Ahiru no Sora

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I read it more than 30 times, purchased 40 volumes, and the whole online edition. From the perspective of a fan who has read thousands of Japanese mangas, Hinata Takeshi is one of the best Japanese manga artists, and AHIRU NO SORA is undoubtedly the best basketball manga after SLAM DUNK.
I don't know how AHIRU NO SORA performed in other languages, but the Chinese version gave me a very good reading experience. The content of the 35-38 volume single-line book is comparable to the most exciting part of SLAM DUNK.
I love all the characters in AHIRU NO SORA. Takeshi Sensei's description of emotions is ... not inferior to the best youth manga. As a person from East Asian culture, the world in Ahiru no Sora is completely realistic.
I have played basketball before. Although I did not consider about being professional player, I have received some professional training when I was young. Takeshi Sensei’s understanding of basketball is the best among Japanese manga artists. The players and games he created are imaginative but realistic, due to his previous experience in high school basketball.
I highly recommend that readers who like sports manga and youth manga consider Ahiru no Sora.

I'm French.

In life, sometimes that is a disadvantage. In the case of Ahiru No Sora, which isn't fully translated in english but is in French, it's a blessing.

I think a quote from the manga that summarize and explain its thematics the most is made by the author himself and Toby :"The future doesn't exist". This applies both to the perception of the world, the story and the characters. Many times, the manga will do Flash-forwards, showing us the futur of these characters after the end of the manga's story. This shows us that, clearly, the result isn't the important part of the manga. It's the ... journey.

Nao, the manager, says it well herself during a flash forward : This isn't the story about an underdog team that topples the nation. It's about boys doing their best to redeem themselves. To become athletes, to become good persons. And these characters, these boys, are exceptionally well written.

This is, yes, a basketball manga. But it's also about love, interpersonnal and other. Loving a sport, loving doing your best. It's incredibly beautiful and it takes its time.

Now, don't come into this manga expecting players that are top tier or insane basketball plays. This manga is about a no-name school that, yes performs well to a certain degree, but will inevitably fail in their pursue of the interhigh. This was never put into doubt. They'll lose, maybe even before making it to the main tournament, the nationals.

But it's not a bad thing, it's good.

It's good because it helps the realism of this manga. It's good because it shows us that even though they will lose, them doing their best and striving toward a goal is what's important. Winning is cool, sure. But striving to accomplish something is big, especially for so many delinquents, depressed, yips touched people.

So read it. The art is great. The story is magnificient. The characters are among the best you'll ever see in a sports manga. It's great. One of my favorite manga ever.

Read

This review section is infested with 9s and 10s making you actually want to pick this up. I recommend not doing that because this is more than just a little dreadful.

Story: (3/10)
The story gets good from time to time. Especially when our main character has some growth. But that isn't nearly enough to make up for the bs it pulls.
This manga like many others wants to focus on 'realism' rather than entertainment. You can see how I put realism in quotations there. It's because the only time the author decides to pursue realism is when he should be hyping stuff up. Every interaction at the ... start is unrealistic. Every motivation is unrealistic. Every non-tournament match is unrealistic. The only time he decides to pursue realism is when it gets to the tournament matches.
His realism is him trying to make the work as painful as he can. Which is so incredibly dumb. Are you reading this to be in pain? Are you perhaps a masochist? Or are you someone who looks at the characters struggling and go like, 'wow! that's a deep story! im a critic now!'? If you're any of those, just read this and 'enjoy' yourself. I can't stop you from lying to yourself.
{spoiler: they don't win a match until late into the manga... not 40-50 chapters late... im talking 180-200 chapters out of the 220 something chapters out in English rn.}

Art: (5/10)
Nothing special. Nothing that stands out, Everyone has duck-like lips to match the title I guess.

Characters: (2/10)
Oooh boy! They are disgusting. Utterly disgusting unrealistic messes. The best part about this show's cast is the MC. But even despite being the best part, he has so little backbone and is such a simp for Madoka that he isn't even good. Talking about romance, it's NTR and you can't convince me otherwise. MC like Medoka who was built up to be best girl, Madoka undergoes moral degeneration and even after making it out goes to someone other than the MC. I have a whole blog post about this so I wouldn't go into much detail.
The second female likes the guy, but he's dense and she's bland. Her personality trait is clumsy.
We also have the I'm a delinquent but also a secretly nice guy and an 'I was hiding my true power all along guy.'

Enjoyment: (1/10)
This manga kept me up at night as I kept on wondering why and how I managed to inflict this much damage upon myself. If you're reading this to have a good time... don't. Don't even come near this. It's unholy.