Girl Got Game

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Girl Got Game

Cover of the 10th Japanese volume
Genre Romance, Sports
Manga
Author Shizuru Seino
Publisher Flag of Japan Kodansha
Demographic Shōjo
Serialized in Flag of Japan Bessatsu Friend
Flag of Sweden Manga Mania
Original run 1999 – 2002
Volumes 10

Girl Got Game (originally published in Japan as Power!!) is a manga by Shizuru Seino about a girl forced to pretend to be a boy. The manga (originally published in Japan by Kodansha) has been translated into English and is available in North America from TOKYOPOP, which completed the domestic translation of all 10 volumes in August 2005.

Contents

[edit] Story

Kyo Aizawa is a girl whose father is crazy about basketball. His dream was to go as far as the NBA, but, because of an injury (torn achilles tendons), he couldn't. So, when they moved, he enrolled his daughter Kyo in Seisyu High School, which was famous for two things — cute girl uniforms, and a fast and furious boys basketball team. When Kyo got her uniform, she was shocked to discover, not a cute girl uniform, but a guy's outfit. Only then does she discover her father's plan, to get her in Seisyu as a boy to play on their top-ranked basketball team!

The story, rather than being centered on basketball, is mainly about Kyo, and how she begins to like her male roommate Chiharu Eniwa. Though she struggles to keep her true gender a secret, Chiharu eventually discovers the truth and the two must find a way to maintain their relationship as members of the basketball team and roommates despite growing romantic feelings between the two of them.

While the story is not centered on basketball, the manga's English title is clearly connected to the Spike Lee film He Got Game.

[edit] Characters

Kyo Aizawa
A girl who wants a cute boyfriend and to wear the lovely Seisyu High School girl's uniform. Unfortunately, ever since her father tore his Achilles tendon, he hoped and planned for her to fulfill his dream. Grudgingly, she attends Seisyu as a boy and proves to be an invaluable member of the boys' basketball team (despite the fact she is the shortest member). One of her favorite foods is Korean BBQ (kalbi) and her favorite actor is Brad Pitt. Despite her desire to be feminine, Kyo has a very masculine way of interacting with people. Whether this is her nature or the effect of sharing a dormitory with boys is unclear.
Chiharu Eniwa
One of the best players in the boys' basketball team, and one of the most popular guys at Seisyu. He has a crush on Kyo, though they got off to a bad start. The two are roommates and he is the first of her new friends to discover she is actually a girl. However, he immediately begins to help her cover the whole thing up, even if he doesn't understand why. Despite his popularity with girls, Chiharu is more interested in basketball than girls, a practice that lost him his first girlfriend. Kyo is very good at "pushing his buttons".
Shinji Hamaya
A fellow member of the basketball team and Kyo's faithful companion. Hamaya is mostly after girls and is the least popular player in the team. Though hopeless with most girls, he eventually gets a girlfriend until she moves to Germany. He is the biggest comic relief and is prone to inexplicably losing all of his clothes (including his underwear).
Tsuyaka Himejima
Kyo's longtime friend who enrolled in Seisyu (in order to play basketball with Kyo) and became the captain of the girls' basketball team. She exposed Kyo's secret to Chiharu after losing a game to him. She is prone to a frightening attitude and does not look like a teenage student, standing around six feet tall. For part of the series, Hamaya expresses a profound interest in her.
Hisashi Imai
The captain of Seisyu's boys' basketball team. He has a room to himself (which he frequently shares with Chiharu when he and Kyo argue) and is very popular. Imai is a very good friend of Chiharu's. In volume 9, he and the rest of the boys' basketball team (except Chiharu and Kensuke, who were keeping this secret) discover that Kyo is a girl. When Kyo challenges the basketball team to get her position back, Imai is the only one who is able to stop her, giving merit to his position as the basketball team captain.
Kensuke Yura
A high-ranking basketball player and a genius due to his photographic memory. Kensuke lives a hard life despite being bright and an excellent basketball player. He has a crush on Kyo, and because of this, he re-joins the boys' basketball team just to be with her. He suspects Kyo is a girl when he first meets her and she later confirms it. He does not live in the dormitory with the other students. Kensuke displays extreme emotional distress and even goes as far as to attempt suicide by burning down a building with Kyo and himself trapped inside. However, Chiharu saves them both.
Akari Tojo
Akari is the boys' team manager and has a major crush on Kyo; she thinks Kyo is actually a boy, even when Kyo comes to school dressed as a girl, probably due to denial. Not surprisingly, her crush is unrequited, and Akari eventually stops trying to get close to Kyo when she mistakenly believes that Kyo (as a boy) is attracted to boys. She is very energetic and aggressive (to the point where she is credited with being Kyo's first kiss), and proficient with many forms of weaponry, which she can suddenly pull from thin-air.
Natsumi Ayaha
Kyo's dorm manager. She once played basketball as a student, but a knee injury ended such aspirations. She doesn't appear past volume one, something the mangaka hints at several times.
Ko Aizawa
Kyo's father, a talented basketball player until his Achilles' tendon tore. With his dreams of joining the NBA shot down, he passed down his love of the game to Kyo. He dreams for Kyo to play in the NBA (NBA or WNBA, unknown) - and ultimately made the decision to enroll her in Seisyu as a boy.
Saburo Fujio
The coach of the boy's basketball team, who is as moody and irritable as the teenagers he works with.
Emiri Kozono
A petite girl with a crush on Hamaya and a fondness for cats. She takes care of Matrix, Hamaya's cat, and now lives in Germany.

[edit] Volumes

[edit] Japanese

  1. ISBN 4-06-303176-4 published in December 1999
  2. ISBN 4-06-303186-1 published in March 2000
  3. ISBN 4-06-341204-0 published in August 2000
  4. ISBN 4-06-341216-4 published in December 2000
  5. ISBN 4-06-341232-6 published in April 2001
  6. ISBN 4-06-341253-9 published in September 2001
  7. ISBN 4-06-341257-1 published in November 2001
  8. ISBN 4-06-341278-4 published in April 2002
  9. ISBN 4-06-341297-0 published in August 2002
  10. ISBN 4-06-341316-0 published in December 2002

[edit] External links

Languages