- Play Ball
Infobox animanga/Header
name = Play Ball
caption = Cover of volume 6 DVD (first season)
ja_name = プレイボール
ja_name_trans = Purei Bōru
genre =Sports (baseball ),School Infobox animanga/Manga
title =
author =Akio Chiba
publisher = flagicon|JapanShueisha
demographic =Shōnen
magazine =Weekly Shōnen Jump
first = 1973
last = 1978
volumes = Infobox animanga/Anime
title =
director =Satoshi Dezaki
studio = Magic Bus
network = flagicon|Japan flagicon|KORAnimax
first = July 2005
last = ??
episodes = 13Infobox animanga/Anime
title = Play Ball 2nd
director =Satoshi Dezaki
studio = Magic Bus
network = flagicon|Japan flagicon|KORAnimax
first = January 2006
last = ??
episodes = 13nihongo|"Play Ball"|プレイボール|Purei Bōru is a
manga series byAkio Chiba which ran in "Weekly Shōnen Jump " from 1973 to 1978, which was adapted in2005 and2006 into ananime series by Magic Bus, aired across Japan on the animesatellite television network,Animax . The series was released concurrently with Chiba's other major work, "Captain", the other series for which he won the 22ndShogakukan Manga Award forshōnen in 1977.cite web | url=http://comics.shogakukan.co.jp/mangasho/rist.html | title=小学館漫画賞：歴代受賞者 | publisher=Shogakukan | language=Japanese | accessdate=2007-08-19]Chiba originally wanted to make the series a rugby or
American football Fact|date=October 2007, but he began to be held up by collecting all the materials needed to make sure he understood the rules well enough to draw an accurate depiction. In order to catch up, he began creating a manga about thehigh school baseball career of his main character, Takao Taniguchi.This eventually developed into the series "Captain". "Play Ball" follows the story of the
junior high school years of Taniguchi and his fellow teammates.Nearly twenty-five years later, in 2005 and 2006, the series was adapted into two seasons of an
UHF anime TV series in 2005, which was broadcast across Japan by the animesatellite television network,Animax .Plot
After fracturing a finger in a junior high school game, Takao Taniguchi is unable to play baseball. After entering Sumitani High School, he is constantly watching the baseball club even though he is unable to play. He catches the eye of the captain of the soccer club, and while he still has lingering hopes of joining the baseball club, he decides to join the soccer club. While he's a complete beginner, Taniguchi developed a strong spirit of hard work while in junior high school and his new teammates begin to see his potential. While he focuses all of his energy on soccer, he is unable to forget his youthful zeal for baseball and he begins umpiring baseball games in secret.
After someone leaks his secret to the captain of the soccer team, the captain becomes angry at him and Taniguchi decides that soccer is not really for him. At the recommendation of the captain, he resigns from the soccer club and joins the baseball club. The Sumitani baseball club would lose their big game every year due to the inexperience of the club members. After Taniguchi joined, however, the club begins to change for the better.
Characters
;Takao Taniguchi:anime voices|Kenichirō Maeda:The main character. Plays pitcher (right-handed) and
third baseman . He injured his finger in an accident when he was in junior high, and causing him to give up pitching because he thought it was too hard to pitch with a finger which caused him to be unable to pitch straight. However, through a great deal of effort and hard work, Taniguchi was able to overcome this and master theforkball (in the anime, his right index finger is crooked). After that, he had surgery to fix the injury to his finger (the anime has the order of events a bit different than in the manga).;Tadakoro:anime voices|Yutaka Kōno:Plays
catcher . Was the captain of the baseball club when Taniguchi joined.;Yutaka Kurabayashi:anime voices|Satoshi Hino:Plays catcher after Tadakoro. Usually bats third.
;Nakayama:anime voices|Yoshitaka Kuremoto:Plays pitcher (left-handed) and third baseman. One year older than Taniguchi, and wears glasses.
;Ōta:anime voices|Shinsuke Fukui:Plays
shortstop , and can run 100m in 12 seconds. One year older than Taniguchi.;Yamaguchi:anime voices|Norihiko Nanda:One year older than Taniguchi. Known for having a huge mole.
;Yamamoto:anime voices|Takashi Senda:One year older than Taniguchi. Plays
right fielder ,first baseman , and is a right-handedrelief pitcher . Has anoverbite .;Marui:anime voices|Yū Asano:One year younger than Taniguchi. Plays
second baseman .;Yokoi:anime voices|Kōichi Shibasaki:Same age as Taniguchi. Plays second baseman, switches to shortstop in the second year, and third baseman in the third year.
;Handa:anime voices|Kyōhei Tanaka:Same age as Taniguchi. Plays right fielder.
;Tomuro:anime voices|Akira Kubota:Same age as Taniguchi. Plays
left fielder .;Suzuki:anime voices|Ōki Sugiyama:Same age as Taniguchi. Plays right fielder. Joined the baseball club at the same time as Handa.
;Matsugawa:anime voices|Kenji Iwama:One year younger than Taniguchi. Plays third baseman.
;Shimada:anime voices|Ryūta Anzai:One year younger than Taniguchi. Plays
center fielder .;Katō:anime voices|Naoto Seki:One year younger than Taniguchi. Left-handed.
Anime
DVD releases
First season
*Volume 1, AVBA-22361, ¥2940
*Volume 2, AVBA-22362, ¥5040
*Volume 3, AVBA-22363, ¥5040
*Volume 4, AVBA-22364, ¥5040
*Volume 5, AVBA-22365, ¥5040
*Volume 6, AVBA-22366, ¥5040
*Volume 7, AVBA-22367, ¥5040Second season
*Volume 1, AVBA-22701, ¥5040
*Volume 2, AVBA-22702, ¥5040
*Volume 3, AVBA-22703, ¥5040
*Volume 4, AVBA-22704, ¥5040,July 26 ,2006
*Volume 5, AVBA-22705, ¥5040,August 30 ,2006 References
External links
* [http://www.anime-playball.com/ Official site] ja icon
* [http://www.avexmovie.jp/lineup/playball/index.html Aex site] ja icon
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