Real: Vol. 1

Rating T+ Genre manga Author Takehiko Inoue Publisher VIZ Media

The last manga I read from Takehiko Inoue, Slam Dunk, dealt with startlingly similar subject matter: Basketball, and the rowdy outcasts who are not on the team. While Slam Dunk is a more light-hearted saga of a gifted boy’s rise in the ranks of the school’s basketball team, Real is for the more mature, drama-loving audience. Our heroes in this tale have all dealt with some form of trauma, but their passion for basketball brings them together and forces them to move on with their lives. And while the premise sounds gripping, the result falls short.

Real is a darker form of manga. There are no cheery, curvy girls in plaid skirts smiling with their eyes joyfully shut. Real combines the always slightly weird element of manga humor with film-like drama. Tomomi Nomiya is an 18-year-old boy who dropped out of school in his final year, due to intense emotional trauma. He was in a motorcycle accident in which he paralyzed a young girl, who he has become infatuated with as a result. Kiyoharu Togawa is a 19-year-old boy with bone cancer who is bound to his wheelchair. But his love for basketball is as intense as Tomomi’s NBA star bling. He is perfectly capable of beating the school’s most able-bodied athletes at the game. And then there’s Hisanobu Takahashi, a 17-year-old basketball star who gets into a terrible bicycle accident and is soon wheelchair-bound as well. And this introductory volume to the manga pretty much stops there—we are given the intense backgrounds to these inspirational characters in order to set the foundation for their upcoming development.

And that is much what this manga feels like—a prelude to something much better. It seems as if Inoue is setting up the momentum for a beautiful story here. These tragedies all pull toward the same center of passion for this sport, connecting these young men in ways much deeper than simple athletic bonding. These are the kinds of bonds—the ones that keep you going on with life despite its cruelties—that stay with you.

But that is all my vision for this story’s potential. So far, I am a little bit less than impressed. The trauma scenes are done wonderfully, but the other scenes feel like filler time. The basketball scenes are somewhat confusing and jumpy, and the dialogue between the characters never seems to go anywhere in terms of advancing the plot. Much of it could be due to translation issues, but it is the weakest point in the series so far. But some scenes save the whole piece. For instance, the scene when Hisanobu Takahashi slowly discovers the effects of his accident on his legs. He internally begins to describe a burning feeling from his waist down, somewhat like he is wearing someone else’s legs. It’s extremely moving. If only the rest of the book were as compelling.

All in all, this story looks like it’s going somewhere significant. It is a little disappointing that the scenes in which people are getting hurt are more compelling than the ones in which they are supposed to shine (the basketball games), but hopefully Inoue knows what he’s doing and is building the story up to be what we deserve to read! Until then, I’m dissatisfied with mediocre dialogue and jumbled playground basketball.