Shounen Bench by Kishimoto Masashi

[Aikidoka]

I'm surprised so many people disliked Bench. I personally liked it, it was a nice change from Kishi's usual style and proof that he can still do something different after ~10 years of writing the same story. As for the subject itself, baseball is one of my least favorite sports in real life but I was pleasantly surprised by the way Kishi made it interesting for me.

As a series, I'm not sure I would read it though. It depends - the sports manga I like are Eyeshield 21 style, where they have similar rules to the real life sport but their "techniques" are like powers. Bench seems to be the type that keeps the sport like it is in RL, ordinary.

 

[matsemann08]

Spoiler

Baseball is indeed Japan's national sport, it's the most popular sport in Japan by a wide margin. And Kishimoto himself is a big fan and used to play.


For people who want a bit more info, the one-shots for "Top of the Super Legend" project are:

#1. "Bench" by Masashi Kishimoto (Naruto)
- A hot-blooded baseball manga, described as ground-breaking.

#2. "Bankara-san ga Tōru" by Hideaki Sorachi (Gintama)
- A story about a legendary banchō (leader of a juvenile gang). The title, "Here Comes Mister Uncivilized", seems to be a spoof of an old 70s shōjo series called, "Here Comes Miss Civilized" (Haikara-san ga Tōru).

#3. "Moon Walker LTD." by Takeshi Konomi (Prince of Tennis)
- Described as an unprecedented action story. The Ltd. in the title would seem to imply that Moon Walker is a company.

#4. "Pō" by Kyosuke Usuta (Flute Blower! Jaguar)
- A story about Pō, a children's kung fu school.

#5. "SUCCEED" by Osamu Akimoto (Kochikame)
- A story about a girl who lives in a peaceful village.

#6. "KINTOKI: Kanameshi no Toki" by Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball)
- A young man named Toki has a certain dream. The subtitle, roughly "Toki's Kaname Family Values", seems to be a pun on kaname (monetary value), shi (family) and Kanameshi ("the Kaneme Family").

Well, Bench was disappointing.
Looking forward to Akira Toriyamas one-shot.
Are the one-shots being released once every week?

 

[deffkryz]

Whew, I haven't expected much, but yet I'm somewhat disappointed by "Bench".

it was a nice change from Kishi's usual style and proof that he can still do something different after ~10 years of writing the same story.

Acutally, it was not. Every single panel, each pose, each antic, even each hair cut reminds of Naruto. ~90% of the chapter were no baseball but ninjas with a baseball cosplay in a Konohagakure setting - ~80% talking, ~10% brawl, ~5% Baseball and 100% cliché of two rival school teams. And the fatty's hair style was simply taken from Astro Boy.

Sorry, but this one shot is disappointing. Naruto is probably Kishimoto Masashi-sensei's life-work as Dragon Ball was to Toriyama Akira-sensei and as KochiKame is to Akimoto Osamu-sensei. It's pretty hard to get away from it especially when you're still working on it. You can also see that while comparing both "Fairy Tail" and "Monster Hunter Orage" by Mashima-sensei: MHO resembled FT way too much...

And so I'm expecting "yet another" KochiKame and "yet another" Dragon Ball, too...

BTW... Could it be that Jump is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Tezuka-sensei becoming director with the one shot series?

 

[Negative Syndicate]

I wonder whether those one shots going to be included in tankouban.

 

[dr.mohd.arbash]

hmmm.. I have read this one shot..
Do I love sport mangas ? No
Did I read all this chapter ? yes
Did I enjoy it ? yes

About the story originality ... hmmm since i dont read sport mangas.. it is original for me.. And as many of us said . There is no single shonen manga, there is no single work too, in our time that is original. They all have been inspired by something. You can say ; that one is the first time (I) have seen a story like this. Yes maybe first time for you but it is just inspired by other old stories.

Well in conclusion, for those who are looking for originality. Dont get your hopes high there wont be an original manga. Just try to enjoy what you got.

It was a nicely done one shot. The hair of the two main characters was done in that form on purpose. Astro boy hair, and Ou (王) is the name of a great japanese baseball player as I have read somewhere.Yes there were no shots that are super magical , vanishing, size increasing, playing with gravity, cloning, ground slicing, or fire creating. For me I dont like those magical sports, since it is more believable the other way. I liked this style .
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Naruto may be creative, but it doesn't make it original. even Dragonball isn't 100% original (Goku's back story alone is a rip from Superman) sooooooo, the point of the matter is, every one is influenced off of something. you are right though, the creativeness is what counts in the end, because that's what gets you the job and success.

i can predict this about Naruto, it will have the same boring ending like all mangas do. big celebration, the hero lives on and the good guys win as always. am i wrong on that?.

Well It is either one of two:
1. Hero wins. Everyone lives happily ever after. (USED alot)
2. Hero dies ( USED alot)

Since both, only available, ends are used, it is up to the manga artist to choose the one he likes.

 

[Sevenheadedmirror]

I really liked it. It was good, funny and could pull a smile out of me. The excuse on why the fat guy was no longer the awesome batter that he used to be was quite the cliche but served it's purpose.

Both characters had their moments of awesome (hitting that ball despite losing the glasses was really epic).

Who hasn't seen the message? Go for what you dream, it's so overused I really just need to say it and a few stories will pop in your mind. Overused is corny, so that's a negative, for sure, but then again who could possibly hate the message?, I myself don't like it but it isn't a huge loss.

In a sense I think of it as your Sunday night movie, it's average, may be below it but it served its purpose and from the medium in which it came from (sport comic) it was good, maybe even 'damn good' (I hate the genre).

 

[ashher]

i liked it.

this is both my first sports manga read and an almost first time reading one shots. generally i never found the sub-genre particularly appealing and the only reason i read it was to see if kishi can write something different from naruto. it was my pleasure to find out that indeed he could.....not only different but reasonably entertaining one too.

while some dialogues about 'effort' were distinctly reminiscent of naruto, the characters felt fresh. particularly the two main characters were certainly original (meaning that i don't find any naruto counterpart of them,i don't know about sports manga characters).i could've gone on a bit more about the good parts,but i feel arshad has already said them better than i could.

however i really wouldn't like to see this serialised.....i would rather like kishi to write his mafia manga.