Part of Series
Touch est l''uvre emblématique d' Adachi, celle qui l'aura rendu célèbre dans le monde entier. Certains lecteurs se souviennent peut-être de « Théo ou la batte de la victoire », diffusé sur La Cinq à la fin des années 80. Ce récit singulier, mettant en scène un triangle amoureux entre deux frères jumeaux et leur amie d'enfance, est l'occasion pour l'auteur de traiter d'un thème particulièrement difficile : le travail de deuil. Kazuya est l'archétype du garçon parfait : beau, intelligent, généreux et doué en sport. Son frère Tatsuya est son opposé direct : fainéant, au sale caractère, et loin d'égaler les talents de Kazuya. Tous deux éprouvent des sentiments forts pour Minami Asakura, leur amie d'enfance, mais Tatsuya, persuadée que celle-ci préfère Kazuya, décide de s'effacer pour laisser le champ libre à son frère. Pourtant, alors que le championnat de base ball du lycée doit battre son plein prochainement, un drame épouvantable va bouleverser le destin de ces trois personnages. Un grand classique de la tragi-comédie sentimentale, réalisée par le maître du genre au Japon.
Author
Mitsuru Adachi (あだち充 in Japanese) is a Japanese manga artist. After graduating from Gunma Prefectural Maebashi Commercial High School in 1969, Adachi worked as an assistant for Isami Ishii. He made his manga debut in 1970 with Kieta Bakuon, based on a manga originally created by Satoru Ozawa. Kieta was published in Deluxe Shōnen Sunday (a manga magazine published by Shogakukan). Adachi is well known for romantic comedy and sports manga (especially baseball) such as Touch, H2, Slow Step, and Miyuki. He has been described as a writer of "delightful dialogue", a genius at portraying everyday life, "the greatest pure storyteller", and "a master manga artist". He is one of the few manga artists to write for shōnen, shōjo, and seinen manga magazines, and be popular in all three. His works have been carried in manga magazines such as Weekly Shōnen Sunday, Ciao, Shōjo Comic, Big Comic, and Petit Comic, and most of his works are published through Shogakukan and Gakken. He was one of the flagship authors in the new Monthly Shōnen Sunday magazine which began publication in June 2009. Only two short story collections, Short Program and Short Program 2 (both through Viz Media), have been released in North America, though Viz is scheduled to begin publishing Cross Game in October 2010. He modeled the spelling of あだち (rather than 安達) for his family name after the example of his older brother, manga artist Tsutomu Adachi. In addition, it has been suggested that the accurate portrayal of sibling rivalry in Touch may come from Adachi's experiences while growing up with his older brother. Adachi did the character designs for the OVA anime series Nozomi Witches, so he is sometimes incorrectly given credit for creating the original series.
