Should I get into Moshidora? (My review of an obscure sports anime)
Moshidora, also known as What If the Female Manager of a High School Baseball Team Read Drucker's "Management"?, also known as Drucker in the Dug-Out, is a 2009/2011 story about grief, self-acceptance, and of course, baseball. Deciding if you should get into the series is no straightforward answer. Are you looking to read the series? To watch it? To participate in the fandom? If you thought "well, maybe" to any of those questions, then I am here to tell you that…you're kind of screwed. While the series offers a unique premise and intriguing emotional core, it is also limited in scope and impact. But fear not! As someone who has dedicated themselves to consuming as much as they can regarding this series, I will go over my thoughts on the 10-episode anime and discuss a bit about presence Moshidora left on the world to help you decide if you want to begin the series!
THIS REVIEW WILL HAVE SPOILERS!! I will avoid mentioning any major scenes, but please be aware of this moving forward!!
The story is about a girl named Minami Kawashima who takes it upon herself to manage her school's baseball team while her friend Yuki Miyata (sometimes spelt as Yuuki) is in the hospital. Struggling to find a management style, she buys Peter Drucker’s book Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, and Practices, believing it to be a book about baseball. She discovers that it’s a book about business management and decides to try applying the concepts to her team so they can make it to the nationals. It's your classic sports anime plot with an interesting hook. If sports aren't your thing, there's going to be an immediate disinterest. It doesn't help that the series isn’t much like your standard "cute girls doing things" series like Lucky Star or K-On. Moshidora places a clear focus on its cast of athletes and the work they accomplish to make it to their goal.
If you're still interested, your options for consuming the series are limited. The manga and original light novel are all in Japanese, with no fan translations available for English readers (at least to my knowledge. If there ever was one, it was likely taken down years ago). If you can read Japanese, the light novel is thankfully only two books and goes for quite cheap in second-hand Japanese shops. The manga however was never finished. According to the publisher it ran under, Grand Jump Premium, the most recent chapter was published on September 26 of 2012 and has been suspended since. There was a compilation done by the manga's original publisher, Shueisha, but the adaptation was never concluded. If you prefer live action, there is a movie adaption, but finding an English translation is like looking for a needle in a haystack. That leaves only the anime. It isn't available on any major streaming services, meaning you have to be willing to go onto a sketchy website to watch it. At the end of the day, you could buy it on DVD if you desire via sites like ebay.
As for a fandom?
If the series still interests you despite these hurdles, like it did for me, then you'd be pleasantly surprised to see a show with heart and passion. You may now be asking what I liked about watching Moshidora to convince me to write a review on it? To start, the art direction is very crisp, and there's thousands of shots that I like. Obviously, there are some wonky drawings that are bound to happen with any animated series, but it doesn't make the show look "bad". Many shots in the show are unique!
Take these shots from episodes 3 and 10! I would have never expected to see something like this from a sports series! My absolute favorite is this shot during episode 10:
Even though Minami may look off, the colors and composition of this scene make up for it. The way that the petals force the audience's eye to follow the scene as Minami drifts back, placing the viewer in a position like her own, was stunning. At least, in my eyes.
Speaking of eyes, many characters have this neat design for theirs, being shaped more like rectangles and curving into themselves give them a unique look for their faces. It looks the best from a 3/4th angle, with the front facing shots ending up a little wonky. It draws the viewer's attention to their expressions, being a great aid to emotional moments of the series. As the show goes on though, the eyes end up taking more of a "bean" shape. While it still works in the show's favor, it can often make wide-eye expressions seem strange. The way their bodies are drawn have this human look to them that is hard to describe, but it stands out from your usual anime style (that could also be me speaking as a Toilet Bound Hanako-Kun fan). Despite that, the series incorporates many different silly and "chibi" styles, which work as a nice break from form.
The animation impressed me. A lot of the spectacular moments are during the baseball games, which is likely where the budget was set aside for. When the series uses rotoscoping, it's hard to tell as characters are kept to their natural proportions. Movement is typically fluid, and I rarely find myself disturbed by choppy or skewed scenes.
I adore the music used in the series. It feels very much of its time, often using calm guitar strums or synth waves to give a hardworking but fun atmosphere. When a scene wants to be serious, the music enhances it to a T. The intro "Dream Note" and outro "I Love You" are contenders for my top 10 anime themes. I feel they perfectly encapsulate not just Minami's feelings, but the feelings of the entire baseball club. "Dream Note"'s calm and warm tone of keeping to your goals no matter how much you struggle is a beautiful welcome for every episode, and "I Love You"'s constant building not only express the love the team has for each other, but works as a hint to the future of Minami's relationship with Yuki (I'll avoid saying more for the sake of spoilers, but trust me when I say at the end of the show, hearing "I Love You" as the credits rolled brought a tear to my eye).
The series caught me by surprise. I actually learned a lot about baseball and business while watching! There's clear passion within it. Seeing the characters in the story have such vehemence for their sport radiated off onto me, and I would often find myself cheering on Minami and her team. Instead of having to fight for her team's respect, Minami is immediately accepted in her role as manager. The boys all admire her and work their hardest to follow through her expectations every day. Alongside that, Minami isn't alone in her management position. There's the coach, Makoto Kachi, who desires to innovate high school baseball (and who shares a voice actor with Tsuchigomori from TBHK), Hanae Chin, a friend of one of the baseball players who decides to join management later in the show, Yuki, who Minami often talks to at the hospital, and a girl named Ayano Hōjō (sometimes spelt as Houjou) who often comes up with training plans and keeps scores during games. Ayano is the 'Shy, soft-spoken' archetype. She has this running gag of responding to questions with "Eh? Hah- hai" (translated to "Ah, yes" or "Oh, yeah, right") that I found endearing. However, her personality is a major turnoff if you don't like this type of character. Even with my fondness for the archetype, there were moments where I could imagine someone being annoyed by her.
This is where it becomes blaringly obvious Moshidora isn't without its major faults. While somebody can easily look past rough drawings or underwhelming animation, the problem that most will have is pacing. Being only 10 episodes long rather than your standard 12 means scenes take a massive hit in quality. The first episode suffered a LOT because of pacing. Characters are constantly jumping between set pieces and conversation, and it felt like I never had time to sit with the moment. Minami's in a new position meeting new people, for crying out loud! Let me experience some of her struggles! Don't just brush them off to have another character float by! It would have been better to have things slowed down and the conflict of beginning to learn the team be pushed to episode 2. In the first few episodes, the show tries to introduce players that will be crucial…but it ends up going too fast. I hardly remember any of the guys, let alone what positions they play! It tries to drill in these characters as you go, but you're going to constantly come across moments where you're thinking to yourself "oh yeah, that guy". Their struggles are sprinkled in through the story, but it doesn't feel much like they're people. They feel…like characters in a 10-episode anime. Is that bad? Not necessarily…but it seriously hindered a lot of the emotional connections that it could have earned.
The character who I'd argue is the most affected by Moshidora's 10-episode count is Ayano. Her most emotional moment in the series quickly jumped from 0 to 11, before dipping back to 0 seconds later. In episode 2, Minami brings Ayano to the hospital to talk to Yuki so they can understand why Ayano joined the management position. As Yuki lists off reasons, Ayano grows more tense before snapping at Yuki for making assumptions.
There wasn't much of a gradual climb to Ayano's response. Her confessing her admiration towards Yuki comes out of left field as well. Nothing in the episode hinted at Ayano's feelings or that she wanted to help people the same way Yuki does. Heck, there was nothing before this to imply that Ayano knew Yuki beyond their shared management position.
There's an interaction earlier between Ayano and Minami where Minami tries asking Ayano questions, but she runs away due to the pressure. This scene could have hinted towards her feelings, but the execution doesn't give those details. If we got to see a shot of Ayano outside, embarrassed at herself for escaping the conversation, then perhaps there would have been more of an impact. Even without words, a few extra seconds dedicated to Ayano's tension could give context to her desire for belonging. The direct cut to sunset at the end of the hospital scene rather than allowing us a moment to sit in Ayano's emotions loses a lot of the weight this scene holds. The pacing feels too fast. These moments are shoved in and then forgotten immediately after. Personally, it seems like lazy characterization. Especially after episode 2, the only other time given to support Ayano's feelings is all the way in episode 9!! And barely for a minute!! Let my girl have her own arc!!
Thankfully, the pacing begins to settle into a smoother motion around episode 4. I did notice that unfortunately, this was around the same time that quality consistency dropped. Characters started to have more poorly drawn faces and anatomy, sometimes with expressions being completely off center from the head.
Scenes that seemed like they should be animated were instead still shots overlaid over eachother. This was EXTREMELY detrimental during the last few episodes which focus on the games leading up to Nationals. I was left craving more action as photos of the characters hitting the ball or cheering faded into one another. It killed the pacing and emotional tension. The music and voice acting was often the saving grace of these slideshow scenes. It gave the experience of looking at a photo album of somebody's accomplishments rather than actually being there to witness them yourself. Since they become more prevalent in the last few episodes, they're easy to push past, but I don't blame anybody who would grow bored of watching a PowerPoint presentation rather than an actual baseball game.
Despite all of those troubles, I enjoyed Moshidora. I loved Minami the most. Her hardworking but friendly personality, her willingness to go past her own resentment for her friends and team, how she'll give anybody a second chance…I could go on and on. She's what kept me going with this show. While some of her traits are exaggerated, Minami seems like somebody I could meet in real life, and somebody I would love to be around. It seems that countless people agree with my feelings, as when the light novel for Moshidora came out in 2009, it sold 1.81 million copies during its first year. It wasn't long that it soon became the nation's best seller of the year. Archived posts from Moshidora.Jp show off entire stores FILLED to the brim with copies of both it and Drucker's Management. The film adaptation managed to cast Atsuko Maeda, former member of AKB48's first group, and debuted number 4 in Japanese box offices for the year 2011. The show's ratings were out of the park, and even the manga was doing well. Hell, they even sold canned bread with the characters attached to it! People loved this series!!!
However, it seems that it one day faded away into obscurity. Nobody spoke of it again. Could it be because for many, it was a short sports drama that they could read and then…move on from? I don't think we'll ever know.
Was this post secretly an excuse for me to convince people to watch Moshidora so I have more people to talk to about? Yes. I adore Moshidora. I binged the show in two days just so I could make this review. I want more people to see and fall in love with Minami the same way I did, so she can face the stands again knowing that people have not forgotten her. I can clearly recommend Moshidora to anybody regardless of being a sports fan or even just a casual watcher. I hope that I have convinced you to try out the series regardless of all the barriers to entry, and I hope that if you do end up watching Moshidora, you enjoy it as much as I have. Have a wonderful day.
(Source links for anybody who wants them. Some of these may no longer have the correct information due to the passage of time.)
Atsuko Maeda, a 19-year-old member of the all-female idol group AKB48, will star in a film adaptation of Natsumi Iwasaki's Moshi Kōkō Yakyū
Japanese Box Office Weekends For 2011 - Box Office Mojo
(If you want to find the site I used to watch Moshidora, it'll be in the top right corner of the scene where Ayano talks to Yuki)
All Moshidora gifs used were made by me!! If you'd like to use them, feel free to download them or let me know so I can try uploading them to Tenor. Bye bye!!
Just remembered I have to post in order to stay relevant. Anyways here is MEIKO in skiing gear because whenever people draw characters on vacation they always them at beaches and stuff.
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