Cross Game #8

Mitsuru Adachi's beloved baseball-and-coming-of-age series continues with this eighth volume, its bright green cover bringing together five young characters — a taller girl with long dark hair, a boy at the center, a girl in red, and two younger kids flanking them — in a relaxed, warmly casual group portrait. Adachi's clean, expressive linework gives each face its own distinct personality, capturing the mix of youth, camaraderie, and understated emotion that makes Cross Game such a rewarding read. Published by Viz under the Shonen Sunday imprint in 2012, this volume is a fine entry point into one of manga's most quietly compelling sports dramas.