History Manga / CrossGame

* LoveDodecahedron: Start with Ko, Aoba, and Azuma having lots of fans. Of these, Senda and his attempts in vain to court Aoba gets the most screentime. Ko and Akaishi loved Wakaba, and Wakaba loved Ko back. [[spoiler: Most everyone expects Ko to fall for Akane. Ko slowly develops feelings for Aoba. Azuma says Aoba is the only girl he would consider dating. Mizuki is also in love with Aoba. Aoba actually loves Ko. Akaishi falls for Akane out of displaced feelings from Wakaba. Akane falls for Ko but realizes he's grown very close to Aoba. The epilogue shows Ko-Aoba and implies Akaishi-Akane happen]].

* DudeMagnet: Aoba who apart from Azuma and Senda being in love with her, is constantly hounded by guys and even some girls.

* LoveDodecahedron: Start with Ko, Aoba, and Azuma having lots of fans. Of these, Senda and his attempts in vain to court Aoba gets the most screentime. Ko and Akaishi loved Wakaba, and Wakaba loved Ko back. [[spoiler: Most everyone expects Ko to fall for Akane. Ko slowly develops feelings for Aoba. Azuma says Aoba is the only girl he would consider dating. Aoba actually loves Ko. Akaishi falls for Akane out of displaced feelings from Wakaba. Akane falls for Ko but realizes he's grown very close to Aoba. The epilogue shows Ko-Aoba and implies Akaishi-Akane happen]].

** Must be a family trait, as Wakaba had both Ko and Akashi in love with her, while Ichiyo is known to have guys hit on her, to the point hers sisters score the attempts!

* LoveDodecahedron: Start with Ko, Aoba, and Azuma having lots of fans. Of these, Senda and his attempts in vain to court Aoba gets the most screentime. Ko and Akaishi loved Wakaba, and Wakaba loved Ko back. [[spoiler: Most everyone expects Ko to fall for Akane. Ko actually loves Aoba. Azuma says Aoba is the only girl he would consider dating. Aoba actually loves Ko. Akaishi falls for Akane out of displaced feelings from Wakaba. Akane seems open to dating Ko but realizes he's grown very close to Aoba. The epilogue shows Ko-Aoba and implies Akaishi-Akane happen]].

* FirstEpisodeSpoiler: First Volume Spoiler in the manga [[spoiler:Wakaba dies]]

* TheAce: Aoba and Azuma in spades.

''Cross Game'' is a romantic comedy baseball manga series by Mitsuru Adachi (author of ''{{Manga/Touch}}''), which ran from 2005-10. Although it is better described as a ComingOfAgeStory: All about life. Death. And baseball! Think ''Series/TheWonderYears'' [[JustForFun/XMeetsY plus]] ''Film/TheNatural''. (If you are too young to remember ''The Wonder Years'' replace it with ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld''). A year-long anime adaptation aired starting in 2009, with the first episode receiving excellent reviews, both in and out of Japan. Viz has licensed both the manga (volumes collecting two Japanese volumes each, with three in the first, started coming out in late 2010) and anime (weekly episodes began streaming from their website in May 2010).

* AnnoyingYoungerSibling: Momiji ... from Aoba's perspective

* VicariouslyAmbitious: An interesting case where the ''supporter'' is the one actually physically succeeding. [[spoiler: Ko begins the story noting that his interests aren't consistent and he doesn't really know what he wants to do with himself, while Aoba has known from a young age that she wanted to be a world-class baseball pitcher, and works extremely hard at it. However because Aoba is female and therefore barred from participating in men's baseball tournaments, she can't achieve her dream of pitching in Japan's Koshien tournament. Ko eventually starts asking Aoba to teach him how to throw pitches like her, stating that they can think of it as her using his body as a proxy for her own to achieve her goal. His form comes to mimic hers with surprising accuracy]].

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Aoba is this on both sides of the trope in different ways. Aoba ''is'' a natural pitching prodigy that many would never have any hope of beating. However, she works extremely hard to maintain and improve her form, and yet no matter how good she is or how hard she trains, she'll always have to deal with the disadvantage that women don't build muscle as efficiently as men. She also can't change the rules that forbid female players in men's tournaments.

* VicariouslyAmbitious: An interesting case where the ''backer'' is the one actually physically succeeding. [[spoiler: Ko begins the story noting that his interests aren't consistent and he doesn't really know what he wants to do with himself, while Aoba has known from a young age that she wanted to be a world-class baseball pitcher, and works extremely hard at it. However because Aoba is female and therefore barred from participating in men's baseball tournaments, she can't achieve her dream of pitching in Japan's Koshien tournament. Ko eventually starts asking Aoba to teach him how to throw pitches like her, stating that they can think of it as her using his body as a proxy for her own to achieve her goal. His form comes to mimic hers with surprising accuracy]].

* HardWorkHardlyWorks: Aoba is this on both sides of the trope in different ways. Aoba ''is'' a natural pitching prodigy that many would never have any hope of beating. However, she works extremely hard to maintain and improve her form, and yet no matter how good she is or how hard she trains, she'll always physically be disadvantaged by the fact women can't build muscle as efficiently as men. She also can't change the rules that forbid female players in men's tournaments.

* JerkJock: The senpai on Kō's baseball team.

** Aoba as well, and it is one of her biggest frustrations. Despite being one of the most talented baseball player in the story, she has to come to grip with the reality that her female biology means she will never be able to surpass the best of the boys and that this difference will only increase as they get older.

* VicariouslyAmbitious: An interesting case where the ''backer'' is the one actually physically succeeding. [[spoiler: Ko begins the story noting that his interests aren't consistent and he doesn't really know what he wants to do with himself, while Aoba has known since a young age that she wanted to be a world-class baseball pitcher, and works extremely hard at it. However because Aoba is female and therefore barred from participating in men's baseball tournaments, she can't achieve her dream of pitching in Japan's Koshien tournament. Ko eventually starts asking Aoba to teach him how to throw pitches like her, stating that they can think of it as her using his body as a proxy for her own to achieve her goal. His form comes to mimic hers with surprising accuracy]].

* VicariouslyAmbitious: An interesting case where the ''backer'' is the one actually physically succeeding. [[spoiler: Ko begins the story noting that his interests aren't consistent and he doesn't really know what he wants to do with himself, while Aoba has known since a young age that she wanted to be a world-class baseball pitcher, and works extremely hard at it. However because Aoba is female and therefore barred from participating in men's baseball tournaments, she can't achieve her dream of pitching in Japan's Koshien tournament. Ko eventually starts learning how to pitch with the exact same form as Aoba with surprisingly close accuracy, and he asks her to coach him, stating that they can think of it as her using his body as a proxy for her own to achieve her goal.]]

* VicariouslyAmbitious: An interesting case where the ''backer'' is the one actually physically succeeding. [[spoiler: Ko begins the story noting that his interests aren't consistent and he doesn't really know what he wants to do with himself, while Aoba has known since a young age that she wanted to be a world-class baseball pitcher, and works extremely hard at it. However because Aoba is female and therefore barred from participating in men's baseball tournaments, she can't achieve her dream of pitching in Japan's Koshien tournament. Ko starts learning how to pitch with the exact same form as Aoba with surprisingly close accuracy, and he states that they can think of it as her using his body as a proxy for her own to achieve her goal.]]

* VicariouslyAmbitious: An interesting case where the ''backer'' is the one actually physically succeeding. [[spoiler: Ko begins the story noting that his interests aren't consistent and he doesn't really know what he wants to do with himself, while Aoba has known since a young age that she wanted to be a world-class baseball pitcher, and works extremely hard at it. However because Aoba is female and therefore barred from participating in men's baseball tournaments, she can't achieve her dream of pitching in Japan's Koshien tournament. Ko starts learning how to pitch with the exact same form as Aoba with surprisingly close accuracy, and he states that they can think of it as her using his body to achieve her goal.]]

* VicariouslyAmbitious: An interesting case where the ''backer'' is the one actually physically succeeding. [[spoiler: Ko begins the story noting that his interests aren't consistent and he doesn't really know what he wants to do with himself, while Aoba has known since a young age that she wanted to be a world-class baseball pitcher, and works extremely hard on it. However because Aoba is female and therefore barred from participating in men's baseball tournaments, she can't achieve her dream of pitching in Japan's Koshien tournament. Ko starts learning how to pitch with the exact same form as Aoba with surprisingly close accuracy, and he states that they can think of it as her using his body to achieve her goal.]]

''Cross Game'' is a romantic comedy baseball manga series by Mitsuru Adachi (author of ''{{Manga/Touch}}''), which ran from 2005-10. Although it is better described as a ComingOfAgeStory: All about life. Death. And baseball! Think ''Series/TheWonderYears'' [[XMeetsY plus]] ''Film/TheNatural''. (If you are too young to remember ''The Wonder Years'' replace it with ''Series/BoyMeetsWorld''). A year-long anime adaptation aired starting in 2009, with the first episode receiving excellent reviews, both in and out of Japan. Viz has licensed both the manga (volumes collecting two Japanese volumes each, with three in the first, started coming out in late 2010) and anime (weekly episodes began streaming from their website in May 2010).

* InLoveWithLove: Sometimes Kō seems to wonder if this might be Wakaba's motivation for loving him.

* [[SheIsNotMyGirlfriend He/She Is Not My Boyfriend/Girlfriend]]: Aoba towards Kō/Kō towards Wakaba.

* NamesToKnowInAnime: Creator/MiyuIrino (Kou), Creator/HarukaTomatsu (Aoba), Creator/AkemiKanda (Wakaba), Creator/MegumiToyoguchi (Ichiyo).

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Cross_Game_2.bmp

''Cross Game'' is a romantic comedy baseball manga series by Mitsuru Adachi (author of ''{{Manga/Touch}}''), which ran from 2005-10. Although it is better described as a ComingOfAgeStory: All about life. Death. And baseball! Think ''TheWonderYears'' [[XMeetsY plus]] ''TheNatural''. (If you are too young to remember ''The Wonder Years'' replace it with ''BoyMeetsWorld''). A year-long anime adaptation aired starting in 2009, with the first episode receiving excellent reviews, both in and out of Japan. Viz has licensed both the manga (volumes collecting two Japanese volumes each, with three in the first, started coming out in late 2010) and anime (weekly episodes began streaming from their website in May 2010).

* [[BlandNameProduct Bland Name Team]]: Yakult ''Sorrows'', Seibu ''Cions''

* {{Spiritual Successor}}: To {{Touch}} and {{H2}}, the author's previous baseball series. Cross Game has a somewhat more dramatic feel at first, but all are sweet, slice-of-life stories told through baseball. The three series form a thematic trilogy of sorts, although their stories are unconnected.

* {{Title Drop}}: Happens {{once an episode}}. Each episode's title is taken from a line of dialog, usually one that sums up the thematic issues at play.

* NamesToKnowInAnime: Creator/MiyuIrino (Kou), HarukaTomatsu (Aoba), Creator/AkemiKanda (Wakaba), Creator/MegumiToyoguchi (Ichiyo).

* NamesToKnowInAnime: MiyuIrino (Kou), HarukaTomatsu (Aoba), Creator/AkemiKanda (Wakaba), Creator/MegumiToyoguchi (Ichiyo).

* CantCatchUp: Ko, Aoba and Azuma are leaps and bounds more talented than most of their Seishu teammates, but Akaishi is hit hardest by feelings of inferiority. However, opposing coaches still note that he's rather important to their team, and hits fifth, behind Azuma and ahead of Ko, for a reason.