Beniiro Hero

This manga has a really good mix of sports, friendship and romance. If you ain't about watching chapters about people training and playing matched I would skip.

One of the best parts of this manga is the friendships, especially among the girls on the volleyball team. The cast is fairly small for a sports team and so each character has there own story and moment to shy and you begin to like all of them. The girls also struggle, you see the passion they have for the sport and for each other, while yes some are more gifted than others we watch all of them work hard.

The romance in this manga is also based around the sport, both loving each other through encouragement and respect. You can really feel the main character fight for what she wants and follow her dreams with all her determination.

I've read this manga about three times now and every time it manages to make me tear up, although that's mostly because I'm lame and love seeing girls get along I would definitely recommend this.

Put simply, Nobara is a tomboy whose family owns an establishment that she, as the eldest daughter does not wish to take over. Her only passion is volleyball, but though she wants to pursue her dreams, she is held back by her family. Enrolling herself in a high school that she had heard was known for its volleyball team, the only way she can stay is by working as a dorm mother of an all-boys dorm, where five freshman volleyball-players lived. Having the false impression that a girls' volleyball team existed, she soon discovered that her mother had paid the school to take down the team (which was pathetic to begin with). Determined, she makes up her mind to round up members for a team, and with tremendous effort, Nobara finds herself a 6-member team. Her parents still want to bring her home (as she basically ran away), but they eventually come to an agreement that she could stay and have her way until her high school years end, giving her three years to play volleyball. Now, Nobara finds herself falling in love with Yushin, one of the volleyball boys in her dorm. However, he already has a girlfriend and is very dedicated to her. She later discovers that Keisuke Haibuki, an ill but sweet boy she knew when she was young, is also one of the volleyball boys in the dorm. Having admired her for her determination and skills in volleyball when he was little, he breaks up with his girlfriend (who had given up volleyball after an accident though she fully recovered, and was convinced by Nobara later to take it up again) because he realizes that he is falling for Nobara. Nobara will go through several trials with her team, and several alone.

Overall: Crimson Hero is a sports manga centered around a young girl named Nobara. Along with the volleyball-driven plot, the manga also incorporates a love story--or love triangle.
I am a fan of a good love story and I felt that this one worked with the overall storyline of the manga. It is not your typical sappy love story, as, in my opinion, the game of volleyball matters more to the main character, Nobara, than love does. (although both do matter to her).

Story: I enjoyed the story very much. There were a few things I'd like to see elaborated on, but other than that I found it to be a solid manga with barely any plot holes. I'll admit that some events are easy to guess, but others came to me as a surprise.

Art: I like the artwork a lot. The characters are all drawn beautifully. I just had a slight issue with some of the facial expressions- it seemed as if the characters did not have a large array of expressions.

Character: Honestly, I like Nobara. She's tough, but also flawed. She is a round character rather than a flat character and I found her easy to like.

I really liked this, which surprised me a little. I'm not an athletic girl; my experience with sports has always been in a strictly managerial fashion. Yeah, this is a manga about volleyball but, more importantly, it's a manga about a girl who gives up everything to follow her dream. That's the kind of thing I can get into.

Do not fear for this review contains NO spoilers.
This manga is not average at all. The characters display immense maturity which makes the story all the more realistic. If you are tired of cheesy romances and cliché plots, then this manga will definitely spice up your life.
Nobara, main protagonist, is very serious about volleyball however is NOT a stone cold warrior. She is an average high school teenager struggling to become stronger and more independent. What is generally seen in shoujo manga is that the romance takes a very central position in the plot however that is not the case with this manga.
Nobara not only grows as a character as she encounters various challenges through volleyball but ALSO in dealing with her romantic feelings towards other characters. If this entire manga revolved around volleyball then the story would, no doubt, be slightly boring but Nobara encounters feelings of love and decides how to face them. The plot is in fact strong enough without any romance as Nobara is a very deep character and her growth itself is compelling enough to keep one interested in the manga. HOWEVER as there is enough romance to jazz things even more, the story gets even more FANTASTIC!
The art gets a perfect 10 as there are no irritating blushing spasms that characters have. Those to me are extremely unrealistic. The characters of course DO blush, but just the perfect amount. The art is otherwise really beautiful and each character shows a lot of expression. (I'm a stickler for art)
This manga is however not perfect. Although this manga contains a refreshing sight of maturity in characters, they are still high school teenagers who don't know how to perfectly deal with life. I really would have liked it even more if the main characters had chosen to deal with their problems together, through their romance, and hence shown more scenes where they grow together but Nobara is stubborn and takes very independent decisions (which can also be admired in fact). There are enough squeal worthy moments in the romance but I would have liked it if the manga showed more of the main couple's high school life together.
This manga was utterly compelling. I finished it within two days and stayed up the entirety of last night finishing it. Anyone who liked Chihayafuru will love this as well!

OK, kinda crazy story but easy to follow. Girl is really simple minded but that is what makes you love her. The guys are normal with a little bit of an attitude. It is a great sports manga, one of my favorites.

OK now I gave you my review, I just want to know what happens I cannot find any volumes past 13. If anyone knows where I can read them it would be in your debt

Personal Rate: 6
Rate based on the different characteristics: 6.5 rounded down to 6.


WARNING tiny spoiler ahead with warning before and after.



Okay... I typed a review and for some strange reason everything got lost so I'll try to make this quick because I'm really frustrated ( it was a long review). I first read Crimson Hero when I was in high school but scans took a while back then so it's only now ( in my 30s) that I've been able to finish the series.

It is a shoujo sports manga and it is rare enough that just for that it gets my seal of approval. This being said, there's a couple of issues that I can hardly turn a blind eye on so here goes:

Story: 6

Nobara is crazy about volleyball and enters into a high-school where the female volleyball team has been wiped out when the reason she chose that school in the first place was to play. We then follow her journey of how she rebuilds the team and leads its members to compete with other high schoolers and get recognized.
Nothing new under the sun.

2 major problems though:

- Too much drama: This is a shoujo manga so obviously we get some love stories... And I don't mind really. I wouldn't have picked a shoujo in the first place if I wasn't expecting some... But the manga loses its way with some useless sub-plots several times. It's a problem I already had with this author's previous work Devil beside You aka Akuma de Sourou, where an interesting premise got boring after a while because of the useless conflicts.


- Not technical enough: Volleyball is never properly explained in the manga. One example for instance: the positions are not explained. It took me about 10 volumes to understand what role each team member had... which is ridiculous when the story does incorporate complete newbies to the team. The sport itself is never properly explained, why this or that hit is difficult... Nope. So basically you've got cool scenes in front of which you're supposed to be excited and in awe, but since you're never taught exactly why it's awesome... Well it leaves you a bit cold...


To make it short, it's the best shoujo sports manga I ever read for sure... but it fares poorly next to its shounen counterparts.


Art: 6


I've never been really fond of this author's drawing style... I do like that her male characters are not your average bishounens... In fact, most could even be featured in shounens... however my problem is not really the style but rather the proportions. The profiles especially look weird.

The author's drawing had improved drastically since her debut no doubt but when it comes to female characters... Well the "cool ones" look really manly. Worst is the character of Shouji, Nobara's rival who just has a man's built. Basically the cooler the author wanted to make her female characters, the manlier they looked.

I did appreciate however that the girls are really the sporty types. Most have short hair, or tie their hair when practicing... it may appear trivial, but at least it appears serious... I'm diverging here, but I recently looked at Boruto in which Sasuke's daughter, a wannabe ninja, is a hyper sexualized midget wearing high heels. This is just not believable. It's frankly ridiculous.

So as much as I'm not fond of the art, well, at least it's taking females seriously so thumbs up to that.


Character: 8

Overall, nothing to say here. I is a pity the backstories of the female team members wasn't more depicted... and that time was lost on useless love conflicts. Or the reverse?

Yuushin , Nobara and Keisuke are great characters. Nothing to complain about on that front...


Enjoyment: 6


It's a pity, but I can hardly give it more. The sports part didn't excite me... The end especially went for something epic... But there was just too much sentimentality and blahblah for me to get into it. In short, as much as I wanted to get invested, it was just too sappy for me to get into. My blood wasn't boiling as much as it ever did in a shounen... If I could have fast forwarded it, I would have skipped some of the volleyball scenes...

WHY?

Well, It's a problem I also got with a recent anime Yuri on Ice. Not enough sport, too much romance, or not enough romance too much sport. Basically, by trying to do do both, it ended up fairing poorly on both front.
My ship leaned more toward romance.... Because I never got truly invested in the competitions especially since...

SPOILER

It's said very early on that Nobara will stop playing after high school. So it gets difficult to get invested in a character that everybody sees as extremely talented but basically it just feels useless. Why all these efforts it you're going to toss it away in 2 years? When following competitions, one of the reasons I truly get into the series, is because these are roadblocks our characters are to get past in order to make something of their lives. But here, well, the competitions amounts to nothing for the female team. None of the characters are given a chance for something more after high school. In fact, while we know by the end that some male characters have kept on playing at the national level... nothing is said about the girls.

You know it's like the third language you learn in high school. Most of us just did the minimum to get through our exams because we knew we'd never bother with it after. But here, you get 6 girls who are learning a whole dictionary just to ditch it after two years. WHAT'S THE POINT?

END OF SPOILER.



Bottom line: Sport is important business for the boys not for the girls.


Overall: 6

I rounded up with the inferior digit because as much as I loved the characters.... And I truly loved them mind you... There were too many things that spoiled the enjoyment for me. I understand the manga has got a high rate because it certainly differs from your usual shoujo fare... but It's not because it's a shoujo that exigence in different aspects has to be lowered as far as I am concerned.

Would I recommend it? Hmm... Nope. If you're in the mood for a romance... Well, look for another series that focus on it. If you're in the mood for a sports manga: there are plenty out there far more exciting. I haven't read Haikyuu!!, but it's a pretty well known volleyball manga which got an anime adaptation.

In spite of my dissatisfaction, I've got to say I'm happy to see that such attempts at sports manga for girls exist. It is pretty frustrating to always see the cool stuffs and stories handed to the boys. I guess the publishing system in magazines in Japan is to blame for such uniformity and one has to be happy that sometimes, girls do get something different. So that's nothing to sniff at but... better luck next time?

Crimson Hero is a romance, sport, drama, school life, manga. What’s so unique about it? Nothing much honestly. You can pick apart the plot and characters and they won’t be original at all. What’s so good about it? Everything. The story is charming and the characters are funny and creative.
The manga pumps you up and makes you want to pick up a sport, if that makes any sense. It’s driven in the only way sports or arts can be.

Nobusa’s parents suffer from “I want my daughter to hate me so I will force her to be who I want her to be (or, IWMDTHMSIWFHTBWIWHTB for short) disease. They run a top , I’ll call it restaurant, in Japan and she is the oldest daughter set to run it. Only problem is that she loves volleyball and wants nothing more than to play. When she enters high school she finds out that her mom forced the school to disband the girls volleyball team.
Being forced into a corner she does what any shoujo lead would do in her situation, runs away and moves into a dorm full of guys as their dorm mother. OK, not exactly like that but the gist of it… Now it’s up to her to fulfill her dream while cleaning up after four guys…

Just going to say that this NEVER happens in real life, so for one I am COMPLETELY disappointed. I’m sure you are too, if not, you are not reading the right manga…

I think where the author went right from the beginning was the lines. The way the story unfolds, Nobusa’s thoughts and emotions stand out and it’s easy for a lot of people to relate. She’s confident even if she herself isn’t really so. She’s a great leader actually and a good friend.
There are characters you love right away and could even tell which roles they’re going to be given; like friend-zoned dude, bee-atch girl, loyal friend… add that to some characters having old history with each other and you know some drama is guaranteed to happen.

The art doesn’t really stand out, and realistically it has too much competition since it was drawn in 2003. That itself leaves a huge gap for “fresher” material art-wise, least I think so. It was nice, the only thing that stands out a lot at first are the characters hair styles, but it's nothing major. The lead does look like the main girl from High School Debut a bit and sometimes acts like her too. Which isn’t a bad but couldn’t help but notice. Though technically this one was drawn first, barely.
Another thing is that the movements look stiff, I know what you're thinking: How can movements be stiff when they're not actually moving?... well they can. Just the drawing itself while they're playing looks too serious when it should have been more relaxed at times.

The ending, don’t worry I can’t spoil it since it’s not done scanlating. Which I didn’t know when I started reading if not I wouldn’t have…

I’ll cross my fingers for it to keep being good. I'll let you know!

I like how this manga is sport related because I don't know much about volleyball. It's interesting that volleyball and romance are both in this manga. Nobara goes through so much and matures through the course of the story. Throughout the manga you can see the passion the boys and girls have for volleyball.