Touch (manga)


Touch is a Japanese high school baseball manga series written and illustrated by Mitsuru Adachi. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Sunday from 1981 to 1986.
The manga has been adapted into a 101-episode anime television series – which was one of the highest-rated anime television series ever, three theatrical anime movies which summarized the TV series, two anime television specials which take place after the events in the TV series, a live-action TV drama special, and a live-action movie released in 2005.
Touch has sold over 100 million copies, making it one of the best-selling manga series. In 1983, it was one of the winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen and shōjo categories, along with Adachi's other work Miyuki.

Plot

Touch follows the twin brothers Tatsuya and Kazuya Uesugi and the girl next door they grew up with and both grew to love, Minami Asakura. As they move from middle school to Meisei High School Kazuya devotes himself to being the ace pitcher of the baseball club and bringing the team to the Koshien, the national high school baseball tournament, fulfilling a childhood promise to Minami. Tatsuya leads a more frivolous life, avoiding conflict with his dear brother in sports or over their shared affection for Minami. In their first year, on the morning of the final game of the prefectural tournament, Kazuya is struck and killed by a truck in a traffic accident. In the second half of the story, Tatsuya takes up his brother's place in the baseball team and tries to fulfill his brother's goal.

Characters

; Tatsuya Uesugi
; Kazuya Uesugi
; Minami Asakura
; Shingo Uesugi; Haruko Uesugi
; Punch
; Toshio Asakura
; Kōtarō Matsudaira
; Shōhei Harada
; Akio Nitta
; Yuka Nitta
; Isami Nishimura
; Shigenori Nishio
; Eijirō Kashiwaba
; Sachiko Nishio
; Takeshi Kuroki
; Takeshi Yoshida
; Sakata
; Eiichirō Kashiwaba

Media

Manga

The series was collected in 26 tankōbon volumes. It has been reissued in 11 wideban volumes, 14 bunkoban volumes, and then again in 17 "perfect edition" volumes in the original magazine size with color inserts.
Original release
Wideban release
Bunkoban release
Kanzenban release
My First Wide
The anime series of Touch premiered on March 24, 1985, and ran until March 22, 1987, comprising 101 episodes in total. It was one of the highest-rated anime television shows ever in Japan, with episodes consistently rated 30+ percentage points during parts of its run. In a 2005 poll by TV Asahi of the top 100 animated television series, Touch was ranked 9th.

Theatrical films

Three compilation films were created, presenting a condensed version the TV series. Touch: The Ace Without a Number on His Back was released in Japan on April 12, 1986 by Toho as a double feature with Take It Easy starring Kōji Kikkawa. The film was directed by Gisaburō Sugii and written by Yūjin Harada, Satoshi Namiki, and Sugii. The film earned ¥900 million at the box office. The score for the film was composed by Hiroaki Serizawa. The opening and ending theme songs were "The Ace Without a Number on His Back" and "Youth of Glass", both sung by 1980s pop duo Rough & Ready and composed by Serizawa. The themes were released together as a single, reaching #9 on the weekly Oricon charts and placing #63 for the year on the annual chart.
The second film, Touch 2: Goodbye Gift, was released on December 13, 1986 by Toho as a double feature with Koisuru Onnatachi starring Yuki Saito. Touch 2 was directed by Hiroko Tokita and written by Tomoko Konbaru. The score was composed by Serizawa and featured song by the folk song group Bread & Butter.
The final film in the trilogy, Touch 3: Long After You've Passed Me By, was released by Toho in theaters in Japan on April 11, 1987 as a double feature with Itoshi no Erī starring Onyanko Club member Sayuri Kokushō. Touch 3 was directed by Sugii and written by Yumiko Takahashi and Sugii. The score for the film was composed by Serizawa. The opening and ending themes were "Long After You've Passed Me By" and "For the Brand-New Dream", both sung by The Alfee. The two songs were released as a single that ranked #5 on the Oricon charts and #7 on The Best Ten music show.

Anime specials

There were two television animated sequel specials aired: one in 1998 and one in 2001. Touch: Miss Lonely Yesterday: From There to You... aired as part of the Friday Roadshow on Nippon TV on December 11, 1998. It was directed and storyboarded by Akinori Nagaoka and written by Tomoko Konparu. Serizawa reprised his role in writing the score. The opening and ending theme songs were "Touch " sung by Natsumi Sawai and Quick-Times, and "Hi Hi High" sung by Sachiko Kumagai.
Just over two years later, Touch Cross Road: The Whereabouts of the Wind also aired as part of the Friday Roadshow on NTV on February 9, 2001. It was directed by Nagaoka, written by Konparu and Sugii, and the score was written by Serizawa. The theme song, "The Whereabouts of the Wind", was sung by Satoru Sakamoto.

Home video release

A laserdisc boxset containing 26 discs of the series was released in Japan on December 10, 1995. The three theatrical films were released on VHS, and the series and all of the movies have been released on DVD and Blu-ray.

TV drama

The TV drama special aired on Fuji TV on June 1, 1987.

Live-action movie

A live-action movie of Touch was released in Japan on 10 September 2005; Keita Saito starred as Kazuya Uesugi, Masami Nagasawa as Minami Asakura, and Syota Saito as Tatsuya Uesugi.

Sequel

In 2012, Mitsuru Adachi began the Mix manga, and it received a 24-episode anime adaptation in 2019. It is set thirty years after Touch.

Reception

The manga has sold approximately 100 million copies.
In 1983, it was one of the winners of the Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen and shōjo categories, along with Adachi's other work Miyuki.
Kazuya Kamenashi of the J-pop group KAT-TUN was named after Kazuya Uesugi. Tatsuya Ueda, of the same band, was named after Tatsuya Uesugi.