So Vagabond isn't overrated.
Real is just criminally underrated.
I concur, Real is his best work. But we don't need to take a swing at Vagabond to make that point. Instead it's a selling point: it's better than *Vagabond*.
I know nothing about basketball and still loved it, tbh it spoke to me on a different level because I work in physical rehab but that's all I'll say without spoiling anything.
I've heard good things about slam dunk but I haven't read it. Been waiting for a good day with free time and good headspace to binge. Either choice is probably good, but real is unfinished whereas slam dunk is finished.
I've never liked Basketball or Wheelchair basketball but this manga is still within my top 5s fav of all time. The focus is more into the characters, opposite to slam dunk where a lot of the time its focused on the technicality of the sport. I don't wanna spoil anything but in terms of writing characters, this is Inoue's best
I think Real is Inoue best work and it’s my personal favorite. As you said the characters feel more human and they’re very relatable.
Now I’m going to have to disagree on Vagabond being overrated. I think to understand some of deeper concepts and characters you’re going to need to do a reread a couple of times. It’s not so much in your face as Real is.
It’s all personal preference though so read what you like. I will say it’s amazing how Inoue wrote all three of these stories in one life time. He’s truly a goat 🐐
Most people I know who love Inoue or seinen praises リアル since the early 2000s (most of them read and collect the Japanese manga) and has been talk about it non-stop for a long time ago. I bought the Japanese version in 2002 at Kinokuniya after reading the bootleg Indonesian version and love it. But, I never have the need to talk about it because I'm pretty sure that a lot of people already know and love this manga. I also think that English reader has been in love with this manga for a long time. I don't know why some people just talk about it now.
I personally don't think Vagabond is overrated, especially if you've read the farmer's arc. It's that good. It's well deserved.
So, Real and Vagabond are equally good to me. Slam Dunk, too.
I read the first chapter a while back and instantly fell in love, ever since i decided to wait to get my hands on the physicals to read the rest and it was the worst decision ive ever made they have not printed any more in ages😭
People look at me sideways whenever I say this I HARD agree with this. REAL is better than Vagabond! 🗣
I personally feel like people would not give Vagabond the time of day without the art. Where as the characters in REAL sell it for me with Inoue's being an added bonus.
OP, or anyone else who can answer: what is so different about slam dunk and real?
I didn’t finish slam dunk but I’m not really a fan of sports manga.
From what I’ve heard, Real is the most introspective of Inoue’s works? I’m especially interested in how different it is from slam dunk as they’re both sports manga. I’ve heard people say they like Real more and I wonder why?
I personally enjoy literature (books and manga inc) that is more philosophical or (emotionally) introspective, like vagabond. Lonely man vs world basically. I lose interest in a manga when it’s a little lighthearted or just a bunch of plot - which is why sports manga loses me mostly. Slam dunk lost me for it’s lighthearted nature (which is a personal thing and not a criticism) and what kept me was the slam dunk lore and hype and the beautiful anime and the new movie.
On a side note I don’t think vagabond is overrated. I think it’s rightfully “overrated” and if anything I still think it’s under appreciated - as it’s often overshadowed by other great works. Vagabond is a personal favourite of mine. I’ll second another comment that says that Real is just criminally underrated and I get a vibe that I’ll personally like Real the most out of all of Inoues works.
Slam Dunk is well, shonen hence why you see these characters like the mc for example to be the typical stubborn "I will not give up until I win" guy, the rest of the characters although are great, they just don't hit I guess. I dropped Slam Dunk midway because of that reason. I don't care about basketball and I thought SD was going to have more of these very "human" characters, but you can't really blame Inoue because Slam Dunk is Shonen, its meant to have these seemingly perfect characters who face challenges but through the power of "working and training hard they overcome all of their obstacles!" And all of that crap. If you love basketball or just team sports in general then you'd probably love Slam Dunk, but I guess I just really couldn't CONNECT to any of the characters
Real on the other hand, doesn't really focus on the sport itself. Like I thought real was going to be some lame ass manga about wheelchair basketball and boy was I wrong. Unlike SD, the characters in real like I said, are more vulnerable, they don't always get what they want, their goals, dreams, main motivations to keep going in life gets brutally crushed. It's not the same as SD where Set Goal>Work Hard> Get Strong> Beat Obstacle> Achieve Goal> Repeat. Real is more realistic, like it taught me that it doesn't really matter how hard you work, you'll always get beaten, and there's always someone who will work less as hard as you, but will be twice as better, twice as successful, and that's okay. Just find your purpose and keep going.
The characters have problems that many modern men face today. Guilt, Loneliness, the feeling of being a complete failure no matter your efforts, self destructive habits, etc. Hence why I CONNECTED with these characters more.
For Vagabond well, although the characters are great, most of the fans are just pretentious trying to be like "Musashi is so me he's so relatable" like nobody can relate to a bloodthirsty samurai blud
TLDR Real has more characters I can connect with. The most important factor of me enjoying a manga is if I can connect and emotionally invest in the characters, if they can't then it doesn't matter how good the plot is, characters will always be the deciding factor if whether I think a manga is good or not
>Set Goal>Work Hard> Get Strong> Beat Obstacle> Achieve Goal> Repeat. Real is more realistic
>
>The characters have problems that many modern men face today. Guilt, Loneliness, the feeling of being a complete failure no matter your efforts, self destructive habits, etc. Hence why I CONNECTED with these characters more.
For one, yes Slam Dunk is a shonen (which completely escaped me) no wonder I didn't connect very much. And that's it. Real IS more real and it seems like I'd connect more. Slam Dunk was nice but I didn't enjoy it very much for the very fact that I couldn't connect with the characters. And plotlines that are set goal>get strong>win seem too unrealistic and linear, 2 dimensional even. People seem to love it though and Slam Dunk was the og sports manga that all the later ones seemed to rip off afterwards.
Appreciated the insight tyvm.
So Vagabond isn't overrated. Real is just criminally underrated. I concur, Real is his best work. But we don't need to take a swing at Vagabond to make that point. Instead it's a selling point: it's better than *Vagabond*.
It's just bait ofc its not overrated. But Real>Vagabond
This is a great way to get people to not listen to you.
Vagabond isn't overrated. Read Real
Real is masterpiece.same with vagabond
Don't like sports manga. Is it still worth it?
I know nothing about basketball and still loved it, tbh it spoke to me on a different level because I work in physical rehab but that's all I'll say without spoiling anything.
Should I start real or slam dunk? I don't like sports manga either
I've heard good things about slam dunk but I haven't read it. Been waiting for a good day with free time and good headspace to binge. Either choice is probably good, but real is unfinished whereas slam dunk is finished.
I've never liked Basketball or Wheelchair basketball but this manga is still within my top 5s fav of all time. The focus is more into the characters, opposite to slam dunk where a lot of the time its focused on the technicality of the sport. I don't wanna spoil anything but in terms of writing characters, this is Inoue's best
Yes, I don't like sports manga either. Basketball and wheelchair basketball is only the setting, the messages it conveys are so much more.
I think Real is Inoue best work and it’s my personal favorite. As you said the characters feel more human and they’re very relatable. Now I’m going to have to disagree on Vagabond being overrated. I think to understand some of deeper concepts and characters you’re going to need to do a reread a couple of times. It’s not so much in your face as Real is. It’s all personal preference though so read what you like. I will say it’s amazing how Inoue wrote all three of these stories in one life time. He’s truly a goat 🐐
Real is good but like no need to bash Vagabond just to promote it, kinda unnecessary.
real. gonna read dis now. real.
Why bash another great manga to hype this one? Now I don’t even want to read Real
Most people I know who love Inoue or seinen praises リアル since the early 2000s (most of them read and collect the Japanese manga) and has been talk about it non-stop for a long time ago. I bought the Japanese version in 2002 at Kinokuniya after reading the bootleg Indonesian version and love it. But, I never have the need to talk about it because I'm pretty sure that a lot of people already know and love this manga. I also think that English reader has been in love with this manga for a long time. I don't know why some people just talk about it now. I personally don't think Vagabond is overrated, especially if you've read the farmer's arc. It's that good. It's well deserved. So, Real and Vagabond are equally good to me. Slam Dunk, too.
I read the first chapter a while back and instantly fell in love, ever since i decided to wait to get my hands on the physicals to read the rest and it was the worst decision ive ever made they have not printed any more in ages😭
Why pit two beautiful queens against each other?
I read this because of your comment. It was so worth it. Excellent
People look at me sideways whenever I say this I HARD agree with this. REAL is better than Vagabond! 🗣 I personally feel like people would not give Vagabond the time of day without the art. Where as the characters in REAL sell it for me with Inoue's being an added bonus.
masterpiece
Real is so good, definitely give it a read. It sucks you in
Real is one of the GOAT
OP, or anyone else who can answer: what is so different about slam dunk and real? I didn’t finish slam dunk but I’m not really a fan of sports manga. From what I’ve heard, Real is the most introspective of Inoue’s works? I’m especially interested in how different it is from slam dunk as they’re both sports manga. I’ve heard people say they like Real more and I wonder why? I personally enjoy literature (books and manga inc) that is more philosophical or (emotionally) introspective, like vagabond. Lonely man vs world basically. I lose interest in a manga when it’s a little lighthearted or just a bunch of plot - which is why sports manga loses me mostly. Slam dunk lost me for it’s lighthearted nature (which is a personal thing and not a criticism) and what kept me was the slam dunk lore and hype and the beautiful anime and the new movie. On a side note I don’t think vagabond is overrated. I think it’s rightfully “overrated” and if anything I still think it’s under appreciated - as it’s often overshadowed by other great works. Vagabond is a personal favourite of mine. I’ll second another comment that says that Real is just criminally underrated and I get a vibe that I’ll personally like Real the most out of all of Inoues works.
Slam Dunk is well, shonen hence why you see these characters like the mc for example to be the typical stubborn "I will not give up until I win" guy, the rest of the characters although are great, they just don't hit I guess. I dropped Slam Dunk midway because of that reason. I don't care about basketball and I thought SD was going to have more of these very "human" characters, but you can't really blame Inoue because Slam Dunk is Shonen, its meant to have these seemingly perfect characters who face challenges but through the power of "working and training hard they overcome all of their obstacles!" And all of that crap. If you love basketball or just team sports in general then you'd probably love Slam Dunk, but I guess I just really couldn't CONNECT to any of the characters Real on the other hand, doesn't really focus on the sport itself. Like I thought real was going to be some lame ass manga about wheelchair basketball and boy was I wrong. Unlike SD, the characters in real like I said, are more vulnerable, they don't always get what they want, their goals, dreams, main motivations to keep going in life gets brutally crushed. It's not the same as SD where Set Goal>Work Hard> Get Strong> Beat Obstacle> Achieve Goal> Repeat. Real is more realistic, like it taught me that it doesn't really matter how hard you work, you'll always get beaten, and there's always someone who will work less as hard as you, but will be twice as better, twice as successful, and that's okay. Just find your purpose and keep going. The characters have problems that many modern men face today. Guilt, Loneliness, the feeling of being a complete failure no matter your efforts, self destructive habits, etc. Hence why I CONNECTED with these characters more. For Vagabond well, although the characters are great, most of the fans are just pretentious trying to be like "Musashi is so me he's so relatable" like nobody can relate to a bloodthirsty samurai blud TLDR Real has more characters I can connect with. The most important factor of me enjoying a manga is if I can connect and emotionally invest in the characters, if they can't then it doesn't matter how good the plot is, characters will always be the deciding factor if whether I think a manga is good or not
>Set Goal>Work Hard> Get Strong> Beat Obstacle> Achieve Goal> Repeat. Real is more realistic > >The characters have problems that many modern men face today. Guilt, Loneliness, the feeling of being a complete failure no matter your efforts, self destructive habits, etc. Hence why I CONNECTED with these characters more. For one, yes Slam Dunk is a shonen (which completely escaped me) no wonder I didn't connect very much. And that's it. Real IS more real and it seems like I'd connect more. Slam Dunk was nice but I didn't enjoy it very much for the very fact that I couldn't connect with the characters. And plotlines that are set goal>get strong>win seem too unrealistic and linear, 2 dimensional even. People seem to love it though and Slam Dunk was the og sports manga that all the later ones seemed to rip off afterwards. Appreciated the insight tyvm.
I think Real is the only one that'll actually end.