DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA ComedyBoukyaku Battery
OVA ComedyBoukyaku Battery
ANIME ComedyBoukyaku Battery (TV) 2nd Season

REVIEWS

• 

  Unwelcome

  85/100
  A story that flips between absolute comedy and earnest baseball focus

  ・ English is my second language, there may be errors in my grammar..
  ・I try to make a spoiler-free review, however, in the section opinion might have some spoilers.
  ・General experience ≠ Final score. My personal score is based in 5 star system, so I tried to put an accurate number here, but isn't always the case.
  ・Locate (Brief) Conclusion + Recommendation section where the main points are summarized.

  ━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━

  Experience with Boukyaku Battery

  ━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━ **Iɴᴛʀᴏᴅᴜᴄᴛɪᴏɴ**

  The battery, formed by the iron-armed pitcher and the commander catcher, an indestructible pair that seemed destined for a promising future in high school. However, their trajectory was abruptly altered when Kaname Kei, the catcher, suffered amnesia, becoming an amateur player, actually a dork to get know.

  On the other hand, the players left heartbroken by the loss of the unbeatable duo decided to distance themselves from baseball by attending a high school without a baseball team. Contrary to their expectations, they found themselves at the same high school.

  Reviving the anger and deception from the past, they now realized that their reason for hating baseball was absent due to Kaname's amnesia. Could they, from scratch, create something new despite their own struggles?

  ━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━ **Oᴘɪɴɪᴏɴ**

  I must say that for me, Boukyaku Battery is a hidden gem of the spring 2024 season. It's a story where youth and sports are the main themes, at least that's what it seems like at first. However, early on, you encounter a lot of gangs, parodies, and elements that might not be funny for everyone. This initial impression could lead some to lose faith in the title and abandon it. Fortunately, I found it quite appealing and decided to go with the flow, only to discover that the story might be more serious than expected when it needs to be.

  The main characters are quite interesting. Kaname, the amnesiac version of him that doesn't reach the commander's feet (his past self), he is both hilarious and ridiculous, a double-edged sword because it's hard to know how to handle him.
  As an "amateur," he's not into baseball, which is a big contrast to the rest of the characters who have deep backstories and reasons to continue playing. However, they also have strong reasons to give up baseball, considering that Kaname and Kiyomine (the pitcher), formed a battery that shattered many dreams in high school. Now, these players find themselves in the ironic situation of being pushed to pursue their dreams again.

  The series' composition plays a crucial role in the contrast of the story's tone. You can feel that it's another slice of life mixed with comedy (tsukkomi), fueled by Yamada, a character who seems to be a narrator but brings a lot of life to the situation. Then, you find the characters on that burning side of playing baseball, trying to overcome their fears in a step towards growth as a team. The staff does a great job portraying that type of moment. Along with the work of the voice actors/seiyuu, which adds a big plus to the portrayal of the characters, you'll find their performances incredibly lively and easy to understand their emotions.

  

  The anime has moments that are fresh and moving to watch, along with a soundtrack is memorable. As you get drawn into the story, you start to enjoy each moment. Most of the time, the drawing is consistent, and the movement in the playing scenes is well-portrayed. You can feel the weight of hitting the ball.

  In the last episode, you witness the characters' growth and how Kaname's comedic aspect might be a result of holding back from the freedom he desires.

  ━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━ **(ʙʀɪᴇғ) Cᴏɴᴄʟᴜsɪᴏɴ + Rᴇᴄᴏᴍᴍᴇɴᴅᴀᴛɪᴏɴ**

  Open the curtain to a youthful and ironic sports anime, and you'll find yourself wondering, if this is a serious story about high school students wanting to play baseball, or is it simply a parody of the game itself? Well, perhaps it's a blend of both aspects, a story that flips between absolute comedy and earnest sports.

  With a beautiful scenery and a diverse visual style, you'll enjoy your time with this story and its characters. It has a memorable opening theme that represents the start of a memorable journey, and an ending theme that serves as a reminder of everything you've experienced.

  I recommend this anime to anyone who doesn't typically enjoy serious sports anime, because little by little, you'll understand the charm of seeing 2D sports. The difference here is that you'll chuckle a lot and vibe with the jokes. In the end, give it a shot, and you might find yourself laughing along with the characters and rooting for them to succeed.

  I hope it gets a second season.

  ━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━ **_ᴘᴇʀsᴏɴᴀʟ sᴄᴏʀᴇ sʏsᴛᴇᴍ_** ★★★★★ ━━━━━━━ ⟡ ━━━━━━━
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• 

  sixi

  80/100
  started for pretty animation, fell for the engaging story

  "Boukyaku Battery" is a baseball anime about a group of five high school students who once gave up on pursuing professional careers, only to meet each other at a public school and get back on track.

  The main cast is quite diverse in personality and their backgrounds, yet united by their love of baseball. Well... apart from Kei, but his extreme contrast to everyone else brings balance to the team. It could be just a basic sports anime with a clear goal set from the first episode, but that would be too boring. The twist to the whole story lies within Kei and us being exposed to the fact that he has amnesia after a head injury. He does not remember anything about his glory days with Haruka, or does he?

  

  While I can't compare manga to the adaptation, I can say that MAPPA did a good job of controlling the show's tone. I kept sharing this with one of my friends, but "Bokuyaku Battery"'s strong point lies in this perfect balance between seriousness and fun. Initially, I hated the comedy bits, but they were quickly contrasted with the reactions from the cast members, which made it fit. Serious topics felt even more impactful in this lighthearted setting. This season did not reveal everyone's backstories and struggles, but the ones that were shown made me reflect on how people in sports feel about their aspirations, goals, and the challenges they face. One of the backstories even made me cry. There’s clearly more to learn about each character, especially Kei. He seemed like a fool right from the get-go, but the more they let you know about him, the more conflicted you become about what is truly happening. That's precisely what makes me want to continue engaging with this story.

  One aspect that I must mention is post-traumatic amnesia. At first, I thought it would be nice to say a few words about how it affects people in real life, but that would also be like a spoiler. Additionally, as I said before, Kei seems to be shrouded in mystery, so I cannot say much until I learn more about him.

  

  Just a quick word about the art and integration of CGI. I'm mostly satisfied with everything, but it was rather silly to look at some of the characters and imagine how massive a forehead they probably have. I don't know what happened with some of the proportions, but it didn't impact my overall enjoyment too much. I have also taken a quick glance at the OVA for this series which was also released by MAPPA in 2020, and some of the characters looked better there; plus, the retro vibe made it feel nostalgic. The action (game) scenes were well done. I loved the angles, transitions and the slight touch of CG that made things look better. Oh, yes, have I mentioned the number of references in this anime? I'm not sure if I missed some of them, but for the first half of the season, there were at least 2 per episode.

  

  With the amount of attention this series got and its score on tracking websites, my hopes were not that high, but it ended up impressing me. It made me want to pick up the manga. I do think, specifically, this season of "Oblivion Battery" is underrated. I'm pretty sure a lot of people never thought of giving it a try since it started coming out during Spring 2024, which was filled with highly anticipated releases. In addition to that, the last MAPPA's released series was "Bucchigiri", which didn't do that well. Of course, this anime will pale in comparison to beloved old sports series that still reign supreme over most newer stuff, but it doesn't mean that it's not worth giving a try. I like it, I'll give it a healthy 8/10 and hope for another season to come out in the future.

  Thank you for your attention♡
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