It’s impossible to find any high quality pics of Suzuki’s manga online…
I don’t like sports manga in general. The reasons are hard to explain, but it’s largely because I’m not a big fan of spectator sports. So when it comes to manga that spends a lot of time describing the games, I can’t really get into it either. The greatest offender is Captain Tsubasa, which I watched as an anime on TV when I was a kid and later read the manga, and ever since then my view of sports manga has been irrevocably set. It’s not until much later, when I had a chance to read Slam Dunk because of my growing interest in basketball during my high school years, did I finally find a sports manga that I could love. That remained my only affair with sports manga for many years (many in terms of my short 21 years of life). Then came Suzuki’s Rising Impact.
It may seem a bit strange for me to recommend Suzuki Nakaba, whose major works Rising Impact and Blizzard Axel are both sports manga. But like Slam Dunk, these manga places far more focus on the characters than the games themselves. I understand that is also the case with many other sports manga (such as the numerous Adachi manga), but most of those don’t sport an art style that I find attractive, and here’s where I start trying to convince you that Suzuki Nakaba is awesome.
… so unfortunately I’ll have to use unrelated images to break up this text-wall post…
Despite being a shounen mangaka and a guy, Suzuki’s art style is very reminiscent of shoujo manga. You’ll find big, watery eyes and plenty of flowers and miscellaneous sparkly bubbles behind characters. There are girly looking guys and guys with long triangular face. And there are numerous grade schoolers who look like they’re in their mid-30’s. These are all things that may or may not appeal to you, but they’re all done with lines that are graceful and dynamic in turn and are a real pleasure to behold.
Behind the characters is what really defines Suzuki as an artist. His background work can only be described as amazing. His beautiful line work is even more apparent in the backgrounds, where bushes, trees and buildings are rendered in breathtaking detail rarely seen in manga. Unlike Negima’s CG backgrounds, Suzuki’s are very organic and extremely pleasant to look at. Mountains and brick houses are drawn with a detailed yet simple elegance that really shows off his skills as an artist, and it all merges seamlessly with the characters that take centre stage.
Of course, even if I think the art style is the best ever (which I do), it’s highly subjective and may not appeal to you as it does to me. Then I have to try to convince you that his stories are worth spending your time on. Normally I’d try to write something myself, but this page here has done it so much better for Blizzard Axel than I possibly can ever hope to do that I’ll just ask you to read it and decide whether it’s worth your time.
… which is a great shame, because I can’t stress enough how fantastic his art is.
Apart from the points raised in that article, I also find the characters endlessly compelling. They’re not always believable or realistic, but each have such clearly defined and wonderful personalities that I can’t help but find myself either rooting for them ceaselessly (in the case of the good guys) or laugh heartily every time Suzuki ridicules them (for the bad guys). Whether it is Gawain’s puni puni (just go read Rising Impact) or Fubuki’s burning passion for figure skating (which is hot enough to melt the ice he’s standing on), the protagonists of Suzuki’s works are endlessly endearing and lovable. The supporting casts are also fantastically fun and fulfill their roles perfectly, whether it’s the good guys or the bad.
Finally, I’d like to say a little about the humour in his manga. Suzuki is funny, very much so. He uses funny faces to great effects, and on top of that he creates genuinely funny situations that takes full advantage of his characters’ personalities. His humour is always pefectly intertwined with the drama, and it never feels weird or out of place to see a funny face on one page immediately followed by a touching scene. And out of the context of the main story, his omakes often leave me rolling on the floor laughing until I get stitches.
I have difficulty finding scanlations for either Rising Impact or Blizzard Axel (so you can leave out those “WHERE I CAN DOWNLOAD THIS” comments), and it’s almost impossible to find pictures for either even on Google’s almighty image search engine, which probably means he’s not very popular in Japan either. It’s a great mystery to me as to the reason for that, considering how wonderful the experience of reading both manga had been for me. Even if it’s hard to find either manga online (only two volumes of RI and one chapter of BA have been scanlated), I sincerely encourage anyone who has access to either the Chinese or Japanese versions to give them a try - even if I can’t guarantee that you’ll fall in love with him, I can at least confidently say you won’t feel like you’ve wasted your time with Suzuki Nakaba.
P.S. I just went shopping for manga today, and everywhere I look, Blizzard Axel is out of stock, and apparently has been so since May this year. May! I am so, so unimaginably annoyed. FUCK YOU CITICOMICS, FUCK YOU. If any of you hacks at the management level sees this, I hope you die in a fire, but not before you print out more damn copies of Blizzard Axel.
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Comments (3)
For Blizzard Axel, the Hong Kong version published by Citicomics is called “花冰驕子”, while the Taiwanese version is called “冰上悍將”.
For Rising Impact, the Hong Kong version is “一擊沖天” while the Taiwanese version is called “高爾夫物語”.
Luppie-chama added these pithy words on Nov 29 07 at 8:59 pmI was looking for more information on “Rising Impact” when I came across this review, and I have to say, the review fits to a tee. Suzuki’s works are indeed difficult to find, which is why I’m so glad you provided the names of the series in Chinese. Thanks!
And while you’re at it, you might want to give Adachi’s series another try, the later works have cleaner lines (yes, still old school) but the stories are still funny, sometimes subtle, other times not so. But otherwise, I completely agree with you: Slam Dunk was a great sports manga and “Rising Impact” picks up the baton nicely.
sair added these pithy words on Feb 13 08 at 10:55 pm