DrakeParker

Okay. I'm a big fan of baseball and one of the best baseball animes/manga has to be Diamond No Ace yet the classic one being Touch and its sequel/reboot Mix: Meisei High. I've seen all three of them but Diamond No Ace beats them in action, dialogue, team chemistry, and most important realistic aspects. Now im giving a brief summary of the first few chapters no major spoilers:

Touch started the cliche that the best player on the teams dies suddenly and his brother then takes over to lead the team like Knight in the Area. However, Bungo tells the tale of Ishihama Bungo and it takes us on a journey through his last year of elementary school where he meets Yukio Noda who represents Japan on the U-12 team.

Bungo is a pitcher however he has only thrown the ball against the wall at his house and never against a batter, so Yukio was the first person he pitched against. Things happened (Yukio gets a hit) and Bungo wanted to defeat Noda eversince, just like Hinata wanting to play against Kageyama when they get to high school. 

However there's a slight hitch they happen to go to the same middle school like Hinata and Kageyama (see what I did there) Bungo starts playing for the school club team however Yukio plays for a baseball club and Bungo sets to play with him even though he only knows how to throw and not catch, field, or hit.

However, Yukio's dad is the team's coach and saw Ishihama pitch against Yukio that day and knew that the kid has potential if he was nurtured correctly. So he made one of the players Makoto, Bungo's tutor. After a chapter or two of helping him or a week or two in manga time, Bungo got up and felt a large bump on Makotos chest. Yup you guessed it the short haired tutor was a girl. 

Later on in the manga we get to see the rival players who will appear later on however they all see this rookie who is tearing up the practice games but they all realize that he can't field well. But the teams Bungo pitches against couldn't hit the ball which gave him a no-hitter (though it doesn't officially count). 

Thats the gist of the first arc. I did miss some key scenes but that's a good portion of what you'll read through the first 20-30 chapters. Theres a lot more baseball and action, drama, smiling, emotions, etc. If you like slice of life and sports then this is a good read, the chapter go quick as well as the volumes. 

Ch 1- Ch. 196

Continued past Ch. 196

The art style and tenseness of the baseball match is exemplary the similarities to Diamond No Ace is still there yet it still feels unique in its own loveable way. You can't help but feel for the rival pitcher on Seio to succeed as he was inspired by Bungo's perseverance and in the end even Bungo was inspired by the competition. 

Even the players on Fujigaoka have character, at the end of the game Kawamura who teased Eiji and Bungo as well as the rest of the team Bungo just plays it off as on field actions and shouldn't be a part of a friendship that could possibly be, which is a great philosophy about life and sports rivalry. 

In the 220s we see the U15 Japanese team travel to America for a round robin tournament to see which country has the best youth team even though Bungo wasn't invited (Noda was) Noda couldn't help but feel anxious as he doesn't feel like the best version of himself even though he is leading every team in every major batting category, and in his words "it's because of Ishihama."

In the meantime, back in Japan, Bungo lost his feeling for the pitches he throws, but Eiji is there to support him, but Eiji knows that Bungo's rising potential is astronomical due to his performance during the previous couple of games.