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Reviewed by Park Cooper Well, it’s about time that I reviewed volume 20 of Whistle, since I’ve had it for maybe I don’t know almost a month now? And especially since, when the Viz PR person with whom I communicate queried what titles I might especially be interested in, Whistle! was one of the ones I was most interested in. This sports manga doesn’t really have any elements of the supernatural as such, it’s just a well-crafted story of a boy and his teammates who love soccer for the Love Of The Game... as indeed all characters in sports manga must. Recently, Sho and his teammates travelled to Korea for a match, which was quite a big intense deal when considered in light of the relationships, past and present, between those two countries... and the manga DID consider it, and indeed used it as quite a point of suspense, which was quite exciting. So I was, in a way, a bit sad to come back down to earth and for the plot to just go back to regular old practice and trying to improve our skills and beat other Japanese teams. But I got over it well enough, as there’s certainly enough suspense, skill, and strategy evinced here in volume 20 as ever, and that’s saying a lot. On one hand, I just told you everything you might need to know in that last paragraph. But ah, the devil’s in the details, and it all makes for a fine read. The pretty female coach whose youth and looks make other coaches totally underestimate her keen mind... Sho’s small size and the way he uses it to his advantage (you see, when you’re on the soccer field, you have to stay very visually focused on the area in front of you, usually a few feet in front of you and so on, and Sho, with his smaller size, has a trick where he can get right in front of you and then suddenly duck down out of the field of where you’re used to looking, so it’s like he [and the ball] vanish out from under you while you’re still figuring out that you should have tilted your head down a bit), the important aspect that the team’s morale level has on play, the way that the team’s physical energy levels and stamina play a completely different role... it’s all good. On the other hand, you can get these elements of goodness in ANY volume of Whistle! these days, so let’s get a bit more specific. As I mentioned the other day with interest to my wife, this volume is notable in part because it introduces a black character... another team has what is apparently an African-Japanese character on a rival team... quite a rarity. When some other kids mention (in a way that seems both racist and also totally unsurprising) that he has a natural advantage in sports, being of African descent, he demonstrates his pure finesse in handling game equipment with no hands—NOT with a ball, but shogi (Japanese chess) pieces, which just blows their minds because it seems not like a feat of physical prowess, but nigh-on impossible—and that’s before he finally used his foot to launch them into the air and hit each of the two boys in the forehead with the pieces (with one movement, not two)... “I _am_ Japanese,” says Kotaro Abe, the young man in question. Oh yeah. They got served. And then he goes on to play Sho’s team. Can the team’s morale stand up to a team with a guy who can pull acrobatic moves that would impress even professional players? Well, we’ll find out in volume 21. But it was quite a ride thus far, as usual. A-. Interested in writing for MangaLife? We're always looking for talented reviewers and columnists, so drop us a line! Charles Webb Editor-in-Chief, MangaLife.com |
1 September 2010
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