# Slow Step

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1986 Japanese manga and 1991 OVA

For the "slow step" in a [chemical reaction](/source/Chemical_reaction), see [Rate-determining step](/source/Rate-determining_step).

Slow Step Volume 1 of Slow Step, featuring Minatsu Nakazato. スローステップ (Surō Suteppu) Genre Romance,[1] sports[1] Manga Written by Mitsuru Adachi Published by Shogakukan Magazine Ciao Original run September 1986 – March 1991 Volumes 7 (List of volumes) Original video animation Directed by Kunihiko Yuyama Studio Youmex Licensed by UK: Western Connection Released June 1, 1991 – November 1, 1991 Episodes 5 (List of episodes)

***Slow Step*** (スローステップ, *Surō Suteppu*) is a [romantic comedy](/source/Romantic_comedy) [boxing](/source/Boxing) and [softball](/source/Softball) [manga](/source/Manga) by [Mitsuru Adachi](/source/Mitsuru_Adachi). It was serialized by [Shogakukan](/source/Shogakukan) in the [shōjo](/source/Sh%C5%8Djo) manga magazine *[Ciao](/source/Ciao_(magazine))* from September 1986 through March 1991, and collected in seven [tankōbon](/source/Tank%C5%8Dbon) volumes. In 1991, it was adapted as a five-episode [OVA](/source/Original_Video_Animation).[2] The anime version has some differences from the manga, including the ending.

## Plot

*Slow Step* is a [romantic comedy](/source/Romantic_comedy) [boxing](/source/Boxing) and [softball](/source/Softball) [manga](/source/Manga) by [Mitsuru Adachi](/source/Mitsuru_Adachi).[1] It follows Minatsu Nakazato, a popular high-school girl, as she deals with the unwanted romantic attentions of multiple boys and a teacher. Her plans for evading their pursuits of her grow increasingly convoluted, even involving taking on alternate identities.

## Characters

**Minatsu Nakazato (中里 美夏, *Nakazato Minatsu*) / Maria Sudō (須藤 麻里亜, *Sudō Maria*)**
- Voiced by: [Minami Takayama](/source/Minami_Takayama)

- A student at Asaoka High School and [pitching](/source/Pitcher) ace for the [softball](/source/Softball) club. She is the object of affection of both her classmate Shū Akiba and Coach Yamazakura. As her disguised [alter ego](/source/Alter_ego) Maria Sudō, she evades some local gangsters and is pursued by Naoto Kadomatsu, who lives in the same apartment building. Her father is a lesser-known [pro wrestler](/source/Pro_wrestling). She tends to be curt and somewhat rough in her manners. In the anime, she falls for and marries Kango Yamazakura.

**Shū Akiba (秋葉 習, *Akiba Shū*)**
- Voiced by: [Kappei Yamaguchi](/source/Kappei_Yamaguchi)

- A boy in the same class as Minatsu and a member of the Asaoka High School [boxing](/source/Boxing) club. His father is a company president and he has a light-hearted, somewhat irresponsible personality. He is in love with Minatsu, and in rivalry with Naoto Kadomatsu joins the boxing club, working hard to try to beat him in order to win Minatsu's affection.

**Naoto Kadomatsu (門松 直人, *Kadomatsu Naoto*)**
- Voiced by: [Ryō Horikawa](/source/Ry%C5%8D_Horikawa)

- A third-year student at Jōsei High School and a member of its boxing club. He lives in the same apartment building as Minatsu but attends a different school, in a different grade. He is a high school boxing champion. He falls in love at first sight with Minatsu's [alter ego](/source/Alter_ego) Maria, and becomes Shū's rival in boxing and in trying to win Minatsu's affections after learning that Maria and Minatsu are the same person.

**Kango Yamazakura (山桜監悟, *Yamazakura Kango*)**
- Voiced by: [Akira Kamiya](/source/Akira_Kamiya)

- A [teacher](/source/Teacher) at Asaoka High School and advisor to both the softball and boxing clubs. While in college, he worked toward becoming a professional boxer but gave up this dream after his sister died in order to take care of his sister's daughter, Chika. He has a preoccupation with the female [behind](/source/Buttocks), and frequently gives [unwanted attention](/source/Sexual_harassment) to female students at the school. At the end of the anime series, he and Minatsu are married.

**Ayako Sawamura (沢村 亜矢子, *Sawamura Ayako*)**
- Voiced by: [Hiroko Emori](/source/Hiroko_Emori)

- A rough, aloof girl who is the only person who can catch Minatsu's pitching. She has a crush on Coach Yamazakura, and manages to date him by agreeing to join the softball club. After she is rejected by Yamazakura, she takes a hiatus from softball but soon returns for the team rather than for Yamazakura. She ends up with new teacher, Somei, who falls for her once she finds out that she is one of the only women who he is not deathly afraid of other than his mother.

**Chika Tanaka (田中知香, *Tanaka Chika*)**
- Voiced by: [Chika Sakamoto](/source/Chika_Sakamoto)

- Yamazakura's [orphaned](/source/Orphan) niece. Even though she's an [elementary school](/source/Elementary_school) student, she is very reliable and cooks nearly every meal for Yamazakura. She really likes Minatsu and hopes she and Yamazakura get together eventually.

**Sources:**[2][3][4][5]

## Releases

### Manga

*Slow Step* was serialized by [Shogakukan](/source/Shogakukan) in the [shōjo](/source/Sh%C5%8Djo) manga magazine *[Ciao](/source/Ciao_(magazine))* from September 1986 through March 1991, and collected in seven [tankōbon](/source/Tank%C5%8Dbon) volumes.[1][3]

**[Tankōbon](/source/Tank%C5%8Dbon)**

- Volume 1 (20 May 1987, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-132521-1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-132521-1))

- Volume 2 (20 December 1987, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-132522-X](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-132522-X))

- Volume 3 (20 October 1988, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-132523-8](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-132523-8))

- Volume 4 (20 May 1989, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-132524-6](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-132524-6))

- Volume 5 (20 April 1990, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-132525-4](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-132525-4))

- Volume 6 (20 November 1990, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-132526-2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-132526-2))

- Volume 7 (20 August 1991, Flower Comics, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-132527-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-132527-0))

**[Bunkoban](/source/Bunkoban)**

- Volume 1 (August 1995, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-191061-0](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-191061-0))

- Volume 2 (August 1995, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-191062-9](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-191062-9))

- Volume 3 (August 1995, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-191063-7](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-191063-7))

- Volume 4 (August 1995, Shogakukan, [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [4-09-191064-5](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/4-09-191064-5))

### Anime

In 1991, *Slow Step* was adapted into a five-episode [OVA series](/source/Original_video_animation) by [Youmex](/source/Youmex) and distributed on by [Toho](/source/Toho).[5][2] The anime version has some differences from the manga, including the ending. It was released on five [VHS](/source/VHS) tapes and five [laserdiscs](/source/Laserdisc).

The series was directed by [Kunihiko Yuyama](/source/Kunihiko_Yuyama), with scripts by Toshimichi Saeki and character designs by Tokuhiro Matsubara. The soundtrack was by Hiroya Watanabe.

# Storyboards Director Animation director Release date 1 Kunihiko Yuyama Norihiro Matsubara June 1, 1991 2 Takaya Mizutani Yoshihiro Owada July 1, 1991 3 Kunihiko Yuyama Masami Suda August 1, 1991 4 Kunihiko Yuyama Masamune Ochiai September 1, 1991 5 Kunihiko Yuyama Norihiro Matsubara November 1, 1991

#### Songs

The opening theme song for *Slow Step* was "Kimi ga Inakerya Frustration" (君がいなけりゃFRUSTRATION, *Kimi ga Inakerya Furasutoreishon*), with vocals by Nobuhide Saki, who also composed the song. The lyrics were written by [Gorō Matsui](/source/Gor%C5%8D_Matsui), and the music was arranged by Takeshi Fujii and Yoshiyuki Sahashi. The ending theme, "Only for You", was composed and was sung by Saki. Matsui wrote the lyrics and the music was arranged by Fujii and Sahashi.[2][5][6][7]

### Soundtrack

A soundtrack CD (TYCY-5157) was released on 27 March 1991.[7]

1. *Kimi ga Inakerya Frustration* (君がいなけりゃFRUSTRATION, *Kimi ga Inakerya Furasutoreishon*)

1. *Asaoka High School* (麻丘高校, *Asaoka Kōkō*)

1. *Furyō Shōjo ni wa Narenakute* (不良少女にはなれなくて)

1. *Butainu Bōsōzoku* (ぶたいぬ暴走族)

1. *Ki ni Naru Aitsu* (気になるあいつ)

1. *Zensokuryoku no I Love You* (全速力の I Love You)

1. *Ninshīn!* (にんしーん!)

1. *Date o Kaketa Taiketsu* (デートを賭けた対決)

1. *Chika-chan no Katei* (知香ちゃんの家庭)

1. *Satsujinki Semaru!!* (殺人鬼迫る!!)

1. *Yayakoshii Shiai* (ややこしい試合)

1. *Kaze no Yokan* (風の予感)

1. *Kadomatsu e no KO Punch* (門松へのKOパンチ)

1. *Moshikashite...?* (もしかして...?)

1. *Nonki na Renshū* (のんきな練習)

1. *Kimi ga Kureta Rakugaki* (君がくれた落書き)

1. *Maria ni Kokuhaku* (麻里亜に告白)

1. *Tokubetsu na Hito* (特別な男性(ひと))

1. *Porsche ni Notta Irootoko* (ポルシェに乗った色男)

1. *Only for You*

## Reception

In 1995 *Slow Step* was released in the United Kingdom on VHS with English subtitles by the video company *Western Connection*. However, it was commercially unsuccessful.[8]

[Helen McCarthy](/source/Helen_McCarthy) in *500 Essential Anime Movies* calls Mitsuru Adachi "the king of high school romance" and states that the anime "deserves a much bigger audience."[9]

## References

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-doi_1-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-doi_1-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-doi_1-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-doi_1-3) [Doi, Hitoshi](/source/Hitoshi_Doi). ["Slow Step"](http://www.usagi.org/~doi/adachi/slowstep/index.html). Retrieved 22 June 2007.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-adachianime_2-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-adachianime_2-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-adachianime_2-2) [***d***](#cite_ref-adachianime_2-3) [あだち充アニメ](https://web.archive.org/web/20130208082118/http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/5399/anime.htm) [Mitsuru Adachi Anime] (in Japanese). Archived from [the original](http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/5399/anime.htm) on 8 February 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2007.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-ex_3-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-ex_3-1) Luce, Eric. ["Slow Step"](http://www.ex.org/4.7/32-manga_slowstep.html). EX.org. Retrieved 22 June 2007.{{[cite web](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Template:Cite_web)}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service ([link](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:CS1_maint:_deprecated_archival_service))

1. **[^](#cite_ref-adachifan_4-0)** ["Slow Step"](https://web.archive.org/web/20070717204806/http://www.freewebs.com/adachifan/slowstep.htm). AdachiFan. Archived from [the original](http://www.freewebs.com/adachifan/slowstep.htm) on 17 July 2007. Retrieved 22 June 2007.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-allcinema_5-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-allcinema_5-1) [***c***](#cite_ref-allcinema_5-2) [スローステップ (1991)](https://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=88502) [Slow Step (1991)] (in Japanese). AllCinema Online. Retrieved 31 December 2007.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-adachianime2_6-0)** [あだち充 アニメ 主題歌](https://web.archive.org/web/20130715231849/http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/5399/anime-song.htm) [Mitsuru Adachi Anime Theme Songs] (in Japanese). Archived from [the original](http://www.geocities.co.jp/Playtown/5399/anime-song.htm) on 15 July 2013. Retrieved 22 June 2007.

1. ^ [***a***](#cite_ref-toho_7-0) [***b***](#cite_ref-toho_7-1) [あだち充原作「スローステップ」オリジナル・サウンド・トラック](https://web.archive.org/web/19990911081716/http://www.toho.co.jp/music/anime/cddb/tycy5157.htm) [Mitsuru Adachi's "Slow Step" Original Soundtrack]. [Toho](/source/Toho). Archived from [the original](http://www.toho.co.jp/music/anime/cddb/tycy5157.htm) on September 11, 1999. Retrieved 16 November 2015.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-animejin_8-0)** ["Ayanext Industry and Piracy Panel (transcription)"](http://www.animejin.org.uk/ayanext/indust.htm). Animejin.org.uk. 6 November 1999. Retrieved 14 August 2018.

1. **[^](#cite_ref-mccarthy_2009_9-0)** McCarthy (2009).

## Works cited

- [McCarthy, Helen](/source/Helen_McCarthy) (2009). *500 Essential Anime Movies: The Ultimate Guide*. Harper Design. p. 322. [ISBN](/source/ISBN_(identifier)) [978-0061474507](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/978-0061474507).

## External links

- [*Slow Step*](https://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/manga.php?id=3348) (manga) at [Anime News Network](/source/Anime_News_Network)'s encyclopedia

v t e Works of Mitsuru Adachi Major works 1970s Nine (1978–1980) Hiatari Ryōkō! (1979–1981) 1980s Miyuki (1980–1984) Touch (1981–1986) Slow Step (1986–1991) Rough (1987–1989) 1990s Niji-iro Tōgarashi (1990–1992) Jinbē (1992–1997) H2 (1992–1999) 2000s Itsumo Misora (2000–2001) Katsu! (2001–2005) Cross Game (2005–2010) Q and A (2009–2012) 2010s Mix (2012–present) Other works Warrior of Love Rainbowman (1972–1973) Short Program (1985–2009) Bōken Shōnen (1998–2006) Idol Ace (2005–2011) Asaoka High School Baseball Club Diary (2011)

v t e Ciao Current Kocchi Muite! Miiko (1995) The Magic of Chocolate (2008) Yo-kai Watch: Exciting Nyanderful Days (2014) My New Life as a Cat (2015) Aikatsu Friends! (2018) Waccha PriMagi! (2021) Mirmo de Pon! New (2021) 1970s–1980s Alpen Rose (1983–1986) Slow Step (1986–1991) 1990s Mizuiro Jidai (1991–1994) Muka Muka Paradise (1993–1994) Tonde Burin (1994–1995) Wedding Peach (1994–1996) Angel Lip (1996–1999) Revolutionary Girl Utena (1996–1998) Cutie Honey Flash (1997–1998) B.B. Explosion (1997–1999) Magical Pokémon Journey (1997–2003) Hamtaro (1997–2000) Corrector Yui (1999–2000) Pukupuku Natural Circular Notice (1999–2005) Ask Dr. Rin! (1999–2003) 2000s Mirmo de Pon! (2001–2005) Panyo Panyo Di Gi Charat (2001–2003) Fall in Love Like a Comic! (2002) Beauty Pop (2003–2008) Kirarin Revolution (2004–2009) Twin Princess of Wonder Planet (2005–2006) Happy Happy Clover (2005–2008) Naisho no Tsubomi (2005–2012) Gokujō!! Mecha Mote Iinchō (2006–2014) Dennō Coil: The Comics (2007) Chibi Devi! (2008–2014) Hime Gal Paradise (2009–2010) Kings of My Love (2009–2014) 2010s Niji-iro Prism Girl (2010–2013) Puriri! Lilpri (2011) Pretty Rhythm: Aurora Dream (2011–2012) Secret Girls: Naisho no Idol (2011–2013) Age 12 (2012–2019) PriPara (2014–2017) Aikatsu!: Next Phase (2014) Aikatsu!: Go! Go! Go! (2015–2016) Aikatsu Stars! (2016–2018) PriPri Chi-chan!! (2015–2019) Idol × Warrior Miracle Tunes! Kirakira Fever Live (2017–2018) 2020s GaruGaku (2020–2021) Ciao Plus Uesugi-kun Wants to Quit Being a Girl (2024) Beauty Pop Returns (2025) Related Shogakukan Pucchigumi Sho-Comi

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Slow Step](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Step) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slow_Step?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.