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nebroadweMihashi Ren loves to pitch, but his middle school baseball team lost every game with him on the mound. Convinced he's a failure, he transfers to Nishiura High School with no plans to play ever again. Nishiura's new baseball coach, Momoe Maria, however, ropes him into her all-first-year team in spite of his protests, pairing him with ace catcher Abe Takaya. Abe discovers that Mihashi's lack of speed is more than outweighed by his pinpoint control. The fledgling team, with guidance from Coach Momoe and faculty adviser Shiga (an amateur sports psychologist), then begins the difficult double task of restoring Mihashi's confidence and preparing for the summer baseball tournament.
I loved this anime, but it's not for everyone -- first off, if you're not a baseball fan, this is going to leave you absolutely cold. Unlike, say, Princess Nine, which is equal parts sports story and shoujo melodrama, Big Windup is all about the baseball. The narrative teases a few character issues, like Momoe being a woman in a man's job or Mihashi's parents having eloped or cheer-squad leader Hamada's having been left back in a year for unstated reasons, but doesn't follow through with any B-plots about them. What it does do, and does superbly well, is represent the tactical give-and-take of a baseball game as it's experienced by the players on the field. It does this at an extremely leisurely pace: over twenty-six episodes, one practice game is played for four, and the first game of the tournament for a whopping ten. Fortunately, baseball is a game of small challenges (e.g. ace pitcher versus home run king) within the larger contest, so the narrative is filled with mini-dramas. I'm also a complete sucker for situations which require characters to think their way to success -- I fell in love with the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, for instance, during the sequence in which Mustang faces down Lust, and I also enjoy the much simpler tactical decisions played out in the Angelic Layer anime. Big Windup, with its multiple interior monologues as coaches, batters, pitchers, catchers, and fielders analyze and respond to the changing conditions of the game, is total geek crack for me.
I'm also impressed by Funimation's dub, which is quite lively. (I've been streaming it online at work, which has sold me on purchasing the box set due out in August). Sean Michael Teague, whose work in Samurai 7 and Romeo x Juliet I could take or leave, turns in a very solid performance as the very difficult character of Mihashi, who's so nervous around people he can barely communicate with them, but who does have some deeply buried bedrock stick-to-it-iveness and even joy in his talent. (If you have no sympathy for nerds who've had the self-esteem beaten out of them by their peers, you'll be unable to watch this anime -- Mihashi's mannerisms appear designed to irritate everyone, including the viewer. One of his teammates even reflects at one point that if they'd met in middle school, he'd totally have joined in on crushing Mihashi's fragile ego.) Greg Ayres completely inhabits the role of Mihashi's battery-mate and polar opposite Abe -- he gives the tactical narration as much vocal interest as he does the moments where he's tempted to strangle his pitcher. Todd Haberkorn as the natural hitting star Tajima also comes through with a relaxed performance, and the remainder of the cast is equally on top of things. The character designs are well-defined and the animation is clean and pleasant to watch; the OPs and EDs are catchy, too. The pleasure's in the details throughout -- for instance, when Nishiura faces powerhouse Tosei in the first round of the tournament, their single trumpeter and drummer provide a constant background contrast with Tosei's full pep band (which occasionally breaks out into the Star Blazers theme, heh).
I'm used to baseball stories where the protagonist's superpower is that s/he's Randy Johnson, so it's a nice change of pace to discover one in which s/he turns out to be Jamie Moyer. Unfortunately this gem is such a niche product that its 13-episode second season is unlikely to make it across the pond; I'd also be astonished if anyone picked up the manga, despite its popularity in Japan. Still, if you know any dual fans of anime and baseball, send them over to the Funimation website to give this one a try. They may well be as captivated as I am.
I loved this anime, but it's not for everyone -- first off, if you're not a baseball fan, this is going to leave you absolutely cold. Unlike, say, Princess Nine, which is equal parts sports story and shoujo melodrama, Big Windup is all about the baseball. The narrative teases a few character issues, like Momoe being a woman in a man's job or Mihashi's parents having eloped or cheer-squad leader Hamada's having been left back in a year for unstated reasons, but doesn't follow through with any B-plots about them. What it does do, and does superbly well, is represent the tactical give-and-take of a baseball game as it's experienced by the players on the field. It does this at an extremely leisurely pace: over twenty-six episodes, one practice game is played for four, and the first game of the tournament for a whopping ten. Fortunately, baseball is a game of small challenges (e.g. ace pitcher versus home run king) within the larger contest, so the narrative is filled with mini-dramas. I'm also a complete sucker for situations which require characters to think their way to success -- I fell in love with the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, for instance, during the sequence in which Mustang faces down Lust, and I also enjoy the much simpler tactical decisions played out in the Angelic Layer anime. Big Windup, with its multiple interior monologues as coaches, batters, pitchers, catchers, and fielders analyze and respond to the changing conditions of the game, is total geek crack for me.
I'm also impressed by Funimation's dub, which is quite lively. (I've been streaming it online at work, which has sold me on purchasing the box set due out in August). Sean Michael Teague, whose work in Samurai 7 and Romeo x Juliet I could take or leave, turns in a very solid performance as the very difficult character of Mihashi, who's so nervous around people he can barely communicate with them, but who does have some deeply buried bedrock stick-to-it-iveness and even joy in his talent. (If you have no sympathy for nerds who've had the self-esteem beaten out of them by their peers, you'll be unable to watch this anime -- Mihashi's mannerisms appear designed to irritate everyone, including the viewer. One of his teammates even reflects at one point that if they'd met in middle school, he'd totally have joined in on crushing Mihashi's fragile ego.) Greg Ayres completely inhabits the role of Mihashi's battery-mate and polar opposite Abe -- he gives the tactical narration as much vocal interest as he does the moments where he's tempted to strangle his pitcher. Todd Haberkorn as the natural hitting star Tajima also comes through with a relaxed performance, and the remainder of the cast is equally on top of things. The character designs are well-defined and the animation is clean and pleasant to watch; the OPs and EDs are catchy, too. The pleasure's in the details throughout -- for instance, when Nishiura faces powerhouse Tosei in the first round of the tournament, their single trumpeter and drummer provide a constant background contrast with Tosei's full pep band (which occasionally breaks out into the Star Blazers theme, heh).
I'm used to baseball stories where the protagonist's superpower is that s/he's Randy Johnson, so it's a nice change of pace to discover one in which s/he turns out to be Jamie Moyer. Unfortunately this gem is such a niche product that its 13-episode second season is unlikely to make it across the pond; I'd also be astonished if anyone picked up the manga, despite its popularity in Japan. Still, if you know any dual fans of anime and baseball, send them over to the Funimation website to give this one a try. They may well be as captivated as I am.
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Date: 2010-07-10 02:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2010-07-13 12:05 am (UTC)