Buzzer Beater

Buzzer Beater (ブザービーター) is a manga series by Takehiko Inoue. The series debuted on the web and was later published in print format by Shueisha, being serialized in its Monthly Shōnen Jump manga magazine. It can be read on Inoue's website in Japanese, English, Chinese, and Korean.

Manga
Buzzer Beater is Inoue's second manga to focus on basketball, following his very successful second manga series, Slam Dunk. The name of the manga comes from the term used for when a basket is scored at the same moment a period or the game itself ends. The story revolves around a basketball team from Earth assembled to participate in an intergalactic basketball competition. The web comic is released in four languages.

The original Japanese web comic is on Inoue's site, just like the others. All text in the talk bubbles was manually written by Inoue, although altered in the foreign adaptions, specifically for translation. The English translation leaves all the Japanese sound effects untranslated. None of the manga is edited. The manga's Korean translation has a completely different designed page, also replacing the Japanese sound effects with a Korean translation drawn by Inoue. The same translation was serialized in Daiwon C.I.'s manhwa magazine; Comic Champ, also published under its Champ Comics line. The Chinese translation is directly translated from the Korean one.

Anime
Buzzer Beater is also Inoue's second manga series to have been adopted into an anime. A 13 episode TV series was produced by TMS Entertainment and premiered on WOWOW from February 5, 2005, ending its run on May 7, 2005. A second 13 episode series, continuing the story and also animated by TMS, premiered on Nippon Television on July 4, 2007 and ended its run on September 26, 2007. Both anime adaptations were supervised by Inoue. The anime series includes story elements and characters that were either hinted at or did not originally appear in the manga.

Characters
Hideyoshi Tanaka (田中 ヒデヨシ)

Jersey #:1

Position: Point guard

An orphaned street kid and boisterous 14 year old who survived on the streets by hustling adult basketball players with his phenomenal skills. He was selected to the Earth All-Star team because of his superhuman speed. Hideyoshi is prone to paralyzing migraines during practice or in games. It was later revealed by DT that he is growing horns because he is a half-Goran taken from the symptoms, and DT's self history. Hideyoshi wears a wristband made of unique elastic material found only on the planet Goru, the sole memento from his unknown parents.

Cha-che

Jersey #:2

Position: Shooting guard

The teenage granddaughter of the team's creator, Yoshimune. She is an extremely good sharpshooter, evidenced when she sank a half-court shot against Maru in a practice shooting match. She sank 2 10-point baskets early in the game against the Swallows, the first team they faced.

DT

Jersey #:9

Position: Point guard

Earth's best point guard, with speed and mind numbing play. "DT" is a nickname that he gave himself, referring to his ability to put his opponents and teammates into a state of "dream time" when he plays. He has a friendly rivalry with Hideyoshi, similar to that between Sakuragi and Rukawa from Slam Dunk. DT is a former Goran, but broke off his horns when they began to manifest themselves when he was a teenager. He thus wears his trademark skull cap to hide the scars. DT is something of a ladies' man, sneaking girls into his room during the six month training the Earth team underwent prior to competing galactically.

Ivan

Jersey #:55

Position: Power Forward

A 15 year old that looks like a full-grown man. He met Hideyoshi during the elimination match to recruit players. He is the reigning shotblocking king of state R.

Maru

Jersey #:7

Position: Shooting guard

An able shooter. He is a fond parent and loves his children dearly.

Mo

Jersey #:35

Position: Center

A former sumo wrestler. He is 220 cm. tall and a monster under the basket with his physique and skills.

Rose

Jersey #:8

Position: Point guard

He is stylish in purple. He loses to DT in the PG match because of his temper. He didn't go into the game vs. the Swallows because he had an injury.

Lazuli

Jersey #:21

Position: Small forward

A tall player who turns out to be a woman. Lazuli is an admirer of Apiru, the ace player for the Swallows who also happens to be a woman.

Han

Jersey #:12(manga only), #5(anime)

Position: Point guard/Small forward

He is a tall PG, tall enough to be a center, second only to Mo in terms of height. He was in the Earth's team because of his elegant ball-handling skills. He is calm in the match against DT for the PG position but was unable to show his real skills. He was deployed as SF against the Swallows. In the anime version, his number is #5.

Yoshimune

The extremely wealthy millionaire who oversaw the recruitment and formation of the Earth's team in his bid to win the Intergalactic league. Although 77, he is still vigorous and takes an active role in overseeing the team's training and play during games.

Liz Murdoch

Liz is the coach for the Earth team, and is half Goran. Her father, Mr. Murdoch, is the Goran president of the Intergalactic Basketball League.

Other characters

There are three other alternate players on the team who are not named.