Saki Kaori's Smash! is one of my favorite manga series because it meshes the sport of badminton, one that is near and dear to my heart, with a realistic and charming romance story. While I enjoyed Prince of Tennis's unbelievable exaggeration of tennis mechanics and the godly bishie's that populated the series, Smash! strays much closer to the realm of shoujo than Prince of Tennis ever dares to, and it does so in an extremely down-to-earth fashion.
The story, in terms of the main character Shouta, is one of love; both for the sport of badminton as well as for his 'badminton goddess' Yuuhi, a
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Alternative TitlesJapanese: スマッシュ! InformationType: Manga
Volumes: 18
Chapters: 170
Status: Finished
Published: Jul 19, 2006 to Apr 14, 2010
Theme:
School
Demographic:
Shounen
Serialization:
Shounen Magazine (Weekly) Authors:
Saki, Kaori (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #22142 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #5283
Members: 4,129
Favorites: 58 Available AtResources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 3 / 3
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Your Feelings Categories Mar 23, 2012
Romantic subplot, is a term you some may be familiar with. The manga, to me appear to have the sports themes as the sub plot. It seemed like the mangaka was trying to write a romance story line and a sport story line at the same time. As a reader I felt that the "gears" in my reading were going up and down as the story transferred between the romance aspect to the sports aspect of the story line. At one moment you are focused on the main character improving himself and then having another romantic interlude.
If i go in depth I would almost ... Jan 5, 2016
TL;DR
If you like sports or romances skip it. If you like sports and romances, read it. Romantic sports mangas are hard to find. Generally it is either a sports manga with a very mild romantic sub-plot, or a romance manga with sports as a backdrop. One of the only other mangas I have read that actually tried to combine both was Suzuka, so there will be some comparisions between the two. Story:7 The story has a good flow to it and progresses well. When the MC improves, a few times the author uses the same explanations as to why he did, so it feels like a cop-out. However, ... |