From the back cover:
Everybody has a dream, and for junior high school student Shou Kazamatsuri, that dream is simple: he wants to get off the bench and play soccer. An inspiration to everyone he meets, the indefatigable spark plug won’t quit until he becomes the best soccer player he can be!

But soccer is a team sport and that means Shou must also work extra hard at being the best teammate he can be. No matter how good he gets, he still needs the support of 10 other players to score a single goal.

One player, however, has vowed to single-handedly crush the upstarts at Josui Junior High. His name is Ryoichi Tenjo and he is easily the best soccer player Shou has ever seen. Nobody has been able to stop Ryoichi in the past. Now, it’s up to Team Josui to teach the arrogant hothead a lesson in humility.

Review:
I’m getting a little tired of Whistle! now, so it’s good that I was planning to take a break from this series for a while. This volume had its good moments, like when Masato gets to play again and when Ryoichi executes a couple of really cool moves, but it also had a lot of the same old stuff. Too much lesson-learning and not enough soccer-playing.

Once again, dialogue continues to be cheesy. This volume’s winner: “Every time they face a problem, the team’s bond deepens.” Well, thanks, Coach Obvious!

I also didn’t particularly care for the resolution to the plot involving the talented female player. Essentially, she’s told “nobody’s going to play against you hard enough, so you have to go create a girl’s team rather than be on ours.” I predict that we’ll never see her do this, and that she’ll just be another sideline commentator from now on. Time will tell.

From the back cover:
After playing an incredible and inspirational match against their cross-town rivals, the gang at Josui Junior High is now fielding queries from players who want to join their team. One of these hopefuls is Yuki Kojima, the team’s pretty manager. She’s not only cute and sweet but she’s also an awesome soccer player, to boot. Slowly but surely, Shou is surrounding himself with a bunch of all-star athletes… now all he has to do is find a coach!

Review:
These stories all relate to the aftermath of the game in the last volume. My favorite bits were actually near the beginning, especially a two-page spread reacting to the outcome of the game that is completely free from dialogue. A fun new character called Daichi is also introduced, and he has a distinct way of talking that was nicely preserved in the translation.

Suffering, however, were the longer soccer blurbs that come between some chapters. One of these was talking about a match played in “Soul” (Seoul). Nice one, dudes.

The second half of the volume is not all that great. The team gets a coach after a kinda stupid flashback chapter where we learn why the primary candidate (Sou) was reluctant to take the job. It includes the following ridiculous quote:

“I didn’t understand before. And I became scared of having a deep relationship with others through soccer.”

That’s really the main issue with Whistle!. I like the cast, and I like the story, and I like how the matches are drawn and all of that. But when the dialogue just gets too goofy like this it really deals a blow to my enjoyment of the title.

From the back cover:
There comes a time in every ninja’s training when he must put aside his morals and face the truth: ninjas are tools for killing. For Naruto, seeing Sasuke dead, that time is now. Rage awakens the nine-tailed fox spirit within Naruto, giving him the strength to overcome Haku—but can he bring himself to finish the job?

As the battle for the Land of the Waves comes to a tragic ending, our heroes return to the village of Konohagakure in time for the chuunin (journeyman ninja) exams. But junior ninjas from around the world have gathered to take the exam, bringing their own strange ninjutsu and mysterious goals…

Review:
Even though I thought elements of Kakashi and Zabuza’s fight were rather silly (ninja dogs? really?), I mostly liked the first half of this volume. Haku’s an endearing character, one of those who dedicates their life to being useful to their villainous friend/savior, reminding me of a couple of similar types from Kenshin. So, pretty much—if Haku was in the scene, I liked it.

I also liked that the nature of a shinobi is questioned—are they really just the killing tools of their government, or can they be people too? And Naruto’s reaction to Sasuke’s recovery actually made me kind of sniffle.

But… the last two chapters are kind of meh. I actually thought the journeyman exams sounded neat, and maybe it’ll shape up to be so, but so far it’s just a lot of posturing and prospective rivals eyeing Sasuke. At least Sakura has now openly acknowledged her uselessness. Dare I hope a power-up of some kind is in store?

From the back cover:
Zabuza, the ninja assassin, was stopped from his first try at killing Tazuna the bridge-builder—but Zabuza still lives! While the ninjas recover from their injuries, Kakashi puts Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura on a strict training regimen to protect Tazuna’s family—including Tazuna’s embittered grandson Inari—and prepare for Zabuza’s next attack.

But the next time won’t be as easy, because joining Zabuza is his deadly apprentice, Haku. And as the bridge comes closer to completion, our heroes must be willing to die—or kill—to protect the ones they love…

Review:
The ninjas recover, train, and discover new abilities in this volume. Par for the course for shounen manga, in other words. I started to think something might finally happen with Sakura, after her uselessness in previous volumes, when she was the first to master a new technique. But no—Kakashi mentally states that the boys have much greater reserves of power than she does and, after some practice, they’re able to duplicate the feat. Later, in the battle with Zabuza and Haku, Sakura continues to stand around and do nothing. Sigh.

While Naruto pushes himself to improve so he can protect those he cares about, he ends up inspiring a little kid who’d lost the dad who fought the anti-bridge thugs to protect his son and his town. It’s about as exciting as it sounds.

The final battle itself is pretty good—Kakashi’s ability of hypnotic mimicry is thwarted by some new techniques of Zabuza’s, and the fight with Haku (whom I quite like) awakens some latent power of Sasuke’s that allows him to see through the illusions that Haku creates. I think those two are probably related, since much is made of how Sasuke is the last of his tragic clan and he makes some reference to an older brother that could be interpreted to mean Haku.

So, this volume was okay—I was sufficiently entertained—but it wasn’t great.

From the back cover:
It’s the first game of the season and Josui Junior High is matched up against cross-town rival, Musashinomori. Without question the elite private school has the better soccer players, but Shou Kazamatsuri and the rest of Team Josui are hoping to steal a win with extra hustle and desire.

But at halftime it doesn’t look too good. The kids from Josui find themselves down by two goals. For Shou, losing to his former school is not an option. Even when he suffers a debilitating injury, Shou is determined to lead his team to victory!

Review:
It took a few chapters for me to get back into the flow of the Josui vs. Musashinomori match. Of course, the team gets inspired and manages to hold their own, though they’re running themselves ragged in the process.

The game was well-drawn as always, and easy to follow. For the most part, the shots made seem plausible enough, though I wasn’t entirely sure something the goal keeper did at the end is legal. Mistakes were made by players, there were a couple of fouls, a penalty kick, a non-villainous rival, etc. This part was fun.

What was pretty cheesy was a chapter near the end where every exhausted Josui player had to have a flashback of why they had something to prove, and had to declare aloud their love for soccer as they managed to successfully complete a pass to their teammate.

Despite the flaws, Whistle! is still a good series and definitely recommended.