Adachi Mitsuru H2 vol.22 - most refined manga storytelling

Today to share with you my thoughts about vol. 22 of H2. (Basically the second half of the volume) A couple of scenes that I found in particular, very moving and written beautifully.

To begin, let’s have a bit of background information...

*****Spoiler Alert*****

Hiro was unable to sleep that night after the Koshien match when he hurt his foot. He went to sit by the sea shore. Hikari, was unable to sleep too, saw him there and she approached him. They spent the time together, and Hiro was comforted by Hikari, they were there until very early morning. Haruka woked up very early, on her bike she searched for Hiro. She found him. In a distance...Haruka saw the two together, she returned back to the hotel quietly. 

Back to Tokyo. One day, Kine-kun skipped his baseball practice, Noda and Haruka went to see him. Kine asked casually, whether he is able to have a date with Haruka, and surprisingly, Haruka said ‘yes’ and then they went out together. Noda, noticed something went wrong but not sure exactly what happened, asked Hiro:

Hiro now realised what had happened,

and he figured out why Haruka has tears in her eyes while fallen asleep, when they were on the train on the way back to Tokyo after the game.

Haruka, during their ‘date’ she suddenly remembered her conversation with Hideo the other day, and she would like to see his batting. So she asked Kine to bring her to Meiwaichi high school. When they arrived, Hideo had just finished practice and was held up with press interview...

While totally bored with the interviewers, Hideo saw Haruka.

Hideo smiled.

(I like the way Adachi didn’t show us Hideo’ facial expression, but it was described by the director saying ‘yes yes, Just stay like that’. I think quite unique, even though Adachi had use many of this similar technique before, this one is quite special.)

Lastly, these few panels below shows the 2 boys and 2 girls with different characters and mood, interacting with each other in only 1 to 2 pages... I found this quite amazing. It tells so much.

Hideo is a sweet gentleman... he hit a ball for Haruka.

He has done what he can to cheer her up.

This is my thoughts about this chapter. The next chapter, is even more drama-intense and interesting!