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Although Diamond no Kouzai's plot is about the best pitcher in the world, it's actually a manga about losing, and especially, the losers, the feeling of hopeless, of jealousy. It perfectly portrays, even to the level of excess, that mostly untouched topic in sports manga.

When Kou, from Cross Game, throws a perfect game and we get to see the reaction's of the losers, or the teammates that didn't make the cut, we see them, although sad, at least in someway also glad, they realize that the nature of sports is winning or losing, and even if they are jealous, or angry, they never let that ... get the best of them, and especially never lash out, the one's that do are always the villain. Diamond no Kouzai does the opposite.

We've all felt it, the jealousy, when someone is so good that it seems unfair, like something should happen, maybe even to that person, to balance it out, we even get angry when that person complains about something, because he has it too good to complain, we get angry when he tries to help the less perfect ones, because he would never understand, but we are also self-aware of that feeling, that the person hasn't done anything wrong, and that, at the end of the day, it's our own fault. Kouzai portrays that exact feeling in every chapter, it's gut-wrenching, I actually even felt sick reading it, but that's why it's so good.

This is an incredibly unique manga in the world of baseball mangas, it makes you feel some many things that you can't decide in either stop or continue reading, and I couldn't recommend it more.

This is my first positive review, I simply couldn't let this incredible manga only have negative reviews.

Have you ever wanted to read a yankii manga like Crows, but instead of depth, the characters have pinterest fashion? Maybe you thought that Tokyo Revengers didn't suck enough ass, and you were craving something that disgraced the bosozuku genre even more? Well, this is it, this is the manga you've been waiting for, it really doesn't get any worse.
This is what OG shounen manga readers, from the times of Dragon Ball or City Hunter or even the Fist of the North Star would've felt like if they read Black Cover. This is the old Beatles' fan Imagine Dragons. This is the new MacDonald's ... french fries.
Go read Worst, or Crows, or QP, or Clover, or any manga that would've passed the Turing Test if it were a computer. Please, especially if this and Tokyo Revengers are your only experience with the delinquent/bosozuku/yankii genre.

This manhwa is the kortrash degeneration of the classic yanki delinquent troupe. Where legendary mangas like Crows, Worst, Good-for-Nothing Blues and even Young GTO (which this manhwa pays homage to!) plus many, many others, became classics representing 80s style delinquents, their friendships, fights and gangs, this manhwa walks the same path just to jerk itself off into an over-the-top, bland and overplayed korean shounen.

Up until the end of the first season, this manhwa was keeping itself together well, the main character becoming entangled with gang life, starting as a loser who lost it all and slowly becoming a hard-working loser who's starting to earn his ... life, making friends, training, protecting who he holds dearly and earning his pay.

Unlike most Japanese mangas, this manhwa established itself focusing more on the youth gangs, rather than the school, comparable to either the Tong/Blood Rain series or Bakuon Rettou, however, unlike, for example, the aforementioned Tong, which is also korean, To Not Die completely blundered it's switch to the more serious aspects of gang-life in the second season.

Instead of actually establishing the gang as an entity, it became just the background character for the main-characters and their hero friends. Their gang, even if more of a "companionship of homeless kids" (what small local gang isn't) than a part of the mafia, is the front line of goodness, always protecting their kids and their community against the comically evil villain gangs, which, if you hadn't notice how evil they are, love kidnapping old ladies, promoting prostitution, redistributing drugs and being sadistic for the sake of it. The main character, the lovable hardworking loser, suddenly becomes a jacked calculating monster, as if all the korean cultivation, cheat code, OP character manhwas slowly poisoned this work, becoming no different from all the kortrash you've ever read. The fights are boring, the villains are awfully written, the friendships bland, and the setting is uncreative.

Finishing up, as you can see, I do not like this manhwa, especially as a lover of the delinquent troupe, and To Not Die started very well, which made all the more sad, not to say that koreans can't do delinquent works, the whole Dokgo/Tong/Blood Rain series are one of my favorite manhwas ever, and Bal Jak is a classic of the genre, however, this one, just ain't it.

I really can't understand the hype around this piece, it's just "meh" all around, the characters, their goals, the overarching plot, the art, everything really. Sadly it wasn't a forgettable "meh" but an annoying "meh". I found a review saying that this wasn't like your average ESP shounen manga but I really can't describe it as anything else.
The forgettable, but also overzealous (for no apparent reason?) kid in class gets super powers and uses it to achieve his goal (this time being justice). He usually isn't very strong by his own but with the power of friendship and perseverance he beats the bad guy. Also ... don't forget about his strong-willed love interest!
I wrote that short synopses actually thinking of Boku no Hero and not Psyche Matashitemo, but I can bet you didn't notice that.
I'm a fan of a lot of mangas that follow a set trope (not really as same-y as this manga but we don't even need to go there) and I think when executed well it can birth a nice little piece (can it really tho? These types of Shonen Jump-y shounen mangas are all so bad I really doubt you can milk the cow for any longer) but this is far from well executed.
All of the MCs troubles turn out in similar ends, the humor didn't hit off with me, I can only get annoyed whenever he shouts and whines about his justice and how the bad guys have bad morals and how we must save his friends and yada-yada-yada.
The only good thing I can say about this manga is that Saike's round little head is pretty cute.