'Fence' Shows That In Sports, Sometimes It's Not About Winning
C.S. Pacat's comic about rivalries and relationships in the overheated world of elite high school fencers stars a brash outsider up against a sleek yet surly prodigy at the top of his game.
What's more of a turn-on than sweat and rivalry? Not much — which is at least part of the reason why a healthy strain of sports-centric titles has long flourished in the world of Japanese manga. Whatever your game, you can almost certainly find a translated import: from baseball () and soccer ( to less expected sports like ballroom dancing () and even the board game Go). Though these series revolve around competitions, winning is really beside the point. Oh, sure, there are probably a few readers who turn to or for the on-court action, but the real draw is the chance to vicariously experience the simmering emotional fixations the athletes develop on one another.
