Anime Digest
This Japanese Anime portrays a group of people who are the residents of a city called, Neo-Tokyo. Due to societal pressure, the youngsters of Neo-Tokyo formed different tribes (groups). As conflicts grew between the youngsters of these tribes, the government was involved in order to solve these conflicts. A decision is given that all the disputes have to be solved through the method of ‘Extreme Baseball.’ After being involved in this new game, they face certain other challenges. This is the fight of these youngsters against the evil trying to destroy their city.
The Feel-Good Factor
The art style of the drama was really loved. Some characters were designed really well. The music of the show was enjoyed by its audiences. It was said to be the best thing about the show. The show starts really comfortably and has a good vibe in the first few episodes. The overall idea was a bit unique and different from most sports Anime.
The Disappointing Factor
The writing of the drama was a confusing issue. It was uneven throughout the show. It was so confusing because it kept switching between two genres, sports and generic. There were moments that seemed totally nonsensical. The character development is rigid and only concerns specific characters. Half of the characters are completely serious, and the other half of the characters are completely funny, with none in the middle. It is hugely cliché at some points. Many audiences were of the opinion that the show was mostly average. The poster of the drama was more intriguing than the drama itself. The concept of the drama was a major letdown.
In-Depth Analysis
The story of this series is based somewhere in an unspecified time in the future. The main focus of the series is the city named Neo-Tokyo and its residents. The residents of this city have formed different tribes for establishing their name in the world. The residents of all tribes co-exist together happily but not for very long. Soon, misunderstandings and arguments start taking place among them. These conflicts become so serious that they reach the government. The government, in order to maintain peace, announced a competitive treaty. This method is the game of ‘Extreme Baseball.’ This baseball is a bit different from regular baseball because it has a different set of rules. The government proposes to them that all matters between the residents should be compulsorily resolved using extreme baseball. For this resolve, a ceremonial and formal law was officially passed which came to be known as the XB law. Shun Kamiya and Haru Shirokane are the main male protagonists of the drama. Out of them, Shun Kamiya is regarded as the greatest extreme baseball (XB) player ever and belongs to the Minato tribe. XB is the short form of Extreme Baseball. One day, Haru and Taiga are saved by Shun from the pestering government officers. At first, when they meet, Haru and taiga find Shun boring. As he is a serious and strict personality, both were hesitant in front of him. But later, Shun himself invites them to join his XB team. The very next day, Shun’s Minato tribe is challenged by the leader of the Shinagawa tribe, Yutaka Gotanda, for an XB match. This match is to be held in a few days. So, Shun decides to give a quick crash course on XB to Haru and Taiga. In the match, Minato ends up defeating Shinagawa’s leader, which comes as a big plus point for Shun. Impressed by their performance, Shun decides to test Haru and Taiga’s skills in a practice match. During the practice match, Saori (a female character and a member of the Minato tribe) tells the others about Shun’s backstory. Immediately after, Shun, Haru, and Taiga are challenged for a real match, this time by Ojiro Otori, the Chiyoda tribe’s star player. During the match, the Chiyoda players attempt a lot of foul play, leaving Shun severely injured. Due to Shun’s serious injuries, his team cancels the match in the middle and takes him for treatment. Shun never gets better and dies on the same day. However, the Minato tribe has no time for mourning Shun’s death as Saori is kidnapped soon after by a biker gang tribe called ‘Adachi.’ To rescue Saori, Minato is forced to play a match against Adachi on their home ground. Minato do not start very well, so a mysterious blue-haired boy named Kazuki Aoyama offers to help them. To this, some members agree while others disagree. This creates an inner conflict within the Minato team. Just then, Saori explains to her tribe that the whole kidnapping was a setup by Adachi. Adachi did it to encourage Minato after Shun’s death. Suddenly, all the conflict subsided and peace prevailed between the Adachi and Minato tribes. After the match, Adachi team go on to challenge Chiyoda. As Shun’s death had come as a great loss for Minato, Taiga decides to train harder and take responsibility for his tribe. He is not as good at XB and struggles at hitting even slow balls. At this time, Kazuki tells Taiga that he knows a person who can train him well. This person is none other than Hanafuda Sakura from the Taito tribe. Hanafuda had been training for years and was an experienced Baseball player. As XB was similar to baseball, he was the one person who was capable of helping Taiga. After learning this, Taiga immediately approaches Sakura and begs him to train him. Sakura refuses at first but Taiga does not give up. Both impressed and annoyed by this, Sakura challenges Taiga to complete a task to get Sakura to train him. This challenge is swinging a huge wooden log 100,000 times a day for a week. Hesitant at first, Taiga agrees later and trains hard. Next comes Minato’s match with the Fucho tribe in order to prove something. But Fucho decides to play without rules and by using illegal ways. After learning what happened, Taiga immediately rushes back to Minato to participate in the match and score against Fucho to help his team. During all this, Fucho also tries to imbibe within the Minato players a sense of hate against Kazuki by telling Kazuki’s truth. But leaving all aside, Kazuki, Haru and Taiga join hands and decide to defeat Fucho. With their willpower, Minato succeeds in defeating Fucho and forgive Kazuki for whatever he had done and accept him as one of their own. Meanwhile, as the main antagonist, Ojiro otori kills his father, who was the ruler of Neo-Tokyo city. Ojiro becomes the new ruler and reforms all the rules of XB. With Ojiro on the seat, injustice starts prevailing everywhere in the city. The Minato tribe aims to get rid of Ojiro and shutting down his new version of the game. In the end, the Minato tribe succeeds and Ojiro’s tribe Chiyoda is disbanded. The city becomes ruler-less after this incident. With Minato’s success, XB comes back to its original form, and Minato gets ready to take over every challenge that they might face.
Star Power
Shun was the main protagonist of the drama as he was the strongest at the start of the show. However, the other characters Taiga, Haruko, and Kazuki were also the focal point of the drama. Every character had their own motive and hence carried the show according to their personalities. Haruko and tiger develop the most among all the characters. Kazuki is a cool character too and has a good dynamic with the antagonist. The antagonist Ojiro is a very typical villain. So, the focal point was a combination of all characters.
Overall Opinion
In general, the drama wanted to do a lot of stuff, but couldn’t succeed. The characters were mostly bland and the character development was not as expected. Even though the main characters of the drama were interesting, the show couldn’t present them well. This anime is said to be very similar to another infamous Japanese anime, Danganronpa. But even though it tried walking on the same path, it failed. Some of the tribes were liked by the viewers but they found most of the others unnecessary. World-building is an essential element when it comes to dramas like these, but the show couldn’t even do that well. If we consider the opinion of the majority of the audience, it is not a recommended drama.
