is a

romantic comedy Romantic comedy (also known as romcom or rom-com) is a subgenre of comedy and slice of life fiction, focusing on lighthearted, humorous plot lines centered on romantic ideas, such as how true love is able to surmount most obstacles. In a typica ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

and

softball Softball is a game similar to baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Softball is played competitively at club levels, the college level, and the professional level. The game was first created in 1887 in Chicago by George Hanc ...

manga 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 ...

. It was serialized by

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics ( manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the H ...

in the shōjo manga magazine '' Ciao'' from September 1986 through March 1991, and collected in seven

tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

volumes. In 1991, it was adapted as a five-episode

OVA , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA s ...

. The anime version has some differences from the manga, including the ending. The story follows Minatsu, a popular high-school girl, as she deals with the unwanted romantic attentions of multiple boys and a teacher. Her plans for evading their pursuit grow increasingly convoluted, even involving taking on alternate identities.

Plot

''Slow Step'' is a

and

manga by

. It follows Minatsu Nakazato, a popular high-school girl, as she deals with the unwanted romantic attentions of multiple boys and a teacher. Her plans for evading their pursuits of her grow increasingly convoluted, even involving taking on alternate identities.

Characters

; / : : A student at Asaoka High School and pitching ace for the

club. She is the object of affection of both her classmate Shū Akiba and Coach Yamazakura. As her disguised alter ego Maria Sudō, she evades some local gangsters and is pursued by Naoto Kadomatsu, who lives in the same apartment building. Her father is a lesser-known

pro wrestler Professional wrestling is a form of theater that revolves around staged wrestling matches. The mock combat is performed in a ring similar to the kind used in boxing, and the dramatic aspects of pro wrestling may be performed both in the ring or ...

. She tends to be curt and somewhat rough in her manners. In the anime, she falls for and marries Kango Yamazakura. ; : : A boy in the same class as Minatsu and a member of the Asaoka High School

club. His father is a company president and he has a light-hearted, somewhat irresponsible personality. He is in love with Minatsu, and in rivalry with Naoto Kadomatsu joins the boxing club, working hard to try to beat him in order to win Minatsu's affection. ; : : A third-year student at Jōsei High School and a member of its boxing club. He lives in the same apartment building as Minatsu but attends a different school, in a different grade. He is a high school boxing champion. He falls in love at first sight with Minatsu's alter ego Maria, and becomes Shū's rival in boxing and in trying to win Minatsu's affections after learning that Maria and Minatsu are the same person. ; : : A

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

at Asaoka High School and advisor to both the softball and boxing clubs. While in college, he worked toward becoming a professional boxer but gave up this dream after his sister died in order to take care of his sister's daughter, Chika. He has a preoccupation with the female behind, and frequently gives unwanted attention to female students at the school. At the end of the anime series, he and Minatsu are married. ; : : A rough, aloof girl who is the only person who can catch Minatsu's pitching. She has a crush on Coach Yamazakura, and manages to date him by agreeing to join the softball club. After she is rejected by Yamazakura, she takes a hiatus from softball but soon returns for the team rather than for Yamazakura. She ends up with new teacher, Somei, who falls for her once she finds out that she is one of the only women who he is not deathly afraid of other than his mother. ; : : Yamazakura's

orphan An orphan (from the el, ορφανός, orphanós) is a child whose parents have died. In common usage, only a child who has lost both parents due to death is called an orphan. When referring to animals, only the mother's condition is usuall ...

ed niece. Even though she's an elementary school student, she is very reliable and cooks nearly every meal for Yamazakura. She really likes Minatsu and hopes she and Yamazakura get together eventually. Sources:

Releases

Manga

''Slow Step'' was serialized by

in the shōjo manga magazine '' Ciao'' from September 1986 through March 1991, and collected in seven

volumes.

Tankōbon is the Japanese term for a book that is not part of an anthology or corpus. In modern Japanese, the term is most often used in reference to individual volumes of a manga series: most series first appear as individual chapters in a weekly or ...

*Volume 1 (20 May 1987, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, ) *Volume 2 (20 December 1987, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, ) *Volume 3 (20 October 1988, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, ) *Volume 4 (20 May 1989, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, ) *Volume 5 (20 April 1990, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, ) *Volume 6 (20 November 1990, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, ) *Volume 7 (20 August 1991, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, ) Bunkoban *Volume 1 (August 1995, Shogakukan, ) *Volume 2 (August 1995, Shogakukan, ) *Volume 3 (August 1995, Shogakukan, ) *Volume 4 (August 1995, Shogakukan, )

Anime

In 1991, ''Slow Step'' was adapted into a five-episode OVA series by

Youmex was an anime production company and record label (under their label Futureland) established in 1985 as a subsidiary of Toshiba EMI and founded by Junji Fujita (formerly of King Records). The company was absorbed back into Toshiba EMI in 1998, af ...

and distributed by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

. The anime version has some differences from the manga, including the ending. It was released on five VHS tapes and five laserdiscs by

. The episodes were directed by

Kunihiko Yuyama is a Japanese director best known for his work on the ''Pokémon'' anime franchise. He also directed ''Magical Princess Minky Momo'', '' Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko'', ''The Three Musketeers Anime'', ''Ushio and Tora'', '' Kimagure ...

, with scripts by Toshimichi Saeki and character designs by Tokuhiro Matsubara. The soundtrack was by Hiroya Watanabe.

Songs

The opening theme song for ''Slow Step'' was , with vocals by Nobuhide Saki, who also composed the song. The lyrics were written by

Gorō Matsui is a Japanese lyricist born 11 December 1957 in Gifu Prefecture, Japan, though he considers Tokyo to be his hometown. Beginning with participation in the Yamaha Popular Song Contests, he made his debut writing the lyrics for the 1981 Chage and ...

, and the music was arranged by

Takeshi Fujii is a Japanese professional shogi player, ranked 9-dan. He is a former Ryūō title holder, and a former non-executive director of the Japan Shogi Association. Fujii is known for developing the Fujii System, a class of strategies for Fourth Fi ...

and Yoshiyuki Sahashi. The ending theme, "Only for You", was composed and was sung by Saki. Matsui wrote the lyrics and the music was arranged by Fujii and Sahashi.

Soundtrack

A soundtrack CD (TYCY-5157) was released on 27 March 1991. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # #''Only for You''

Reception

In 1995 ''Slow Step'' was released in the United Kingdom on VHS with English subtitles by the video company ''Western Connection''. However, it was commercially unsuccessful.

Helen McCarthy Helen McCarthy (born 27 February 1951) is the British author of such anime reference books as ''500 Manga Heroes and Villains'', ''Anime!'', ''The Anime Movie Guide'' and '' Hayao Miyazaki: Master of Japanese Animation''. She is the co-author o ...

in ''500 Essential Anime Movies'' calls Mitsuru Adachi "the king of high school romance" and states that the anime "deserves a much bigger audience."

References

Works cited

External links

* {{Ciao 1986 manga 1991 anime OVAs Boxing in anime and manga Mitsuru Adachi School life in anime and manga Shōjo manga Softball mass media Shogakukan franchises Shogakukan manga