Tenshi

After reading just the first two volumes of this manga, I'm completely in
love with it and wanted to share it. Tenshi to Daiyamondo is a three
volume shoujo manga, written by Nasu Yukie and published in Hana to
Yume comics. It tells the story of the members of a small co-ed high
school's baseball team and their dream of winning the National High
School Baseball Championships. For those of you Greenwood fans,
Angels has a lot of the same elements that makes Greenwood so special:
misfit kids trying to find their place in the world, humor, pathos and -- of
course! -- lots of cute boys. (I mean, let's be honest!)

Plot summary: Six years ago, Kano Keigo was a high school pitching star,
known as the "Ace of Toritsu High". He led his team to the National High
School Baseball Championships, but something happened during the final
game, and he gave up baseball. Now Keigo has become a high school
teacher and is starting his first job at Misono High, a small co-ed high
school. He wants to put his past behind him, but events won't let him.
Keigo's young cousins, the Oosawa twins: Nanami and Kai, are second
years at Misono and they see Keigo's appearance as the fulfilment of a
"promise" he made to Kai many years ago. When Kai was young, he was
very sickly, but he wanted to play baseball with his cousin more than
anything. It's Kai's dream to go to the Championships with his cousin
"Kei-chan" and he assumes that's why Keigo came to Misono -- to coach
the team. For his part, Keigo has no recollection of the "promise" he
supposedly made and doesn't really want to get involved. For starters,
Misono High doesn't even *have* a baseball team. Undeterred, Nanami
and Kai recruit a bunch of their schoolmates, and the first season of the
Misono High baseball team begins. . .

Kano Keigo

Also known as: Kano-sensei, Kei-chan,

Kantoku (manager/coach), the "Star of Toritsu Ace"

Age: 22 (Street legal! Yay!)

Birthday: March 1

Blood type: A

Height: 180 cm

Position: Coach/Manager

Kano Keigo is the much put-upon coach of the Misono High team. He
didn't really want to have to confront his demons on the baseball field
again, but he got sucked in through the force of his cousin's personality.
Although he feels like the only sane person amidst madness, Keigo really
loves the game and gradually becomes drawn into Kai's aspirations.

Oosawa Kai

Age: 16 (slightly older than Nanami)

Birthday: June 13

Blood type: O

Height: 165 cm

Position: Catcher/Team Captain

Oosawa Kai was a really sickly kid. He was confined to bed for much of
his childhood, but he didn't let it get to him. Sweet and happy, Kai lived
to get stronger, for he knew that someday, his idol, Kei-chan, would come
back and take Kai's team to the Championships. Now that he's older, Kai
still hasn't lost his cheerful personality -- or his faith in his cousin. Kai is
one of those Joan of Arc types. He has complete faith in his dream and
he's just so sweet and committed he makes everyone around him believe,
too (or at least go along for the ride). It makes me a little worried for him
in the final volume, given Nasu-sensei's propensity for tragedy. . .

Oosawa Nanami

Also known as: Nanami-chan, Oosawa-sempai

Age: 16

Birthday: June 13

Blood type: O

Height: 162 cm

Position: ? Pinch hitter

Kai's younger twin, Nanami, seems to have everything together. She's
pretty and popular with the boys, athletic, and a member of an awe-
inspiring number of school clubs. Unfortunately, she causes a lot of bad
feelings in her female classmates when she quits her clubs to help Kai
organize the new baseball team -- and takes three of the cutest boys with
her! Not only that, but she seems to be really good friends with the local
teen heartthrob, Kubata-kun. This earns her the emnity of her erstwhile
clubmates and the rest of the female population of the school, all of whom
are now gunning for her. Although she plays baseball better than most of
the members of the team, including Kai, Nanami is confined to the bench
because she's a girl. It's something she's never been able to understand,
and it hurts her, although she puts on a brave front.

Kubata Anri

Also known as: Kubata-kun

Age: 16

Birthday: August 26

Blood type: A

Height: 178 cm

Position: Left field

As a youngster, Anri was the local "fat kid with a weird name". He dealt
with his feelings of rejection by becoming a bully. He met Kai at a health
camp for kids when they were both about nine or ten years old. There,
Anri learned the meaning of friendship and he's never forgotten it.
Although he's now the local teen heartthrob, Anri doesn't give girls the
time of day. Anri loves Kai, although only Nanami knows it, and he'll do
just about anything to make his friend happy, including signing up for a
game he has no interest in. Anri looks like a depressed sea anemone and
his personality matches pretty well. He's prickly and sarcastic and
doesn't give anyone any slack (think Hayama) , but underneath it all he's a
sensitive kid with a hopeless crush on his best friend. Poor guy.

Tachibana Shin

Also known as: "that selfish moron Tachibana", Shin-chan

Age: 15

Birthday: January 31

Blood type: B

Height: 171 cm

Position: Pitcher

Tachibana has a gift for pitching, yet he specifically chose to attend a
school that had no baseball team because he didn't want to play. Shin's
father is a company president and a true baseball nut. He's been pressuring
Shin to play baseball since the day Shin was born -- and probably even
earlier than that. Consequently, Shin has rebelled, even though he loves
baseball almost as much as his dad. Tachibana is possibly harder to get
along with than Kubata -- if such a thing *is* possible! He goes out of his
way to be as unaccomodating as he can, and spends much of his time
yelling: at his dad, at his coach, at Kai, and most of all, at Kubata. Even
though he's a bit of a pain, everyone knows that any chance at the National
Championships rests in Tachibana's right arm (although that didn't stop
them from almost beating him up during their first game).

The rest of the team:

Ryuu Kazuyasu

Position: Third base

Ryuu is a third year. He played baseball in grade

school and middle school, but was resigned to not

being able to play since Misono High had no team.

Ryuu was the first to sign up for the team after Kai

and Anri. He is pleasant and level-headed.

Matsumi Kouyou

Position: First base

Matsumi is also a third year with an almost identical

history to Ryuu. He's friendly and easy-going.

Saekusa

Position: Second base

Tsukamoto

Position: Shortstop

Hayada

Position: Center field

One of Nanami's fans, he quit ballet club with her to join the team.

Sasaki

Position: Right field

One of Nanami's fans, he quit tennis club with her to join the team.

Uchikawa

One of Nanami's fans, he quit basketball club with her to join the team.

Fujisawa

A first year, Fujisawa worships Nanami (his "Oosawa-sempai"). He's
impressed by her skill and determination, but worries that she's going to
get beaten up one of these days. Nanami confides in him and orders him
around like a good sempai should.

All in all, if you own Greenwood and like it, you'll like Angels. There
aren't any supernatural events ocurring, but there are plenty of adorable
moments. Kai is the cutest manga boy since. . . well, he's the cutest manga
boy I've ever seen. He's ten times cuter than Yoshiki and at least twice as
cute as Hasukawa, and that's really saying something! (I mean, who else
would break a pitcher out of his slump by going up to the mound during the
middle of a game and *tickling* him? Especially a crabby-ass pitcher like
Tachibana!) You just can't help getting caught up in Kai's quest along with
everyone else around him. I'm really looking forward to getting the last
volume and finding out how everything turns out.

Attached to volume two of Angels is a short manga called "The Emerald
Cave", also written by Nasu-sensei. It's the story of two brothers who live
in a tropical paradise. The older brother is a bit of an irresponsible
womanizer and the younger is an earnest boy who (of course!) worships
his aniki. When the younger brother volunteers himself to be sacrificed to
the river, well. . . let's just say the ending is *really* depressing. ;_;

Tenshi to Diayamondo ISBN numbers:

Volume 1 ISBN 4-592-12271-2

Volume 2 ISBN 4-592-12272-0

The last part of Angels is included in Nasu-sensei's manga Sore Kara
Doshitano? Koneko-chan. ISBN 4-592-12273-9 It's out of print.