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A review by bickie
Bounce Back by Misako Rocks!
4.0
Adorable manga-type (reads left-to-right like English) graphic novel. At the beginning, there is a lot of Japanese in the background, but communication among characters is just written in English, with no delineation between translated-for-reader and actually characters speaking English.
Lilico is the captain of a girls' basketball team in Osaka that has its sights on winning the championship when her parents tell her the family is moving to New York City for an important opportunity. She doesn't want to go and doesn't want to leave her friends.
Lilico's first few days at school are rough, mostly due to a mean girl named Sadie (depicted with brown skin) who also happens to be the captain of the girls' basketball team. Lilico tries to join the team but is thwarted. Japan-philes Nala (depicted with brown skin and wearing a variety of anime-looking wigs of various colors; also shown with a bonnet one night) and Henry (depicted with white skin and ginger hair, presumably natural) befriend Lilico. While they develop a great friendship, Lilico really misses playing basketball. Noah, a popular white boy on the boys' basketball team notices Lilico's skills and suggests some one-on-one practices.
As Lilico develops relationships outside of her original two friends, she learns lessons about what being a friend is all about. She also finds a way to become the leader that she was in Japan.
Diverse student body in middle school. One pretty chaste kiss on the lips between two characters.
NOTE: Not knowing anything about Dragon Ball Z, I found it jarring when Nala and Henry greeted each other with "Kamehameha!" I wondered whether they were aware that it is the name of the Hawaiian king who united the islands in the late 18th century. I wish the author had chosen a different catch phrase for them.
Lilico is the captain of a girls' basketball team in Osaka that has its sights on winning the championship when her parents tell her the family is moving to New York City for an important opportunity. She doesn't want to go and doesn't want to leave her friends.
Lilico's first few days at school are rough, mostly due to a mean girl named Sadie (depicted with brown skin) who also happens to be the captain of the girls' basketball team. Lilico tries to join the team but is thwarted. Japan-philes Nala (depicted with brown skin and wearing a variety of anime-looking wigs of various colors; also shown with a bonnet one night) and Henry (depicted with white skin and ginger hair, presumably natural) befriend Lilico. While they develop a great friendship, Lilico really misses playing basketball. Noah, a popular white boy on the boys' basketball team notices Lilico's skills and suggests some one-on-one practices.
As Lilico develops relationships outside of her original two friends, she learns lessons about what being a friend is all about. She also finds a way to become the leader that she was in Japan
Spoiler
among her new teammatesDiverse student body in middle school. One pretty chaste kiss on the lips between two characters.
NOTE: Not knowing anything about Dragon Ball Z, I found it jarring when Nala and Henry greeted each other with "Kamehameha!" I wondered whether they were aware that it is the name of the Hawaiian king who united the islands in the late 18th century. I wish the author had chosen a different catch phrase for them.