Nine Dragons' Ball Parade (Kowloon's Ball Parade in Japan) is a manga written by Mikiyasu Kamada and illustrated by Ashibi Fukui, which ran in Weekly Shonen Jump from February to July 2021.
Tamao Azukida dreams of making it onto Hakuo Gakuin's powerhouse baseball team, which consistently makes it to Koushien. He does extensive research and daily training to achieve his goal. But, at tryouts, he meets Tao Ryudo, a skilled pitcher, who thinks the two of them have what it takes to be a golden battery. When Hakuo Gakuin turn him down, Azukida agrees to join Ryudo and, with the help of Karin Kurotaki - the manager of the newly-re-established Kokuryuzan High baseball team and granddaughter of the chairman of the school board - they strike out on their own with the goal to recreate the Nine Dragons, the school's once legendary team who beat Hakuo for three straight years.
Nine Dragons' Ball Parade contains examples of:
- And the Adventure Continues: The manga ends with Kokuryuzan winning their first game in a tournament, looking forward to facing Hakuo later on.
- Affectionate Nickname: Ryudo calls Azukida "Azu".
- Cut Short: After the first volume sold poorly, the manga abruptly skips foward several months to when the team are fully assembled and mid-season, getting in their first major game before concluding.
- Cute Sports Club Manager: Karin Kurotaki fulfills this role for the Kokuryuzan High baseball team, even before it is reformed. She's a driving force behind the team.
- Debut Queue: The team are introduced a couple of chapters at a time, as Azukida, Ryudo, and Karin recruit them.
- Determinator: Tsubaki claims that the reason he's so skilled is that he never gives up.
- It's All About Me: Tsubaki can come across like this - especially in his first couple of chapters - as he's very sure of himself and introduced as a loose cannon who isn't a great team player. Even when pep-talking the team, he just has to throw in a line about how great he is.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: Justified. Most of the best players have already been recruited by other teams, so Azukida comes up with the idea to go after the players who haven't been for one reason or another (for example, Tsurugi had quit and Tsubaki is notorious for his behaviour).
- Shrinking Violet: Shy, pessimistic, paranoid Horaguchi.
- The Smart Guy: Azukida.
- Smart People Wear Glasses: Azukida is a highly-analytical player that wears glasses.
- Unknown Rival: Toramoto enters the story claiming to be Tsurugi's rival. Tsurugi has no idea who he is.
