is a Japanese

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

written by

Mitsuru Adachi is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with ''Kieta Bakuon'', based on a manga originally crea ...

about a high school girl who has a successful career as an idol and who wishes to play on the high school baseball team, but cannot due to the rules. Her father is the team's coach, and her best friend happens to look very much like her, so she is able to do a swap with him during games and meet her dream. The first 3 chapters were published irregularly in ''

Weekly Young Sunday was a weekly manga magazine published by Shogakukan in Japan since the first issue on March 27, 1987. It replaced '' Shōnen Big Comic'' in Shogakukan's lineup of shōnen titles, and many of the titles in ''Shōnen Big Comic'' were continued in ...

'' between 2005 and 2007 and collected in '' Short Program 3''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

. Later, chapter 4 was released in volume 36-37 of the 2007 series of ''

'' and chapters 5 and 6 were released in the November 2010 and August 2011 editions of ''

Monthly Shōnen Sunday , alternately known as , is a monthly '' shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since May 12, 2009 (the June 2009 issue). The magazine was announced in February 2009, with Hayashi Masato, at that time editor of ''Weekly Shōnen ...

''. Chapters 1-6 were released in a tankoubon dedicated to the series, published in 2011. The ''Idol A'' tankoubon includes chapters 1 to 6 and an extra manga chapter commemorating 40 years of Mitsuru Adachi manga career, done by himself and fellow manga creator

Rumiko Takahashi is a Japanese manga artist. With a career of several commercially successful works, beginning with ''Urusei Yatsura'' in 1978, Takahashi is one of Japan's best-known and wealthiest manga artists. Her works are popular worldwide, where they have ...

Characters

; :An up-and-coming

idol star A teen idol is a celebrity with a large teenage fan base. Teen idols are generally young but are not necessarily teenagers. An idol's popularity may be limited to teens, or may extend to all age groups. By region Asia East Asia possesse ...

who has always dreamed of playing for a high school baseball team and going to Kōshien; however, due to the rules of high school baseball in Japan she can not play on the team. Her childhood friend Keita looks a lot like her, and because her father is the coach of the baseball team at their high school, they are able to convince Keita to switch with her during games. This means he has to dress up like Satomi during the games. ; :Satomi's childhood friend, and an average baseball player. He grudgingly plays along with Satomi's plans to take the baseball team to Kōshien. He uses a wig when impersonating her. She also uses the wing when they exchange roles, as she her cut her hair as to be able to impersonate him. Sources:

Web video

In summer 2005 a 2.5 minutes long original promotional video animated by studio OLM was produced by Shogakukan for the then-upcoming release of the ''Idol Ace'' manga in the ''Weekly Young Sunday'' magazine. The short features Azusa being recorded throughout the day by a peeping pervert.

References

External links

''Idol ace''
at Young Sunday official site

{{Monthly Shōnen Sunday 2005 manga Baseball in anime and manga Mitsuru Adachi Seinen manga School life in anime and manga Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga