Whistle!, Volume 4 Book

Whistle!, Vol. 4 continues where the previous tankobon left off and contains the next nine chapters (27-35) of the on-going manga series.

I was quite confused when I started reading this tankobon. From the previous tankobon, I thought Shigeki Satō scored the second goal against Musashinomori and tied the game at the very last moment. However, I was quite mistaken, the shot that Shigeki Satō took went wide and had it not been for Shō Kazamatsuri head-butting the ball in - the game wouldn't have been tied. Just as they scored the goal, there was still time left in the game for Musashinomori to score on an open goal - making the final score 3-2 in Musashinomori's favor.

Despite their lost, Sakura Josui soccer team had a surge in popularity and even gotten themselves a new manager in Yuki Kojima. However, after realizing the training regime required for staying on the team, most of them quit en masse, because they didn't love the game, but thought it would make them popular with the girls. They tried to break into the storage locker to destroy equipment for revenge, but masked soccer avenger stopped them.

Soujū Matsushita was asked to coach the Sakura Josui Soccer Team by Yūko Katori, but declined the offer, because of a sin he committed in the name of soccer years ago. It wasn't until Yūko Katori mentioning to Tōgo Amamiya, the coach of Kokubu Soccer Team who requested a practice game with Sakura Josui about trying to give Soujū Matsushita the job as coach did things turn around. Tōgo Amamiya and Soujū Matsushita had a history and after their discussion, Soujū Matsushita finally accepted the role as coach of Sakura Josui Soccer Team.

Two characters of note are introduced in Whistle!, Vol. 4: Daichi Fuwa, who is a second year student and Yuki Kojima, the manager for the Sakura Josui Soccer Team.

Daichi Fuwa is known in Josui as a genius, but many find him dangerous and eccentric. He is nicknamed the Crusher, because he crushes people's pride by outdoing them and saying what they have done wrong, not realizing that he's either hurting or irritating others. His way of speaking is very blunt and direct. Though he's a genius at almost everything he does, the only thing he doesn't understand are the basic of socializing and the meaning of just having fun.

He meets Shō Kazamatsuri when the latter thought he was going to commit suicide by jumping into a river and tried to intervene. Shō Kazamatsuri introduces Daichi Fuwa into the world of soccer and so he decides to join the soccer team as goalkeeper in order to investigate why Shō Kazamatsuri loves soccer so much.

Yuki Kojima is a second year student who became a manager taking care about the Sakura Josui Soccer Team right after their astonishing game against Musashinomori. It was later revealed that she was the guardian angel of the soccer team who would stop anyone who would bring harm to the team. She loves soccer so much - perhaps just as strongly as Shō Kazamatsuri, but is prevented in playing, because no girls are allowed on the team. Instead she has to sit on the side-lines and watch vicariously through the boys' team. She is allowed in the summer soccer retreat that Shoujū Matsushita planned.

Daisuke Higuchi has written and illustrated this tankobon. For the most part I really liked the story, Higuchi is a tad too verbose in some of her dialogue, but it's not too prevalent, albeit still noticeable. I was a tad confused in the beginning, but I'm not sure if this is Higuchi's doing, the translator, or the original editor who decided to split the tankobon in this manner. It was interesting to read the history between Tōgo Amamiya and Soujū Matsushita and their past relationship. The illustrations are rather good as well and it emphasizes the text rather well.

All in all, Whistle!, Vol. 4 is a wonderful continuation of the series that seems really intriguing and I can't wait to read more.