Teppuu, The Boxer Recommendations
Both Teppu and The Boxer portray an unusual reversal of tired combat sports manga tropes: instead of following the journey of a talentless underdog who achieves results through hard work, they turn the formula on its head and make what would be the "last boss" character of such a manga its actual PoV protagonist. And they both find interesting ways to humanize such a protagonist such that it makes them even more nuanced and exciting than your typical "I did this a lot and became good" lead. Similarly, both works focus on character studies more so than the sporting aspects, leaving offscreen everything that doesn't
advance our understanding of the main cast.
Teppu is grounded and realistic (at least as far as the genre goes), focuses more on the nuances of personal motivation, and exposes the other side of the nature/nurture juxtaposition in a way that makes a lasting change in how you see such characters in other works. Its main problem is that the story ends early, only reaching an intermediary, non-conclusive resolution to its principal character arc and utterly abandoning every other plot thread set up in the first half. It looks like the author had to take multiple health-related hiatuses in the final years of writing it and hasn't produced any long-form manga since, so that doesn't bode too well for the prospects of continuation.
The Boxer instead takes the route of a high-concept philosophical exploration, eschewing realism on purpose for parable-like "what if" inquiries, and is much darker in tone. But, as if to compensate for Teppu's one weakness, it contains not one but TWO immensely satisfying endings.
Both works stand out within their genre, set a high standard in storytelling, and I'm quite sure that if you've enjoyed one of them, you'll also enjoy the other.
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