Manga: Again 3

Again Vol 3
Rating: 4/5
Buy or Borrow: Buy
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

Kinichiro Imamura is trying to get high school right the second time around. So far, he's managed to reunite the old members of his school's ouendan cheer squad, saving the club from the brink of destruction, but his time-traveling troubles are far from over. With the newly-revived ouendan tasked to cheer at their school's next baseball game, they'll have to cheer harder than ever if they want to bring their team to victory. To pull it off, Kinichiro the cheering newbie is going to have to learn from the very best...

Could the opening scene be described as Rocky style? Perhaps. Was I mentally singing Eye of the Tiger? Definitely. 

This volume we meet the baseball team and specifically poor old Suzuki, who Imamura has to keep from getting injured...and you know, getting his heart broken because they need him to win the upcoming game. I actually felt for the poor guy, being rejected and not wanting to show your face at school is quite relatable, I think! I was mostly cheering the fact that Imamura has his first dude friend, and while being slightly awkward because Imamura hasn't had friends before, and he's kind of bad with advice...it was still heartwarming!

The rival school's Ouendan captain, Iwasaki is a moustachioed creep, I'm not going to lie. He actually made my skin crawl a little bit...maybe that's just me. He just really creeped me out okay. His Ouendan club is...pretty good, you could say, so Usami kind of has a bit of a breakdown when it turns out they have to face off against them. Plus she looks up to the moustachioed creep. 

Things are moving forward for the Ouendan club. We've got a game upcoming, and when they find out who their rival Ouendan team is going to be...it definitely kicks them in to high gear. This volume see's them working through their issues, because while everyone might be back with the club...they still have some unresolved issues to deal with it. They also need to work out how things should be done during practice, because Imamura has a few different ideas to the Captain. Plus Usami is super pushing a boot camp and making them all take part in it and they aren't super happy about it. 

Interestingly, Imamura gets pushed out of his comfort zone as Usami puts a lot of faith in him and his him lead the Ouendan for a day, and he's not used to either really. The poor guy is having to deal with a lot of things he's never had to before and it's interesting to watch him react and change and grow as he's faced with each new thing. 

Things could be about to change for the Ouendan and as we end the volume, we're left with a bit of a cliffhanger as they're about to cheer for the first time under Imamura's new idea...and whatever he's cooked up which is no doubt going to blow everyone away...in either a good or a bad way. I guess we'll see! 

It's been pretty obvious since the start that for the Ouendan to survive they need to change and Usami needs to be more flexible, and Imamura's frustration with her and her way of doing things, and the situation with the Ouendan in general..is pretty palpable and this volume addresses that.