Manga
The manga that were hits in Japan in the 2020s.
2020S HITS
About
Taiki Inomata is on the boys' badminton team at sports powerhouse Eimei Junior and Senior High. He's in love with basketball player Chinatsu Kano, the older girl he trains alongside every morning in the gym. One Spring day, their relationship takes a sharp turn ... And thus begins this brand-new series of love, sports and youth!
Character analysis
Taiki plays on the badminton team, but a lot of his early mornings are really about Chinatsu, the basketball senpai who's always practicing in the same gym. The story builds its romance slowly, through small shared routines rather than big dramatic gestures, which gives it a quieter, more grounded feel than a lot of sports-romance manga. His own growth as an athlete and his growing feelings for Chinatsu are treated as equally important threads, not one just serving the other.
Chinatsu is introduced through her own discipline and work ethic, showing up to practice basketball before anyone asks her to. That established independence matters, since it means the story treats her as a serious athlete in her own right first, and a romantic interest second, her relationship with Taiki develops alongside her own goals rather than replacing them.
Kasahara enters the story in a way that adds tension to Taiki and Chinatsu's developing relationship, the kind of third-party presence common in slow-building romance stories. Without a closer read of their specific role across the series, it's hard to say much more about their personality or motivations with real confidence.
Status evaluation
The art is well-regarded for clean, expressive linework that suits both the sports and romance sides of the story.
The slow-burn pacing is well-executed and praised for feeling grounded rather than rushed.
Humor is gentle and understated rather than a main focus.
The quiet, grounded romance lands with real emotional weight through small, specific moments rather than big gestures.
This is a pure romance-sports story with no horror elements.
No violence appears in this series.
A small cast and a straightforward slow-burn structure keep this easy to follow.
This is an ongoing series. The exact current volume count has not been confirmed against a current source and should be treated as approximate.
“A quiet, early-morning kind of romance — nothing flashy happens, and somehow that's exactly why it works.”