Mix

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Mix, a semi-sequel to the well known Touch by Adachi-sensei. My point in this analysis of "Mix" is to point out, why this serie doesn't work as good as his other long baseball mangas.

Story (6) : Set 30 years after the events of our dear Uesugi Tatsuya, we have this time 2 brothers ( here's a similarity with Touch ), but not a childhood friend but a little sister.

Sooooo why isn't it good ? First the goal, in Touch it takes 8 volumes to clearly see the objective of the manga, but it is clear : going to the Koshien in the place of ... his late brother. In cross game, after the first volume, it's also very clear. In H2, it's a bit more complicated, but the reader understands that the story will finish with the showdown with the 2 H. But in Mix, the objective is again Koshien, but why ? We don't have this time something that makes the objective clear, like Katsuya's death in Touch. It's pretty vague, and for now I can't tell where the story will go and for how long. After 15 volumes, I still don't have this feeling in my head that tells me "damn that's good", thing I had in Touch, Cross game and H2.

Secondly the story goes everywhere, literally everywhere. Mix should be about 2 brothers and a sister and the link with the events of Touch. But instead, we have this middle generation, the generation between the events of Touch and Mix : the generation of the trio's parents. That could be a good thing if it was only this. But the problem is that the story has many little intrigues like this, and it becomes boring at some point. For example the big brother of the girl Mita (again a brother) or again the 2 Akai brothers. I know Touch was about 2 brothers, and yes Mix is a sequel but it's not a reason to put family everywhere.

Thirdly the baseball, the baseball itself isn't bad, but well it's not good too. I don't know if it's because I have read 2 times Cross game, H2, Touch and Mix also, but here it doesn't work. The rivals are... meh. And well in Touch or cross game or even H2, the characters had a good reason to improve, to not fail and that gave me hella chills. But in Mix something is lacking in the baseball.

And lastly, the story lacks good romance, while this is not necessarily a bad thing, here it is. In all his other works, the reasons the characters were playing were mostly about relationships, and mostly romance. But here the story lacks romance, and well we'll see this 2 paragraphs later.

Art (9) : Well I'm a real fan of Adachi and his art, so I have nothing to say. Oh yes I have, just go check out a volume of Touch, it's funny how his art changed in 30 years.

Character (6): Again a trio... But this time something doesn't work, this manga has the genre "romance" in it. But why th f*** brothers and sisters ? Brothers and sisters can be a form of storytelling really interesting, especially in baseball with a battery. But I'm sorry Japan, this doesn't work for romance. First if you compare to his other works, there's very few to little romance.

Sooooo the relationships between the trio :

Touma - Souichirou : very cool complicity between these two, it gives a very natural vibe between brothers ( non-blood related here).

Souichirou - Otomi : Again a sister and big brother feeeling, no problem and no ambiguity here. The jealous and overprotective big brother works all right here.

Touma - Otomi : Here's the biggest problem from my point of view in "Mix". They have the same parents, grew together from the age of 6. They tell everyone they are family. But we, as readers see other things, it's obvious Otomi likes Touma but not as a brother. Oh well, I really can't ship those 2. The manga isn't complete, maybe Adachi-sensei will surprise me by not putting them together, but I guess he'll finish by an open ending like always. But here I really, really don't want an open ending concerning this relationship. For example, in Touch, it's kinda an open ending, but Minami and Tatsuya love each other, and they will end up together, it's a matter of facts. In H2, the last conversation between Haruka and Hiro reveals that they will most likely end up together. In cross game, they do end up together and that's cool. So in Mix I hope that they will not end up together and remain brothers and sisters in a pretty closed ending.

Enjoyment (7): Honestly I did enjoy this manga, not as some others of Adachi Mitsuru, but globally I did. I really really like the flashbacks from coach Nishimura, where we see Uesugi, or when Harada appears. I still have hope that we'll see Minami and Uesugi, but well it's really another story so it wouldn't be surprising if we didn't see them at all.

Overall (7) : So as I said, Mix is not bad, but not to the level of Touch, and this is an Adachi-sensei fan saying this. I'll hope it'll get better in the future (it did get better in H2, so I still have hope)

First of all, I have to admit that I was very upset about reading 'Mix', because I would have expected a sequel with the children of Minami and Tatsuya, but now I'm glad I did.

After 'Touch' I read other works of Adachi-sensei but nobody was as 'Touch'.

By reading 'Mix' i realized that this story it's a sort of 'modern version' of 'Touch'.

I noticed that:

- Toma Tachibana = Tatsuya Uesugi
- Otomi Tachibana = Minami Asakura
... - Soichiro Tachibana = Kazuya Uesugi

I like the fact that the two brothers form a strong battery of brothers and that they make every effort to go to Koshien and make their younger sister happy who supports them so much.

Soichiro is a great Toma x Otomi shipper and this is so cute.

In this story there also appear some historical characters of 'Touch', which begin to play an increasingly active role in history, increasingly the interactions with our heroes.

Although some of them say a little too many lies and they seem to prefer to hide their true identity.

Let's say that I am very worried now, because in the story there are too many references to the Kazuya's incident and I am really anxious for Soichiro.

Probably Otomi's accident was a sort of 'troll' and the Tachibana brothers aren't again out danger.

It's as if in this present and past history they became confused almost overlapping, sometimes I really have the impression of re-reading 'Touch' in some way.

We must remember that Mitsuru Adachi is the master of romantic comedies and that 'Touch' is a masterpiece and more than 'a boy who meets a girl'.

The graphic style is always the unmistakable one of Mitsuru Adachi, although the evolution from his first works is really evident.

This work, like all the other works of this brilliant artist, conveys calm, tranquility and love for sport.

I only hope that this story can lead to a happy conclusion for all, putting an end to what has been suspended in the past.

Standard Adachi manga, way way way better than the anime adaptation. While I believe that you need to read/watch Touch to appreciate the anime, this manga is fine in and of itself. Even someone unfamiliar with Adachi should be able to enjoy reading MIX as a standalone sports manga with a healthy dose of drama.

It's also worth mentioning that the art is as good as always. The way Adachi portrays the environment always makes me enjoy looking at the panels, and the baseball games feel dynamic, funnily enough even more so than in the anime. So even if you disregard the story for some crazy ... reason, this manga will be pleasant to look at regardless.

The only downside is the fact that it's a monthly release manga. As of me writing this review, we're approaching the end of the 2nd year of high school for the protagonists, which means that it'll take at the very least 5 years for us to reach the end of the story, likely more. Since there's baseball going on, it's unusual for the chapters to have a lot of text, and even when the characters are having a conversation, Adachi has a tendency to make them talk in sarcastic, cryptic, and succinct ways. Therefore, the text bubbles are short and you'll go through the chapters at a rapid pace if you're not the type to pause on a page to appreciate the art more thoroughly. If you're going to read this, hopefully you're patient.

In a way, MIX goes back to Adachi's roots, and since he's 72 years old, it does make me wonder if this will be his last manga. This thought is heartbreaking for me since Adachi is my favorite manga author. This manga feels like the author's love letter dedicated to high school baseball. A love letter filled with nostalgic thoughts, in an envelope with the scent of youth.

It's a good manga because Adachi is an amazing author.