Mitsuru Adachi’s Cross Game is a baseball manga for people who don’t care about baseball. A tragedy early in the story helps to shape the narrative, but there’s also a good dose of unexpected comedy, and sequences that really make us want to cheer for Ko and his friends as they work toward the goal of reaching the high school baseball championship. Kumar at last succeeds at getting this one on the podcast schedule, and Tim is happy to come along.
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I’m so glad you guys did this one. I recently finished reading the entire series of Cross Game, and I have to say it was definitely charming, and yet poignant. I never lost the thread. It was a story that went straight to its ending. And I loved Adachi’s art. It was a blend of Dan DeCarlo with traditional manga. In the review, you wondered if someone who knew nothing about Koshien would understand. Even though I admit that I have lived in Japan, I had never heard of Koshien until this manga. And I think the gravity of it comes through clearly., regardless The other thing I would say is that I do know about the rule specificities of baseball, and if you do know this, there are moments when little throwaway thought balloons actually go deep into what a character is sensing from a play. I think Adachi has the remarkable ability to include non-baseball fans along with the avid aficionados I’ve read Short Program 2, and I am starting to conclude that Adachi is a master storyteller.