Bounce Back (Graphic Novel)

Recommended Audience: None.

Opinion: Do not recommend.

Synopsis: This graphic novel did not offer much in way of neither entertainment nor moral value. While the book does not contain egregiously questionable content, nor is it plentiful, the fact that the story itself was hardly engaging and the moral takeaways were minimal made this book a ‘pass’ for me.

Advisories: bullying/teasing, mild crude language, dating, kissing, and more

Note: I write this review with the caveat that I am far from a connoisseur when it comes to manga. I don’t read much of it, and I don’t particularly seek it out. A manga fan might have an entirely different opinion on this book.

Details:

This manga-style graphic novel has readers following along as Lilico, a middle school girl from Osaka who loves basketball, migrates from Japan to the United States. Lilico struggles to adjust to her new home and has to deal with harsh bullies as she tries to find her way. Lilico’s talent in basketball paves a path for her to gain popularity, but at what cost? Lilico must remind herself what it means to be a good friend and find ways to build bridges between peer groups.

This book fell flat for me. I found the melodrama of the book to be off-putting, but I recognize this can be a trait of manga. I felt that Lilico’s strategies to gain friends and repair relationships were weak at best and not strategies I would want my own children to employ. In order to win over her bully, Lilico basically proves herself on the basketball court and becomes a major asset to the girls basketball team. In order to build bridges between two rivals, she encourages Nala to design and create a team mascot costume for the school. I don’t like that in both scenarios, the characters had to offer some type of service/skill in order to curry favor with those who were treating them badly.

Sometimes if the moral takeaways and overall value of the book in one fashion or another is compelling enough, I can forgive some indiscretions in terms of questionable content. Ultimately, this book did not meet that threshold for me therefore I do not recommend it.

Things I Liked:

• Lilico learned to stand up for herself against bullies but not in a particularly compelling way — she basically proved her value to them via her basketball talent
• Lilico mended her friendship with Nala
• Learning about Japanese culture (food, school experiences, clothing, beliefs, etc.)

Advisory Details:

• references to being someone else in a “past life” (p. 15)
• bullying, teasing (recurring)
• mild crude language — shut up, crap
• “guardian spirit” character that possesses a cat and assists Lilico (introduced on p. 50 and recurring thereafter)
• boy and girls hanging out unsupervised in a character’s bedroom (p. 58)
• eating pork (p. 85)
• reference to a specific food believed to bring good luck (p.86)
• boy and girls sleeping over together (p. 88)
• reference to getting a boyfriend, crushes (p. 94, 139)
• fan-girling over bands (p. 139)
• dating (p. 176-7, 190-2)
• boy-girl hugging (p. 218)
• boy-girl kissing (p. 255)

Note: This list of advisories is not exhaustive and may not capture every instance of questionable content, but rather is intended to give an overall sense of the content of the book.