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Sports! Sports manga/anime are my favourite genre. There have been threads like this in the past but nothing in over a year, so I figured it's decent time to give it another shot. Sports manga/anime range from being hyper-realistic to characters calling out their basketball shots and appearing behind either players like they're in Bleach. They also range greatly in how much the personal life of the characters are shown or are integral to the plot itself, with the characters sometimes not really existing outside the sport. They unfortunately range very little in their treatment of female characters, mostly because most of the titles are shounen manga and any female characters are neglected to the sidelines as support/love interest/cheerleader/oogling-target. Here's a few of my personal favourites of various kinds (though I only really like 'realistic' sports manga), feel free to post some more and I'll them here.  Haikyuu Status: Anime ongoing (4 seasons complete, movies pending). Manga complete. Ball of energy Shoyo Hinata doesn't have a volleyball team, until he does. Very classic shouneny sports manga that focuses a lot on the sports itself and the characters. Most characters have distinct personalities, playstyles and arcs. Humour is good, gets very "hype". No real drawbacks other than shounen yelling and the lack of anything other than the sport.  Ping Pong The Animation Status: Manga and anime complete (1 season). If you want to learn about Ping-Pong, go read the wikipedia page. If you want to see a treatise on the nature of competition, talent and friendship in a much colder yet still uplifting way than most children's manga, look no further. Also features interesting animation and an amazing soundtrack.  Real Status: Manga ongoing (came back from hiatus in August 2023). No anime (yet). By the same writer as Slam Dunk, ostensibly about wheelchair basketball, the manga follows three main characters as their lives kinda intertwine. The story is quite mature and deals mostly with the way different people handle their disabilities or their interactions with people with disabilities. Also pretty damning about how Japanese society treats them.  Baby Steps Status: Manga complete (cancelled), anime complete (2 seasons, doesn't cover the entire manga). Yet Another Tennis Manga, this one about a boy whose main talent is that he is meticulous. Quite a departure from the usual hot-head passionate protagonist in these kind of series, we follow Ei-chan from his modest beginnings of wanting to take up some tennis as exercise to becoming a tennis pro in very realistic and sometimes almost too detailed terms. Gets very technical about tennis at times. My personal favourite, and as a semi-professional athlete I identified with many moments in it, but I realise it's not for everyone.  Run With the Wind Status: Book, manga and anime complete (1 season). University long-distance relay running group composed mostly of complete amateurs face individual issues and come together as a group. Nice to have people slightly older than highschoolers for a change. Has character arcs for most of the characters but it felt a bit abbreviated (at least in the anime) to me.  Hajime no Ippo Status: Manga ongoing. Anime probably complete (~125 episodes). The classic boxing manga about Ippo learning to become a man and punch people in the face. Can be very crude at times, but you have to give it some leeway based on the time it was written. A fun romp but it's probably best if you don't take any life-lessons from it.  Hikaru no Go Status: Manga complete (kinda cancelled). Anime complete (covers almost, but not all of the manga). A young boy meets a ghost and starts playing an ancient board game that isn't chess. The classic example about how you don't need to understand poo poo about the game to enjoy a manga about it.  Chihayafuru Status: Manga complete. Anime ongoing (3 seasons so far). Another manga about a traditional game, this time a weird memorisation-listening card game that I can't explain. If you wanted more romance in your sports, look no further. Also some nice tales about teams and hard work.  Ao Ashi Status: Manga ongoing. Anime ongoing (1 season so far). A fairly by-the-books but well-crafted (European) football manga about a kid playing in a youth team and wanting to go pro. I hate the fact that he has a harem and for no good reason, but the plotting is interesting in a shounen way and the characters that aren't the protagonist are interesting.
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Oct 2, 2023 16:18
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 23:39 |
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RE: female-led ones. Could be, I only really read modern ones, and I haven't seen anything other than Chihayafuru that was popular in the past couple of decades. More than willing to edit the OP if you come up with poo poo. Also yes Baby Steps is a goddamn travesty. I rewatched it often before I had to go to training camps. Also one of the few shows where the MC gets together with the female lead not in like the last chapter.
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Oct 6, 2023 17:21
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I was very confused and turns out it's a relaunch of Supinamarada with a new title (thankfully, I read the whole thing and I still couldn't remember the title). I'm assuming once it catches up to the original run there'll be new chapters? I really enjoyed it at the time so I'm hyped. It's also up on Manga plus for non Americans.
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Nov 9, 2023 00:14
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New chapter of Real out. I should really reread it a bit cuz I forgot the new character completely. Shame it comes out so infrequently.
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Dec 4, 2023 19:39
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Animation looks fantastic. I'm still a bit bummed about it being a movie since Haikyuu is the kinda show that really benefits from taking its time and delving into every character (and even the lsdt season cut out a bunch of stuff), but hopefully seeing it in a cinema will be worth it.
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Dec 16, 2023 09:31
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It's probably my favourite sports manga, or at least in the top 3, and that was just devastating. Wanted to see Ei-chan go all the way.
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Dec 21, 2023 22:58
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| # ¿ May 11, 2024 23:39 |
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It's available on the browser, are not all series available there? Also, there's a new chapter of REAL. It's really good and slow-paced as usual. Shame about the "once every few months" schedule, can't even wait a year to have a substantial amount to read.
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Mar 7, 2024 23:20
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