Interest Stacks

As a child, Moritaka Mashiro dreamt of becoming a mangaka, just like his childhood hero and uncle, Tarou Kawaguchi, creator of a popular gag manga. But when tragedy strikes, he gives up on his dream and spends his middle school days studying, aiming to become a salaryman instead. One day, his classmate Akito Takagi, the school's top student and aspiring writer, notices the detailed drawings in Moritaka's notebook. Seeing the vast potential of his artistic talent, Akito approaches Moritaka, proposing that they become mangaka together. After much convincing, Moritaka realizes that if he is able to create a popular manga series, he may be able to get the girl he has a crush on, Miho Azuki, to take part in the anime adaptation as a voice actor. Thus the pair begins creating manga under the pen name Muto Ashirogi, hoping to become the greatest mangaka in Japan, the likes of which no one has ever seen. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Second-year high school student Yatora Yaguchi is a delinquent with excellent grades, but is unmotivated to find his true calling in life. Yatora spends his days working hard to maintain his academic standing while hanging out with his equally unambitious friends. However, beneath his carefree demeanor, Yatora does not enjoy either activity and wishes he could find something more fulfilling. While mulling over his predicament, Yatora finds himself staring at a vibrant landscape of Shibuya. Unable to express how he feels about the unusually breathtaking sight, he picks up a paintbrush, hoping his thoughts will be conveyed on canvas. After receiving praise for his work, the joy he feels sends him on a journey to enter the extremely competitive Tokyo University of the Arts—a school that only accepts one in every two hundred applicants. Facing talented peers, a lack of understanding of the fine arts, and struggles to obtain his parents’ approval, Yatora is confronted by much adversity. In the hopes of securing one of the five prestigious spots in his program of choice, Yatora must show that his inexperience does not define him. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Having reached professional status in middle school, Rei Kiriyama is one of the few elite in the world of shogi. Due to this, he faces an enormous amount of pressure, both from the shogi community and his adoptive family. Seeking independence from his tense home life, he moves into an apartment in Tokyo. As a 17-year-old living on his own, Rei tends to take poor care of himself, and his reclusive personality ostracizes him from his peers in school and at the shogi hall. However, not long after his arrival in Tokyo, Rei meets Akari, Hinata, and Momo Kawamoto, a trio of sisters living with their grandfather who owns a traditional wagashi shop. Akari, the oldest of the three girls, is determined to combat Rei's loneliness and poorly sustained lifestyle with motherly hospitality. The Kawamoto sisters, coping with past tragedies, also share with Rei a unique familial bond that he has lacked for most of his life. As he struggles to maintain himself physically and mentally through his shogi career, Rei must learn how to interact with others and understand his own complex emotions. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yoichi Isagi was mere moments away from scoring a goal that would have sent his high school soccer team to the nationals, but a split-second decision to pass the ball to his teammate cost him that reality. Bitter, confused, and disappointed, Isagi wonders if the outcome would have been different had he not made the pass. When the young striker returns home, an invitation from the Japan Football Union awaits him. Through an arbitrary and biased decision-making process, Isagi is one of three hundred U-18 strikers selected for a controversial project named Blue Lock. The project's ultimate goal is to turn one of the selected players into the star striker for the Japanese national team. To find the best participant, each diamond in the rough must compete against others through a series of solo and team competitions to rise to the top. Putting aside his ethical objections to the project, Isagi feels compelled to fight his way to the top, even if it means ruthlessly crushing the dreams of 299 aspiring young strikers. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

With the help of producer Masaya Kaburagi, Aquamarine "Aqua" Hoshino and Kana Arima have landed the roles of Touki and Tsurugi in Lala Lai Theatrical Company's stage adaptation of the popular manga series Tokyo Blade. Co-starring with them is Aqua's girlfriend, Akane Kurokawa, who plays Touki's fiancée, Princess Saya. Due to the fanbase preferring Tsurugi as Touki's love interest, Saya has made fewer and fewer appearances in the manga, making it difficult for Akane to fully immerse herself in the role. Her struggles are compounded by differences between the play's script and the original work—differences that also frustrate Tokyo Blade's author, Abiko Samejima. Aqua, however, is more concerned with his personal goals than he is with the play. He has only one objective in mind: to grow closer to director Toshirou Kindaichi and find out what he knows about Aqua's mother, Ai. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ever since having witnessed the "Little Giant" and his astonishing skills on the volleyball court, Shouyou Hinata has been bewitched by the dynamic nature of the sport. Even though his attempt to make his debut as a volleyball regular during a middle school tournament went up in flames, he longs to prove that his less-than-impressive height ceases to be a hindrance in the face of his sheer will and perseverance. When Hinata enrolls in Karasuno High School, the Little Giant's alma mater, he believes that he is one step closer to his goal of becoming a professional volleyball player. Although the school only retains a shadow of its former glory, Hinata's conviction isn't shaken until he learns that Tobio Kageyama—the prodigy who humiliated Hinata's middle school volleyball team in a crushing defeat—is now his teammate. To fulfill his desire of leaving a mark on the realm of volleyball—so often regarded as the domain of the tall and the strong—Hinata must smooth out his differences with Kageyama. Only when Hinata learns what it takes to be a part of a team will he be able to join the race to the top in earnest. [Written by MAL Rewrite]