Diamond no Ace (Ace of Diamond)
Another baseball series! Though this is has quite a different feel than Oofuri. Art style and story is definitely very shounen.You follow Sawamura Eijun who is an obnoxious pitcher, but the best player in his below average middle school baseball team. He has been scouted to an elite baseball high school club in Tokyo, but he refused since he just wanted to play with his friends. After much talk to his family, friends, and visiting the club itself, Eijun decides to go. Some spoilers ahead!Thus starts Eijun's story of growing up. Being a first year and not having proper training in the sport, he has to work his way up. There are other talented players in the same year as him, but they respect each other and become friends. Throughout the show we see them get to know the older players, and grow as a team. This starts off with Eijun being partnered with 3rd year Chris, a catcher who Eijun at first didn't take his job seriously since Chris just gave him a list of what to do and leaves early. Eijun wanted to be paired with Miyuki, the main catcher, but he is paired with Furuya the best player out of the first years. Eijun is quite a brat and said some mean things about Chris which rubs Miyuki the wrong way. Eijun then learns about Chris' story, and feels very guilty. He then finally learns to be more respectful and polite.
Eijun works very hard to be picked in the first string team. He maybe a valuable player with so much potential, but he does embarrass the team. He's very loud, and acts before his thinks. Though everyone admires his energy and love for pitching. So the games finally starts as the team aims for nationals, or as they call it Koshien, the name of the stadium where the nationals for high school baseball is held.
This show is quite charming, and is kind of fun. Some things are a bit over dramatic and silly, but overall the mood is quite well done. It was hard for me to prevent myself from not marathon the first 20-30 episodes since it likes to end on a slight cliff hanger during games. Even for someone who isn't into baseball like myself, it wasn't hard or boring to watch these games. We see both perspectives of the teams in the game so it was interesting to see how each reacted to the game. We even get to learn about the other team's members which can be touching. I find it a little awkward how the losing team always cries.
Overall, I do recommend this anime. I hear the manga is pretty good as well so please check it out if manga is more of your thing.
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