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DIVE!! Manga #1
DIVE!!, Vol. 1
Tomoki has long been passionate about the blink-of-an-eye performances that take place off the ten-meter diving platform. But as a member of the Mizuki Diving Club, he'll need more than passion when his team's lackluster record leaves them on the outs with their sponsors! With a new coach and a deadline to qualify for the Olympics in one short year, Tomoki and his teammates compete for glory with the fate of their diving club riding on their shoulders!
160 pages, Paperback
Published January 22, 2019
About the author
Eto Mori
83 books43 followersEto Mori has been a literary star in Japan for over thirty years. She has won numerous major awards in Japan including the Naoki Prize, one of Japan’s most prestigious awards for popular fiction. Colorful has been translated into seven different languages, and adapted into three films. Colorful is her first novel to be translated into English. She lives in Tokyo, Japan.
Ratings & Reviews
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
May 25, 2021
VIDEO REVIEW HERE: https://youtu.be/bnd-5lthSho
This was really good! I struggled the first half of the volume mainly because things felt like they were happening fast. Some of the transitions were a little too quick for me as well, but once we hit about the middle, I was really hooked!
Tomoki is a very genuine and lovable main character that I easily found myself rooting for from the first page. I think what had me super invested in his journey is when he has a very transparent moment with his girlfriend of feeling trapped in a box. That was an EXCELLENT scene! I absolutely loved his "devotion" to break free through diving! While I won't say his girlfriend's reply, it literally made me want to shout "ganbatte!" and do my best in life. It was inspiring and moving!
I do NOT like Tomoki's friends! While I understand their feelings, I am deeply disappointed in their actions. I'm angry at them, but at the same time I truly hope they change their behaviors.
It was fun getting to meet some of MDC's rivals as well as learn more about one diver at the MDC. I liked his character because he was so kind to Tomoki and happy he's a large inspiration in his (Tomoki) life. I think because all the divers have unique personalities, it makes it really fun seeing these come together and how they interact with one another. It's where I really found myself starting to enjoy this story because while most of them are familiar with one another, there is still an underlying feeling of competitiveness.
So while Dive might have had me a little iffy on how much I would enjoy this volume, the middle point had me sold. I'm really looking forward to the next volume!
This was really good! I struggled the first half of the volume mainly because things felt like they were happening fast. Some of the transitions were a little too quick for me as well, but once we hit about the middle, I was really hooked!
Tomoki is a very genuine and lovable main character that I easily found myself rooting for from the first page. I think what had me super invested in his journey is when he has a very transparent moment with his girlfriend of feeling trapped in a box. That was an EXCELLENT scene! I absolutely loved his "devotion" to break free through diving! While I won't say his girlfriend's reply, it literally made me want to shout "ganbatte!" and do my best in life. It was inspiring and moving!
I do NOT like Tomoki's friends! While I understand their feelings, I am deeply disappointed in their actions. I'm angry at them, but at the same time I truly hope they change their behaviors.
It was fun getting to meet some of MDC's rivals as well as learn more about one diver at the MDC. I liked his character because he was so kind to Tomoki and happy he's a large inspiration in his (Tomoki) life. I think because all the divers have unique personalities, it makes it really fun seeing these come together and how they interact with one another. It's where I really found myself starting to enjoy this story because while most of them are familiar with one another, there is still an underlying feeling of competitiveness.
So while Dive might have had me a little iffy on how much I would enjoy this volume, the middle point had me sold. I'm really looking forward to the next volume!
June 1, 2019
This manga was just adorable. The art was great as always in most manga volumes. However, this series had strong themes of sportsmanship and believing in yourself, something that most tweens and teens can relate to. The story was compelling enough for me to want to continue on to the next volume.
June 21, 2023
I liked it a lot
May 21, 2019
In Summary
If you’re interested in learning about the sport of high diving, this manga will teach you a few things. If you enjoy illustrations of fit young men in Speedos, you’ll get that, too. While the main character isn’t particularly lovable, this story of young athletes striving to make the Olympic Team does have timely appeal with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics fast approaching.
The Review
DIVE!! is a title that at first glance seems similar to the swimming anime Free! It’s a sports series whose main cast consists of young male athletes in swim wear. However, there are major differences. One, the main character, Tomoki Sakai is a second year in middle school. Two, there’s no teamwork dynamic to the plot. Most sports series center on a team sport (i.e., Haikyu!! and Kuroko’s Basketball) or the team version of a sport (i.e., Bamboo Blade and Tsurune). The set up for Dive!! is more along the lines of Yuri on Ice, where success and failure depends upon the individual, and although multiple athletes train in the same club, they’re ultimately rivals, not teammates.
The club that our main character trains at is the Mizuki Diving Club (MDC), a facility under the direct management of sporting goods manufacturer Mizuki. MDC has been operating at a loss, and the company’s new president is looking to shut it down. If MDC wants to stick around, it needs to produce results.
That’s where Kayoko Asaki steps in. She’s an America-trained diving coach who also happens to be the granddaughter of the previous Mizuki company president. Determined to keep the club open, she abruptly shows up as a new MDC coach and challenges its male divers to qualify for Japan’s Olympic Diving Team. The club’s star, high schooler Youichi Fujitani, immediately accepts the challenge. However, Tomoki, who’s a mediocre diver, is also inspired to strive toward that goal.
Tomoki falls under the category of the undiscovered talent. Because Coach Asaki recognizes his hidden potential and Tomoki is willing to endure her tough regimen, his abilities improve by leaps and bounds. While the diving training scenes are kind of interesting, Tomoki’s character arc is less compelling. He comes off as an uncaring jerk toward his girlfriend, and his overly emotional response to the backlash of other MDC divers (who have flagrantly rejected Coach Asaki’s training regimen) feels like drama for the sake of drama. As such, I don’t feel particularly invested in him as a character.
The other two MDC primary divers are fortunately a bit more interesting. Club star Youichi Fujitani is the son of divers, and although he lives up to his thoroughbred pedigree by winning competitions and inspiring MDC members, he resents the expectations heaped onto him. Meanwhile, Shibuki Okitsu is the club’s wild man. Unlike the others, he’s not interested in diving to compete or even diving in a pool. While this ocean diver is intriguing, he’s drawn more like a man in his prime than a high school teen.
If you’re familiar with the DIVE!! anime, the manga covers the same territory, but at a slower pace. This allows readers to get a better grasp of character arcs. For instance, the flashback to Youichi’s diving accident more clearly establishes his bitterness than the anime does. In addition, the frame by frame illustrations break down the split second diving acrobatics that my eyes couldn’t keep up with in the TV series.
Extras include the first four pages in color and translation notes.
For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!
If you’re interested in learning about the sport of high diving, this manga will teach you a few things. If you enjoy illustrations of fit young men in Speedos, you’ll get that, too. While the main character isn’t particularly lovable, this story of young athletes striving to make the Olympic Team does have timely appeal with the 2020 Tokyo Olympics fast approaching.
The Review
DIVE!! is a title that at first glance seems similar to the swimming anime Free! It’s a sports series whose main cast consists of young male athletes in swim wear. However, there are major differences. One, the main character, Tomoki Sakai is a second year in middle school. Two, there’s no teamwork dynamic to the plot. Most sports series center on a team sport (i.e., Haikyu!! and Kuroko’s Basketball) or the team version of a sport (i.e., Bamboo Blade and Tsurune). The set up for Dive!! is more along the lines of Yuri on Ice, where success and failure depends upon the individual, and although multiple athletes train in the same club, they’re ultimately rivals, not teammates.
The club that our main character trains at is the Mizuki Diving Club (MDC), a facility under the direct management of sporting goods manufacturer Mizuki. MDC has been operating at a loss, and the company’s new president is looking to shut it down. If MDC wants to stick around, it needs to produce results.
That’s where Kayoko Asaki steps in. She’s an America-trained diving coach who also happens to be the granddaughter of the previous Mizuki company president. Determined to keep the club open, she abruptly shows up as a new MDC coach and challenges its male divers to qualify for Japan’s Olympic Diving Team. The club’s star, high schooler Youichi Fujitani, immediately accepts the challenge. However, Tomoki, who’s a mediocre diver, is also inspired to strive toward that goal.
Tomoki falls under the category of the undiscovered talent. Because Coach Asaki recognizes his hidden potential and Tomoki is willing to endure her tough regimen, his abilities improve by leaps and bounds. While the diving training scenes are kind of interesting, Tomoki’s character arc is less compelling. He comes off as an uncaring jerk toward his girlfriend, and his overly emotional response to the backlash of other MDC divers (who have flagrantly rejected Coach Asaki’s training regimen) feels like drama for the sake of drama. As such, I don’t feel particularly invested in him as a character.
The other two MDC primary divers are fortunately a bit more interesting. Club star Youichi Fujitani is the son of divers, and although he lives up to his thoroughbred pedigree by winning competitions and inspiring MDC members, he resents the expectations heaped onto him. Meanwhile, Shibuki Okitsu is the club’s wild man. Unlike the others, he’s not interested in diving to compete or even diving in a pool. While this ocean diver is intriguing, he’s drawn more like a man in his prime than a high school teen.
If you’re familiar with the DIVE!! anime, the manga covers the same territory, but at a slower pace. This allows readers to get a better grasp of character arcs. For instance, the flashback to Youichi’s diving accident more clearly establishes his bitterness than the anime does. In addition, the frame by frame illustrations break down the split second diving acrobatics that my eyes couldn’t keep up with in the TV series.
Extras include the first four pages in color and translation notes.
For more manga and book reviews, drop by my blog Keeping It In Canon!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 14, 2019
DIVE!! Is the manga adaptation of the anime adaptation of novel of the same name which follows the one year period of the Mizuki Diving Club’s attempt to send one of its members to the Olympics. While I love the concept and idea I was initially confused over how the designation works and how someone like their club can make it, especially when the diving competition in the series only has nine or so competitors. That being said, pushing that thought aside it is a very compelling story.
I found this volume to be full of drama with the lead character Tomoki and his friends initially having fun diving but having to face the reality that they needed to do more than just have fun with it. The new coach is challenging and takes things to a level that two of Tomoki’s friend’s find odd at first, but realize after a certain event that it was necessary for advancing. This friction between his friend’s makes the volume really stand out more for me than the sports aspect does and I love how it ended with this apparent division of ideas between friends.
Artwise, it’s very good. It appears that the art decided to follow after the anime which is an awesome decision that works really well. It looks amazing on paper with both amazing character designs, beautiful dive entries, and lots of good character designs that don’t look like clones.
Really good series.
No extras beyond the color pages at the start of the volume, however.
I found this volume to be full of drama with the lead character Tomoki and his friends initially having fun diving but having to face the reality that they needed to do more than just have fun with it. The new coach is challenging and takes things to a level that two of Tomoki’s friend’s find odd at first, but realize after a certain event that it was necessary for advancing. This friction between his friend’s makes the volume really stand out more for me than the sports aspect does and I love how it ended with this apparent division of ideas between friends.
Artwise, it’s very good. It appears that the art decided to follow after the anime which is an awesome decision that works really well. It looks amazing on paper with both amazing character designs, beautiful dive entries, and lots of good character designs that don’t look like clones.
Really good series.
No extras beyond the color pages at the start of the volume, however.
March 22, 2019
Tomoki fell in love with diving in elementary school. Now in eighth grade, he can't wait to continue improving, and now that the Olympics are on his club's radar, he has extra motivation! Can they manage to get an Olympian and save their club from destruction?
Clean drawings, easy-to-follow, and cute. This was a little slow-moving at first, but I felt invested in the characters by the end. I can see middle schoolers really enjoying this, though sports manga isn't super popular among my current teens.
Clean drawings, easy-to-follow, and cute. This was a little slow-moving at first, but I felt invested in the characters by the end. I can see middle schoolers really enjoying this, though sports manga isn't super popular among my current teens.
February 2, 2019
This manga was very pure and adorable. I liked that there wasn’t any type of fantasy aspect to it at all. It’s just about boys who want to make it to the Olympics. I really loved Tomoki and the cast of characters. I think this would probably be a good starter manga for middle-grade aged kids. I’ll definitely be checking out the anime and the rest of the manga volumes when they are released in America.
April 18, 2019
I can't decide if I dislike the coach because I'm a teacher and she's awful from that perspective or because she's just annoying in her obvious favoritism. I know diving isn't a team sport, but come on, making two of your divers dislike the third one because you show overt preference for him and tell them they're not as good? Bad form, lady.
Full Review Eventually Appearing on ANN.
Full Review Eventually Appearing on ANN.
March 7, 2019
I expected to be more into this having been a swimmer and seeing diving every meet. To me there is just not enough visual/personality distinction between most of the characters and the endless depiction of skeletal body-types as fan-service got old in the first few pages.
February 4, 2019
I'm addicted and..I am so invested into this. Okay, I am a sucker for any manga/anime with a sports and friendship themed. I am so happy I stumbled across this!
October 29, 2020
Good start but I already feel like it's going to be a bit too fast pace.
June 12, 2021
I am already in love with this series after reading the first manga. It is so cute and I really like the fact that they explain some of the diving techniques so you can understand them.
July 26, 2021
This is an adorable manga. I heard of the anime but I didn’t know there was a manga on it.
April 15, 2024
I really like this manga I so excited to read the rest, the characters are so cute and the characters are interesting.
Read
May 1, 2024Another sports manga that was clearly made to generate buzz for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
September 11, 2024
3.5 actually want to read next volume
June 3, 2020
Loved this! I had to go out and get the next 2 vols. immediately. If you liked DIVE!!, Vol. 1, try Fence, Vol. 1 or vise versa. Can't go wrong with a fun sports series.
June 30, 2019
La recensione di questo volume e di tutta la serie presente al seguente link: https://bookmarksarereadersbestfriend...
L’anime omonimo mi era molto piaciuto, non è perfetto, ma le critiche che gli venivano rivolte a mio parere non avevano senso: l'animazione era giusta sopratutto quando si trattava dei tuffi peccando invece in alcune parti più statiche (incredibile ma vero); la storia nella sua semplicità risultava molto appassionante, ed era molto ancorata al reale e alle imminenti Olimpiadi (ovvio prima dell'emergenza Coronavirus e del loro rinvio all'anno prossimo, forse...). I personaggi poi erano molto realistici e hanno comportamenti giusti per la loro età e ci si relazione molto con i loro sentimenti. Quindi si, scoprendone l'esistenza ho preso il manga che è composto da solo 3 volumi. I disegni sono semplici, ma efficaci sopratutto nei tuffi e nella rappresentazione dei suoi personaggi. Mi piace anche la storia perché secondo me, più dell'anime, il manga indaga meglio i personaggi e i loro rapporti, le emozioni e quello che pensano sopratutto nella parte finale del volume, con i compagni di Tomo e la loro gelosia in contrapposizione con l’impegno e la passione sincera del protagonista. Consigliato perché anche se non eccezionale è un buon manga su uno sport mai trattato finora, ma ben fatto nella sua semplicità.
L’anime omonimo mi era molto piaciuto, non è perfetto, ma le critiche che gli venivano rivolte a mio parere non avevano senso: l'animazione era giusta sopratutto quando si trattava dei tuffi peccando invece in alcune parti più statiche (incredibile ma vero); la storia nella sua semplicità risultava molto appassionante, ed era molto ancorata al reale e alle imminenti Olimpiadi (ovvio prima dell'emergenza Coronavirus e del loro rinvio all'anno prossimo, forse...). I personaggi poi erano molto realistici e hanno comportamenti giusti per la loro età e ci si relazione molto con i loro sentimenti. Quindi si, scoprendone l'esistenza ho preso il manga che è composto da solo 3 volumi. I disegni sono semplici, ma efficaci sopratutto nei tuffi e nella rappresentazione dei suoi personaggi. Mi piace anche la storia perché secondo me, più dell'anime, il manga indaga meglio i personaggi e i loro rapporti, le emozioni e quello che pensano sopratutto nella parte finale del volume, con i compagni di Tomo e la loro gelosia in contrapposizione con l’impegno e la passione sincera del protagonista. Consigliato perché anche se non eccezionale è un buon manga su uno sport mai trattato finora, ma ben fatto nella sua semplicità.
February 28, 2022
If you ever want to get your feet wet (pun intended) in the world of competitive diving, this is the manga series for you.
Volume one is pretty focused on the different dives that are needed to master in order to compete, the importance of a good coach, and a team's effort to save their pool from closing. It's 100% sports focused which I liked. This one hammers home the importance of practice, practice, practice.
Volume one is pretty focused on the different dives that are needed to master in order to compete, the importance of a good coach, and a team's effort to save their pool from closing. It's 100% sports focused which I liked. This one hammers home the importance of practice, practice, practice.
Read
January 31, 2019Didn't realize this was a word-for-word adaptation of the anime or else I wouldn't have picked it up. Still enjoyed it for what it was, but I'm going to watch the show to get the rest of the story.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews