Here we go again. Mitsuru Adachi's Cross Game was cool? Not great, but cool. I'm going to take a wild guess and just assume that this is your first Mitsuru Adachi experience. If it isn't, whoops. If it is, great! In my case, I've seen and read many of his previous work; and with very few exceptions, all of it is the same in my eyes. Miyuki and Nijiro Tougarashi stand out more. Not counting Katsu, because it has some baseball in it. Sorry to rain on the parade. This guy has a set formula on how to write an emotional romance story that just happens to have baseball in it, and people fall for it every time. It's not a bad formula, mind you, it's just a formula he uses all the time! He doesn't really experiment with his baseball plotlines, he just adds minor differences with each story. Add some different characters with slightly different backgrounds in a slightly different location. I'm not going to go into too much detail in this review. All you need to know is that it's a romance story with baseball sprinked about.

Ko Kitamura, what can I say? The kid is a pretty badass lead. Admittedly, the characters in this manga are pretty enjoyable. Ko is good friends with the Tsukishima sisters. Ichiyo, the eldest sister, who doesn't really do much except occasionally give good life advice to her sisters and Ko. Wakaba, the second oldest, who is madly in love with Ko, and is really the only one who sees his immense potential for baseball. She always wants to be around him and believes that one day he will go to the Koushien; which is this huge baseball championship for Japanese high school students. Aoba, the third oldest, she's just the typical tsundere character, that's all. Okay, okay, okay, she's much more than your stereotypical tsundere. If I had to be completely honest, I would say that Aoba is, debately, the most developed character in the entire manga. It's subtle, but it's clear that she goes through a massive change of character by the end. From the beginning, she just hated Ko, because he got all of the attention from Wakaba. However, her feelings and opinions on Ko gradually change throughout the manga as their relationship evolves. And lastly, we have Momiji, the youngest. She's just there to be the comic relief, and that's all. And you probably thought I was going to add something. Well, no. She really is just there to make jokes. Some are funny, some are not.

I'm going to be a little vague when talking about my frustrations with this manga. If I go into too much detail, I might slip out some spoilers. What irritates me most about this manga is that Adachi uses the the same formula for most of his series. First, he portrays his manga as this calm and relaxing slice-of-life, then he grabs your attention by creating some tragedy and drama to get the reader/viewer emotionally invested, then the main character dedicates all his time by working his way up to the Koushien. It's always the Koushien!!! I'm being somewhat vague with this explanation; however, you have no idea his accurate it is. "Well, if it annoys you that much, why did you give it a 6 out of 10?" <---- (That's you asking the question lol.) I gave it that score, because the formula works. I hate to admit it, but it's true. It's like how I feel about Galneryus. Galneryus is a Japanese Power Metal band that I love to death. I find their music amazing. My only complaint with the band is that many of their songs sound the same. They have a handful of songs that sound more distinct, but most of their catalog bleeds together. They found a good formula to work with, it's just that they overuse that formula. That's exactly how I feel about Mitsuru Adachi's writing. I always go back to his manga, because reading his work is oddly refreshing. The innocent nature and lack of fanservice always draws me in. Okay, there's a little fanservice. The ending is open-ended as usual. It's strangely dissatisfying every single time. The manga gives you context clues on what happens afterwards, but it still frustrates me. This will probably be the last time I review Adachi's work. I think I'm done, now. Cross Game did everything right, so I can't really condemn this manga. I was just unimpressed the entire time. I'll give this manga a 6 out of 10. I kinda like it, and I would give it a light recommendation.

And don't read Mix. Mix is a soulless sequel that blatantly copies a vastly superior series that shall not be named. I'll give you a hint, it rhymes with Dutch.