Disclaimer: Spoilers Ahead!

I find it difficult to describe the comic book. It’s not a complex piece, but it evoked a reservoir of feelings in me that I never experienced in my life, at least not before I read the comic. There’s a touch of melancholy to it, attached to a Zen-like pace. But I don’t know how to describe the actual feeling I felt as I went through the series.



Kurosu Gēmu, also known as Cross Game, features sport heavily, but the actual theme is romance with mixes of tragic and comedy.

I was caught off guard, reading the first volume of the tankōbon collection. The book itself was the first part of a three parts series. I was surprised by 1) the general lack of dialogues, and 2) how the first part ended. It was a refreshing take on a comic of this length, but the plot twist was too much for me. It was a blind corner I didn’t expect on a roller coaster ride. My eyes were full of tears in the final dozen pages of volume one.

Which is a good thing, I suppose. It would’ve been sadder, in a way, if everything went according to the usual heroic sporting comic formula.



But the highlight remains on how the author planned the story. The amount of panels without dialogue outnumbered those with some, yet the entire story was presented wholesomely. The general every day life of a normal person was depicted without a hitch. It’s a very believable story, largely because of the way it was told. It’s the believability that evokes all ranges of feelings, as you identify with the actions or thoughts of the characters.

It’s also because of that, the story will not work as well in forms of novels. This is cinematic on paper with Murakami’s brand of Zen.

I’m not sure what sort of person I would recommend this to. If the comic was a color, it would be sky blue. If it was music, it would be The C major Prelude from The Well-Tempered Clavier.

And it is one of three comic series I absolutely adore.

old comic. good storyline but the author tend to keep doing the same genre over and over again.

almost 2-3 comics that this author made is about baseball

He was a baseball player, I recall reading it somewhere

Especially if u watch the anime (first episode), the song came at the right time, and i sniffed. But this story is the first from Mitsuru Adachi that I read, then watched.

I've read this few times over
Actually a few of Adachi's manga too, quite a big fan of his

You can try H2, Rough and Touch too if you haven't, all are good though the art is not as "updated" as Cross Game
Cross Game first arc caught me abit off guard, though I should have expected it based on his previous work
Don't wanna spoil for those who have not read it