While piecing together Slam Dunk's English publication history last year, I spoke with a few industry veterans about the challenges faced by sports titles in the North American market. One of those experienced pros was Ed Chavez, the publisher of Denpa. As we chatted about these sports-specific hurdles, Chavez and his team were deep into the production of the English-language version of Mitsuru Adachi's Short Game. At the time, Chavez planned to release the baseball-focused short story anthology by the end of 2024, but a series of unforeseen delays pushed it to late June of 2025.
Unplanned setbacks are nothing new for Denpa, with another one of their highly anticipated titles, Moto Hagio's They Were Eleven, experiencing bumps on the road to publication. However, the publisher's dedication to frequent, frank, and transparent updates on their social media channels is a breath of fresh air in the face of situations that regularly result in radio silence. After taking a good, long look at the final product in my hands, I can most assuredly say that the wait was worth it. Short Game is such a shockingly refined release, no wonder it's up for an American Manga Award.