8月アウトロー Informal Reading Club ⚾

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8月アウトロー (August Outlaw) is a 4-volume high school baseball manga by 宮田みやた大輔だいすけ.

Anyone may join at any time, with any volume. General spoiler courtesy applies.

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I wonder if the ch 1 title was written in katakana so it could be both his name and also “You go” since he moves from the U.S. to Japan.

On the one hand, Yuugou’s an idiot for hearing about this promising young athlete whose future is now in limbo because he effed up his elbow pitching almost 700 balls between 5 games over 10 days at Koushien and then thinking, “Ooh, I wanna do that! No pitch count limit, here I come!” But on the other hand, if he’s been throwing 100+ pitches a day at least since he was 8 and is still fine, he probably can handle it.

I do still hope Teikoku’s either got a new coach or he’s started caring about his players, though.

pg 24-25, probably the best panels this chapter

Also is that a poke at the unnatural Japanese that’s taught to English-speaking learners lmao

Oh, I think Yuugou just is an idiot, period lmao. At least he’s the kind of idiot I like

last half-ish of ch 1

Not sure yet if I should be happy about the consequences for having that kid pitch until he effed up his elbow. Best case it’s “the school should have ensured the athletes would be better looked after rather than simply abandoning and all but dissolving the club.” But there hasn’t been enough yet to tell if Miyata himself supports having fewer regulations in place to minimize injury.

“Sure, this kid potentially ruined his chances of going pro by over-pitching, but that doesn’t mean everyone else will and should be held back! Here, this other kid will prove it!”
vs
“Local idiot underestimates the gravity of overwork, learns to take it seriously and think beyond merely the near future.”

(Sure, injuries are gonna happen anyway, but that doesn’t mean the adults should just blithely allow the kids to throw away their futures for the sake of a single summer. It doesn’t mean the injuries that can be prevented shouldn’t be.)

Well, I knew it could go either way when I got this manga since I did read the preview, but I decided to take a chance on it anyway since it’s short. Plus the art’s nice. Also, I do have some tolerance for shounen idiocy. People (especially kids) do do dumb things and push themselves beyond what they should, particularly when it comes to things they’re passionate about. It really depends what the consequences are.

I think the worst I’ve read was in the volleyball manga アタック!! (mild early spoilers ig)

In the unofficial showdown between Yuuta and Harutaka to try to convince Harutaka to join the club (or stay as more than just a 助っ人, or something) (I guess they must have had 2 or 4 other guys since you can’t play volleyball one on one—or no, maybe it was just someone setting to Harutaka since it was specifically a certain number of chances for Yuuta to block Harutaka’s spikes? idk, I don’t remember), Yuuta tears two of the membranes between his fingers on one hand because Harutaka’s spikes are so damn powerful. He’s bleeding, and it must hurt like hell, but literally all that happens is he shows the injury off to Harutaka and then the mangaka just up and completely forgets about it (or ignores it, and I’m not sure which is worse). There’s a practice match right afterward, and the captain puts Yuuta in, fully knowing he’s injured, when Yuuta came to this school in the first place because he wanted to set to him (and I’m p sure he knew that), and on top of that, the captain himself has just come back after a knee injury! That goes beyond simple shounen idiocy.

At least we know there’ll be a new coach. It just remains to be seen what they’re like.

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Here’s an article I found back when I read ch 1 that I of course forgot to read about the meaning of the Latin phrase on the Summer Koushien flag

ch 2

Ooh, Sakurai’s a catcher! I look forward to seeing his battery with Yuugou

Makes sense that Sakurai was the most affected by Kamijou’s injury, too. He didn’t just look up to him, he was his partner. That plus being part of the cleanup (I’m p sure 3-5 are the cleanup batters in Japanese baseball?), he definitely felt responsible, even if it was on the coach for keeping him in. Yeah, Kamijou was determined to see the game through (15 innings?!?! Holy f*ck), but the coach absolutely could—and should—have overridden him if he cared one whit about his players’ health.

Kataoka in ダイヤのA might have a not-undeserved reputation of being an oni kantoku, but he would never push any of his players that far, would never knowingly/purposely let them injure themselves like that. He overrides Furuya all the time, no matter how big Furuya’s aura gets. He wants Furuya to grow, not destroy himself pushing himself too hard, and he knows there is a line between “hard” and “too hard,” a point where going any harder will do more harm than good.

If we ever meet their old coach, probably the first thing I’m gonna be doing is imagining punching him in the face. Literally no one should be pitching 15 innings, the hell

ch 4

omg all of his mistakes in the fliers. I’m kind of glad his speech isn’t entirely reflective of the kanji he knows. Also that little doodle of himself he added is adorable

Sounds like he shoulda spent some time studying Kansaiben if he was gonna go to a school in Kansai. Maybe he just thought, “Wait, shoot, I gotta learn keigo!” and it didn’t even occur to him lmao

ch 5

It’s cool there’s at least one girl that’s playing, but why the hell’s she the only one who doesn’t get a name. Not cool, Miyata.

Oh lol I didn’t even realize Kakizaki’s a southpaw until Isurugi said so. Just goes to show how much attention I pay