Print Review: Whistle volumes 1-3

Review Whistle volumes 1-3Written by WarpshadowRating good

Whistle is a fair good sports manga but after reading a couple of volumes I found out that It isn’t anymore than fairly good.

Sho Kazamatsuri went to the elite Mushashinomori high school because he wanted to play on the soccer team more than anything. As it turned out to be he could go no further than to join the third string backups and didn‘t even get to train properly. So he decided to transfer to Josui academy where the soccer team was less prestigious. Yet without even training Sho was nothing more than a rookie even if he was expected to be a star from his old school. So his only recourse was to train himself day and night until he could prove himself to everybody.

Whistle is for those of you that are unfamiliar with genre conventions a pretty clear example of what a sports manga story looks like. As far as I have read it is also a pretty generic example of the genre. The main character is little more than a boy that can perform great feats through his bottomless love of soccer at this point but at least he isn’t that annoying. Other than Tatsuya and to some extent the goalkeeper the other characters are little more than foils who exist to antagonize, inspire or be inspired by the main character although there may be some hope for the future. The games can last a while with one game taking the second half of the second volume and all of the third. This is a pretty average title and really only worth picking up if you like soccer.