Manga Read: Volume 4, discussion post

[graychalk]

Hi all! It's time for our weekly manga read discussion post. I was sick for a while so I haven't been fangirling around the posts as much as I wanted to, but I hope some of you guys are at least enjoying this. Anything you want to see more/less of, please do share your thoughts. :)

Anyhow, onwards to volume 4!




Synopsis: Volume 4

Volume 4 begins with surprising news all around: the 2nd seeded team, Kakinoki, was soundly defeated by an unseeded (and largely unknown) team, Fudoumine - which leads to Seigaku playing Fudoumine in the finals.

First up is Doubles 2, Fuji-Kawamura vs Ishida-Sakurai. The game starts off in Fudoumine's favor, and though Fuji manages to turn the tide with his Swallow Return, Kawamura's wrist was eventually injured by Ishida's Hadoukyuu, causing Seigaku to forfeit their D2 match. We also get a bit of flashback showing us the difficulties Fudoumine went through to get to where they are today.

Next, Doubles 1, Ooishi-Kikumaru vs Uchimura-Mori, wherein Seigaku's Golden Pair wins fairly easily, despite the rain. Meanwhile, a bit of pre-game friction occurs between Ryouma, Kaidou, Shinji, and Kamio - naturally, with Ryouma's brand of provocation.

Singles 3, we have Kaidou vs Kamio. Lots of struggling in this one, with Kamio's speed, Kaidou's accidental Boomerang Snake and his failed attempts at reproducing the shot, but Kaidou trumps in the end through sheer tenacity. The volume ends with the start of Singles 2, Ryouma vs Shinji, which will be shown next volume!

* Erm. Just curious. Are any of you guys actually reading the recaps? ^^; I'm always torn between trying to balance out what needs to be included. I would imagine it's boring to read - I mean, you've obviously read the volume yourself. If the synopsis doesn't garner all that much interest, I'd rather just be super brief and focus more on the rest of the discussion. Thoughts? :)


Featured: Kaidou Kaoru (海堂 薫)



School: Seishun Academy (Seigaku) - 2nd year
Birthday: May 11th
Height: 173cm
Blood Type: B
Play Style: Counter Puncher

Kaidou, often called Mamushi (or Viper), is easily recognizable by his bandana, fierce glares, and his "fshuuu" hisses. And lack of socks. And incredible eyebrows. :D

In general, he appears rather intense, hostile, and confrontational. He's largely feared by the other Seigaku club members, regulars aside. Of course, we do know that he has a much softer and adorable side that shows up later in the series. :D His signature move is the Snake shot, and with this volume, the Boomerang Snake as well. But what makes him truly fearsome as an opponent is his stamina, tenacity, and his unwillingness to back down no matter what.

Character Discussion: So far, up to volume 4, Kaidou actually gets quite a lot of screen time. However, what we see also includes plenty of anger, hostility, and even some violent-tendencies. What do/did you think of Kaidou at this point in time? Do you find his character and/or play style more on the endearing side or the unlikeable?


General Discussion:

Even though we've reached volume 4, I'd say the story is only largely just beginning, which also makes it a bit hard to get much discussions going yet - but personally, for you, what is it about the series that makes you want to continue and read more? New readers, what's holding your interest (if anything)? For old readers, do you remember what your feelings about the manga were? Did it change through time? How did you end up being a big fan (I'm assuming you're a big fan) of the series that you are now?

General stuff aside, volume 4 gives us an introduction to this series' dark horse, Fudoumine. What are your thoughts about this team and what they went through?

And... just for fun, here's a bit of random recapping for more possible discussions and personal amusement.



Sooo... Inui's motives. What do you think they are? Do you think he's doing this to help a fellow teammate improve, obtain more data, or something else? He has also been helping the other team members with their general training, as shown in the previous volume. Thoughts?

And this likely isn't all that discussion-worthy... but captain interaction amuses and interests me, so I'm just sharing some love:



:D

And finally, here be another poll to wrap things up. Usually, in fandom, we're always talking about favorite characters and such, so I thought we can flip things around. And since we still don't have enough screen time for the other characters, it'll have to be just the Seigaku regulars for now...

Poll #10042 Seigaku least favorite

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

View Respondents

Out of all the Seigaku regulars (yes, Inui is included), who is your LEAST favorite?

View Answers

Tezuka Kunimitsu
0 (0.0%)

Ooishi Shuuichirou
1 (33.3%)

Fuji Shuusuke
1 (33.3%)

Kikumaru Eiji
0 (0.0%)

Kawamura Takashi
0 (0.0%)

Inui Sadaharu
1 (33.3%)

Kaidou Kaoru
0 (0.0%)

Momoshirou Takeshi
0 (0.0%)

Echizen Ryouma
0 (0.0%)

Please use the following code when posting spoilers. Thank you!

<span style="color:#333333; background:#333333">Spoilers go in here.</span>

Comments

[haruka]

Ironically, the tennis part of the series isn't what keeps me interested (most of it goes right over my head.) It's the characters I love, and anytime I can see them interact outside of the court is a bonus. I didn't read the manga until I was mostly done with the anime, so I can't say that the manga influenced my addiction very much (I still enjoy it, though.)

I love Fudomine and their background story. Kippei is such a great leader, and I enjoy seeing how he relates to the other boys. I confess a special love for Akira and Shinji (I can never remember the others' names. *guilt*)

Kaidoh wasn't a big fave at the beginning, but he grew on me pretty quickly. As for my thoughts on Inui's intentions with Kaidoh, I'm not sure that belongs in this kind of post. XD

I actually really loved that scene with Tezuka and Kippei, especially with everyone saying that Fudomine were supposed to be so brutish, there's the captain being very polite (and earlier, as well, when he introduced himself.)

[graychalk]

For me, it's definitely the characters and not the tennis either. Even during the tennis matches, it's the interaction between the characters and their thoughts/development that has my attention, as opposed to the game itself. I love the off-court interactions too! It may be one of the only series where I enjoy the "fillers" episodes in the anime. :D I do have to admit, though, that fandom itself contributes a great deal to how much big of a Tenipuri fan I am now. I liked it fine when I first read/watched it... but to date, I think it's the only series where I just kept liking it more and more as I read/watch it more times (with fandom goggles), the fics, and all that. ^^;

Wow, I thought I was the only one who never quite managed to remember the other Fudoumine players' names despite liking the team itself. ^^; Other than Kamio, Shinji, and Kippei - I think I only remember Ishida (likely because he's mentioned more, with Kawamura adopting the Hadoukyuu) and the fact that Ishida Gin is his brother. ^^;

*giggles at your Inui-intentions* I'm pretty sure we're on the same page there. XD Re-reading this stuff just amuses me, seeing the little things I had missed or forgotten.

Yay, someone likes the captain interactions too! Yeah, I really enjoyed the handshake before, the nods, the apologies, and just overall mutual acknowledgements. :D

[torch]

I read the recaps! It's really interesting to see how someone else condenses down the events I've just read.

It's also really nice to have this community read-along to motivate me to get through the manga. I'm an anime watcher (just finished recently), and I suspect if I'd started with the manga I wouldn't have stayed with it the same way; I have trouble following action scenes in manga, and apparently that also goes for tennis scenes.

Also, on a shallow note, in the very beginning everyone seems to consist largely of ears. It's possible the ears wouldn't have kept my attention. *g* But I'm really enjoying reading the story this way, when I already know I like the characters. (And this volume introduces Tachibana An, whom I adore.)

[graychalk]

Oh, goody, the recaps aren't completely useless! I find the condensing a lot more difficult than I expected it to be, but I'm glad to hear it serves some kind of purpose to someone. :D

I understand what you mean about the anime vs manga, especially with the action/tennis scenes! The anime does make a lot of the moves much more "amazing" and exciting, so it gets hyped up more too. Personally, I found that the anime and manga play off each other in terms of making me like the series more. The anime feels more like fanservice sometimes, hehe, but I prefer the manga in terms of certain plot points (as the anime changed some things around and focused a bit differently on some character developments). It'd be interesting to hear what you think of those differences when the time comes. :)

Ahaha, yes, I noticed the ears too! Speaking of the beginning drawing style, I have to say what continues to throw me off is Fuji's character design. He really feels rather different at this point, because he's drawn sooo young and innocent looking. Even when he opens his eyes, it doesn't have anywhere near the same kind of intensity that's drawn later on. Taka, too, appears younger and more boyish. I notice Sanada and Yanagi didn't have the same problem though! I completely forgot they showed up this early in the manga, even if we're not told in detail who they really are. I think in the anime, they didn't pop up until much later.

Tachibana An was actually introduced last volume, I think? When Momo and Echizen went to the street courts and ended up playing their first doubles game, An was there. But of course we're not told who she actually was until this volume. I like her quite a bit myself - she's the only young female character that I like actually. I'm not a big fan of Sakuno (or Tomoka). :P

[torch]

You're totally right about An, of course; she was at the street courts, all anonymous-like. I quite like Tomo-chan, too, for the way she doesn't hesitate to do what she wants even if people will stare and think she's making a fool of herself. Sakuno I mostly want to fit with a microphone and speaker. Or a boost of confidence. The only character I actively disliked, coming out of the anime, was Horio, and that was largely based on the voice-acting, which I presume was deliberately styled to be annoying. Him, I'd fit with a silencer. In the manga, of course, I can't hear him, so I'm not bothered at all. *g* <-- I couldn't quite figure out if this counted as spoilers or not, actually, since it's about the characters throughout the series, more than at this point in the manga.

They do look younger here. I find it much easier to "read" the characters in the manga as being closer to their actual ages, all of them, not just Fuji and Taka. Which is nice, I think. (But I can't actually find Sanada and Yanagi. Where are they?)