Taisho Baseball Girls

-Details-
Title: Taisho Yakyuu Musume aka Taisho Baseball Girls
Genre: Comedy/Drama
Company: J.C. Staff
Format: 12 episodes
Dates: 2 Jul 2009 – 24 Sept

-Visuals- 9.5/10
The best way to describe this show does not actually do it justice. The show is simply, as best I can put it, crisp. The colors are nice and vibrant. The animations are seamless and within the obvious confines of (most) anime very realistic looking. The fluidity of the actions, and being a sports themed anime there is plenty of action, is extremely well done as is the various environments and backgrounds. See what I mean? Crisp! Seriously overall I found this to simply be a wonderful looking show to watch.


-Sound- 9.5/10
The voice acting is wonderful. Each of the girls has their own personality and it shows. The best thing is it shows by being NOT over the top, instead the voices have just enough inflection and emotion to make me care without suspending my belief in their "realness". The music, while not necessarily awe inspiring is certainly a perfect mesh with the story. One of the real highlights however may be the various sounds of the game itself, I actually felt I was transported back to my youth and at the old ballpark watching and playing in Little League games, a wonderful bit of nostalgia there!

-Characters- 9.6/10
The story is about the nine girls who form the team, but basically it centers on Akiko Ogasawara, a rich girl is is flamed into starting a girls team because of comments her equally rich and affluent fiance makes and Koume Suzukawa, a young somewhat shy girl who's parents insist she act within traditional Japanese values. The other characters are featured at various times and you will get to know them each relatively well as each as their own smaller roles to play in the story. What I loved about the characters is even though there are certainly some stereotypes they are all still acted and written in such a way as to still make them interesting. Certainly this cast is one of the finest and most enjoyable of any anime I have seen.


-Story- 9.2/10
The story takes place in 1925 Japan and actually is somewhat of a two pronged adventure. On the one hand the story is a story of nine young girls and their desire to play baseball, on the other this desire is due as much to their desire for the game as it is to not be confined into traditional female roles in a male dominated Japanese society. Fortunately the story walks that fine line between the two aspects. It is not quite a total sports anime nor is it totally a social commentary either. Now, some may call this seeming lack of cohesive direction to be a fault but i would argue the opposite. It is actually a perfect meld of their frustrations at convention as well as their growing desire and drive to better themselves (and their society) through sports. What makes the story so very good though is this combination melded with some wonderful characters. And be prepared, while the story may seem cliched and destined for a somewhat predictable ending I found the entire story to be wonderfully told and to be emotional without being sappy, preachy or condescending.

-Overall- 9.5/10
The best gauge of a show is sometimes how you feel when it's ended. For example I loved Code Geass but honestly by the end i was ready for it to be over, same can be said for RahXephon and Wolf's Rain. However, even though I knew this had to end, after all, only so much can be doen with a story concerning girls forming a baseball team, I still wish it could have went on and on. The only show that has captured me like this is Usagi Drop, and to compare this with that says a lot. yes, it is that good! I cannot recommend it enough, whether you are a sports fan or not, whether you like an anime that may be considered "girly" or not, it simply doesn't matter. To me this show transcends barriers and should be enjoyable to all.