One Outs #01 — Spitball
October 7th, 2008
Well, I’m out.
New Season Disclaimer:
I’ll make a post for almost all new series (barring sequels) with a wrap-up and bullet point opinion of each once the premier week is over. Remember that these are just my kneejerk reactions to the first 20 minutes of shows, many of which in genres that I don’t even particularly like, but I do believe in giving every new series at least an episode to interest me.
Impressions:
Madhouse seems absolutely desperate to recapture Akagi’s success, but they don’t quite see to realize that you can’t just lay the same animation and direction over two thematically different things and get the same result. Sure, talking about a life or death battle of wits makes a little bit of sense when discussing mah jong against gangsters who will kill you if you lose, but it makes a lot less sense when you’re discussing whether or not you think the pitcher is going to throw a fast ball or a splitter. "It’s a forkball! It’ll be a ball! –GASP– It was really a straight throw!" …Not exactly my idea of compelling drama. I’m pretty sure they mean split-finger fastball anyway.
Like Akagi and its inbred cousin Kaiji, the production values are minimal, and amazingly enough, the OP/ED manages to be the angstiest thing I have ever seen in my life. It would be overly angsty for a show about writing sad poems in the dark while cutting yourself, let alone baseball. That it’s mostly in broken English certainly doesn’t help matters. "This is for my life, open his heart and find mine" indeed. If you’ve already watched Akagi, then you’ve seen this and seen it done far better. If you haven’t, then watch that instead. A bunch of people in a park betting pocket change on amateur pitching does not evoke quite the same drama as a bunch of mafios threatening to cut off your hands. God help us if this actually brings in the Yakuza or anybody important at all to this nonsense too.
Preview:
BAAAAAAAAAAASSSSSSSSSSSEEEEEEEEBBBBBBBBBBBAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!
Posted in Anime | 11 Comments »
Not that I was planning to watch this but…ew. :(