| Cross Game | |
 First tankōbon volume cover, featuring Ko (left) and Wakaba | |
| クロスゲーム (Kurosu Gēmu) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Mitsuru Adachi |
| Published by | Shogakukan |
| English publisher | |
| Imprint | Shōnen Sunday Comics |
| Magazine | Weekly Shōnen Sunday |
| Demographic | Shōnen |
| Original run | April 27, 2005 – February 17, 2010 |
| Volumes | 17 |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Osamu Sekita |
| Produced by |
|
| Written by | Michihiro Tsuchiya |
| Music by | Kōtarō Nakagawa |
| Studio | SynergySP |
| Licensed by |
|
| Original network | TXN (TV Tokyo) |
| Original run | April 5, 2009 – March 28, 2010 |
| Episodes | 50 |
Cross Game (Japanese: クロスゲーム, Hepburn: Kurosu Gēmu) is a Japanese baseball-themed manga series written and illustrated by Mitsuru Adachi. It was serialized in Shogakukan shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday from April 2005 to February 2010, with its chapters collected in 17 tankōbon volumes. The series was adapted as a 50-episode anime television series that aired on the TV Tokyo network from April 2009 to March 2010.
Cross Game is the story of Ko Kitamura and the four neighboring Tsukishima sisters, Ichiyo, Wakaba, Aoba, and Momiji. Wakaba and Ko were born on the same day in the same hospital and are close enough that Wakaba treats Ko as her boyfriend, though nothing is officially declared, while Aoba, one year younger than them, hates how Ko is "taking" her sister away from her. After Wakaba dies in an accident, Ko and Aoba slowly grow closer as they strive to fulfill Wakaba's final dream of seeing them play in the high school baseball championship in Koshien Stadium. The manga is divided into multiple parts. Part One, which consists of volume one, is a prologue that takes place while the main characters are in elementary school, ending in tragedy. Part Two starts four years later with Ko in his third year of junior high and continues into the summer of his third year of high school. Part Three continues the story without a break, ending with Ko and Aoba traveling to Koshien.
In 2009, Cross Game received the 54th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category. Both the manga and its anime adaptation have been overall well received by critics.
- ^ "Viz Manga App Adds Six New Digital Manga Titles for the Ipad, Iphone and Ipod Touch for June". Viz Media. Archived from the original on July 29, 2018. Retrieved July 28, 2018.
- ^ Garrity, Shaenon K. (May 8, 2014). "Cross Game - House of 1000 Manga". Anime News Network. Archived from the original on January 26, 2021. Retrieved November 2, 2020.
- ^ "The Official Website for Cross Game". Viz Media. Archived from the original on July 21, 2020. Retrieved October 28, 2017.