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| THIS IS A MANGA ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING BEYOND THIS CHAPTER. ---------------------------------------- Well never expected the ending will be like that..kinda anti climax..after all that, and we didn't see a proper ending does Hiro and Haruka become together? but the last conversation worth telling that Hiro finally accept Haruka..and Hideo stays with Hikari. Well great manga..from Adachi-sensei.., let see there is Cross Game |
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| Hmm yeah kinda disappointed. But i think it was a great manga, jsut as good as touch. Although i wish he tied things up better. Touch did that much better with that aspect. LOVE THE WHOLE MANAG! |
| honestly there were large sections where I was very bored, I doubt I would have been able to finish it if I'd been reading it while it was still being serialized/written. it reminded me way to much of Cross Game, especially several of the characters and situations. not to mention the extreme predictability of several major plot points and the many passed up opportunities to deepen the story and expand the characters. it wasn't a bad manga, but i don't think it was worth the time it took to read. especially not with this ending. the only part of it I really liked was Osanai rooting for her boyfriend while in the opposing team's dugout ; ) |
| If you read a lot of his series you can almost predict what happens. Reading this I kept forgetting if I read this series yet because it would come to a situation where I knew what was going to happen but thought I haven't read this one yet. As for the ending I thought it explained enough. Hikari and Hideo are going to stay together. You can figure that out from the previous chapter. I did wish they would have put Hiro and Koga together but it was only meanings and thus never confirmed. |
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| I got too into H2, 15 volumes in, and clicked on this thread. Now that I know Hiro and Hikari don't end up together, my motivation to continue has dropped to zero. They made a perfect pairing, and for Hideo to end up staying with her is just so... wrong. ...Damnit. |
| Well, now my reading's done and I'm pretty satisfied. I've been reading H2 on-and-off for quite a while and finally finished. After watching Cross Game and reading H2, I feel I've really fell for Adachi's style. I personally enjoyed the ending. It was a bit surprising but nontheless conclusive. |
| With a ending like that this manga can go on for forever, well It seems Hikari is With Hideo.. Great manga really enjoyed it. |
 Behold of my awesomeness~ controversial and/or sensitive topics likely devolve into the same repetitive, derogatory, abusive, and harassing comments can no longer be posted. But my feels. |
| Another great manga from Mitsuru Adachi. The ending was good, and not completed as always. I will probably read the boxing one next. |
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| I enjoyed reading this! I really love Mitsuru Adachi's works! =)) PS I always wanted Hiro to be with Hikari. |
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| From what I've been reading I was expecting the ending to be terrible but it turned out to be pretty great. While I enjoy Adachi work, a lot of them are pretty much carbon copies of each other with only some minor difference, H2 was definitely a welcome deviation. I think this is definitely my favourite work by Adachi that I've read/watched. I'm surprised how great the way characters like Kine, the other notable Senkawa players and even rival players were handled in this series, since Adachi isn't usually great with the development of side characters (having Kine pitch a full game in Kousien was amazingly touching). I'm really glad they weren't just put as cheap hurdles for the main characters. |
MagEarwhig said: From what I've been reading I was expecting the ending to be terrible but it turned out to be pretty great. Me too. Well I wouldn't say it was great, but not terrible, either. I expected to see the final game as an epilogue: I figured that was the reason why Adachi made it so Senkawa and Meiwa Ichi met only in semifinal. Also I hoped to see how will they do after the Koshien finish, so another few chapters would be great. Be it kinda just finished, so, oh well... |
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| Strongest series I've seen from Adachi yet... except for the ending. I was thinking that we'll get a short epilogue showing they've won the finals or something.. but oh well. It's also nice to see things wrapped up for our unofficial pairings. I wouldn't really like it if Hikari ends up with Hiro after all. Now I wonder what should I read next. |
| Contrary to most people, I think the ending's pretty great as it is. Nice to see Hideo finally ending up with Hikari. Touch was great, but H2 is a step above. 9/10 |
Kagami_Hiiragi said: Idc if you think its weird, I have a life and friends and an income of money. |
| I'm sorry, if I will make mistakes. My english is bad. I like the Zooincle's interpretations. This is similar to what I think about it. But I think the relationship Hikari and Hiro is much more complex. She is not only his first love, she is like a sister and a reliable friend to him. All his life he knew her. Of course, this relationship is difficult to break. But does not need to Hikari loved him as a man, not as a neighbor boy? Apparently Hiro is not necessary in this case, because after his victory, then Hiro didn't need more Hikari, she chose Hideo. It is sad, but I really don't see any reason to return to the children's sandbox when they both found the people for a more adult relationship. |
jacobpaige said: I thought exactly the same. It wasn't a bad manga, but i don't think it was worth the time it took to read. especially not with this ending. the only part of it I really liked was Osanai rooting for her boyfriend while in the opposing team's dugout ; ) Why Adachi has to make his endings so inconclusive.. WHY? |
Apologies, I just can't avoid to rant. |
K-Shuun said: Because he is Japanese.jacobpaige said: I thought exactly the same. It wasn't a bad manga, but i don't think it was worth the time it took to read. especially not with this ending. the only part of it I really liked was Osanai rooting for her boyfriend while in the opposing team's dugout ; ) Why Adachi has to make his endings so inconclusive.. WHY? This was a very Japanese way to end. The manga wasn't about whether Hiro can pitch two Koshien victories in the same year, it was about his first love. I interpreted it this way: we were all thinking that for Hikari to "choose" meant that she would choose who won the face-off between the two. And Noda thought this too, which is why he didn't want to tell Hiro (because he thought he'd let Hideo win). But it was the complete opposite, and Hiro knew this which is why he told Noda that he loved Hikari in the beginning, and which is why he cried when he struck-out Hideo. Hideo told Hikari that he was the person in the world who needed her the most. Hikari had always been there for Hiro when they were younger because he was helpless and needed her help. But now he doesn't anymore, and that's why Hikari chooses Hideo. Because he needs her. Thus, Hiro's first love is now over. The conclusion of the final battle at Koshien (like the announcer previously said, is almost just an afterthought to the semifinal) is not important. Thus, the manga ends. I enjoyed this manga a lot. 9/10 |
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| I have to say the open ending was a bit disappointing. Not really a big deal though, as you could more or less guess what was going on. Luckily the author did not go the "Hiro and Hikari" route when Haruka has been the better choice from the beginning. That aside, it was a really nice read. It had its own share of flaws, but I really enjoyed it. Cross Game was leagues above though. |
| Aliis si licet, tibi non licet. |
| I thought this manga was "okay" but not really great. And there is kind of a few reasons why I say this, although first going to comment on the ending. I was actually glad that Hikari and Hiro did not end up together, I thought it would be a little late (after 3-4 years of crushing on each other), to finally decide to do something about it. In fact I was disappointed that even at the very end it seems like Hiro hasn't moved on, but I'll get more to that later. I would have to say though, that the ending left a lot to be desired, I mean normally you would have some type of epilogue after a climax like that, but no, it literally ended on what should have been the transition to the epilogue, which for a 338 chapter manga is inexcusable. Anyways, one of the main reasons I can't like this series are the characters. The four main characters had some development, I suppose, at some point in the series, however not too much too be quite honest. The chemistry between Hiro and Hikari stays constant and isn't addressed for 3 years? Haruka throughout kind of stays the same (actually didn't mind this since she wasn't a character that necessarily had a need to "develop"), and hideo for the most part was almost as boring as you could get for the first 300 chapters. He finally shows some life in the end but other than that he was less developed than characters like Kine. However that takes me to the heart of the problem with characters. It wasn't the main four that had any major problem (they were bland but whatever) it was all the other characters. If you write a team sports manga, you have to be able to REMEMBER the other characters on the team. You can't just bring them up once and then maybe mention them 2-3 times in the next 300 chapters. I mean take Hideo's friend for example. After he was introduced as the shortstop he was pretty much void of any dialogue for the rest of the series. They tossed in a bit of dialogue for Yanagi, although not much. And then of course we have people like Kine which was only ever used for Comedic relief, but other than that forgotten. It left the "slice of life" aspect very boring, and essentially just a repetitive love triangle for 300 chapters. As I said, the love triangle was never developed throughout the series, so it would basically go game --> love triangle --> game --> Same issues --> game --> same issues over and over. Now had this been a manga more focused on sports, I could forgive the love triangle elements (and maybe to a lesser degree the lack in character depth, although not the lack in attention to characters, i.e. keeping them relevant after introducing them as an important character to the team), however it really wasn't a good "sports manga" either. And this is why I can't say it was "good". The sports aspect was . . . Well the pacing was way off, I mean hell, the game between Hideo and Hiro (H2, literally the game this series was building up to, and awkwardly ended right after), was one of the less intense games. After the first Koshien, where they lost in the second round, or perhaps even before that, I noticed a sharp drop in attention to the gameplay. It was basically, show a few pitches her, a homerun there, and final score. But that wasn't really where the problem started. The problem started before that, their was no "strategy", Noda was supposed to be a great catcher but you never really got to see him calling pitches or rationale between it (kind of like making it a battle between the battery and the hitter, which was mentioned multiple times but never shown). As mentioned earlier, even when they did show more of the game, games were usually one by homeruns, very little thought was put into doing things like sac flys / bunts /etc. Other problems included things like a school that didn't have a large baseball program (and arguably a rather bad coach, he made very few calls, and not even sure if he was the one who decided what they did for practice), as well as not too many "good" players, I mean 4-5 "good players" out of 20 (# you can have at Koshien), already puts you at a pretty bad advantage. And yet despite all this, they were not only able to make it to the Koshien, but won it (once maybe twice)? See with sports manga it is necessary not to make it too ridiculous, but a newly formed team, with minimal resources, shouldn't in a million years be able to pull something like that off. That is why I felt this manga was actually more focused on the Slice of Life elements than the sports elements, which as pointed out earlier, didn't win any points with me. Overall then, it kind of left this "well, it was okay on both fronts, but probably could have been better if he focused more on sports or more on slice of life" sentiment. I want to clarify, I didn't hate this series, I do talk alot of smack, but felt I had to mention it. Anyways, I would give this series a 6/10. |
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| I do like how it ended and while I like the overall message of this Manga (someone brought it up in this thread that Hikari took care of Hiro because he used to be helpless but now he's grown up and she can move onto Hideo for real) but for 338 chapters? Honestly, more could have happened. I pretty much agree with everything Pirating Ninja has said above me. I felt that Koga Haruka was absolutely useless and she lacked development. She was only there for the sake of being Hiro's new love interest. I'm glad she wasn't the typical short haired tsundere that Adachi keeps on writing. Hideo was very boring as well. I honestly enjoyed reading about Kine x Osonai more than any of the other couples. Even Noda was more interesting than our main four leads. I did like Hikari but I felt that what she did for the entire series (dating someone but loving someone else mutually) was kinda rude. The sports aspect... yeah, I didn't like it either. It's hard to believe Senkawa can beat Meiwa. The results Senkawa has shown with other teams has been like 5-3 or 7-2, when Meiwa completely beats and pulverizes other teams like 10-0 or 20-5 idk. It's just one of those sports anime cliches. I'll write more later but yeah. 7 out of 10 was my overall score. I liked it but I don't think it's worth reading when you can just read Cross Game instead. |
| didnt really care about HikarixHiro but damn was it a fcking dissapointing ending |
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| what a disappointing ending, it's so frustrating. ugh i feel bad for hiro, if only mrs. amamiya didn't get ill hope i won't see hideo character design in future manga / anime, thank God mix didn't have that design. |
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| Just finished reading this for the second time and I still love it a lot. I agree with some of the people here, Hiro had already chosen Haruka over Hikari before the game against Meiwa Ichi started. He said 'Be a stewardess', which basically means 'I love you" or 'marry me' to Haruka, and in addition, 'live a long time'. The reason why Hiro wanted a win over Tachibana was to make him realize that he wasn't as strong (as a man) as he thought he was, and that he needed Hikari more than anyone else in the world. (If Hiro had lost, it would most likely end up like that scene after his first Koushien lost. Hiro and Hikari's relationship would remain vague.) The fight put an end to the 337-chapter-long drama. Now that I think about it, the theme was indeed very similar to Adachi Mitsuru's two other biggest baseball manga (something like moving on). |
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Reply to Zooincle
I have two interpretations for what happened and can't understand which is the correct (despite I think the second one is more probable).
1- Hiro really wanted Hikari's love until close to the end, but he noticed she loved more Hideo and used the game to make Hikari notice her own feelings. He also liked Haruka, and got her as consolation prize.
2- Hiro chose Haruka before, but still had feelings for Hikari too. So he played the villain in the game to make Hikari's fellings for Hideo rise and Hideo just didn't undesrtand what was happening. His tears in the end are a farewell to his old love.
I think the second one is more probable because imo Hiro never was dishonest with his feelings during the series.
Since beggining it was obvious he had feelings for Hikari and wanted to move on, but that was hard for him. He found in Haruka a new potential love interest, but his feelings for her grew up slowly as in most relations. That's why in first arcs he pratically just cares about Hikari's feelings and with time passing he cares more about Haruka too.
So he decided stay with Haruka and Hikari with Hideo but when Hiro wins Koshien and Hikari's mother dies, their feelings got mixed again since both are the best to support each other in this sadness moments. But he snapped out of it before Hikari and since before Koshien start he had already decided what he would do.
Against this theory is the fact that after his loss at Koshien, he kind of confessed to Hikari, going against the idea of not to fight for her. Even saying that he wouldn't fight for them, he showed clearly how he was upset with all the situation. Also, in the ending he cries after the game and not looks happy with Haruka in final scenes.
Agreeing with this theory, I repeat that Hiro never looked the kind of guy that lies about his feelings. So, he loved Hikari, but also loved Haruka. Since final Koshien's arc start his talks with Haruka are as if he had already chosen her as his girl (as for example when he remembers Hikari's dad saying him for choose a wife that lives for many years). Also, when in the beach scene, Hikari's behavior sugests she'll root for Hiro, and he answers "Sorry", cause he knew he would make she roots against him in the end. The same vaults for his "you don't understand" directed to Hideo and Hikari's quote that she hadn't have the right of choose her man, indicating that Hiro had already made the choice before.
I'm not saying that Hiro loved Haruka more than Hikari at that point, probably it was the opposite, despite he said he wasn't gauging them before. But I think he really loved Haruka too, chose her and didn't leave the story losing the only girl he really loved and getting just a consolation prize as many people here give the impression.
He's gloomy in the final scenes because it was the day after and he was in a "hangover" for had given up an old love, but doesn't mean necessarily that he was sad with the outcome.
1- Hiro really wanted Hikari's love until close to the end, but he noticed she loved more Hideo and used the game to make Hikari notice her own feelings. He also liked Haruka, and got her as consolation prize.
2- Hiro chose Haruka before, but still had feelings for Hikari too. So he played the villain in the game to make Hikari's fellings for Hideo rise and Hideo just didn't undesrtand what was happening. His tears in the end are a farewell to his old love.
I think the second one is more probable because imo Hiro never was dishonest with his feelings during the series.
Since beggining it was obvious he had feelings for Hikari and wanted to move on, but that was hard for him. He found in Haruka a new potential love interest, but his feelings for her grew up slowly as in most relations. That's why in first arcs he pratically just cares about Hikari's feelings and with time passing he cares more about Haruka too.
So he decided stay with Haruka and Hikari with Hideo but when Hiro wins Koshien and Hikari's mother dies, their feelings got mixed again since both are the best to support each other in this sadness moments. But he snapped out of it before Hikari and since before Koshien start he had already decided what he would do.
Against this theory is the fact that after his loss at Koshien, he kind of confessed to Hikari, going against the idea of not to fight for her. Even saying that he wouldn't fight for them, he showed clearly how he was upset with all the situation. Also, in the ending he cries after the game and not looks happy with Haruka in final scenes.
Agreeing with this theory, I repeat that Hiro never looked the kind of guy that lies about his feelings. So, he loved Hikari, but also loved Haruka. Since final Koshien's arc start his talks with Haruka are as if he had already chosen her as his girl (as for example when he remembers Hikari's dad saying him for choose a wife that lives for many years). Also, when in the beach scene, Hikari's behavior sugests she'll root for Hiro, and he answers "Sorry", cause he knew he would make she roots against him in the end. The same vaults for his "you don't understand" directed to Hideo and Hikari's quote that she hadn't have the right of choose her man, indicating that Hiro had already made the choice before.
I'm not saying that Hiro loved Haruka more than Hikari at that point, probably it was the opposite, despite he said he wasn't gauging them before. But I think he really loved Haruka too, chose her and didn't leave the story losing the only girl he really loved and getting just a consolation prize as many people here give the impression.
He's gloomy in the final scenes because it was the day after and he was in a "hangover" for had given up an old love, but doesn't mean necessarily that he was sad with the outcome.
| @Zooincle I know I am like 9 years late but I just finished reading this masterpiece and am glad I found your expalnation !! Very well explained ! |
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