Boukyaku Battery (TV)

This season MAPPA is making a baseball anime which is not only good with it's production value and references, but also fun and enjoyable to watch.

When we talk about baseball anime, the likes of One Outs, Major and Diamond no Ace are first titles to be mentioned, but the way this anime is going, I believe it's going to make it's place amongst them.

Baseball is the main theme of this show, but it's comedy centered as well, the main characters are your typical anime high schoolers with nothing much that stands out in their characterstics, except for Kaname Kei, who has amnesia and ... serves as the comic relief character too.

"Boukyaku Battery" represents MAPPA's return to the sports genre after "Re-main," both of which revolve around amnesia following an accident, but with distinct source materials. While "Re-main" created its own storyline, "Boukyaku Battery" is derived from manga, indicating MAPPA's preference for this subgenre.

Diverging from the serious tone of "Re-main," "Boukyaku Battery" incorporates comic aspects, providing a lighter take on team sports. Like its nekketsu competitors However, the plethora of puns, such as Kei's "Nipple hair" jokes, can be overwhelming at times and may turn off a lot of folks. However, behind these moments is the possibility for an engaging sports anime experience.


Despite initial doubts, "Boukyaku ... Battery" has potential for expansion and improvement over time. With proper care and development over multiple seasons, it has the potential to become a great series according to my gut. The key is in MAPPA's commitment.

Actually the most dreadful piece of garbage I've seen this season???

If the overused Amnesia trope wasn't already a big red warning tape to run and never look back, the anime has the ridiculous notion that making one of the main characters proclaim "nipple hair!" every freaking episode is how humour works. It's frankly not funny at all, it's cringe at best and sheer disturbing at worst. The focus on that and literal public 'porno' trading scenarios are just... I came here to watch Baseball, not whatever this is? (Also, the fact these grown-ass teenagers are calling each other 'doo-doo heads' like what?)

Going back to ... said Amnesia trope, it's almost as bad as Re-Main; where surprise surprise, the once serious athlete gets amnesia and turns into a complete goof... This anime does that, but somehow EVEN worse. Episode after episode we have to endure the main character whine and complain how he doesn't want to play baseball and then plays baseball, while STILL whining... Frankly he needs a couple more baseballs to the head and get his memory back before I lose my own braincells.

Moving along, the animation style is frankly so far down the drain from what I'm used to from Mappa that it might as well be underground. Half the scenes look like I drew them (and I can't draw anything but stick figures.) There's one scene where one of the characters runs off into the distance and he's literally not moving, his size isn't changing and the image of him is just being moved further up the page. It's lazy and low effort... Other scenes just frankly disfigure the characters so much in attempts of humour, elongated faces with no mouths and all that jazz that just make me wonder what exactly they're spending their budget on (and why we could have had Ice Adolescence instead of this garbage.)

Honestly, the entire anime is a mess, the characterization is all over, the plot seems barely present at best (shoved aside for immature attempts at humour) and the best thing about it every week is when the credits start rolling.