Shinobu’s springtime.
Creative Staff:
Story/Art: Haruto Ikezawa
What They Say:
Shinobu Takara is a bit slow on the uptake, valiantly plodding through life. No matter how hard he tries, life just seems destined to pass him by and leave him in a dust of disappointment. But all that changes when he response to an ad for housing at a place full of… professional shogi hopefuls!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
The third installment of Mononofu has arrived as part of the Jump Start program which means it’s time for fans to hit up the survey if they really want to see more. Can a shogi series find a home in the North American digital version? I’ll admit I kind of hope so, though with the understanding myself that we’re not going to see anything radical here. These three chapters have followed the formula and followed it well so you can see most of the tracking for the series unless it does something out of left field along the way. That’s not a bad thing that you can track it so easily because there’s a lot of pleasure to be derived from the characters, their quirk and the gameplay itself as it unfolds. I just don’t expect it to deviate from other series of this nature.
This installment is rather welcome with what it does in moving us away from most of the established cast so far. We do get nods for most of them, particularly at the beginning as Shinobu races out the door with a half dressed Minato that makes him all blushy, and Yasukane and Keishi have some useful moments towards the end. But for the most part it’s Shinobu heading to school for the first time with the intention on joining the shogi club there. Minato has given him grief for signing up for lots of competitions against the casual clubs out there of senior citizens and the like and one can certainly understand that, but you also get a little frustrated by her because there’s so much knowledge there that could help someone like Shinobu as a beginner. Shinobu’s enthusiasm is pretty infectious though and it’s easy to brush Minato off and just enjoy how Shinobu is presented with the youthful idealism and optimism.
Where the series takes a nice turn is with the introduction of Rindo, the sole member and manager of the shogi team in the school. He has a somewhat complicated backstory that comes into view towards the end as his name is rather well known, but for Shinobu he’s just a somewhat rude guy that won’t let him join the club since beginners aren’t allowed. And honestly, after the whole accidental pulling down of Rindo’s pants to reveal strawberry covered underwear? I can’t blame him for just keeping Shinobu out for that alone. But as we’ve seen back at the residence, Shinobu has that something special that catches attention since he’s not a normal player, or really even a beginner in a sense. Rindo does start to see that along the way, after getting past his tenacious nature, and I like that whole acknowledgement aspect that comes from him because it does in its own way force Rindo to realize his own position and a possible below the surface desire to nurture someone with real potential. And especially someone that actually enjoys the game after playing against those that have played all their lives and get no real thrill or enjoyment out of it in the same way.
In Summary:
The third chapter of Ikezawa’s new series is one that has some good polish to it overall but also enough roughness that you can see the potential for growth, both as a storyteller and artist but also for the series itself through that and the characters. While the focus is heavily on the shogi at the moment, the ability to expand beyond that is what makes it possible to be more. Whether it does it or not remains to be seen, though most title of this nature tend to eschew the romantic side if it doesn’t introduce it early on. At most we might get the occasional bit of fanservice like we get in this installment. I rather enjoyed the series overall, partially because I haven’t read any “sports” manga like this in some time, so it had a sense of freshness about it. Ikezawa’s style is solid and works well with his layouts, the flow of the panels and the general storytelling that he’s got going on here. Shinobu’s a diamond in the rough in many ways and I can see how Ikezawa can bring him to shine, and his own abilities at the same time through this series.
Grade: B
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Viz Media via Weekly Shonen Jump from ComiXology
Release Date: September 28th, 2015
MSRP: $0.99
