I think not having any comparison in mind is impossible when it comes to "Dig It" and "Haikyu!!" For the record, I did try to read "Haikyu!!" before due to its immense popularity, but couldn't quite get into it because I just couldn't keep up with its paneling and dialogues. Don't get me wrong, I'm not trying to bash "Haikyu!!" - I'm sure it just wasn't the right time for me to indulge in this certified giant of sports manga. What I'm trying to say is that "Dig It" has the positive attributes that make it appealing to me who is pretty much an average readerof most manga genres. The storytelling is smooth and flows in a way that keep me reading without wanting to take a break. Maybe it speaks to me - I mean, having the pressure of a celebrity dad is bad enough, but having the said dad to look down on you and warm up to another kid with more talent? That's one hell of a lifetime obsession to overcome. So I suppose I'm okay with Gaku only has that grudge as his main motivation for the time being.

And I like the personality of the other team members - it's not "Slam Dunk" level of maturity and depth and bonding but that's also my next point - I like how these kids feel quite close to high school kids where I used to study. I like their light-hearted and childish banter, like how the team members tweak upon prying into Hori's status of constantly having girlfriends. I know it's not necessarily something everyone would look for when reading sports manga, so I guess somehow the character design and setup give off a feeling of being female-oriented similar to shoujo (just my subjective observation tho). The art is nice and clean - the anatomy and the clothing folds are neat in a way that shows off the athletic appeal of the characters but the art doesn’t aim to be close to realism. It’s actually more on the fluffy slice of life realm of artstyle.

I'm at the latest chapter (chapter 12) so things might change but at the moment, the author is pitching Gaku and Momota against one another. They will probably bring a ‘shattering’ victory to their team through their cooperation despite their differences and rivalry (like Sakuragi and Rukawa in "Slam Dunk" or Kageyama and Hinata in "Haikyu!!") but right now it has yet to reach that kind of tension apart from them provoking each other and being a bit emo and edgy on both sides. Even their coach has an emo and edgy personality, which is kinda funny in a way lol.

Anyway, I may have been all over the place in my review here - in short, "Dig It" has great attributes (that my words may not fully explore) and I enjoy reading it a lot! Hope to see it develop even further and get to be enjoyed by even a wider range of readers!