Just in time for opening day comes a charming, laugh-out-loud treat for… well, just about anyone…

I mention the issue of audience right away because Ninja Baseball Kyuma! is ostensibly targeted for young readers, ages 7-12. But who cares? Sure, kids will get a kick out of this first volume, but so will baseball fans and Japanophiles of any age. Artfully combining the two disciplines (subcultures?) mentioned in the title, creator Shunshin Maeda shows, but does not show off, a deep knowledge of both. And in terms of genre, the blending of sports manga elements with more Naruto-like themes leads to a gentle satire of both.

 

Our title character, Kyuma, is the archetypal last-member-of-a-clan-that-time-forgot.

You know the kind, right? They spend their lives training in some remote mountains, unaware that it’s the 21st century and the rest of society has long since moved beyond feudalism except in a few vestigial forms. With his pint-sized (and way too adorable) “ninja dog” Inui as his only companion, Kyuma is only too ready to embrace the camaraderie promised by a “Bad News Bears”-style little league team. Of course he thinks the team’s captain is his “liege” and approaches every game as if it’s a battle, which is precisely where the tremendous fun of the book takes over… and doesn’t let go.

The neat trick here, though, is that Maeda has kept the story from becoming a one-joke effort endlessly retold. He accomplishes this by keeping the humor specific rather than broad and, moreover, presenting an intriguing cast of characters and an underlying dramatic storyline that’s interesting as well. Kyuma is front and center, to be sure, but his complex rivalry with an opposing pitcher elevates the baseball contests to a psychological level that makes you want to learn more than just the final score. There’s also the new coach for Kyuma’s team, a character who emerges only toward the end of the story, and who comes complete with a full-blown “mysterious samurai” aura. Such elements make clear that Ninja Baseball Kyuma! is a series to follow, not a concept that’s played out before it’s barely out of the batter’s box.

In short, if this title is any indication of the quality of the new UDON kids manga line, then us adults have officially been put on notice—we are now kids again, at least for all too brief time we find ourselves buried in these pages.