Footie manga 'Whistle!'

Whistle! is a pretty good sports manga. (Sport manga? Sounds like a fish.) A good example of the Japanese idea that it's fine to be a dork in pursuit of excellence at something--even something other people don't understand.

I hope one day my country stops teaching Holden Caulfield in schools & we can regain that belief ourselves.

There's a definite lead character to draw you in--you start out identifying with him, perhaps. Then we meet more & more characters, & build up a team. The first star of the book is not the superstar jock, in fact he has an inferiority complex. But he gets better. The book is about growth.

I played soccer one year about the same age as the characters here. I never knew the stuff about strategy the author sticks in. If I had been exposed to that in training, I might have stuck with it. Or maybe not.

Marv Wolfman tweaked the script for Shonen Jump's translation. This is mostly not so noticeable, except around the main character's older brother, who works at a host club. I don't think we have those; we get a little note at one point: "Host club = bar." Sometimes older bro comes off like he's a gigolo, & referring to his job as "escort," while accurate, reinforces that impression. I'm not sure how they should deal with that stuff in what's supposed to be an all-ages book, but I suppose explaining host clubs to kids is no harder than explaining adult-oriented businesses in our own country.