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Saving a Mercenary Unit from Bankruptcy is exactly what the title suggests, a modern-day woman using her knowledge as an accountant to help a financially troubled mercenary company. It is not a romance manhwa, which most people come to expect when there is a female lead. If you enter into the story understanding this, I believe you will find it a great read overall.

The author does a good job of establishing a world based on a Nordic (Viking) mercenary company in a Holy Roman Empire-era Germany. mixed in with a little Switzerland, Italian city-states, and France. It has an interesting reason and use for the ... isekai theme that separates it from other stories of the genre. Most manhwa have trouble staying on track and either forget their unique point or expand too far to make the main character stand out (This is not a problem here). The pacing for most of the story is well done though the ending loses that great pacing, unfortunately. This is the only semi-major complaint I have about the story. Despite this, the ending does deliver what the story promises to deliver and leaves no noticeable loose ends.

Even tho I did point out that this story is not a romance, it does have some light romance elements that are done well and do not detract from the actual theme of the story. The ending I expected from the clues given throughout the story was the ending I got, I appreciate authors who deliver what they promise. Saving a Mercenary Unit from Bankruptcy does have some flaws but nothing fatal and is well worth the read.

Adachi Mitsuru is popular for his sports dramas from Touch to H2 to Katsu! Cross Game though is his best work to date. Although some purist may disagree, to me, he learned from the faults of Touch and H2 to create a much more compelling and complete story with Cross Game. I read this from a different point of view (perhaps do to the lost of my sister at a young age) and saw it as more than just a sports drama.

Cross Game may have Baseball as the base of its back ground, however the story is about how the short life and the death ... of a young girl affects a community of people. This affect not only drives the characters that knew her in life but also those who fall into the fold of her dream afterwards. Cross Game shows that a life, no matter how short, can have a great impact.

The story itself gets caught in its back ground at times, making it appealing to any sports drama fan. The Baseball itself is well illustrated as you would expect from Adachi who has decades of experience at it, this experience really shows. Yet, while the sports side of it is far from neglected it never loses sight, nor allows you to lose sight of the story that is begins to tell. Cross Game is a master piece in that way, it caters to his core audience while bringing in new readers who may not have been interested in his other works. By that I mean even though she dies you are never brought to far into the baseball aspect to forget Wakaba’s presence and her affect on the story and the other characters. Do to this I by no means see her as just a minor support character but as the driving character, without her there simply is no story.

The art work is vintage Adachi, which to me is a good thing. I also enjoyed his work and, while it has gotten cleaner, it remains true to his style. The story has many faucets and does not get hung up at any point, flowing perfectly through. The overall feel of this manga is one of completeness and a near perfection of Adachi’s story telling. It is one of only two manga that I have given a perfect 10 to date.

If you have never read or watched Cross Game I would strongly recommend that you do. This is without a doubt (at the time of writing this review) my favorite manga and anime, the only story which I have given a perfect 10 for both mediums.

For those who watched the Anime: There are some small details (I.E. Mizuki reading Aoba’s diary before disappearing) that do not get used in the anime. However, the anime is quite faithful to the manga and if you have watched it you will not have missed anything major.