Real vol. 15

I said last time that I’d stick around for this series no matter how long it takes.  That, uh… turned out to be quite a while, but I’d say the wait was still worth it.  This is mainly due to how vol. 15 is one of the better volumes of “Real” in advancing the stories of its three protagonists.  Starting off with Nomiya, who has been on the sidelines for far too long, we see him start a new job with a friend who specializes in physical training.  This also inspires the character to get back in shape himself, even though an encounter with the law may wind up putting a stop to any notion of a comeback.  Meanwhile, his former friend Takahashi has joined the Dreams, the hotshot wheelchair basketball rivals to Kiyohara’s team, the Tigers.  Takahashi is only on the sidelines with them now, but he feels that his old basketball skills will  be an asset to the team now that he’s got wheelchair mobility down.  As for Kiyohara, he still wants to beat the Dreams, except hs team’s lack of cohesion and his own professional disappointment are forcing him to rethink how he’s going to do this.

Of the three, Kiyohara’s storyline gets the least amount of pages.  We still get a good idea of where his arc is headed, and it even has one little surprise for those of you who remember the characters in his orbit.  The rest of the volume is given over to Nomiya and Takahashi’s storylines to better effect.  We get to see the latter’s struggles with wheelchair basketball realized in a dramatically satisfying way – both in terms of him grappling with the technical aspects of the sport and actual drama.  This eventually involves what looks to be a goodbye to one of the title’s most memorable supporting characters as his goals and rehabilitation will be taking him away from here.

While I do like seeing Nomiya finally get some proper face time (as well as the cover) in this volume, there is the feeling that his arc is stuck in a rut here.  It’s been established that the biggest obstacle to his success is his own mindset, and that remains true here even as he recognizes what he needs to do in order to push himself forward.  We also get a lot of flashbacks to the early days of his friendship with Takahashi, and I can’t recall if this is actually new material or just reiterating what has come before.  If this is all an attempt to give the character a “soft reboot,” then I’m all for it so long as we get some real forward momentum on his storyline next time.  Which I’ll be here for, even if recent events imply that it’s going to be just as long, if not longer than the wait for this volume was.