besto friendo

:) the friendships that develop between different soccer teams? the way they all HHHHHH god. am i biased because it's all female relationships + friendships? yes. i said it. but like you rarely see them especially in a very "slice of life" type of genre where there's no romance and while it's light-hearted, not to the point where they don't feel very real/relatable, so like !!! yeah this is mundane, but it's so GOOD bc of it.

i read up to ch 72, so pls someone lemme know if there's romance in later chapters, but from what i can tell, everything's pretty platonic. there's HEAVY (platonic "no homo") bromance which is hilarious to read, and MC clearly has a really i guess insecure/anxious aspect to him of losing friends after decades of living alone. this relatively hidden possessiveness does NOT override his default respect for other peoples' boundaries, and isn't annoyingly entitled or overwhelming, either.

im up to date with this, and the friendships made here are hilarious, kinda cute, and shows a lot of individual growth between how people and human nature influence each other :)

:))) it's the simplistic style + heavy themes that does it for me. the redraw is amazing, but it's more focused on plot and intense human emotions rather than this one that uhhh doesn't have the ability to draw lots of action scenes but is more attentive to the messages underneath.

opportunistic MC with his minimum wage slave labors. aka mc & co. truly a selling point of friendship.

honestly i wouldn't necessarily read this for the friendships, but i will say the way that mc develops and grows individually definitely shows through how he treats others and perceives them and idk. it like?? hits me in the feels. especially with the family/friendship connections. though i will say, the big selling point comes a lot from mc's own growth rather than just how it relates to other people.

FUCK FUCK FUCK THE DAD AND SON RELATIONSHIP IN THIS STORY ACTUALLY SHOT ME IN THE FACE :D and like !!! mc's vibes with everyone else is so good.

:) the way his old comrades are still his goal :(

kind ? of?

this entire manga is built not just on action, but problem solving via others as well as using social circles, connections, and honestly a lot of diverse bonds for MC to progress. his values actually depend a lot on loyalty and competent people that he considers more as friends and his responsibility rather than just shallow bonds. also i LOVE his relationship with everyone. also major plus that the girls are treated just like the other guys rather than being potential suitors.