Ahiru no Sora

A manga about a short basketball player who enters a school where the basketball team is a hangout for delinquents.

We’ve discussed this series on an older episode.

This is a really solid sports manga. I would go far to say that it is a spiritual successor to SLAM DUNK for basketball manga. The series really examines basketball as high school athletics and lots of the plot revolve around the delinquents having to answer for their past behavior. Sora and his teammates go through a lot of setbacks before they even start to see success and I think it’s realistic. You wouldn’t expect a group of slackers who’ve never committed to a sport to suddenly do well and the series really takes it’s time with that. I’ve also never seen a sport manga with such an accurate representation for a player who quits the team. Takeshi Hinata‘s distinct artwork works hand in hand with the story to express the frustration and elation of the characters.

This long running sports manga is getting attention now that an anime adaptation has come out. Unfortunately Kodansha has yet to put out an official English version. I doesn’t help that for the past few years Hinata has been suffering from medical issues that have kept the series regular hiatus status.

~dakazu