Baby Steps

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This is my first review of a show, but it is very fitting that I write one about this manga. So I originally watched the anime first, but it was good so I kept reading the manga for about 200 chapters. I had no prior knowledge about tennis before watching/reading this manga and left it feeling so much more understanding about how the sport actually works and the intensity and skill it takes to be able to play.

This is easily one of my all time favorite mangas/stories. Now, for the actual review.

The story follows a pretty typical shounen trope in that young boy has ... a dream that he wants become the best at. But what differs in this show from many other shounens is that he has no real advantage or plot. The author does a phenomenal job at accurately depicting progress in real time. He gradually gets better over time and loses a lot more than a typical male protagonist in a shounen would. He has no experience playing the sport, so the reader knows just about as much as he does. Over time you start to see how his specific style of play allows him to bring his rigid nature into one of more enjoying the moment and play by play: something we all could learn. His personal development through his losses and successes feel triumphant and heartbreaking all the same.

There's also a sweet touch of romance as a subtheme and a subtle driver into how he achieves his goals. It gives a warm feeling to see how him and his interest chase their goals at the same time and how their strong beliefs in each other fuel their motivation. It's mainly about tennis, which is how it should be, but it added an extra touch that you didn't realize was needed.

Now, some people would like more attention on the side characters development, which are usually used to forward Ei-Chan's progress, but then some people complain that certain shows focus too much on side characters. You can't satisfy everyone. I think he is interesting enough as a main to carry the show and he does for over 400+ chapters. I'd suggest reading over watching, the art in the show is not even close to as good in the manga. The backgrounds of some the courts and famous spots are unbelievable. The intensity is felt through the games and I found it highly intense and never knowing who is going to win. It does a great job showing the motivations of each characters in the game and these stakes create a sense of ambivalence. or mixed feelings on the outcome of the match. You want Ei-Chan to win for his reasons, but his opponent has just as good if not better reasons or higher stakes to bet on. The story is his own path to figuring out his goals and finding deep passion for something you didn't know you had. It is very realistic in his attempts to become a great tennis player. It's also great because it is not based in high school, but a pro tennis club so you get to see the more competitive side of tennis as well as good world building as it progresses.

I highly enjoy this show as a story. There's competition, skill/intensity, romance, failure, success. world building, good art, and decent characters. There could've been more development on other characters, especially, Natsu, who also plays tennis and is really good. I wish it showed the perspective of women's tennis a bit more, and some other characters tennis path. Ei-Chan is a great main character with strong motivations and morals with a hard working nature and quirky side as well. Totally recommend to anyone wanting to watch a action packed sport anime with realistic progress and feel good romance.

I think it's finally time for me to put my thoughts about this manga into words. Baby Steps is, in my opinion, the best manga ever made. It has loads of qualities, but if I had to highlight one aspect that this manga absolutely nails it's grit. Tennis, especially at a higher level, gets extremely grindy. I'm no athlete and definitely no better than basic club level, but this manga understands the core elements of tennis better than any other manga I've ever read. Tennis matches are long. When it's 30 degrees out and you're playing an extensive three setter on a steaming hot clay ... court, all that keeps you going is your desire not to lose. Baby Steps really does everything it can to show just how much that holds true in Maruo's matches. The art shows dark circles under Maruo's eyes and his movement getting sloppier as the match gets on, he keeps rambling on and on and the momentum of the match is all over the place. At its core, that's what a close tennis match is like.

Grit is also what I'd use to describe Maruo's character. Maruo is more or less a machine. Not in the sense that he has no human emotion, but more so in the sense that his determination or his "sense of duty" so to say is out of this world. It's inspiring to see someone achieve the heights that Maruo does by throwing his entire life at tennis and when you consider how much he works it does kind of make sense. A problem i have with a lot (and i mean a lot) of manga and anime is the disconnect the readers feel from the characters, which make it hard to understand their emotions. Baby Steps' pacing makes the readers relate to Maruo. When he loses we can feel his frustation, because we were there for the entire journey. We saw every step of the way, which makes the scarce emotional parts of this manga so much more impactful.

As said in the previous paragraph, the pacing of this manga is very slow. The matches sometimes span 20-30 chapters, so if you are not here for the matches themselves and instead here to see Maruo become a professional at unrealistic speeds, don't bother trying this manga. It will eventually burn you out. In my eyes, the matches themselves are the highlight of this manga. The characters and the romance, they're not bad. However, I love seeing Maruo duke it out with someone on the court and seeing him discover new parts about his tennis.

Is this manga perfect? Definitely not, far from it. One main issue I can think of is that the author definitely leans into the shounen part of the manga too much at times, especially during certain arcs. A jump shot and an egg ball are not real things in tennis. Strategically tennis is pretty simple. Hit with spin, hit deep and/or make your opponent run. If you're in a tough spot, hit a shot that gives you time to recover. That's more or less it. Obviously there's nuance here and there, but a lot of the players in this manga have a certain "trump card" that doesn't make sense in the real world where most of the time your opponent just has a super good forehand. However, there are other times where the manga actually does seem to be highly educated on tennis. One example I can give is that the manga stresses the necessity of a strong serve. Another thing I did miss is the mention of different surfaces. Maruo plays at plenty of different venues, so it's very hard for me to imagine all of them are the same surface. The difference between a clay court, a hardcourt and a grass court is huge. Takuma (one of Maruo's main rivals) has a playstyle that is much better suited for grass than it is for clay. I find it odd that for all the detail this manga went into, surfaces never came to light. Maybe it's because Japan almost exclusively has hardcourts?

In terms of art, I think the artstyle is appealing and definitely a lot better than season 1 of the anime (which is a little too cheerful in my opinion) but I do kind of miss variation in technique from Maruo's opponents. Maruo having textbook technique makes perfect sense because of the person he is, but in the tennis world you don't typically find players with the same strokes. There are certain parts of a forehand that are always the same, but there's variance beyond that point for everyone. I think the author could have used more footage from real life pros to give Maruo's opponents a bit more of a unique playstyle. Visuals come a long way with that sort of thing.

Overall, I stand by what I said. Baby Steps is the best manga ever made. Maruo's gritty journey is amazing and while definitely not perfect I can't think of a manga I love more than this. It's highly unfortunate that it got axed and I had to read fan translations for the last few chapters, but the manga itself is highly polished and is an amazing journey about Maruo's tennis career.

Raw review right after completing my read.

I have never been this disappointed with a manga in my whole life. I am more disappointed with the ending of this manga than I am with the adaptation of the second season of The Promised Neverland, the manga has a very interesting premise and a well written goal and story. Good continuation after many developments going on throughout our MC's life though there may be many plotholes. This was certainly going to be a full recommendation of a 8 if it kept up with it's same quality until chapter 410, the plotholes started to become more obvious and ... obvious then chapter 454 felt I was going to read a new arc but instead gave us a new arc and an ending after the chapter, such a shame when it had such more potential for it to be like ao ashi and its current status but had to end up nearly as bad as "Be Blues" situation. An overall review would be, Enjoyed the journey but am not satisfied at all with the ending given to us for it was displeasing, unsatisfying and unenjoyable, this manga left a strong impression but now will just remain in my mind with an impression of it just being another sports manga with a horrible ending. If u still want to enjoy a long read while knowing it has a horrible ending, this is the manga for you.

Overall review (Before 410): 7.2
Overall review (After the ending): 5.4