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Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Whistle!

Background

So... the scanslation for Whislte! (one of my favorite sports manga) was completed today... Just thought I should make a post about it... Since I did say there would be a good deal of anime/manga related content on this blog here...

Whistle! Is a football (*Sticks out tongue at the goras*) manga written by Daisuke Higuchi and was serialized in the late 90's and ended in 2003.

It developed great fan following since it was being serialized right around the time that the football world cup was held in Japan and South Korea. Additionally it was helped along by the Japanese team reaching the knockout stage and the Korean team actually reaching the semi finals. But despite all those contributing factors, the manga is pretty damned good all by itself.

Synopsis

Whistle! Follows the story of the young Sho Kazamatsuri, a short boy with a passion for soccer who was never allowed to play in middle school due to his short stature. He transfers schools when he enters High school in order to get a chance to play at a different team. However at his new school (Sakura Josui), people mistakenly assume that he was part of the starting lineup for his old school (Muasahinomori) which happened to be one of the best teams in the region. They quickly discover that Sho lacked both talent and practice and begin to scorn him. However, with his unrelenting passion, Sho quickly catches up to the rest of the team in terms of skill and in the end becomes an integral part of the team. The manga then follows his journey towards the top as he makes new friends, battles tough opponents on the pitch, and grows in skill with every encounter.

My Thoughts

I am a sucker for these underdog coming out on top kind of manga... dont ask why... I guess it is because I have known what it feels like to be in that situation... people who know me well will also testify that I nearly always choose to support the one person doomed to end up having his/her heart broken when it comes to anything involving love triangles or polygons...

But not only that... the manga has superb art... characters all look very distinct and the story is always exciting... there are a few training chapters which are usually the cause of boredom in many manga, but are well handled in this one with good inter-spacing of both humor and drama.

I am not sure what to say about the ending though... it was neat and nifty... and it followed the typical pattern of how sports manga usually end and it left me wanting more... but then... I also hate it when mangakas push their luck too much... as is happening with Hajime No Ippo now... so... in the end... I would say job well done...

If youre a fan of soccer and want to start reading manga... I recommend this one for a start... one reason is that it is a complete series... so you wont have to worry about waiting for new releases from scanslators... and 2nd is that its a superb series without too much in the way of manga unrealism/defiance of the laws of physics which you often see in sports anime/manga. In addition it keeps a good focus on the sports aspect even though it does take a few detours for dramatic effect.

BTW this manga does have an equally popular anime associated with it if anyones into that sorta thing....

Score

8.5/10 if youre a football fan I would say...

7.5/10 if you just like manga with no special attachment to football (*Sticks tongue out at the goras once more... LoL*) ...

5 comments:

Samadrita said...

As you already know I'm on to a soccer anime right now.So Whistle will have to wait.
And btw what do you recommend more?the anime or the manga?
Neat review.But add a few pictures ne? :)

The Laughing Man said...

The manga tells the whole story whereas the anime breaks off in the middle. Then again the manga also does not really give you full closure... I dunno what to say really... theyre both basically the same... it will just come down to which format you prefer I think...

The Laughing Man said...

Whistle is also more sports centric than Aoki Denesetsu Shoot! Just so you know... there is a lot less of the romantic drama in this series although each character in Whistle does have a story behind the scenes that they spend some time on... bad relations with parents... broken friendships... etc

I personally was not a fan of Kazumi Endo from Shoot... in sports anime/manga... Adachi remains the only one who has created the kind of female characters whom I liked to see in there... Kazumi usually came across as a bother IMO... even though she was the catalyst for the reformation of the trio...

Samadrita said...

Hmm then I might go for the anime since that's the format I prefer more.And yes Kazumi does indeed come off as annoying in Shoot!She is too sluttish and self-centered for my likes. >_<

The Laughing Man said...

LoL... I dont know about slutty... but she does annoy me no end... her VA was bit too enthusiastic somehow... I guess its not the VA's fault though... self centered is the word I was looking for though... yes... shes very self centered... I wish she would have been more like Nana from Area No Kishi... also exuberant... but more supportive...

Now that Whistle is over... other football manga with scanslations still ongoing are...

Aoki Denesetsu No Shoot!

Area No Kishi.

Fantasista.

Captain Tsubasa: Road to 2002