Katsu! Edit What would you like to edit? SynopsisBackgroundAlternative TitlesPictureChapters/VolumesPublishing DatesRelationsTypeExternal Links   717337

I've read Katsu! 3 times. After my first read, I rated it a 7/10, after my 2nd read I've rated it 9/10, and now I'm rating it 10/10. I don't know why, but I find it more and more enjoyable with every time I read it. But that's the thing with Adachi's manga, if you re-read them you'll definitely notice stuff you didn't previously.

If you're going to read Katsu! then I recommend you take your time. Look at the text bubbles, look at the pictures, at the character's expressions, at what's happening in the background. There's honestly lots of symbolism that goes unnoticed by ... a lot of people and it gives a very cozy vibe to Katsu! and Adachi's manga in general.

The highlight of this manga are the human interactions. Honestly, to me sports manga that focus on the sport are just bland and not worth my time. High-shoolers aren't supposed to be obsessed with a sport 24/7 and think about competing/the team/making nationals or whatever all the time. A good sports manga needs a good balance of family interactions, friend interactions, humor, some romance to spice it up, among a bunch of other things. And this is what Adachi Mitsuru does right, with other examples being "Kono Oto Tomare!", "Your Lie in April", and "3-gatsu no Lion". To me these kinds of sports/competition manga are peak, with Adachi's work being my favorite.

Both leads of this manga are such lovely characters with interesting backgrounds. They're probably my favorite leads among all Adachi's manga. Even during my first read I thought that they were 10/10.

Anyway, I recommend you give Katsu! a try, but to take your time. I'm honestly glad I read this manga 3 times. Probably gonna keep revisiting it every year or so.

One of the most notoriously glaring things about quality in the manga is the production.
the art (which reminds me a lot of Tetsuya Chiba), and about the cartooning? I just say that it is good and to me, efficient. I also think that the relationship between the characters is good.
What I don't like about the manga is precisely the boxing part, because although I find it interesting that the main characters' parents are linked to boxing, and I understand that it does make sense for them to box, I believe that the way in which the manga ... works boxing is too professional... Also, I think that satoyama's rise in boxing is completely unnatural because it's extremely fast and, like HNI, the protagonist never loses!! (I'm being hyperbolic, of course) I also have the belief that he is flawed in raising us to the fight, because despite having a great comic, he fails in the psychological aspect (this one never addressed in the manga).
In addition, the end is rushado.STRONG HUG TO THOSE WHO HAVE READ THIS HERE!!

28 chapters in, there's still nothing to care about. Things are happening, but we haven't been given any reason why we should be invested. Mizutani is training to fight her childhood friend, but given either outcome, what's the point? She doesn't have particularly much to prove, all the boxers are already aware of her ability. This childhood friend hasn't shown himself to be an asshole, or given really much of a reason for wanting to win either. We can infer that he wants to be able to stand up for himself since she used to defend him, but again there's no payoff in that; we ... don't have a reason to sympathize particularly with that goal of his. At some point, he will become stronger by default in any case.

Satoyama suffers from the same issue. In the other Adachi work I've read, Rough, there was an obvious point of conflict that carried the story; the feud between families and the question of whether their children would be able to resolve it. But Katsu has nothing like that. Typically a sports story works by having the main character work to be recognized, but there just aren't challenges that have been put in front of the characters like that here.

It gets a perfect 5 because it's a record of a series of events that happened, like reading a report. Nothing good, nothing bad. Did I to mention that the reader has no investment in it?