5 /10 1 Votes
3.7/10 Anime-Planet Published by Shueisha Magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump Volumes 22 Program creator Akio Chiba Genre Sports | 6.4/10 MyAnimeList Written by Akio Chiba Demographic Shōnen Original run 1973 – 1978 First episode date 4 July 2005 Director Satoshi Dezaki | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Characters Takao Taniguchi, Yutaka Kurabayashi, Katō Cast Kenichiro Maeda, Satoshi Hino, Takashi Hikida Similar Ring ni Kakero, Harenchi Gakuen, H2, Stop!! Hibari‑kun!, Midori no Makibaō | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Play Ball (Japanese: プレイボール, Hepburn: Purei Bōru) is a manga series by Akio Chiba which ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1973 to 1978, which was adapted in 2005 and 2006 into an anime series by Magic Bus, aired across Japan on the anime satellite television network, Animax. The series was released concurrently with Chiba's other major work, Captain, the other series for which he won the 22nd Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen in 1977.
Contents
Chiba originally wanted to make the series a rugby or American football, but he began to be held up by collecting all the materials needed to make sure he understood the rules well enough to draw an accurate depiction. In order to catch up, he began creating a manga about the high school baseball career of his main character, Takao Taniguchi.
This eventually developed into the series Captain. Play Ball follows the story of the junior high school years of Taniguchi and his teammates.
Nearly twenty-five years later, in 2005 and 2006, the series was adapted into two seasons of an UHF anime TV series in 2005, which was broadcast across Japan by the anime satellite television network, Animax.
Plot
After fracturing a finger in a junior high school game, Takao Taniguchi is unable to play baseball. After entering Sumitani High School, he is constantly watching the baseball club even though he is unable to play. He catches the eye of the captain of the soccer club, and while he still has lingering hopes of joining the baseball club, he decides to join the soccer club. While he's a complete beginner, Taniguchi developed a strong spirit of hard work while in junior high school and his new teammates begin to see his potential. While he focuses all of his energy on soccer, he is unable to forget his youthful zeal for baseball and he begins umpiring baseball games in secret.
After someone leaks his secret to the captain of the soccer team, the captain becomes angry at him and Taniguchi decides that soccer is not really for him. At the recommendation of the captain, he resigns from the soccer club and joins the baseball club. The Sumitani baseball club would lose their big game every year due to the inexperience of the club members. After Taniguchi joined, however, the club begins to change for the better.