Manga 150424 King Of The Mound

This for me is one of the best sports manga/manhwa that I have read, though it is true that I haven't read much. I thoroughly enjoyed it throughout its run and I was honestly quite devastated that it got axed, though I guess I appreciate that they didn't continue it with a downgrade in art style or any decrease in quality which is happening to quite a bit of manhwa as of recent.

Plot:
The story starts off for me quite slow as I am more used to action packed shit. Though the momentum quickly picks up as the mc's motivation and drive continues to develop ... with him. In my opinion the conflict itself is quite lackluster as we don't really get to see the mc struggle much (his conflicts continuously gets resolved one by one without much effort by him). What the story lacked in the conflict was carried by the interesting progression in story as he slowly got better and we see how the world around him is affected with his rise.

The story doesn't really complete itself as from what I hear it got axed. Though thankfully it was able to complete or at least led to the next step some of its thematic setups. So, the ending though not completely satisfying is a point in which the story could end as it did make a sort of goodbye wrap up moment.

Characters:
This for me is what absolutely cements this story as one of my favorites. The characters are all interesting and memorable which I guess is also influenced by the artstyle (which I will touch upon again later). Even less essential characters like some reoccurring fans are quite memorable due to how they are used effectively to display the audience's perception of the players. The reporters are also given some character as they are given reasons for the audience to hate or like them. Even the minor supporting characters are also built upon quite well as they are easily distinguishable from how they look and act which I feel like increases the realism feel of the story.

Moving on to the main supporting cast they are built upon very well in my opinion though with some aspects that I wished could be done better. The main rival for example was only prominent in the beginning of the story and I guess needed to take a back seat to show off the other side 'villains' though I would have enjoyed a greater sense of rivalry between them. The love interest though quite cliche, is not annoying. Often times the stupid cliche love interest usually becomes annoying as they make stupid conflicts for the mc, which does not happen here which I enjoy.

The main cast which not really spoiler but is the mc and ghost is such a fun duo. Individually the mc is actually quite boring as he basically always gets what he needs like luck is legit his skill. He is of course fun due to his high energy and confidence which always brings hype to the story. Their dynamic though is legit really good. You could actually feel a sense of a real relationship between them like a mentor and a mentee. Even though Kim Jinho likes to tease and annoy the mc, he still acts like a genuinely good mentor offering good advice and motivation when mc most needs it. And even though mc teases kim jinho and likes to ignore his naggings truly looks up to him and wants to be like him.

Art:
The art is really really good as it gives so much hype for this manhwa. It makes baseball look cool as fuck and I personally think baseball is such a boring sport. When the mc throws a pitch the art makes excited as it feels very dynamic. When the ball gets hit by the baseball bat or when it is caught you can actually feel it even though it is just a picture. The artstyle is able to very clearly demonstrate to us the audience the expressions of all the characters including all the intense and hype moments.

Overall:
It is such a great story in my opinion even though it ends abruptly I thoroughly enjoyed its run. I actually felt depressed for a bit because it ended how it ended ,since it ended how most manhwa would be like a season end. We just opened up to a new world but it was the end of the story sadly. I love it and really recommend it for anyone really as it is just genuinely a fun read.

All I could really say in the end is, WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!.

I have only read up to 25 chapters so far, which is about over half of what has been released right now. So far, I am really enjoying this series. Is it the best? No. But is it a fun read that takes an interesting approach to baseball? Yes. The art in this series is pretty solid. The characters look cool and some moments of the story show really unique character designs. The plot of the story is not bad but it is a little bit too fast paced. The characters progression is a little too fast in my opinion.

Overall, this is a pretty ... enjoyable read for any sports lovers out there. Give it a shot and let me know your thoughts on it and feel free to add me on Mal :) I would give this series a 6-7 score as of right now.


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