Major
Alternate Titles: メジャー
Original Japanese Release Date: November 13th, 2004
Episode Length/Run-time: 154 episodes
Summary:
This it the story of Japanese child Goro Shigeno and his dreams of enter into the Major Leagues of American baseball. He wishes to take after his father who was killed by a pitch to the head from rival player Joe Gibson. A amazingly talented pitcher himself, Goro is driven by his desire to make his way to the major leagues to challenge Joe Gibson himself.
Review:
Major is a journey. A journey following the life of Goro Shigeno. For you see, the show stars with Goro in elementary school and doesn’t conclude until he reaches the major leagues. This is one of the special characteristics of Major because over the shows multi-year run, the viewer was given the opportunity to grow with the characters in the story. Not only Goro, but several of his childhood friends stick around and remain important characters through the shows conclusion.
Goro himself is a deceivingly well developed character. The development of characters in sports anime can sometimes be a bit shallow, however Goro has his motivation for playing baseball set at an early age. What started as a child wanting to be just like his father, becomes a need to challenge the man responsible for his fathers accidental death. It is this drive, that leads to his competitive fury and eventual injury of his throwing shoulder. This just allows us to see Goro’s determination. Even after fully developing into his teen years, Goro ends up completely relearning how to throw with his non-dominant arm. Quite a feat for anybody, I can’t even write my name with my non-dominant hand.
Finally, unlike real life baseball, the actual baseball in the series is exciting and fast paced. There are some very dramatic moments that make for some great entertainment. These scenes are supported by excellent music and what ends up being gradually improving animation. In my view, the animation continued to improve as the show’s popularity caught fire in Japan. The series was often present on the weekly top 10 ratings charts for Japanese television.
If Hajime no Ippo is the king of sports anime, Major is perhaps the queen. This is certainly the most popular baseball anime out there, and for good reason. A show not to be missed by sports fans.
[starrater]