I have finished reading Super Ball Girls, created by Muneyuki Kaneshiro (As the Gods Will, Bokutachi ga Yarimashita, Jagaaaaaan, Blue Lock) and Akira Hiramoto (Me and the Devil Blues, Prison School). I am familiar with both authors’ bodies of work, which makes this manga all the more disappointing.

Among Hiramoto’s works, Me and the Devil Blues remains his best—unfortunately unfinished—while Prison School is, in my opinion, an unfunny and painfully tedious series that mistakes excess for comedy. As for Kaneshiro, As the Gods Will is a dull death game with little to say, Bokutachi ga Yarimashita is an excellent portrayal of troubled teenagers placed in realistic, morally complex situations, Jagaaaaaan works well as a spiritual successor to Gantz, and Blue Lock feels like a discounted Squid Game that shows little respect for the sport it is built around.

Super Ball Girls somehow manages to combine the worst tendencies of both creators and amplify them to an absurd degree.

Premise and Execution

The story follows Ichiyoshi, a man dissatisfied with his monotonous life working at a chocolate factory while suppressing his desires. On Christmas night, he encounters a mysterious Super Ball emerging from the darkness. When he throws it with all his strength, an impossibly beautiful woman appears before him.

This premise is not only painfully familiar—something that has been done countless times across manga, anime, visual novels, light novels, and games—but its execution makes it even worse. The series feels like an unholy fusion of Jagaaaaaan, Prison School, and Gantz, as if those works had a one-night stand and collectively agreed to deny responsibility for the result.

Pacing and Structure

The manga has only around 60 chapters, yet it rushes through ideas at a breakneck speed. The pacing feels like Gantz stripped of all character development and emotional buildup. As a result, the story never feels coherent, and nothing has time to breathe or matter.

The excessive vulgarity and sexual content are particularly striking—not because they are bold or meaningful, but because they are relentless and juvenile. The level of crudeness makes works like Gantz, South Park, Prison School, and Jagaaaaaan seem restrained by comparison.

Characters and Themes

The characters are painfully shallow. Most of them have the emotional depth and personality of expired yogurt: one-dimensional deviants with no substance. The female characters are little more than hollow archetypes designed to function as “waifus,” offering nothing memorable beyond their surface traits. The villains are equally forgettable, so underdeveloped that you might forget they exist at all.

Tonally, the manga jumps wildly between harem comedy, sci-fi action, hentai-level fanservice, and supposed social commentary about Japan’s declining birth rate. Unfortunately, this commentary is delivered with the maturity of a sugar-fueled, horny fourteen-year-old who has consumed too much harem anime and tokusatsu and now believes himself to be a philosopher.

Final Verdict

I am genuinely baffled that Super Ball Girls was even published. If it were not attached to two well-known mangaka riding on the reputation of their earlier works, I highly doubt it would have seen serialization at all.

The manga has no redeemable qualities. Prison School, for all its flaws, at least allows you to laugh at the sheer absurdity of its situations. Blue Lock has memes and its over-the-top “aura” moments. Super Ball Girls has absolutely nothing.

Overall, avoid this manga like the plague. If you are interested in these creators, do yourself a favor and read Bokutachi ga Yarimashita, Me and the Devil Blues and Jagaaaaaan instead—and skip Super Ball Girls entirely.