Beginner Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: 葬送のフリーレン // Next: ウスズミの果て

Blue Box / アオのハコ

image

Natively: Level 25 (This is currently only based on my ratings so take it with a pinch of salt)

Summary

The series focuses on Taiki Inomata, a student at Eimei Junior and Senior High who is a member of the boys’ badminton team. Every morning, he trains alongside his upperclasswoman and fellow crush Chinatsu Kano, who is on the girls’ basketball team. However, Chinatsu moves in with Taiki’s family when her parents leave Japan to work abroad. With Chinatsu now living with him, Taiki aims to slowly develop his relationship with her as they both strive to make it to the national championship with their respective teams.

Availability

Physical: Amazon | CD Japan
Digital: Kindle | Bookwalker

Personal Opinion

This is the current romance manga serializing in Weekly Shounen Jump. It hits a great balance between sports & romance manga. Overall the characters are extremely likeable and believably written. This manga has some of the best character spreads I have seen, the art in those is truly stunning! Since it is a weekly manga the author can not keep that amazing quality up all the time but even the less detailed panels look really good! This and 推しの子 are probably my favorite currently serializing weekly manga right now!

Pros and Cons

Pros

  • Both sports and romance that work well together
  • Actually good pacing (stuff happens)
  • Does not feel very tropey (at least to me)
  • Great art
  • Has furigana

Cons

  • Still ongoing (might be a downside if you want to read a finished story)

Pictures

First Three Pages of Chapter One

Additional Pages

Bookwalker Preview

Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this book?

  • 1 - No effort at all
  • 2 - Minimal effort
  • 3 - Moderate effort
  • 4 - Substantial effort
  • 5 - So much effort my head might explode :exploding_head:
  • I don’t know

0 voters

15 Likes