|| Shoubu wa Ji no... Un darou? SEVEN ||

1 volume
BL, Drama, Fluffy Angst
Publisher: Hanaota Comics
ISBN: 4832282727
Mangaka: TAKAGUCHI Satosumi

Other manga on this site by TAKAGUCHI Satosumi: Kreuz, PINK, Utsukushii Otoko

Plot:
Shoubu wa Ji no... Un darou? is actually a series which Takaguchi co-writes with another artist. SEVEN is a solo work using many of the same characters, but takes place slightly later.

It is about the members of the basketball team at a sports-based high school. The first chapter focuses on a new character, Kiyoshi. Although he is attending a sports-based school, he is unable to play sports because of a childhood accident. He isn't dealing well, until Nana (Seven) takes him under his wing.

Somehow, Takaguchi manages to portray Nana as the savior of several characters in this comic and still keep him a believable teenage boy. Nana is a senior and captain of the basketball team. Kiyoshi quickly falls for him.

But most of Nana's attention is focused on his coach, Saegusa. The man practically built the basketball team from scratch and was manager at one point. He played basketball in middle school, but fell prey to some kind of chronic illness and wasn't able to play after that. All his life he worked with the goal that he would one day be able to play again. But suddenly, he realizes that it will never happen. He begins drinking and becomes depressed. Nana works to pull him out of it, and perhaps they grow too close....

What I Thought:
It is really hard to find a frame of reference to compare Takaguchi to. I have heard her artwork described as "soft" and "lovely". And it is, but it is also so much more. The art has a pencil-sketch feel at some times, and the eyes are unbelievably deep. Every character in every series is unique, unlike some artists who tend to recycle stock character designs.

I've had to create a new classification for her stories: fluffy angst. It is some of the most realistic soul-searching drama you will find out there. But she doesn't (usually) take her characters to the depths of self-destructive despair.

I loved this comic, but when I finished I went, "WHAT? That's IT?!" I searched around, and sure enough, she is continuing the story in her Aqua Rose doujinshi series. Thank goodness.