
Bat Kid taken at face value divorced of any historical context could be written off as a simple series of stories for children. What if Caillou played baseball the manga. It’s a cute and charming story filled with cute and charming art. You can see the bones of what would go on to form the skeletal structure of sports manga in the years to come.
It’s another banger from Holmberg! It’s to be expected at this point that any essay by him will be meticulously researched and just extensive. I learned two words reading it even! I’m very thankful that Holmberg and the various publishers he works with keep bringing us these works.
Bubbles Fanzine did a great job not just for their first manga outing but just in general this is a beautifully put together book presentation wise. Love the baseball card of Battō that they sent out with it.
It’s historically important, comes with an essay that will make you smarter, and it’s a wholesome read what’s not to love?
Bat Kid taken at face value divorced of any historical context could be written off as a simple series of stories for children. What if Caillou played baseball the manga. It’s a cute and charming story filled with cute and charming art. You can see the bones of what would go on to form the skeletal structure of sports manga in the years to come.
It’s another banger from Holmberg! It’s to be expected at this point that any essay by him will be meticulously researched and just extensive. I learned two words reading it even! I’m very thankful that Holmberg and the various publishers he works with keep bringing us these works.
Bubbles Fanzine did a great job not just for their first manga outing but just in general this is a beautifully put together book presentation wise. Love the baseball card of Battō that they sent out with it.
It’s historically important, comes with an essay that will make you smarter, and it’s a wholesome read what’s not to love?
March 24, 2024
the presentation and contextualisation are immaculate, and the manga itself is cute and charming, the only downside is that something like half the pages reproducing the original book are in fact puzzles which are dependent on either knowing japanese baseball trivia from the period or being able to read japanese. i suppose there is a historical value in reproducing the original collection as is and seeing a wider range of inoue's ability but i can't help but feel it would have been more enjoyable if those were instead devoted to reprinted some of the as yet uncollected subsequent chapters of the manga itself
October 6, 2024
The manga itself is so sweet and wholesome it might give you a cavity but I highly recommend this volume solely on the essay within, "Bat Kid: Inoue Kazou and the Origins of Baseball Manga" — manga as a genre and a form is a little out of my wheelhouse but this essay offers a lot of context about what manga was like in post WWII Japan, and the importance of baseball in that era as well. Good stuff.
April 24, 2022
This was so cute! It's a classic manga, the first serialized baseball manga in Japan! Set in post WWII we follow a boy named Bat who pursues his dream of playing baseball! This volume also contains a fascinating essay about the history of Baseball in Japan!
I highly recommend picking this up from Glacier Bay Books website!
I highly recommend picking this up from Glacier Bay Books website!
August 8, 2023
This is a notable historical artifact that likely would not be that interesting to read on its own (for an adult in 2023), but when paired with the historical context is quite interesting. The included essay by Holmberg about the historical context makes this volume excellent.
January 5, 2025
A really lovely historical Manga to have in a collection. Cute, happy and joyful it captures fun of baseball and childhood. The essay included by Ryan Holmberg is a must read for its historical significance about the artist and baseball manga in general.
December 28, 2022
My son gave me this for my birthday. I’m not interested in baseball but I love comics so this won me over.
April 30, 2024
baseball rocks
July 8, 2024
Worth it just for the essay
March 24, 2024
A gorgeous, quaint and charming collection of Inoue Kazuo's formative baseball manga, Bat Kid. Starring the precocious young boy named Nagai Batto (quite literally translating to "Long Bat"), we follow his journey into becoming a better baseball player as he continues to develop his skills. The opening strips depict Bat Kid as being a poor player, but his ambition, his strict yet compassionate coach, and his supportive friends and family all contribute to his improved performance on the pitch. There is an easy humor to these strips which probably made this a comfortable addition to the very first issue of the monthly Manga Shōnen. The popularity of this strip over the next year of circulation can easily be seen from the effortless charm of Bat Kid and his endearing adventures on the baseball pitch.
Bat Kid's popularity would only further grow, and even after Inoue's untimely death continue to develop a growing interest in baseball themed manga. Now considered a staple subgenre in the medium, it is interesting to see one of the original works restored here. These kinds of reproductions of old comics are always impressive, but what's most impressive to me here is that it took the efforts of a small fanzine outfit like Bubbles to get it done. Ryan Holmberg's thoroughly detailed essay adds a lot to the reading experience here, giving a lot of attention towards understanding how impactful Inoue Kazuo's brief career in manga really was.
Bat Kid's popularity would only further grow, and even after Inoue's untimely death continue to develop a growing interest in baseball themed manga. Now considered a staple subgenre in the medium, it is interesting to see one of the original works restored here. These kinds of reproductions of old comics are always impressive, but what's most impressive to me here is that it took the efforts of a small fanzine outfit like Bubbles to get it done. Ryan Holmberg's thoroughly detailed essay adds a lot to the reading experience here, giving a lot of attention towards understanding how impactful Inoue Kazuo's brief career in manga really was.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews