Written by Ikki Kajiwara Published by Kodansha Original run 1966 – 1971 Genre Sports Studio TMS Entertainment | Illustrated by Noboru Kawasaki Demographic Shōnen Volumes 19 Magazine Weekly Shōnen Magazine Publisher Kodansha | |
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Similar Ashita no Joe, Attack No 1, Interviews with Monster, Dokaben, Tiger Mask | ||
Kyojin no Hoshi (巨人の星, trans. Star of the Giants) is a Japanese sports manga written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Noboru Kawasaki. It was adapted as the first sports anime television series broadcast in Japan, in 1968. It later spawned two anime sequels and different anime movies.The anime was ranked #15 on TV Asahi's Top 100 Anime.
Contents
The manga appeared in Weekly Shōnen Magazine about the actual baseball team Yomiuri Giants using fictional characters. It was launched by the "Yomiuri Group" which at the time owned not only the actual baseball team, but the TV network Nippon Television, the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, as well as Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation.
Story
The story is about Hyuuma Hoshi, a promising young baseball pitcher who dreams of becoming a top star like his father Ittetsu Hoshi in the professional Japanese league. His father was once a 3rd baseman until he was injured in World War II and was forced to retire. The boy would join the ever popular Giants team, and soon he realized the difficulty of managing the high expectations. From the grueling training to battling the rival Mitsuru Hanagata in the Hanshin Tigers, he would have to take out his best pitching magic to step up to the challenge.
Characters
Staff
DVD
Beginning in 2001, the series was re-released on DVD format. On June 2013, a five set Blu-ray release was released.
Movies
The first Star of the Giants movie was debuted in 1969 as part of the vacation anime festival on large screen theatres in color. The draw was that most people had black and white TVs at the time. The Star of Giants vs Mighty Atoms TV special reached the U.S and was renamed to Astro Boy vs. the Giants.
Video games
Kyojin no Hoshi (The Anime Super Remix) was released for the PlayStation 2 by Capcom on June 20, 2002. There were also a number of other games on the same platform.