Quick Look: Bench by Masashi Kishimoto

This was a one shot in my Weekly Shonen Jump Digital Subscription (highly recommend getting it) this week. It is called Bench and by Masashi Kishimoto (creator of Naruto).

No, I am not a big sports fan, but seem to like how these stories are written. You usually have a team that is looked down upon as lower than the lowest. In this group however, there are exceptional players and hidden talents. Bench proves to be right in there with the best of them.

It takes place in Middle School since the grades noted are 8th and 9th. There are so many baseball players that they have 4 teams (A through D). As I am sure you guessed, Team D is the worst or also nicknamed 'Dead Stock'. Team A is full of the best players and also the worst attitudes.

What you come to find out is that D Team is also made up of some pretty interesting talent. The pitcher, Masayuki Oh, was actually the Ace Pitcher until he hurt his right shoulder. Then you have  Tsutomu Yamaguchi, a new comer with turns out to be a pretty famous ball player. After being belittle to get the A Team drinks, poor Tsutomu stand up for the team. This of course ends badly later for him, but also helps Oh setup the big finale.

Not going into any more details, else I spoil it more for you. I will give you some screenshots however from the manga to wet your whistle.

 

Even though I am not into sports stories, I would definitely recommend this.