Man, someone needs to stop Tokyopop before they corner the market on ornery yet lovable lead characters! Clean-Freak introduces yet another personality-disordered protagonist—this time an obsessive-compulsive germaphobe—and somehow manages to sculpt him into an endearing, soft-hearted fellow. At first, the reader's perception of Senda matches that of his classmates, seeing him as a sterile-suited nutcase who avoids others. But subtly, oh so subtly, Senda's personality warms up as he meets those who are willing to give him a chance. In the end, it's those interactions—with eternally optimistic Anna, neurotic and hyperactive Yui, scheming temptress Yumeno, even the kid who's in charge of the school animals—that shape Senda's character and give the whole series an aura of warmth and friendship. Of course, the sense of humor doesn't hurt either, with Senda's arsenal being a whimsical reminder of Japan's incredibly advanced hygiene techniques. And the storyline achieves just the right balance by sprinkling in a few moments of tenderness: Senda and Anna's long-distance letters to each other, his dauntless effort to save the school rabbit, and the obligatory adorable childhood flashback. As a quirky chronicle of youth this series is indeed fully equipped.
That thrilling, brilliant game between the big boys and the underdogs? It's only about half the book. The rest of it is, sad to say, slice-of-life filler material—not terrible by any means, but still just placeholder chapters to keep folks interested during the offseason. Ko's growth as a baseball star and as a young man is put on hold in favor of silly asides like shortstop Senda learning the meaning of friendship, or the glamour-girl team manager trying out for a movie role, or Aoba getting the best of her male admirers when she makes plans for a rather unorthodox "date." Adachi even pads out a couple of early chapters with some swimming pool-related fanservice, which probably would have been all right if it weren't for the fact that everyone knows he's better than that. At least there's still a sprinkling of humor to stop these episodes from falling completely flat, but even that has a way of backfiring on itself with a lot of awkward, self-referential fourth-wall material ("The narrator is embarrassing! And he doesn't submit his chapters on time"). Come on, when do they start playing real games again?
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