Blue Summer Haze, Vol. 1 | The Perfect Summer Read BL Manga Review

Happy Manga Monday!

I’m going to need this entire series asap…

Title: Blue Summer Haze

Author/Artist: Dondon

Genre: School Sports Romance

Ages: 13+

Publisher: Kodansha

Volume: 1/?

Release: July 7th, 2026

Order: Amazon | Bookshop.org

blurb:

A baseball diamond, a love triangle, and two catchers with their eyes on the same pitcher bring the heat in this baseball BL perfect for fans of Nagisa Furuya’s My Summer of You.

Makoto’s favorite childhood memories are of playing baseball with his best friend and former teammate Shusuke, the catcher of his baseball team. When Shusuke suddenly moved away, Makoto was left devastated, but he clung to the promise of the two of them someday reuniting for the championship game at Koshien Stadium.

Now in high school, Makoto is the ace pitcher of the baseball team, and he and Hokuto, the team’s catcher, are an all-star duo. But then Shusuke suddenly transfers back to Makoto’s school, and it gets harder and harder for the boys to keep their heads in the game under the scorching heat of the baseball diamond…

The Basics:

Art: 5/5

Writing/Dialouge: 5/5

“I was lying, dumbass. But if you throw another half-assed pitch, the next kiss is gonna be on your lips!!”

Characters: 5/5 • Story/Plot: 5/5

Makoto and Shusuke are childhood friends who played baseball together. Shusuke has to transfer to another school and they are separated. After three years Shusuke transfers back to the same school as Makoto, however, he no longer plays baseball.

Do NOT let the ‘love triangle’ tag scare you away (I mean it is a love triangle, but I still loved this so much).

This WILL give you second male lead syndrome, regardless you won’t just be rooting for the second ML you will be rooting for everyone.

Seriously, the characters are the best part of this manga. They are not only lovable but pretty well-rounded for just a single volume.

You get a good amount of baseball content (which I enjoyed) and a compelling story. I also loved the term ‘battery’ which just refers to the catcher & pitcher.