like sure, the main characters are on a baseball team, and their efforts through training arcs and tournaments are where the series centers itself, but that’s not what oofuri is really about. baseball is just a medium for higuchi’s storytelling. and it’s a very well developed one, she hardly cuts corners and goes thoroughly into detail with her game lore, but again, at the end of the day, the purpose of all of it comes back to touching upon the characters and their personal growth in some way. more than a sports manga, oofuri is a coming of age story. it builds its story around baseball and allows its characters to grow through the sport, but the narrative very much exists outside of the sport as well. it’s down to earth in a way that many popular sports manga fail to be. and i get the appeal there! sometimes high stakes, ridiculous situations are fun. but there’s also something very endearing about a bunch of teenage boys who are learning about themselves and growing into mature young adults while just playing some ball. their lives aren’t just baseball 24/7, there’s other gags and characters that exist independent of the sport. ultimately, it’s not an insular world, and that’s what makes it all the more relatable for readers, in addition to its unique tackle on social anxiety and healthy masculinity
titsay
stormborns
gummygunk
