Ludography
Whistle! cover

School · Spokon

Whistle!

Nintendo exclusive

Japanese manga series

Released
—
Platforms
Game Boy Advance
Genres
SchoolSpokon
Developers
—
Publishers
Jump ComicsViz Media, LLC
Country
Japan

About

Whistle! , Hepburn: Hoissuru!) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Daisuke Higuchi. The series was published in Shueisha's Weekly Shōnen Jump from February 1998 to October 2002.

The series was adapted into a 39-episode anime television series broadcast exclusively by Animax across Japan. In North America, the series was licensed for English language release by Viz Media. A sequel, titled Whistle! W, ran in Shogakukan's Ura Sunday and MangaONE web platforms from September 2016 to April 2021.

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Story

Whistle! is about a middle school boy named Shō Kazamatsuri. He transfers from Musashinomori School to Sakura Jōsui Junior High School for better hopes to make the soccer team, since he never got a game at his old school due to his small stature. Yūko Katori, his teacher, introduces him as a former star of the famed Musashinomori team, causing his classmates to be wrongly ecstatic.

Right after that, one of the players, Tatsuya Mizuno, reveals that he was never a regular. In other words, since he never got the chance to play, Shō is a poor player. Shō struggles to improve his skill so he can make the team at his new school and to ignore the drastic disadvantage he has due to his height.

Reception

The Whistle! series has received good reception. A review by Greg McElhatton of Read About Comics stated that the Whistle! manga had good drawings that showed the characters move around with the soccer ball during matches. David Welsh of Precocious Curmudgeon said the series is very interesting that those who do not have soccer background will enjoy reading the manga, as well as with the realistic illustration used.

Scott Campbell and Holly Ellingwood of Active Anime have remarked that the art is clear since all the "line and detail has obvious care and attention given to it, resulting in well-managed visuals for a well-flowing read.", while praising Sho's character development as the readers "see him strive against so much to obtain what he worked for is uplifting." Eduardo M. Chavez's review on Whistle! Volume 1 noted that although it does not look good for characters to run away from their problems, Sho's inner determination to play soccer is the main highlight of the series.

Editions and related releases

Derivative works
Whistle!
Followed by
Whistle! W

Games like this

Collections1 collection

Platform libraries

Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.