About.com Rating

The Bottom Line

If you're Takehiko Inoue, how do you follow up your most popular creation without repeating yourself? You take what you love (basketball), add in what you've learned about visual storytelling from your other projects (Slam Dunk and Vagabond) and bump up the drama. Put it all together and you have Real, an addictive seinen manga about disabled basketball players.

Real's gorgeous artwork, compelling character development and adrenaline-charged action, plus its mix of drama and humor make this a must-read for grown-up manga readers.

If you love sports or are just into great storytelling, you must get Real.



Pros

• Exciting, expertly-rendered artwork and dazzling visual storytelling
• Interesting, complex characters who deal with real-life problems in unexpected ways
• Compelling and addictive reading, even for readers who aren't into basketball
• Offers moments of laugh-out-loud humor along with heart-wrenching drama
• Deluxe edition includes 16 full-color pages to showcase Inoue's watercolor illustrations

Cons

• It helps to have a passing knowledge of basketball and the NBA to fully appreciate this story
• Female characters are incidental and play only minor, supporting roles

Description

• Original Title:Riaru (REAL) (Japan)
• Author & Artist:Takehiko Inoue
• Publishers:
  • VIZ Signature / VIZ Media (US)
  • Shueisha (Japan)
• ISBN: 978-1421519890
• Cover Price: $12.99 US / $15.99 CANADA
• Age Rating:OT – Older Teens, Age 16+ for mature themes, some violence
  More about content ratings.
• Manga Genres:
  • Seinen (Men's) Manga
  • Drama
  • Sports
• US Publication Date: July 2008
  Japan Publication Date: September 2002

• Book Description: 224 pages, black and white illustrations, 16 color pages
• More Manga by Takehiko Inoue:
  • Slam Dunk
  • Vagabond

Guide Review - Real Volume 1

Sports manga just doesn't get the props it deserves in America, which is puzzling, because athletes striving, failing, and ultimately winning makes for compelling human drama. Probably nobody knows this better than Takehiko Inoue, the creator of two basketball manga series, Slam Dunk and Real. With Real, Inoue takes his passion and knowledge of the sport and focuses on players who must confront their emotional limits and physical mortality on and off the court.

In this first volume, we meet Tomomi Nomiya, a high school punk with a soft, sentimental side. His tough exterior and brusque mannerisms made him a misfit at school, so when a tragedy knocks him for a loop, he drops out. His only regret? That he can no longer play basketball on his high school team. Then he meets Kiyoharu Togawa, a wheelchair-bound basketball whiz with a chip on his shoulder. When this mismatched pair team up, they rediscover their love for basketball, and learn some hard lessons about life along the way.

In Real, character development is the star. Inoue introduces us to three players and gives us a glimpse of their past heartbreaks and defeats, and a taste of the challenges and triumphs ahead of them. While the tone is mostly dramatic, there are many moments where Inoue's mischievous sense of humor shines through. I laughed out loud when student driver Azumi chauffeurs Togawa to a crucial game and completely terrorizes him when she's too panicked to hit the brakes.

Inoue also plays to his strengths, as he draws scene after scene of in-your-face basketball action. You can almost hear the shoes squeak on the hardwood and the wheels screech across the court.

To top it off, VIZ Signature has given this edition an all-star treatment, with oversized binding and 16 full-color pages. If you love sports or just love great storytelling, you must get Real.