Chihaya is a girl in the sixth grade, still not old enough to even know the meaning of the word zeal. But one day, she meets Arata, a transfer student from rural Fukui prefecture. Though docile and quiet, he has an unexpected skill: his ability to play competitive karuta, a traditional Japanese card game. Chihaya is struck by his obsession with the game, along with his ability to pick out the right card and swipe it away before any of his opponents. However, Arata is transfixed by her as well, all because of her unbelievable natural talent for the game. Don't miss the first volume in this story of adolescent lives and emotions playing out in the most dramatic of ways.
After graduating from an all-boys' high school, Iori Kitahara moves away from home to go to college in a seaside town. He's eager to start a new chapter in his life-one filled with dreams of reinventing himself, meeting beautiful girls, and reveling in his youth. But when his new abode is his uncle's dive shop, Iori's college debut doesn't turn out as glamorously as he planned! Can Iori keep himself afloat, or will the booze-fueled antics of his university's diving club wash him away?! A coming-of-age tale with beer, bums, and the Grand Blue!
With no soccer accomplishments to speak of during the entirety of Sumire Suo's junior high school years, the young wing gets an odd offer. Suo's main rival, Midori Soshizaki, invites her to join up on the same team in high school, with a promise that she'll never let Suo "play alone." It's an earnest offer, but the question is whether Suo will take her up on it. Thus the curtain opens on a story that collects an enormous cast of individual soccer-playing personalities!
Second-year high school student Reo Mikage wants nothing more than to escape his illustrious family's shadow by becoming a soccer star and winning the World Cup. The only thing that's missing is a talented diamond in the rough who can help him achieve his dream. That's when he sets his sights on Seishiro Nagi, a notorious slacker whose quick reflexes are the only hint of athletic ability. Can Reo find the switch to awaken the beast inside Nagi?
A young drifter named Joe Yabuki wanders through the slums of Tokyo, but when the local ruffians try to give him a hard time he teaches them a rough lesson with his fists. The spectacle sparks a gleam in the eye of an old drunk who happens to be watching-Danpei Tange, a failed boxer and former coach who sees something special in the boy. He pleads with Joe to train with him off, but the cocky young fighter brushes him. Later, though, when Joe is arrested and put in a juvenile detention facility, he realizes that he's going to need to hone his raw fighting skills if he wants to survive. Thus is born a partnership that might just take Joe all the way to the top...
For the love of all things otaku--anime, video games, figures, you name it! Power-pedaling Sakamichi Onoda has long been conquering the steepest slopes and regularly making the ninety-kilometer round-trip to Akihabara on a mommy bike!! But when his bike commute to his new high school lands him in a confrontation with the serious first-year road racer Imaizumi, Onoda has a major showdown on his hands! Can this meek geek really out-pedal the future ace of the school road-racing team?!