Blue Box
Rating: Average 8.20 / 10
Alternative: Ao no Hako (アオのハコ)
Author(s): Kouji Miura
Artist(s): Kouji Miura
Genre(s): Romance, Sports
Type: Manga
Release: Apr 12, 2021
Status: OnGoing
Plot Summary:
Taiki Inomata, a third-year student in junior high, attends Eimei Academy, an integrated school with a major sports program. Having joined the high school badminton team, Taiki tries to attend open practice as early as possible. But no matter how early he goes, he always arrives second in the gymnasium. The person one step ahead of him is Chinatsu Kano, a first-year student in senior high and Taiki's crush. Chinatsu is the rising star of the basketball team, and the gap between her and Taiki could not be greater. Although Taiki is a decent badminton player, his popularity is nowhere near Chinatsu's, making it even less likely for his feelings to be reciprocated. However, in a strange twist of fate, she ends up living in Taiki's house! Wanting to become a worthy match for Chinatsu, Taiki pursues the same dream as his crush: to partake in the Nationals. Taiki starts training harder than ever before, all for the sake of building a strong relationship with his new housemate.
Reviews
Rating: ★★★★☆
"This looks really good... So first off, I really like the concept of a mix between romance and sports series and it feels fresh (although there are probably other series with the same concept). It looks like it's going to be more focused on the romance side. I don't mind because after We Never Learn was finished, I was waiting for a romance series from Shonen Jump, but it would be nice to be focused on sports also (60% romance and 40% sports) because after reading Haikyuu!!, I was craving a new sports manga. I already like the characters. The two side characters that were introduced look funny and interesting and for the main characters, the girl is really cute and has a great personnality and the guy looks and acts like a lot of male shonen protagonists in a romance series, but somehow, I really like him. Maybe it's because I am also a badminton player, so I can relate to why he likes badminton and it's funny when he's flustered. Also there was a one-shot of this and before the guy played volleyball, so maybe the author changed to the guy playing badminton because badminton is a one player sport, so there could be a clash of ideals between playing alone and playing with a team and by the end, the main characters could understand why the other likes to play alone and with a team. The art kind of looks like a shoujo manga and it looks really good. There were few panels where they were playing sports, but it looks like the panels and the spreads where they'll be playing sports continuously in the future will be top-notch. The only thing I'm kind of worried is how the author is going advance the plot forward. Having read the one-shot, even though I wanted more, I thought there was no need to have more than a few other chapters, but still, I'm optimistic. Other than that, it looks really wholesome and cute and I'm really excited for the future of this series. If it goes the way I think it will, it could easily be one of my favourites series. P.S.: Sorry if it sounds a bit clunky, I don't really speak or write that great in english. "
Rating: ★★★☆☆
"This manga would be decent, if not for the fact that one-shot of it exists. The one-shot sets up high expectations for what is to come, which had me in high hopes and overflowing excitement. Characters were brave, the story was very enjoyable and the romance, oh my god, let me tell you. The romance had actually accomplished more in those 40 pages than the whole manga in 91 chapters. One may say that the one-shot was a huge success. Only to be baited by another long-ass slugfest romance shounen, but this time with a sports setting, which constantly goes back and forth and nothing really happens. Well that is not completely true, 'cause on some occasions, when something is finally happening and you think the story is progressing forward, you will get hit by the enemy called 'story trope' followed by a huge sigh of despair. But not all is gray, because when this manga hits, it hits right, you just need to wait for it and wait some more. So would I recommend it? Ehh, I guess maybe for the art and two or three side characters, otherwise no. TL;DR - Read the one-shot and be happy with your life "