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Short Program #2
Short Program, Volume 2
Probably one of the most difficult feats in manga is to tell a compelling short story, and Mitsuru Adachi is a master of the medium. This selection of some of his best short works include two tales in the dangerous life of a pretty private-eye-to-be; a boy's stop-off on the way changes his life's destination; five short-shorts in a quirky cafe; Japan's future ace pitcher can't even throw a ball; when a school play goes bad, the world is a stage for love and karate; a drama of rugby and past lives; two off-beat time-travel tales; and more! Mitsuru Adachi's low-key but high-impact stories are a must read for any manga aficionado.
288 pages, Paperback
First published June 1, 1996
3 people are currently reading
33 people want to read
About the author
Mitsuru Adachi
680?books213?followersMitsuru Adachi (¤¢¤À¤Á³ä in Japanese) is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kieta Bakuon, based on a manga originally created by Satoru Ozawa. Kieta was published in Deluxe Sh¨nen Sunday (a manga magazine published by Shogakukan).
Adachi is well known for romantic comedy and sports manga (especially baseball) such as Touch, H2, Slow Step, and Miyuki. He has been described as a writer of "delightful dialogue", a genius at portraying everyday life, "the greatest pure storyteller", and "a master manga artist". He is one of the few manga artists to write for sh¨nen, sh¨jo, and seinen manga magazines, and be popular in all three.
His works have been carried in manga magazines such as Weekly Sh¨nen Sunday, Ciao, Sh¨jo Comic, Big Comic, and Petit Comic, and most of his works are published through Shogakukan and Gakken. He was one of the flagship authors in the new Monthly Sh¨nen Sunday magazine which began publication in June 2009. Only two short story collections, Short Program and Short Program 2 (both through Viz Media), have been released in North America, though Viz is scheduled to begin publishing Cross Game in October 2010.
He modeled the spelling of ¤¢¤À¤Á (rather than °²ß_) for his family name after the example of his older brother, manga artist Tsutomu Adachi. In addition, it has been suggested that the accurate portrayal of sibling rivalry in Touch may come from Adachi's experiences while growing up with his older brother. Adachi did the character designs for the OVA anime series Nozomi Witches, so he is sometimes incorrectly given credit for creating the original series.
Adachi is well known for romantic comedy and sports manga (especially baseball) such as Touch, H2, Slow Step, and Miyuki. He has been described as a writer of "delightful dialogue", a genius at portraying everyday life, "the greatest pure storyteller", and "a master manga artist". He is one of the few manga artists to write for sh¨nen, sh¨jo, and seinen manga magazines, and be popular in all three.
His works have been carried in manga magazines such as Weekly Sh¨nen Sunday, Ciao, Sh¨jo Comic, Big Comic, and Petit Comic, and most of his works are published through Shogakukan and Gakken. He was one of the flagship authors in the new Monthly Sh¨nen Sunday magazine which began publication in June 2009. Only two short story collections, Short Program and Short Program 2 (both through Viz Media), have been released in North America, though Viz is scheduled to begin publishing Cross Game in October 2010.
He modeled the spelling of ¤¢¤À¤Á (rather than °²ß_) for his family name after the example of his older brother, manga artist Tsutomu Adachi. In addition, it has been suggested that the accurate portrayal of sibling rivalry in Touch may come from Adachi's experiences while growing up with his older brother. Adachi did the character designs for the OVA anime series Nozomi Witches, so he is sometimes incorrectly given credit for creating the original series.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 4, 2021
En general me han gustado m¨¢s las historias de este segundo tomo que las del primero :).
June 9, 2014
Short Program Volume 2 is a compilation of twelve short stories around 20-30 pages in length (except two 5 page entries - Richter Scale and Walk Off Game). There are several pairs that form two part stories.
I recently discovered and fell in love with Adachi's baseball epic Cross Game, and really enjoyed Short Program Volume 1. It was a strong collection of manga shorts with a unifying theme of love, but explored many forms of it.
Volume 2 is very different but nearly as good - same high quality overall but a little more hit or miss. Adachi really uses the abbreviated format well, which is difficult in comics. He experiments a lot in this collection, both if form and substance. The 5 page entries and the story 5X4P (which is subdivided into separate scenes at the same coffee shop) are interesting attempts at very condensed storytelling. The pacing of the different tales is quite varied (again impressive when talking about short stories) yet is well matched to each. Subjects range from a couple of stories featuring the daughter of a private detective to a lighthearted tale about trying to thwart a fortune-teller's predictions to a couple of unique time displacement adventures.
But my favorites came when Adachi returned to the themes of romance. Stopover, Spring Call and the incredible Spring Pass are all near perfect, engaging stories with fully developed characters and plots.
One last point of interest here - some of the common elements of Adachi's later works show up throughout, although just in fragments. For example, the 5X4P shop and its owner, some pieces of Abase the Ace and certain character designs harken to things later incorporated into Cross Game. Neat to see early versions of these elements sprinkled in.
Mitsuru Adachi is one of the best manga artists I've read, and Short Program Volume 2 is another strong collection of short form stories.
March 2013
I recently discovered and fell in love with Adachi's baseball epic Cross Game, and really enjoyed Short Program Volume 1. It was a strong collection of manga shorts with a unifying theme of love, but explored many forms of it.
Volume 2 is very different but nearly as good - same high quality overall but a little more hit or miss. Adachi really uses the abbreviated format well, which is difficult in comics. He experiments a lot in this collection, both if form and substance. The 5 page entries and the story 5X4P (which is subdivided into separate scenes at the same coffee shop) are interesting attempts at very condensed storytelling. The pacing of the different tales is quite varied (again impressive when talking about short stories) yet is well matched to each. Subjects range from a couple of stories featuring the daughter of a private detective to a lighthearted tale about trying to thwart a fortune-teller's predictions to a couple of unique time displacement adventures.
But my favorites came when Adachi returned to the themes of romance. Stopover, Spring Call and the incredible Spring Pass are all near perfect, engaging stories with fully developed characters and plots.
One last point of interest here - some of the common elements of Adachi's later works show up throughout, although just in fragments. For example, the 5X4P shop and its owner, some pieces of Abase the Ace and certain character designs harken to things later incorporated into Cross Game. Neat to see early versions of these elements sprinkled in.
Mitsuru Adachi is one of the best manga artists I've read, and Short Program Volume 2 is another strong collection of short form stories.
March 2013
September 22, 2015
I read this straight through (unlike vol 1 where I paused between stories). More of these stories were interconnected by characters or places and there was a more bittersweet wistfulness to many of them.
"Spring Passes" is an obvious call out, about two former classmates and an act of kindness that separated them. "4 On the Richter Scale" and "Spring Call" were my two favorite tho with "Before Spring Comes" and "Aim at the Ace" both also strong contenders.
This collection was more heavily sports related tho which makes sense given Adachi's other series largely focus on sports in some manner. I do think some of the references either didn't translate as well as they could have or went straight over my head, but I found a lot of the insert stuff about being a manga-ka or writer quite amusing ("Don't trust dark alleys or editors!" is my fav background sign).
Overall though I remember very little of these stories, I think at this point I was subscribing less to Animerica Extra due to a price increase so it's possible I hadn't read these at all. I believe this is also the last collection printed domestically, but there are 2 more volumes available in general.
It makes me a bit sad as this isn't as popular a genre in America--that is the short form same author collections. So many of my older favs have collections out (Yumi Tamura, Chie Shinohara, Kyoko Hikawa, Yuzo Takeda...) that I'll likely never see domestically.
"Spring Passes" is an obvious call out, about two former classmates and an act of kindness that separated them. "4 On the Richter Scale" and "Spring Call" were my two favorite tho with "Before Spring Comes" and "Aim at the Ace" both also strong contenders.
This collection was more heavily sports related tho which makes sense given Adachi's other series largely focus on sports in some manner. I do think some of the references either didn't translate as well as they could have or went straight over my head, but I found a lot of the insert stuff about being a manga-ka or writer quite amusing ("Don't trust dark alleys or editors!" is my fav background sign).
Overall though I remember very little of these stories, I think at this point I was subscribing less to Animerica Extra due to a price increase so it's possible I hadn't read these at all. I believe this is also the last collection printed domestically, but there are 2 more volumes available in general.
It makes me a bit sad as this isn't as popular a genre in America--that is the short form same author collections. So many of my older favs have collections out (Yumi Tamura, Chie Shinohara, Kyoko Hikawa, Yuzo Takeda...) that I'll likely never see domestically.
October 14, 2018
Some confusing moments, lost in translation. But I truly loved how immense the quiet moments were. Quiet intensity is hard to pull off. Master of the nonverbal.
May 9, 2017
Great storytelling.
May 12, 2021
Khas Adachi-sensei dalam menyusun dan menjyampaikan cerita.
Artwork yang khas plus unsur komedi nyelekit yang tak dinyana.
Artwork yang khas plus unsur komedi nyelekit yang tak dinyana.
November 6, 2023
Como siemp4e, lecturas sencillas que lo llenan de optimismo aunque la ¨²ltima no la entendi
March 1, 2012
I remember that my friend lent me this book, figuring I would be partial to it. To his credit he knew my taste better than I. I had watched and read 'slice of life' manga/anime before, and enjoyed it, but after reading these stories... it was clear to me that not only did I not just enjoy it, I found what I truly love about manga. Adachi is an absolute master at portraying humans as they are, of expressing his characters in such a way that we know what they say isn't always what they feel. He writes and draws his comics from a heartfelt place and puts his emotions into the stories, from humor, to heartbreak, to confusion... the whole gamut of what a person can goes through. I really can't ask anything more of an artist.
July 2, 2007
Still, he got the AWARD!!! There's a story about people who misunderstood about a girl who save him in childhood. I like the way Mitsuru capture the way that human being is usually feeling,, since the smal toomfolery till abysmal ignorance, yeah, we usually done these in normal life.
and 1 value that he always bring, is about LUCK!
okay, it's out of our topic, but, yeah, we never know what is going on next in our life,,
and 1 value that he always bring, is about LUCK!
okay, it's out of our topic, but, yeah, we never know what is going on next in our life,,
October 11, 2012
A much stronger collection of tales than the first volume¡ My favorites were "Spring Passes", which was masterfully told, and 5X4P: Cream Soda, which broke my heart because it captured divorce with children perfectly.
September 3, 2007
cerita2nya lucu2, adachi banget deh!
September 17, 2007
HUAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
asli ngaco banged mangaka yang satu ini
cerita2 awalnya usil banged
geli
HUAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHA
asli ngaco banged mangaka yang satu ini
cerita2 awalnya usil banged
geli
HUAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAAHHAHA
October 2, 2011
Eh. Didn¡¯t suck, didn¡¯t do anything special.
September 14, 2016
Karya itu hanya akan lahir dalam pertarungan melawan diri sendiri.--p. 110; Adachi Mitsuru
(^-^")
(^-^")
April 12, 2017
Nh? nh¨¤ng v¨¤ ??y ? ngh?a. C¨¢ch k? truy?n r?t ?n t??ng. R?t th¨ªch :D
April 22, 2017
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