Back to Joyflav00r's Profile Joyflav00r's Profile

At first, you might think Ascension is just another sports shonen about the coming-of-age of an ordinary boy who learns to navigate his struggles through the lessons he gains from his sport. And in a way, if that's what you think, you wouldn't be wrong. But as the story unfolds, it gradually sheds the superficiality of the genre and breaks away from the conventions typically seen in sports shonen.
The most striking difference, and what sets this manga above the others I've read, is that the character isn't forced to adapt to the plot. Here, the story doesn't advance through competitions or carefully planned training sessions-no, ... the plot is constructed and evolves around the character, offering a much deeper spectrum of emotions. The exploration of the human condition itself is explored to its fullest. We're not reading about a boy who becomes the best athlete in his country or the world; we're reading about a boy who climbs his way to become a man.
The only thing I regret is not spending more time searching for a double-page scan version of the manga. The artwork was so beautiful that I ended up diminishing part of my visual experience. Returning to read Jujutsu Kaisen and One Piece will be tough after this masterpiece.