I have always had an interest in sports series from the beginning of my fandom, but that desire has exploded in the last couple of years. Major is something of an institution as far as baseball titles are concerned with an incredibly long serial and the unique angle of following our lead from pre-little league youth up to the major leagues. It also happened to finally come to an end in 2010. Some readers might remember this title was also recommended to us for our 100th Ongoing Investigation and for that I am grateful as it was the push I needed to jump in.

When you think of long running shonen series you almost always think of shonen fighting. But shonen sports can be just as popular and run just as long. Slam Dunk, Fighting Spirit, and Prince of Tennis are all mega popular shonen sports franchises that go on for over 30 books and have had equally long running anime. But when it comes to sports anime the king of athletic manga has always been baseball anime. Star of the Giants and Touch are amazingly popular cultural touchstones that have hardcore fans outside of the normal manga reading demographic. Another such breakout baseball manga hit is the recently completed manga Major. It chronicles the career of Goro Honda from just a kindergartner with a love of baseball to his major league baseball career and everything in between. The manga ran for an incredible 77 volumes and the anime ran for 6 seasons and only just ended in 2010. As major sport anime fans we decided to check on the first season of the anime and see what story has completely captivated Shonen Sunday readers and NHK viewers over the years.

Goro Honda has baseball in his blood. His father, Shigeharu Honda, is a pitcher for the Blue Oceans and he has been infected with his father’s love of the game. But when his father throws out his arm which tests the love of the game for both father and son. Can both of them find the spirit to play baseball despite the tragedies that life continually throws at them? Can Shigeharu still play even if he can no longer pitch and can Goro find a little league team that can help him hone his skills?

The story of Major, especially how it gets the ball rolling is fraught with hardship. This first season also covers a large amount of time which you can expect to even out as the series goes on. As it was in this portion, we see Goro as a very young child grow through practically the end of elementary school. Within that time there are significant changes that take place outside of the baseball diamond which give Major that emotional touch. Though you start to get worried about every adult who crosses Goro’s path! On the baseball front, friendships are made and passions are ignited as Goro determinedly pushes his little league team to great feats.

Oh Goro Honda. At times he is a hard protagonist to like. He obviously has both talent and dedication but he lacks empathy for the weakness of others. So you are often rooting for him but it can be hard when he is being an utter bastard to everyone around him for not being as completely awesome as he is. About once a story arc he will mellow out a bit most of the time he wants 110% out of everyone. Which is not going to happen and it often leads to major conflict with this teammates. He can be very stubborn and selfish but there is a better person underneath it all who occasionally comes to the surface. His hubris does not go unpunished by the gods because Goro is also a magnet for misfortune. Ever time he gets slightly ahead in life he is beset by some horrible tragedy for either him or someone around him. It got to the point were we were really worried for some characters when ever they did anything as simple as get into a car to drive because we were sure they were driving to their doom. Shigeharu on the other hand is equally skilled as his son but is remarkably pleasant and supportive of those around him. We learn that his wife passed away in the first episode which sets the tone for tragedy in this series. Momoko Hoshino is Goro’s first teacher who rapidly becomes involved with Goro and his dad. This leads to a rocky bit of romance between the two adults which is complicated by the school frowning on teachers dating the parents of students. She is usually kind and gentle but she can but her foot down when it is needed. Rounding out the adult cast is Hideki Shigeno who is Shigeharu’s goofy childhood friend who also plays for the Blue Ocean. He is often there for the Honda family when ever they are in need.

In a lot of ways it’s Goro’s father who hooks you into the series and only later do you really want to follow Goro. Shigeharu is a handsome and still young 30-something whose baseball career is about to change. He is an all around good and hardworking guy that you want to root for. Throwing his hat into the ring as a hitter rather than a pitcher is an almost crazy suggestion that adds the first bit of baseball tension to the show. I, and I’m sure others, would be happy to read the tale of Shigeharu’s youth, too. Other drawing in points for the dad are his budding relationship with kindergarten teacher Hoshino; long-time friendship/rivalry with Shigeno the star pitcher of the team; and animosity with American pitcher Joe Gibson. Shigeno is a funny guy who seems like he would be super cool and collected but is rather a goof which makes him endearing. And as for Joe, his role is vital as not only a pivotal point in the series but as a rival/mentor for Goro. All of these people have an effect on Goro on and off the field of baseball. Goro has a lot of growing pains in this season. It’s hard to call Goro likable right away, he is very passionate about his dream and baseball but he is over zealous and has a temper. Like so many other geniuses at first he believes he can carry an entire team; however, as the story goes on he begins to trust and help his teammates. On top of that he is looking up at his father as the ideal. By the end, Goro is not totally transformed but you see a lot of progress and there are another bunch of changes for him at the end of the season that you know will continue to alter his destiny.

Goro’s first baseball friend is Toshiya Sato. He struggles to get him into baseball despite his scholastic obsessed parents and then promptly never sees him shortly after that. Anyone who has watched anime know that he will eventually appear again. There is Goro’s first romantic interest Kaoru Shimizu who is a mixture of bossy and caring and the only girl on the team. She bring a welcome feminine touch to the series but at times she seems like a major blow to feminism. This is not to say she is completely useless or never turns things around because she saves the day on several occasions. But if you are sensitive to anything misogynistic she can be a turn off. The rest of the team is made up a former bully, a meek boy with some solid skills, the buck toothed slacker who always seems to be trying to talk everyone in quitting, and several other colorful players that are decent but not spectacular.  Each one of them has a time to shine throughout the season as you get to know them.

Goro seems to make friends by basically bombarding people into trying baseball. But this kinda of works in everyone’s favor as he awakens a desire in a number of people plus helps grow the team. This is seen with Komori and Goro’s very young childhood friend Toshiya who both end up as very good catchers in the series. The position of catcher has a lot of weight to it and each of these boys brings that stability plus a belief in their pitchers. As might be imagined however, Goro’s approach creates a lot of antagonism then in equally standard form that turns into friendship. Best of these are Shimizu, the only girl on the team, who spends a good portion of the series on the low-end of good and converted bully Sawamura. I was really pleased with Shimizu’s dedication and how it infected the team; plus she really steps up at a crisis point near the end to great effect. But this does set a poor precedent of girls being the cheerleader-like characters, this wasn’t alleviated either by great player Ryoko who appears later but “knows she can’t keep up with the boys forever.” Sawamura, a former soccer player, grew on me as baseball started to grow on him. My biggest question at the end is how many of these people will play larger roles as the story continues, there are a good amount of characters I hope to see again. But at the same time Goro’s team didn’t seem to be made of people striving for greatness, so it’ll be interesting to see who shows up again.

When we start the series Goro is too young to play in any team matches so the baseball is all centered around Shigeharu and his attempts to overcome what should be a career ending injury. We don’t see any complete games but we get a few key scenes to show his progress. I know that Narutaki would have watched a whole series that was just about Shigeharu’s baseball career but this is not his show and therefore he must yield the spotlight to his son. When Goro starts playing little league we finally get to see some full length games. The little league team he joins has a wide variety of skill levels on it. Some of them are pretty good, one or two are complete amateurs, and most of them have some skill but not a lot.  It would seem like Goro would have to carry the whole team but he is often just as much of a problem as his less skilled teammates either due to his lack of teamwork or physiological hang ups. It is a journey through the season for the team to learn to enjoy baseball enough for everyone to buckle down and rise to their full potential. They also have their share of wins and losses so you are never quite sure how a match is going to go. They seem to be willing to let Goro lose and lose hard just as often as pull one out of the fire. I will say the funniest match is their first real match of the little league team vs. adults. It is almost comical how much the adults seem to enjoy beating the children. So when the kids rally it is a welcome high point. In fact the series is pretty good at making some utterly unlikable teams that you really want to see beat into the ground. I know that the huge kids during train camp freaked out Narutaki every time he was on the screen, the robot boy was almost as creepy, and you always wanted to punch the Black Tri-Stars wannabes whenever they opened their mouths. There is little rooting for both teams like in other sports anime. You want to see opposition humiliated.

Do not be mistaken when it comes to Major, there are personal relationships and occurrences outside the diamond, but this series is squarely about baseball and not an episode goes by where the majority of it isn’t focused on some aspect of the sport. Goro is a natural who is good at both hitting and pitching, but the rest of the team is made up of beginners so there is a lot of progress made for them from the first to the last. Each team they face usually has some unique characteristic they must discover and then use to their own advantage. It nice to see them developing strategy as Goro’s initial reaction to anything is to just barrel on throwing fast balls. So as the team actually becomes a team, the games get better and more interesting. For the most part they are able to make little league have as much intensity as other higher forms of baseball, but of course you must not over think it.

Major is a unique and compelling show because you see Goro’s entire career as a baseball player from pretty much day one. As much as Goro can be unlikable at times you find yourself being drawn into the story due the drama in his life and his passion for the sport. A good mix of drama and solid baseball is a killer combination. This seems like an intriguing baseball show and we hope to take a look at the later seasons down the road.

There is something done very right in Major, it really knows how to present baseball with enough character developement to balance it. And just like so many other countless sports titles, it has the ability to make you care about the game even if you don’t give a hoot about baseball in the real world. I love the idea of seeing Goro grow to adulthood because he is a character that you can feel greatness emanating from. I am very glad I finally got around to watching Major and am anxious to check out the rest of the series.