Baseball with Ookiku Furikabutte

 

After reading Bateszi’s juicy presentation of Ookiku Furikabutte, I got irreversibly hooked on this baseball anime and finished it in long, frequent sessions played one after the other. It is indeed intriguing to find the actual factors which make an anime of this genre so god damn catchy: no groundbreaking premise, no orgasmic art elements, no immersing plot. Not to mention that I have no idea about baseball rules whatsoever so I mostly watched the show vaguely wondering about what are they doing out there on the field – I only know what the catcher, the pitcher and the hitter do, the rest of the team’s roles are impossible to decipher for me.

So yea, with this in mind, I find myself wonder why on earth did I get so hooked on it? Despite the fact that I have an innate disgust for sports (reminiscing of high school humiliation) I do remember the old times when I used to watch Captain Tsubasa and Moero! Top Striker like a madman on Italian channels.

There was an intriguing discussion about this on Bateszi’s forum, but however, the answer is still somewhat unclear to me.

Finally, I think the answer may lie in the dynamics of the show, which basically are the same as every shounen anime – a group of friends with the focus on a particular ambitious protagonist are set to achieve their biggest dream (becoming the hokage, becoming a good pitcher, finding the treasure etc.) in a path full of difficulties, obstacles and progressive trials. The human mind (or mine at least) might not be as great as we might imagine, since I get attracted and drawn to this type of pattern over and over again, even if the the outcome is more than obvious, even if the clichés are abundant, even if I am constantly aware of the parameters of the stage set up for the viewers. Following the same line of reasoning, sports anime are just like shounen anime, and the overarching plot spread throughout all the episodes (never delivering a conclusion at the end of the episode, but rather a cliff hanger) has a lot to say about how many episodes one watches per session. I easily find a way to stop myself when I’m watching episodic anime, but with this cruel way of spreading a match through tons of episodes, there is no way one can easily get out of it.

The visual style is also very empathic – almost pushes you to feel schizophrenic “real life” feelings for the protagonist – Ren, a very interesting kid with a pathological desire to pitch. (Ren’s triangular smile is now a trademark, his insane shyness matches the drawing style to perfection) Overall, the anime is hilarious at times and treats the baseball subject with style and quality. Director Tsutomu MIZUSHIMA has done tons of good pieces, including Genshiken (the OVA and the first tv series) so this is perhaps where the quality comes from. Yoshi!