Buddy Strike
A manga about a no control fastball pitcher teaming up with a catcher who’s known as “Death” for destroying the lives of pitchers.
This wasn’t a bad manga by any standards but unfortunately it failed to reach any popularity in Weekly Shonen Jump so it got canceled after 11 chapters. KAITO had found moderate success with the previous Lacrosse manga Cross Manage so trying for another sports manga wasn’t a bad choice. I think that Jump audiences are pretty adverse to sports manga unless it appeals to female readers. This is proven by the success of Haikyu!! and The Prince of Tennis.
KAITO would go on to their current love story Blue Flag, which is excellent, so all’s well that ends well I suppose.
Fun fact. The baseball team featured in Buddy Strike appear as the high school champions in Blue Flag.
~dakazu
