Feb 8, 2025
The single most underrated manga I have ever come across. It has not even been rated enough times to get a score on this app. Battle Studies has incredible moments, scenes that make you laugh, scenes that make you cry, amazing characters and matches. It's incredibly well paced, matches are just the right length and with the exact right amount of build up.
The story mostly follows Kano Shotaro and his time at DL Gakuen, an especiall strict school with a prestigious baseball history that has not put up results worthy of its name. It explores his initial troubles with getting into the starting lineup to
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becoming captain and changing the culture around the baseball club entirely. The plot is structured with no meaningless arcs that lead nowhere, with both ups and downs characters have to deal with.
And now to the main aspect that makes this manga so great- its the characters. Kano, Hinoki, Kanakawa, Karasuma and so on are all well thought-out, deep, dimensional characters that enrich the story considerably. Additionally the opponents are not cartoonishly evil players as a result of their sad backstories, or 1-dimensional boring tropes. No, they are interesting, funny, all with a quirk of their own, making the reader even root for them on occasion, a case in point is the Yokohama VS DL Gakuen match.
The final element that makes me recommend the manga to all readers is the art. At the start it might be slightly confusing, making it hard to rememeber the character's faces and differentiate between them as well as the art-style not being for everyone. I would like to point out, however, that the art improves tremendously throughout the manga, culminating in some of the best page-spread panels in addition to just really consistent art that complements the story greatly.
I would definitely suggest this manga to all sport/baseball/manga fans in general. It is that incredible, trust me.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
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