Manga: Dive

Dive!! 
Rating: 3/5
Source: Copy courtesy of the publisher! 

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!

I don't really read any sports manga to be honest, but I was curious about this one as it's about Diving which I thought was quite an unusual choice! 

In order to stop their diving club being closed one of them will have to qualify for the Olympics and this volume very swiftly lays that out for us, along with meeting a new coach and a new team mate for them! 

Said new coach swiftly starts to whip them in to shape, and our main character is soon aspiring for new heights. Tomo kind of struck me as just going along with the training because he just likes diving and how freeing it is, he didn't initially strike me as competitive and there's nothing wrong with that. But just in this volume we see him get a new drive for the sport, and start to push himself more. 

Youichi, however, is definitely competitive and he seems quite perfect. I'm waiting for his character to snap though, because we do see the pressure he's under, especially as his dad's a coach. I feel like his journey may be just as interesting, if not more so than Tomo's. 

The third of our main characters is Okitsu and his Grandfather was a big deal in the sport, and he gets lured to their diving club. He's used to diving in to the sea, and he loves to make a splash which you're not really supposed to do in diving, to be honest! I'm intrigued by his journey...will he keep doing things his way? Or will he adapt to the competition rules? 

Our three main characters all look set to have interesting journeys, and I haven't decided who, or if, I should root for one in particular! I liked that we got swiftly acquainted with some of the basics of the sport, although it is one that I already had some prior knowledge of! 

There's plenty of drama in this volume, between friend drama as Tomo's friends are jealous of the attention he's getting from the new coach, and meeting a couple of the other divers that our main three will be up against in the future. I have to say, Atsuhiko is super extra and I'm so ready to see more of him! 

This initial volume lets us meet the characters and get a quick and simple crash course in the world of diving. Things get shaken up and we're swiftly on the path to the Olympics, as well as meeting the colourful characters who are going to be seen, presumably, a lot on the way there. The volume does end on a bit of a sad note thanks to some drama and I don't think the drama is going to stop there! Tomo's journey should prove to be an interesting one and I'm intrigued to see how far this series will go!