Reviews

Sayonara, Football 1 by Naoshi Arakawa

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foodtabas's review against another edition

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fast-paced

3.5

geekwayne's review against another edition

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4.0

'Sayonara, Football 1' by Naoshi Arakawa is a sports manga about soccer.

Nozomi Onda just wants to play soccer, but she is a girl and her school only has a boys team. That doesn't stop Onda from practicing with the team and practicing harder than anyone. When a rival team is coming to play the team, Onda finds the team has a boy from her past. Will Onda ever get to play?

I like sports manga, but this one might be a tough sell to Western audiences. The argument is made repeatedly that Onda is a female, and slighter in build and muscle than the boys. Still, I found it a fun read and the art of the games was pretty exciting.

I received a review copy of this manga from Kodansha Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this manga.

antisocial_auntie's review against another edition

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1.0

I was wrong to assume it was about girl's soccer. Just a girl wanting to play with the boys and everyone being sexist pricks. Will try the next one hoping they snap out of that

kelleemoye's review

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4.0

I cannot wait to get this manga for my middle school library! It does a wonderful job of looking at the debate around co-ed sports. Nozomi had always played soccer with her male teammates but now that they are fourteen, tournament rules don’t allow her to play. Also, can her skills keep her equal to boys who are often “physically superior” (the words of the author)? So much to discuss here! And I will say that the end had a bit of a weird turn, so now I definitely have to read volume 2.

thenextgenlibrarian's review against another edition

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4.0

For a manga book (which is my least favorite type of GN to read) I really enjoyed the story about two soccer stars at rival middle schools who end up at the same high school with a lazy coach and braggart teammate. In order to become champions the two must team up to defeat the other team. I liked the dedication they had for the sport and the ending was definitely a cliffhanger for book 2. Thank you Netgalley for this ARC. All opinions are my own.

jkenna1990's review against another edition

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4.0

Thank you to NetGalley for a free review copy of this book!

This was a pretty good sports manga. It follows Nozomi Onda, a 14-year-old girl that wants to play football. The only problem is, no matter how good she is, they won't let her play on the boys team. Wanting to prove herself, she gets a chance when she runs into one of her childhood friends on the street and he tells her that small girls like her have nothing on the boys.

Overall, I really enjoyed this manga. I usually don't read sports manga but the cover art and story of this one really caught my eye and I'm glad I gave it a chance! I'm excited to see where the story goes in volume 2, which I'll be sure to check out.