Jan 29, 2022
What happens when you let a Mary Sue in a fantasy world? You get this manga.
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Let's go over the positives first; the world. You can think of the world similar to "No Game No Life". A world dictated through games; in this situation, dictated through baseball. It's their world's rule of "war", when you lose, you can lose your whole nation, along with different races having different advantages/disadvantages.
It's not completely innovative, but it does have potential. Another positive is the characters, at the very least the side characters/"villains", where they do develop, and we get to see their backstories as to why they are that
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way. Nobody (as of yet) is inherently evil because they are.
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Now, let's get some of the negatives out of the way.
A LOT of fan service. Might not be a bad point for some, but it ruins any dramatic atmosphere. Is someone being sad, angry, potentially breaking down? Show a person's butt, then back to their sad face.
The art is fine, but you don't get a sense of the world actually changing. Reading this, the world could've easily been set in our world, just with cosplayers. It does have its high points at times with the "action" scenes, "camera" angles changing along with decent shots to show how the body should move when playing baseball. The manga does seem to focus a lot on the characters, rather than anything else, and at times, does it very well.
But again, the background is so incredibly bland, I would rather read a regular baseball manga.
My biggest concern here is the main character.
Let's use the "No Game No Life" example again. Even though their main characters are generic, overpowered leads that are smart; they have weaknesses. The weak physical body, giving up at times, etc. You also get to see them almost solving a puzzle, trying to figure out what the opponents' weaknesses are, struggling, and almost losing.
Here, we get our protagonist. He might have some trouble; he does have emotions. But immediately after, he's back to himself, there is no development with his character, and because of how "prepared" they are, you just feel like you're reading a professor going to kindergarten to do basic math. Why should the readers feel any tension, if we see our protagonist never struggle?
He's practically a Mary Sue, and is just the exposition leader, explaining every single thing and is, to this world, the baseball God, pretty much. But hey, having a strong lead protagonist could still be developed, right?
Here's the issue - plot armor. With every exposition he has, the protagonist has an answer. You don't get a sense that he'll lose. The dumbest thing I've seen is how the protagonist knows the race's weaknesses so easily. He just came to another world, a baseball fanatic that we know so little of, but now knows the races' weaknesses?
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If you enjoy baseball and want to read it through manga, I'd recommend just reading a baseball manga set in our world. As much as this has an interesting premise and how our world interacts with a fantasy one, it's as it goes.
You will not feel any tension when our protagonist is on screen. There is nothing to hide, everything would be explained in the next chapter and another win.
Reviewer’s Rating: 5
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