Rough

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I’m not going to go on too much at length regarding Mitsuru Adachi’s Rough. I only really wanted to remark on a couple of things about it, which struck me as being significant enough that I should even make a point of laying out why I find them interesting.

Adachi is mostly known to me as The Baseball Manga Guy. I’m aware that he has many other works where has dabbled in other genres, sports, etc., but it would be hard to argue that his reputation isn’t based on his baseball works (primarily Touch, H2 and Cross Game). Before I continue, I should lay out my ... biases (where I’m coming from): I hate baseball, and find it an unbearably dull sport; and I’ve only read one actual manga of his work (I’ve seen the entirety of the Cross Game anime, and about a third of the Touch anime). So, please bear in my mind that my observations regarding Rough and Adachi are based on a pretty small sampling of his oeuvre.

First observation: the main characters in Rough have complex interior lives that are revealed not through soul-bearing monologues, but through action. One of the strengths of Adachi’s work is that his characters are completely aware of themselves. Sure, they might not want to admit what they’re feeling (let alone verbalize it), but at every point they’re acutely aware of what they’re doing and why. Compare the protagonist of Rough to any similar work, and the level of self-knowledge is staggering. These characters aren’t confused or lost; they’re remarkably self-assured. But, more wonderful and more intriguing, is the way that Adachi lets us know completely what’s on their mind. There are numerous panels after panels where his characters witness something, or are in a situation that should warrant some kind of line of dialogue that will illuminate their thought process, but instead Adachi holds back. He gives us a panel full of only a side-long glance, or an almost blank reaction; but what Adachi trusts us to do as a reader is to fill in the blank, and notice that his characters’ brains are at full-throttle at all times. So even though there are no crazy love declarations, or angsty nonsense, when the romantic gestures do come out, they’re based on volume after volume of accrued body language, subtle visual information, and nuanced, elliptical storytelling. It’s a whole lot more complicated than just saying “I love you” - it approaches the sublime.

Which leads into my second observation: Adachi’s confidence in his style, his approach. In reading Rough, I often marvelled at the simplicity, the clarity, of Adachi’s storytelling. He’ll often start chapters with a couple of pages of nothing but still life scenery (a panel of an empty baseball diamond, a classroom, the classroom clock). It isn’t simple scene-setting; it’s almost the manga equivalent of Ozu’s pillow shots. These panels allow us to get into a particular mode of consciousness, a more receptive wavelength, where the interactions of the characters can be understood not just on a plot level, but also perhaps on a wider, more emotional level. By easing us into the story by giving us these partial slices of it, I think Adachi allows us to connect the experiences of the characters to our own memories; the empty classroom (though I think by now a Japanese visual trademark by itself) recalls images from our own life, and allows us to emotionally connect on an instinctual level with what’s happening with the character. Adachi allows us to both see the story, and see how the story is just a representation of certain rhythms, philosophies, attitudes. And, just like Ozu, he seems to return to the same basic subjects and themes, reworking them, putting them in different combinations, sometimes starting out at the same place, only to end up something different.

But that last part is something that I’ll have to investigate further. It’s all research after all.

copied/pasted from my blog: thenextthingblog.wordpress.com

It's a shame, really. This series has an unpleasant ending. Like the scanlators manga downloads said, it's one of the best Adachi comics when they scanlated it.
Ahh... just wished that the mangaka hadn't wasted some pages including some scenes which were totally out of plot, but since it's published in 1989 or something ,it couldn't be helped.

... Cos it seemed like he needed a few more chapters for a more conclusive ending.

Story:8
Right from the beginning, or somewhere the middle of this 119 chapters series, it had potential to score a 10. Sad thing is, some things were dragged out too long, and some "filler" ... panels wasted chapters. The plot development was incomplete, along with plot consistency. However, this is still one great comic, one of my favs, as the story has great realistic value, and covers some highly desirable values.

Pros:
+> Sportsmanship, hard work, camaraderie, loyalty etc. were well shown in this sports-romance centric comic.
+> Storytelling method was smooth except for a few kinks here and there. Able to move readers.
+> Main characters were able to play a great part in other people's lives

Cons:
-> Characters sort of had some strange personalities towards the end
-> Romance was not developed that well, especially even with the ending
-> Not enough explanation was given for some circumstances, even the ending
-> Story was kinda slow in some parts, especially the start of the series, and too rushed near the end
-> Some parts of the story was a bit strange, even eeriely unrealistic, (like Yamato's strange luck in a competition. It made it like luck was more important than ability. Dun worry , it's only for a couple of chapters.)

Well, the storyline is quite on sports and high school romance, along with some Romeo and Juliet references, so if you like this kind of genres, try reading it.

Art:9
Well, I recognized immediately this manga was published in the 1980s-1990s cos of the art, something similar to Ranma 1/2 or Kimagura(?) Orange Road.

What is spectacular about the art is that early till about middle of the series the drawings of the scenery shocked me. A lot of deatil in them and they look realistic. But somehow after some point they seemed less realistic.

Expressions were drawn nicely too, but some panels seemed to jump to much from the previous panel, so I had no idea what the panel meant.

Its art is great even for today's context, 2010. A lot of effort must have been put in, to reach that detail of art in a manga. Some panels look like they should be in a museum :D.

Character:9
Very nice development of some characters, especially the main characters' personalities. However, the main characters' past were not explored enough, hanging a cliffhanger there, and near the ending, some events made it even more perplexing.

Character personalities' were pretty stable thruout the series, although some characters were introduced, then abandoned.

It's a pity the mangaka couldn't stay more focused on the main characters.

Enjoyment:8
Sometimes draggy and slow, but it is very touching and some points, and inspiring. A must read for sports fans, or athletes who are interested in this kind of manga. Plenty to agree with, cos it's pretty realistic.

Btw, the romance in Rough reminded me a bit of Yume de Aetara.

Overall:8
Depending on preferences, you may like or dislike this comic. The character art is awfully simplistic and some panels literally show nothing but take a lot of space. But the storyline is a good one, though the ending was not so good. Well, come to think of it, it might have been a good ending, oh well.

If you like this series, try the mangaka's other works or Yume de Aetara.

O PS. I though that this series should be an anime better than a manga, since some parts would be better with voice acting and some parts were better if we knew the timing of some actions.

Despite a marital liability with an ex invested in synchronized swimming, the theme is clearly not part of my centers of interest and all the less since it is a question here, in the background of course, of swimming races and swimming races. acrobatic dive. In addition, it begins to be far for me, the (hypothetical) age of first love in high school. Why then have I immersed myself in Rough? Well, it was a question of dipping into the world of Adachi, cult author of the teenage sports sagas of the 80s. And I must admit that despite my very relative interest in the ... topics covered, I still enjoyed reading.

Already, the clear, limpid line that guides Adachi's line retains a crazy charm, at a time when visual overload has ended up making so many works hardly digestible. But also, even if they are small delicate touches, thanks to a humor not hesitating some meta winks (to other series of Adachi, to the ill-faith clarification of certain elements specific to the diegesis itself of the work) and, if we do not avoid the eternals which proquo smelled mint, and the few obligatory serial lengths, thanks to a rather light sensitivity. In the great lineage of the derivatives of Romeo & Juliette, of which Rough would be almost a low cost parody (two families of pastry chefs hate each other, and thus make them their offspring of opposite sex), it is therefore a question of brushing a tandem first in rejection, before finally pushing them more or less in the arms. Add to this equation with two easily soluble unknowns a mentor / rival, then another pair of rivals and we obtain a pool of situations that can roughly hold the dozen volumes.

Basically, the point that was bothering me (the sporting issue being strongly correlated with obtaining a female trophy) is finely defused in a final which skillfully manages to thwart the moral expectation (the sentimental choice is disconnected in extremis from the winner) as the expected narrative (the great final race, after being delayed for a year by an impromptu deus ex machina, has almost gone under ellipse). Like what, behind a clear line, can lurk a small well felt blind spot.


ORIGINAL REVIEW IN FRENCH

Malgré un passif conjugal avec un ex investie dans la natation synchronisée, la thématique ne fait clairement pas partie de mes centres d'intérêt et d'autant moins qu'il est question ici, en toile de fond certes, de courses de natations et de plongeon acrobatique. Par ailleurs, il commence à être loin pour moi, l'âge (hypothétique) des premiers amours au lycée. Pourquoi donc m'être plongé dans Rough, dès lors ? Et bien, il s'agissait de faire trempette dans l'univers d'Adachi, auteur culte des sagas sportives adolescentes des années 80. Et je dois bien avouer qu'en dépit de mon intérêt tout relatif pour les thèmes abordés, j'ai tout de même apprécié la lecture.

Déjà, la ligne claire, limpide, qui guide le trait d'Adachi garde un charme fou, à une époque où la surcharge visuelle a fini par rendre tant d’œuvres peu digestes. Mais aussi, même si il s'agit de petites touches délicates, grâce à un humour n'hésitant pas quelques clins d’œil méta (à d'autres séries d'Adachi, à l'éclaircissement de mauvaise foi de certain éléments propre à la diégèse même de l’œuvre) et, si on évite pas les éternels qui proquo senti-menthe-à-l'eau, et les quelques longueurs sérielles obligées, grâce à une sensibilité plutôt légère. Dans la grande lignée des dérivés de Romeo & Juliette, dont Rough serait presque une parodie low cost (deux familles de pâtissiers se haïssent, et ainsi en font leurs rejetons de sexe opposés), il s'agit donc de brosser un tandem d'abord dans le rejet, avant finalement de les pousser plus ou moins dans les bras. Ajoutons à cette équation à deux inconnues facilement soluble un mentor/rival, puis un autre couple de rivaux et on obtient un vivier de situations pouvant à peu près tenir la douzaine de tomes.

Sur le fond, le point qui me taraudait ( l'enjeu sportif étant fortement corrélé à l'obtention de femelle-trophée) est finement désamorcé dans un final qui parvient habilement à déjouer l'attendu moral ( le choix sentimental est déconnecté in extremis du vainqueur ) comme l'attendu narratif ( la grande course finale, après avoir été retardé d'un an par un deus ex machina impromptu, est presque passée sous ellipse ). Comme quoi, derrière une ligne claire, peut se tapir un petit angle mort bien senti.