Photo by Nicole. Miura, Volume 1 Cover, Blue Box, Viz Media.
Blue Box – Information
Author of Story: Kouji Miura
Chapter Count: 21+ volumes, 250 digital chapters
Status: Completed digitally, physical volumes still in production
Content Warnings
These content warnings do not reflect the contents of the review below; only the literary work itself.
- Minimal portrayal of injury
Spoiler Disclaimer
This recommendation post may contain small plot spoilers for review purposes. Any major spoilers are hidden by default and are able to be revealed via click or tap.
Blue Box – Plot Summary
Blue Box is actually a full serialization of what started out as a one-shot story! It follows Taiki Inomata, a student who loves badminton. He practices in his school’s gym every morning alongside upperclassmen, including the basketball player Chinatsu Kano.
It’s apparent from the start that Taiki has a massive crush on Chinatsu. This is because she’s incredibly passionate about her sport. Chinatsu left a big impression on Taiki the first time he met her, and is the reason he works harder at his own sport.
Unexpectedly, Chinatsu’s family has to move due to her parent’s work, which is taking them abroad. However, Chinatsu stays behind—and suddenly moves into Taiki’s home!
This is because she has the goal of going to the national basketball competition with her school’s team, and therefore her parents decide to let her to stay at a family friend’s home instead of moving overseas with them.
It just so happens that Chinatsu’s mother and Taiki’s mother are good friends! So, while Chinatsu’s family lives abroad, she’s staying with Taiki’s family as she works toward her goal.
I promise you, although this premise sounds really silly, the actual story becomes much, much more than just that trope. It is still a part of the story long-term, but mostly just serves as a way for these characters to have proximity to each other.
After all, two students who have to focus on both practicing their sport and preparing for exams would be incredibly busy. The main story focuses on their sports goals, and how they support each other through different struggles. Of course, this builds some big emotions!
With that being said, you’ll enjoy this fun shounen romance as these two characters navigate their feelings—as well as their individual dreams to excel in their sport! If you are someone who really enjoys sports series like Haikyuu, but also loves romances too, you’ll absolutely love Blue Box!
Why I Enjoyed Blue Box
Plot:
Starting with the positives for this Blue Box manga review, I wanted to first address the living-together trope, which can go either really well or really badly in romance manga—luckily this story takes the best possible route with it. It is literally nothing more than those two sharing a space. No super strange scenarios are created with it, thankfully.
Sure, Taiki’s a bit of a goof who freaks out over living with his crush at first (his imagination runs a little wild for just a second), but he gets over it rather quick. This trope doesn’t turn cliche or cringy at all in Blue Box, so don’t let it stop you from reading this awesome series.
The Blue Box manga is the first series I’ve read that has an equal focus on romance as it does sports (but I also don’t consume a ton of sports mangas, so I may be missing out). The author did a superb job at fitting them both in and balancing them well.
It never feels as though the story focuses too much on one at any time, so they blend very nicely throughout the plot. Readers get to equally enjoy classic romantic elements and suspenseful sports themes simultaneously!
When it comes to the romance, it is a super slow burn. However, the payoff is dramatic and amazing! Stick it through, and you won’t regret it. I really loved how this romance developed, and there’s even more fluffiness to come afterwards, too!
As for the sports scenes, they feel very suspenseful and fun. It follows the same style as other sports mangas, where a character slowly gets better and meets lots of rivals. Although I feel like none of the main rivals give off that “villain” vibe where the character is mean just for the heck of it.
Everyone in this manga seems to have some sort of goal, motivation, or at least some level of passion for their sport. It has a refreshing depiction of sportsmanship and rivalry.
There is a rival in love, too! Although, I have to admit, the author is just too good at writing. I actually started to really feel bad for the love rival. This love triangle trope doesn’t last the entire series, thankfully, but long enough for me to add the tag to this post, haha!
My impression of Blue Box is very good. It’s suspenseful, exciting, romantic, and even funny at times. It has its wholesome moments, and is very well-rounded. I have really enjoyed this sporty series, and I’m so excited to recommend it!
Miura. Volume 9 Cover, Blue Box, Viz Media.
Characters:
Starting with the MC, I feel like Taiki’s character design is rather fitting for a character in a sports manga. I actually like his short, spiky hair—it feels really appropriate for someone who enjoys sports. He’s also got a determined yet very kind look to him.
That’s actually one part of Taiki’s character that I really like: he’s a very reactive, goofy guy—but he’s also got a unique honesty and sincerity to his personality. He is very earnest, and has only good intentions.
He believes in and highly admires hard work, often holding himself to a rather strict standard. He seems to think lowly of himself, but that also seems to be the reason he works very hard. I like seeing his confidence build as the story progresses, too.
Chinatsu also has a nice design. I feel like mangas love to exaggerate sporty girls. Oftentimes, they are super sporty and have no personality outside of it. Chinatsu, on the other hand, actually has a very realistic character design. She wears casual, sporty clothes sometimes, but can also dress up cutely.
She may wear her hair in a ponytail during games (obviously), but almost always wears it down outside of playing basketball. I just like that “normal girl” feel that her character gives off, and how being a basketball player is not her only personality trait.
Chinatsu is also rather mature and level-headed. She is sure of herself, her abilities, and her goals. I really like this aspect of her character; it makes her seem very admirable, reliable, and super cool. She contrasts a lot to Taiki’s unconfident characteristics, and makes them seem like they’d be a great pair.
Although Taiki’s character may be much more loose, I think he would be great at helping Chinatsu relax a bit. Overall though, she’s a fantastic FL, and I was so happy to see this sort of character type represented in a romance.
In addition to the very determined main characters, the side characters throughout Blue Box are also written well. Taiki’s got a lot of wingmen, haha! Even his badminton rivals are interesting and have unique personalities. They are all likable in their own way; it’s very cool.
Art:
I’ll have to be honest here—I really enjoyed Blue Box’s art, but mostly at the start.
At first, it is exactly what you’d expect from a sports manga. It’ll look a bit rough, or sort of sketch-bookish, in a way. Not in a bad way, though; especially for the sports matches. It feels very fitting for dramatic scenes where the characters are moving a lot. It’s still got a great level of detail to it, and the style feels more energetic and powerful during the sporty scenes.
While the style can seem intense during sports matches, it also becomes nicely detailed during more romantic moments. I especially love the extra detail and different perspectives we get for the romantic scenes!
While it did take me some time to get used to this author’s style (particularly the faces of the characters), I still felt that it had a unique charm to it and was overall very visually appealing.
Unfortunately, I feel the quality of the art deteriorates later in the series a bit. Particularly with the characters’ appearances. Understandably, creating a manga is a lot of work, especially with deadlines, but I did want to be honest with my disappointment in how the style has changed into the later volumes.
Miura. Volume 5 Cover, Blue Box, Viz Media.
Any Cons?
I started this story thinking it would be too much sports and not enough romance, but I quickly found myself surprised by my desire to see more sports!
What I mean is that this story focuses primarily on Taiki’s sports tournaments, challenges, and growth. We get to learn about Chinatsu’s progress and struggles, but not actually see much of her games play-by-play or in too much detail.
I was a little disappointed by this, but I know asking for both her games and Taiki’s games would be an immense amount of work for the author. It would be like two sports mangas in one! However, from what I can tell, the manga industry seems to be severely lacking in sports series that focus on a female protagonist.
They do exist, but many of them are either ecchi (not my sort of thing) or incredibly short. So, I may have been hoping for just a bit more Chinatsu content… not truly a con, just me asking for too much!
Anyway, another con may be that there are a few predictable romantic tropes in this story. I really enjoyed them, but if you don’t like that sort of thing, maybe just be aware of it before starting the series. They aren’t done in a cringey way or anything, but are common enough to recognize (like the living together trope, love triangle, falling sick, etc).
Lastly, if you don’t like slow burn romances, this story may be excruciating for you. I promise it’s worth sticking it through, but I also understand that not everyone likes slow burns. If you also aren’t interested in sports mangas on top of that, you likely won’t enjoy this series—obviously.
More In-Depth Review (Warning: Spoilers!)
I really was surprised by how much of a focus romance got in this story. I mentioned it already, but I truly thought I wouldn’t like this series because I was prepared for all the romance to be shoved into the background. Props to the author for keeping things super engaging and well balanced. I loved seeing Taiki grow in both his sports abilities and in his romantic endeavors.
This story is a slow burn that wasn’t hard to like even from the start. I loved Taiki and Chinatsu’s relationship early on, and how the author let them grow closer in such a natural and realistic way. Many people aren’t a fan of love triangles, but I honestly liked Chono Hinachi’s personality.
I feel like it is rare to have a love rival character that isn’t flat out annoying. Chono was a very likable character, and I honestly felt really bad for her (which is unusual, as I often get irritated by love rivals). She even got a gorgeous feature on one of the volume covers!
Just when I was starting to get a bit tired of her character always putting up with her one-sided feelings, the rejection came. Immaculate timing by the author, I’d say. Although love triangles often feel pointless, I think Chono’s involvement allowed Chinatsu to realize her own feelings a bit more.
Even though Chinatsu has the right to take her time falling in love, she can’t exactly take too long. Overall, I really loved the portrayal of this love triangle trope in Blue Box.
I will say, however, that the introduction of Ayame had me worried this story would turn into a harem. I’m not totally against harems, but it just didn’t feel right for this story—so I’m really glad it didn’t end up that way. I honestly didn’t really like her character much at first. It felt as though some random stranger came in and infiltrated the main characters’ business, which she had very little context for.
I thought she was going to confront Taiki for rejecting Chono, but thankfully it didn’t turn out like that. Ayame did also redeem herself (in my eyes) a bit by being a good friend to Chono and being thoughtful in other ways. Her introduction was so sudden and sort of random, but she grew on me.
The rest of the characters were all fun, too. I really liked the sports rivals that Taiki faces, and how none of them are actual villains. They’re all just students playing sports, some with more passion than others. I enjoyed the common power-scaling aspect where the main character sort of sucks at first but gradually becomes very good thanks to hard work.
Similarly, I enjoyed the topic of talent vs. hard work in the side story with Chinatsu’s childhood friend. There were actually a lot of sporty aspects in this manga that I ended up really enjoying, and I’m excited to see it all animated.
I’ll also be honest; I actually don’t consume a ton of sports mangas or anime (as I mentioned earlier in this Blue Box manga review). I’ve only completed a handful of them, and so I don’t really know if there’s a common plot pattern or any tropes that are used in the genre that may have been utilized in this story. It has also been some time since I read or watched the genre.
Regardless, I really enjoyed Blue Box even from the very first chapter, and really wanted to recommend it! I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.
Final Thoughts
I was a little worried going into this story that there wouldn’t be enough romance, but I was pleasantly surprised.
The Blue Box manga series has everything you could ask for in a manga, and I really enjoyed all of it. Suspenseful sports matches, sensible characters, dramatic confessions, fluffy romance, an interesting plot, good character development, nearly zero fan-service, and even an amazing art style.
The anime adaptation of Blue Box looks great, too—so now we can enjoy both formats!
Disclaimer: Any images used for this blog are for illustrative purposes only, are not owned by me, and are under ownership of the artist or publisher.
Images Credit: Miura. Blue Box, Viz Media, 2022.
