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Reviewed by Ysabet Reinhardt MacFarlane All that matters to 15-year-old Nobara Sumiyoshi is volleyball--she's an awesome player with big-time ambitions. But sometimes it seems like a girl just can't get a break in the competitive world of high school volleyball. Just when Nobara is set to play with the Eagles against the men's team at Central Sokai University, Yushin shows up on campus! Has he come to make a play for Nobara? Volume 9 of Crimson Hero is my first look at the series, and I found it fairly easy to follow, although I made heavy use of the "story thus far" blurb and the character guide at the back. Like most sports manga, the story centers around characters for whom their sport--in this case, volleyball--comes first, and everything else in their lives has to be worked in around it. Crimson Hero handles this fairly well: it begins as Nobara is about to play in a major game, having finished the intensive training she left her school for, and the story maintains the energy of the game while allowing room for the characters' relationships to develop (particularly between Nobara and her love interest, Yushin). There were some things I was unclear about, not having read the first eight volumes, but the relationships (of all kinds) were easy to understand, if not necessarily simple. The story is very aware of the sacrifices the characters have to make to keep volleyball their main priority, and makes it clear that they are sacrifices, not just annoyances that only matter to other people who aren't Athletes. I particularly liked how Nobara's transition from her training back to her daily life at school is handled, and how the balance between friendship and rivalry is struck. Takanashi has a delicate touch at the right moments in the story, and a good sense of pacing. If I have a chance to read further volumes in this series, I'll be interested to see how things develop. Review copy provided by VIZ Media. Comment on this review of Crimson Hero v9 on the Manga Life Forums. |
6 October 2009
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