REAL: Triumph over adversity
Let's be honest, we are all afraid of something, we don't talk about it very often but we are all afraid of death, diseases or similar things. We all deal with our fears in very different ways, which in turn is also one of the things that can make us unique. REAL is another masterpiece of Inoue Takehiko, a manga that shows how fear can tear us to shreds, but also how there can be light at the end of the path. This is another journey into how tough can life be and how many challenges will people take to defeat the weakness that resides inside them.
REAL is the story of three vastly different and interesting characters, Tomomi Nomiya, Kiyoharu Togawa, and Hisanobu Takahashi. Each one of them will see basketball from a very different perspective, but most importantly, they will live their life facing their own unique demons. In REAL, life is not easy, life will hit you hard and it will be very difficult to stand up and keep moving forward. In the case of Tomomi Nomiya, he lives with the guilt of putting a girl in a wheelchair for the rest of her life after having a traffic accident. Nomiya loves basketball but he sees himself constantly being lost and seeking forgiveness along with a way to return to a path he strayed from long ago. On the other side, Kiyoharu Togawa is a former sprinter who, unfortunately, lost one of his legs after discovering that a pain he felt for a long time was, in fact, osteosarcoma. Togawa lives his life trying to escape from his fear, trying to run away from that weakness that lies in his heart. Lastly, we have Hisanobu Takahashi, the captain of a basketball team who finds himself permanently paralyzed below the waist after suffering an accident. His accident will face him for the first time against a reality that he ignored for most of his life, the very same reality that he is seemingly not prepared to live.
REAL is the touching tale of these three characters and their ways to overcome their inner conflicts. We will see them suffer and how they will address that reality they cannot escape from. Interestingly enough, Nomiya, the only character that doesn't have a disability, will often be the one who struggles the most with continuing his life. This not only represents a unique twist on the story, but it will show how weak can we become when we don't possess the right mindset to deal with our demons. Nomiya is also an important connection in the story since his life will be closely related to Takahashi and Togawa in different ways. REAL achieves a very unique flow in its storytelling, it doesn't present good or bad characters and the transition from one story arc to the other will feel natural, just as if the story was one big journey that is shared by 3 characters. REAL will feel just as real life, sometimes even structured like a novel would be.
An important and often ignored element of REAL is what lies behind the story. Inoue Takehiko, the author of the manga and the very same author behind Slam Dunk and Vagabond, starts his stories with clear goals in his mind. Why do I mention this? Well, Slam Dunk was (and still is) a very successful manga and it managed to do something unprecedented; it introduced a basketball culture into Japan. Basketball, at that time, was very alien and unknown for Japanese people, but Inoue managed to take it and make it interesting to them. Now, he tries to do something similar by introducing wheelchair basketball, along with the reality of the people who practice it. Through REAL, Inoue achieves an outstanding goal by fostering inclusion over integration, since he uses the manga as a platform to teach people about wheelchair basketball, how does it function and how difficult it can be. REAL is authentic and relatable because it constantly seeks to portray the struggles of people with disabilities and it's not afraid of rendering life in its toughest form, which in turn pays homage to the professionalism behind his work and how honest is his attempt to replicate that reality.
REAL is the story of three vastly different and interesting characters, Tomomi Nomiya, Kiyoharu Togawa, and Hisanobu Takahashi. Each one of them will see basketball from a very different perspective, but most importantly, they will live their life facing their own unique demons. In REAL, life is not easy, life will hit you hard and it will be very difficult to stand up and keep moving forward. In the case of Tomomi Nomiya, he lives with the guilt of putting a girl in a wheelchair for the rest of her life after having a traffic accident. Nomiya loves basketball but he sees himself constantly being lost and seeking forgiveness along with a way to return to a path he strayed from long ago. On the other side, Kiyoharu Togawa is a former sprinter who, unfortunately, lost one of his legs after discovering that a pain he felt for a long time was, in fact, osteosarcoma. Togawa lives his life trying to escape from his fear, trying to run away from that weakness that lies in his heart. Lastly, we have Hisanobu Takahashi, the captain of a basketball team who finds himself permanently paralyzed below the waist after suffering an accident. His accident will face him for the first time against a reality that he ignored for most of his life, the very same reality that he is seemingly not prepared to live.
REAL is the touching tale of these three characters and their ways to overcome their inner conflicts. We will see them suffer and how they will address that reality they cannot escape from. Interestingly enough, Nomiya, the only character that doesn't have a disability, will often be the one who struggles the most with continuing his life. This not only represents a unique twist on the story, but it will show how weak can we become when we don't possess the right mindset to deal with our demons. Nomiya is also an important connection in the story since his life will be closely related to Takahashi and Togawa in different ways. REAL achieves a very unique flow in its storytelling, it doesn't present good or bad characters and the transition from one story arc to the other will feel natural, just as if the story was one big journey that is shared by 3 characters. REAL will feel just as real life, sometimes even structured like a novel would be.
An important and often ignored element of REAL is what lies behind the story. Inoue Takehiko, the author of the manga and the very same author behind Slam Dunk and Vagabond, starts his stories with clear goals in his mind. Why do I mention this? Well, Slam Dunk was (and still is) a very successful manga and it managed to do something unprecedented; it introduced a basketball culture into Japan. Basketball, at that time, was very alien and unknown for Japanese people, but Inoue managed to take it and make it interesting to them. Now, he tries to do something similar by introducing wheelchair basketball, along with the reality of the people who practice it. Through REAL, Inoue achieves an outstanding goal by fostering inclusion over integration, since he uses the manga as a platform to teach people about wheelchair basketball, how does it function and how difficult it can be. REAL is authentic and relatable because it constantly seeks to portray the struggles of people with disabilities and it's not afraid of rendering life in its toughest form, which in turn pays homage to the professionalism behind his work and how honest is his attempt to replicate that reality.
REAL is an underrated masterpiece that shows how the passion for basketball can change someone's life. Nomiya, Togawa, and Takahashi have very different realities but each one of them fights to be better versions of themselves. They often fall but they get up, they keep on going and they show that anyone can do the same. REAL is a triumph against life, a triumph over adversity, a triumph against our weakness and an igniting passion to fight for your dreams even if your path is narrow and steep.
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