Baby Steps

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This is a review of this manga from the start to latest chapter.(Around 129)
I will re-edit it when this manga is complete or near completion.

I will also be trying to avoid spoiling as much as possible so sorry if some things may seem vague.

When it comes to sports manga it seems you either love it or hate it. Not a lot of us may have an interest in some sports whether it be football, swimming, baseball or tennis or maybe we do but just not in that specific sport. In order to win the crowd over when it comes to sports manga and ... the sport it focuses on is up to the story that comes with it and characters. Let me start off by saying that if you never had an interest in sports manga Baby Steps is the right place to start, if you already do have an interest well then sit down and relax because after you read this review it's time for you to read Baby Steps!


Story 8/10

The story takes place in a high school setting in Japan. We are introduced to the very intelligent A-student Maruo Eiichirou(Ei-Chan), a 15 year old genius who spends his time studying and never really thinks about anything else. One day he decides that he needs to stay in shape and looks for some sort of physical activity to do, one thing leads to another and he ends up in the tennis club. This story follows him and the many other characters and what they do to achieve their dreams.

Now like I said vague, but you get the point. The story does take place in a typical high school setting but is top-notch though when it comes to terms of keeping you excited and wanting more. It mixes many aspects of great stories into it such as the comedy, sport, developing relationships(yes, possible romance.) and more keeping you always interested whether it be the intense matches or having the characters interact with one another. The pacing is surprisingly fantastic and always changes at just the right times. Instead of taking up 10 more chapters for 2 pointless matches they'll go through them all quickly in a chapter to that final match we all wait for and instead make that match long and intense over a few chapters.

The way they keep evolving the story with the pacing proves to make itself a great read.


Art 8/10

Clean, well-drawn and modern. Works for what it is.


Character 9/10


The characters are fantastic in the manga. From the weak genius becoming strong, to the amazing girl always nervous because everyone thinks of her as perfect, and to the delinquent bad ass who is a tennis pro that has a nice side which he tries to hide. We have many different and vibrant characters in this manga.

Every character, main or supporting has a different personality which works for them best and allow them to compliment each other. The characters are not just limited to a handful either as we are always introduced to new interesting characters.

Enjoyment 9/10

I haven't enjoyed a sports type manga like this since The Big Windup. It kept me glued to my screen constantly clicking wanting to get more and more into the story and even got me interested in the sport which I had no care for at all when I began reading it.

It's the kind of manga that you can just sit back relax and read but at the same time excite yourself when it comes to the matches.



Overall 9/10

It's not often I'm able to find a sports shounen that mixes so much and yet stays so true to what it is. From the characters, to character development, and evolving story this is one manga that I thoroughly enjoyed. Coming into this manga with no knowledge of the sport or care for it I thought it would have been a drop immediately. However I find myself coming back every week for the next update. It is certainly a manga that is worth a shot for anyone. So don't be taken aback if you have no interest in tennis! Read a few chapters and see for yourself!

This manga attracted me because the main character, like us, is a novice at tennis, or at least I am. Therefore the reader learns about tennis alongside Maruo (maincharacter), who is a beginner to tennis.

The story itself is simple. Maruo is introduced to tennis, decides to do it, and we read along, as simple as that.
The pace of the manga is nice. One does not have to read many chapters before Maruo has his first official match. While Maruo's training is present in the manga, it does not get boring to read and as mentioned we readers learn alongside Maruo there is always something ... new that happens, whether this is games or training. The manga is light-hearted. it is a simple light hearted sports manga and character backgrounds have small attention.

For the story of a sports manga to be interesting and to keep the readers attention, the execution of the games must be different from every other sports manga out there. As tennis is a one-man sport, the mangaka's decision to make this manga into a first person narration for the most part during games is obvious. The next step the mangaka next took is to make tennis, a fast paced sport, into a strategic game for the main character. (the pace do not suffer from this) The manga's approach to the games therefore needs a particular main character...

... which is what we have in Maruo. He is a simple, but likeable character. Very logical, level-headed and insanely determined in whatever he do (studies, training, etc) and otherwise a social awkward person. Nothing he does is instinct. Everything that happens in the games are thought out and written down in Maruo's notebooks. While a simple character fueled by instinct can be interesting, this would not match well with a one-man sport manga, there is other supporting characters who gets this role.
As shortly mentioned character backgrounds is almost non-existent in "Baby Steps". Almost all attention is put into Maruo. His starting point, is also the readers starting point, which focuses one the development of Maruo's tennis skills and his fight to be a great tennis player. there is absolutely no drama in this manga whatsoever, it is a easy light-hearted read to the core.

The art is good. The faces greatly differs from each other. The art is also a great help during explanation about tennis or strategic planning during matches. In the course of the manga details in the characters faces improve but I see nothing else that differs from the start of the manga to the latest chapter. My only complaint is why Maruo's hair absolutely must look like a hen's.

I can't put it into words exactly why I enjoy this manga as much as I do, but I do think alot of it can the attributed to the strategy put into the games and Maruo, a MC, very different from most. For what the manga is, it succeed extremely well in its execution. Give this manga a go, it is a easy manga to read in times of relaxing the mind.

Note: I can recommend "Haikyuu!!" if you end up liking this manga. It differs in obvious key points, but my enjoyment is the same.

I honestly don’t really like sports manga. A lot of them that are super popular (Kuruko’s Basketball, Haikyuu, The Prince of Tennis) just don’t intrigue me. Baby Steps subverts all of that, making it one of the best sports manga I ever took the time to read.


Good - Great protagonist: Baby Steps follows Eiichiro Maruo, nicknamed Ei-chan because he gets all “A’s” in school due to his ridiculously meticulous nature. A chance encounter with Natsu Takasaki, a girl who is aiming to become a tennis pro, coupled with a desire to engage in physical activity leads Ei-chan to join STC as an amateur tennis player, ... often playing against grade schoolers. Over time, Eiichiro realizes his meticulous note-taking and powerful vision to his advantage. A growing love of the sport fuels him to practice hard and aim to become a pro.

While all sports manga necessitate that the protagonists have some talent, Baby Steps ensures that Eiichiro’s talents are far from godly; Eiichiro must work hard day in and day out in order to succeed. As a character, he falls into more of the Ippo category, but while he is shy, Eiichiro is not timid or that self-deprecating; he’s a polite young man who wants to win with his own ability. Eiichiro’s hard work and realistic, relatable attitude allow him to carry the manga by himself.


Good - Avoiding the trap: The common trap of a shounen manga is what I call the “power level” trap. When an antagonist of an arc is defeated, how do you top that? You introduce a villain with a higher power level (or a set of villains with a higher aggregate power level). This always ends up deflating any tension in a previous arc: how can the main characters have the same amount of trouble against both villains if one is stronger? More importantly, how can the main characters beat the villain? With a super new technique. This repetitive cycle of shounen manga decrees the final antagonist be Gods, and that can occur in many sports manga. Baby Steps avoids this because it develops Eiichiro within the sense of reason. Yes, Eiichiro gets stronger, sometimes during a match, but that’s because we see how hard he works. He never pulls something out of his ass like “Misdirection Overflow” that doesn't even exist in tennis, always improving in a realistic fashion.


Good - Sense of tension: Have you ever seen a tennis match on TV? Have you ever played a tennis match? Any sport definitely feels different for the spectators than for the players, and tennis is one of the sports that has a huge difference. Shounen manga tend to slow down the action in order to feel the tension, and Baby Steps is no exception. However, over the course of its entire 200+ chapters that I have read, Baby Steps never loses that feeling in any of its matches. It is capable of keeping the tension at a realistic level throughout the entire series.


Good - About men but not manly: Many sports manga have to ignore the female side, and depending on the sport and style of the manga, it can often drip with glistening testosterone. Baby Steps pretty much only follows the matches of guys. These high school guys don’t have low hanging balls like other sports manga characters do, making it more accessible for people who can’t take the sheer manly musk of some sports manga.


Good - Not afraid to make its hero lose: Not really spoilers; Eiichiro does not win all the time. He’s no loser, but it’s not completely uncommon. Sometimes he is crushed; other times it’s a fluke; and other times it’s because his opponent is that good. Losing is a part of life, and Eiichiro is no stranger to it. Unlike Ash Ketchum, however, Eiichiro is amazing about learning from his mistakes, and whenever he surfaces at a new tournament, all of his previous opponents note how much time he spent to provoke insane growth.

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Mixed - All tennis, all the time: Baby Steps excels in not succumbing to the problems of other sports manga. One of the huge problems that can occur with a sports manga that has its characters in school is that it makes the sport a school sport, intertwining the two. This leads to a multitude of cliché school life drama or slice of life scenarios to pad the time in between matches, as well as giving a bunch of side characters too much screentime. This often adds unnecessary weight to a sports manga, making you wait with begrudging anticipation for the next match. Baby Steps avoids this by making the tennis tied to professional tennis clubs as well as the pro scene, ignoring any school life tainting of the sports formula. But at what cost?

Baby Steps goes to an extreme to solve the problem I just laid out: it’s always tennis. If Eiichiro’s not playing tennis, he’s training for tennis, or talking about tennis, or thinking about tennis, or taking notes about tennis. This manga is probably written with the blood, sweat, and tears of actual tennis players. Having the sport is good, and I’m more invested in the manga because of it, but what about the characters? Apart from Eiichiro, I’m barely invested in anyone, because I know comparatively little about them.

It makes sense for me to know less about certain characters, like many of Eiichiro’s opponents; I know them through the “in-match flashback,” and that’s often enough; giving the characters some dramatic backstory would put a damper on any realism they have. They love tennis, and the manga brings out their personality through their playstyle and monologues. It’s not perfect, but it’s serviceable.

The one important character who doesn’t receive this treatment (and definitely should) is Natsu, the female protagonist and Eiichiro’s love interest. Natsu’s a very cheery girl who plays an instinctive tennis, opposite of Eiichiro’s, and she aspires to be a pro. That’s pretty much it. Natsu is super likeable and doesn’t fall into any typical tropes for a heroine, which makes this hard to notice, but we know so little about Natsu, except how Eiichiro likes her.

The best way the manga could fix this is to give focus to matches that Eiichiro is not playing, but rather follow the matches of other characters and get inside their heads as they go against each other. Unfortunately, that’s also a way to kill the manga; focusing too much on the side characters can devolve into a Bleach situation, where we barely see the main heroes but always see 300+ minor characters’ battles. It’s great that Baby Steps avoids this pitfall, but can’t we see some more Natsu?


Mixed - Passage of Time: For the most part, Baby Steps takes place during the times when tennis is played. That’s part of the reason why it’s all tennis all the time: it doesn’t really try to give a plot during the times when tennis isn’t played. So, through a montage (yes, training montages), the manga skips the drivel and goes straight to the next tennis season. But is absolutely nothing important? It often follows the trend that Ei-chan loses, there are a couple chapters about his tennis, and then it’s the next tournament or next year or something. You sometimes see what the characters are up to during short side chapters. Baby Steps could put in some padding to make the passage of time seem so much less abrupt, and develop its characters! It skips the vast majority of filler and makes you like the characters more!

The other time when "fast forward" is implemented is during a tennis match. Tennis is a long sport, after all. Do we want to see Eiichiro own worse tennis players? Not particularly. We’ll see some frames and then the score. That’s fine. Do we want to see every single return? No, of course not; each arc would be the length of a One Piece arc if we did that. So fast-forwarding is done to prevent us from getting really bored. Unfortunately, it is typically handled in the least graceful way possible; through a bunch of omniscient text boxes. Used sparingly, this is acceptable. In Baby Steps, it utilized to the point that over an entire set of a match can be *explained* that way. It’s far from awful, but manga should take advantage of the fact that it can simply show with characters and facial expressions and not always have to tell. More annoying is how Baby Steps sometimes wraps up a tense tennis match with a text box explanation, instead of us seeing the characters react and think as the Match Point is playing out. In the interest of expedience, it detracts from us connecting more with the match and the characters at crucial times.
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Baby Steps is a phenomenal sports manga. It’s always engaging and keeps you on the edge of your seat since anything can happen. If you need a sports manga to read, you really can’t go wrong with Baby Steps, especially if you love tennis.

Story: 9
Art: 8
Character: 7
Enjoyment: 9
Overall: 8.3 (rounded down to 8)

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.

Meet Eiichirou 'E-Chan' Maruo. A straight-A honor student and the kind of guy you could get a few study pointers from. Upon entering high school he realizes that up till now his whole life has been about studying and getting good grades. Feeling a need for more exercise, he adjusts his study schedule to exercise on his own time rather than committing to a sports club. However, he is prompted by his mother to go check out the local tennis club. And that's where E-Chan's progress begins.

The manga takes care to explain tennis terminology and rules for newcomers.
It realistically shows the amount of work ... taken to train and prepare one's body for a match and how rewarding it is to win due to one's efforts. The reader follows E-Chan as he builds up his physical and mental strength, all the while tackling tennis as he has always done for any other subject: studying. E-chan's method of studying consists of observation, memorization, execution, and repetition. A method to perfect one's accuracy, power, and balance. A method that may remind Prince of Tennis fans of Inui's data tennis.
As the story progresses he gains a rival, a possible love interest and a coach who takes interest in his growing potential as expected of a sports manga. With each match he plays, tennis becomes more and more enjoyable to him.

(Prince of Tennis readers, this may be a manga about tennis but it is not in the style of Prince of Tennis. There are no special skills come into play, there are no "mental states" to unlock and the hero does not develop a super powered move in the middle of the match.)

This is a story about realistic progress. So expect losses. Expect improvement from those losses. And expect those losses to turn to victories.
Read it when you're in the mood for a normal, down-to-earth, not over-the-top sports story.

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.

It's very surprising no one had written a review for this manga...anyway, I really recomend this manga for all sports or tennis lovers. Even though the main character is not like the typical cool, handsome and strong guy (eg Echizen Ryoma in Prince of Tennis), it's still have its own kind of enjoyment in it. The main character is like a caterpillar in process of being a butterfly, as the manga goes on, you'll find that *spoilers* (Sorry, cannot tell you anymore than that ^_^) If you wanna know what happens, READ IT!
I, Lelouch vi Britannia commands you to read it! (hahaha~)

Out of about 100 different manga, this is close to my favourite. The thing I think it does best is how well it fleshes out characters. All of them touch on different aspects of view on life and sport, and what their goals and priorities are, and how they have grown as an individual. If you enjoy a relatively realistic story that still manages to get you invested in relatable problems the main character faces, then I am sure you will enjoy this story.

Personally I love sport, and I enjoy romance too, and this really touches the sweet spot for the sport and personal growth ... aspect. Its romance is nice and fluffy, but in the scheme of things not really a big plot point.

As I said earlier, it's main strength is how well fleshed out its cast is, and how likeable the main character is. He is very relatable, and he has earnt everything he has achieved, and he is grateful of the opportunities he has had as well.

If it has a weakness, personally I find the tennis matches relatively boring sometimes, and I think that is because they can go for so long. I enjoy watching real tennis, and I've enjoyed the matches in Adachi's baseball manga, so I'm not exactly sure if its just because they are too long or something else.

Sports manga is not for everyone, but what makes Baby Steps stand out from others is that the lead character Ei-chan knows nothing about tennis so we, the readers learn as he is learning and so all the needed exposition that's required in sport mangas does not feel cheap or forced.
The secondary characters get very little development, but that is ok because most of the story is about the tennis matches, which are beautifully drawn.
The romance is almost an after thought and feels a little forced at times, but it works for the most part. Natsu is very underdeveloped and that is the most ... unfortunate part of this manga as she is a very interesting character. In fact, it would be nice if there was a parallel manga that tells the same story, but from her point of view.
So if you want a sports story, or if you play tennis or enjoy watching tennis and have time to read a somewhat long, but we'll paced story about a kid that goes from knowing nothing about the sport to competing at the highest amateur level through sheer will force and smarts, then I highly recommend Baby Steps for you.
~WiruSempai

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