Holiday Review #3: SHORT GAME

Since we're already on the topic of long-awaited releases of sports manga by legendary creators, we might as well talk about one of Denpa's latest releases.

SHORT GAME (SHORT GAME: Adachi Mitsuru ga Tanpen de Tsumugu Koko Yakyu), by Mitsuru Adachi.  First published in 2014 and first published in North America in 2025.

PLOT:

This collection of short stories follows the stories of various young men nostalgic for their time as stars on their school baseball teams, and the the relationships they found, lost, and found again along the way.

STORY:

In many ways these feels like a Mitsuru Adachi sampler, covering the two topics he loves to write about most: high school baseball and romance.  That being said, Short Game is less about the glories of the game or of newfound love and more about nostalgia for those things.  It feels a little mean to say this is a collection of stories about dudes who peaked in high school, but it kind of is.

It's also a somewhat repetitive one.  There's only so many times you can see a short story about some former star player (whether it was during junior high or high school) feeling wistful about their good old days when they nearly got to Koshien while getting together the cute team manager girl before it gets old.  The stories are too short to either get much sense of these characters as players or as people, rendering much of the drama hollow.  That goes double for the girls, who are lucky to say more than a few lines in most of the stories and exist mostly as prizes for the protagonist's patience.  Even "Over the Fence," a later story about a dysfunctional team told from the perspective of its own team manager girl, is more about the players than her.

Maybe that's why I was drawn the most to the stories that were willing to break that mold to some degree.  My favorite of the lot was "Full Count," which at least blended in some crime drama in the form of embezzled funds, some Yakuza thugs, and an attempt to steal a winning lottery ticket.  Notably, it's also the only story to feature more than one female character.  They actually have a conversation among themselves! About something other than baseball or the men in their lives!  After all the nostalgia and cozy vibes, it was a welcome change of pace.  Another welcome change of pace are the short gag strips which are mostly about the way Adachi tries to distract himself while making manga.  Alas, these moments were all too fleeting and all too late to save me from the boredom this collection instilled in me.

ART:

Adachi's art is a study in contrasts.  His backgrounds are quite good (even if a fair bit of it is clearly rotoscoped).  His paneling is small, tidy, and straightforward.  Obviously he draws people playing baseball well.  Yet his character designs are kind of...doofy.  He tends to draw people like they're shaped like bowling pins, with rounded heads, long necks, minimalist faces, and sloping shoulders.  There's at least a little more variety in how he draws men, even if the ostensibly handsome ones still somehow all odd angles.  As for the ladies...well, he basically draws just one and switches out the hairstyle and fashion as needed.  It's a style he's been employing since the 1980s, so at this point whether it works for you or not is a matter of taste.

RATING:

Alas, Short Game is simply not for me.  People who do like baseball or are more into Adachi's brand of low-key wistful romance may get more enjoyment out of this, but anyone else will likely bounce off it the same way I did.

This book is published by Denpa Books.  It is currently in print.

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