Touch

The story centers around three characters—Uesugi Kazuya, his twin older brother Tatsuya, and Asakura Minami. Kazuya is the darling of his town as he's talented, hardworking, and the ace pitcher for his middle school baseball team. Tatsuya is a hopeless slacker who's been living the life of giving up the spotlight to Kazuya, despite the fact that he may be more gifted than him. Minami is the beautiful childhood girlfriend and for all intents, sister from next door who treats both of them as equals. Society largely assumes Kazuya and Minami will become the perfect couple, including Tatsuya. Yet as time progresses, Tatsuya grows to realize that he's willing to sacrifice anything for the sake of his brother, except at the expense of giving up Minami to Kazuya. And thus the story is told of Tatsuya trying to prove himself over his established younger brother, how it affects the relationship between the three, and both brothers' attempts to make Minami's lifelong dreams come true.

Uesugi, Tatsuya Main

Mitsuya, Yuuji Japanese

Asakura, Minami Main

Hidaka, Noriko Japanese

Uesugi, Kazuya Main

Fukami, Rica Japanese

Harada, Shouhei Supporting

Ginga, Banjou Japanese

Kashiwaba, Eijirou Supporting

Tanaka, Hideyuki Japanese

Punch Supporting

Chiba, Shigeru Japanese

Nitta, Yuka Supporting

Tominaga, Miina Japanese

Matsudaira, Koutarou Supporting

Hayashiya, Shouzou Japanese

Kashiwaba, Reiko Supporting

Itou, Miki Japanese

Nishimura, Isami Supporting

Nakao, Ryusei Japanese

Sugii, Gisaburou Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Assistant Director

Tokita, Hiroko Director

Fujiyama, Fusanobu Sound Director

Mochizuki, Tomomi Episode Director

Reviews

Nov 9, 2013

Veronin

Recommended

Since the birth of the written word, we have been taught that storytelling is most effective through drama. Good triumphing over evil, a mystery solved, a pair of lovers.

But there are also stories that choose to convey something a little bit more ordinary– something more human. A story not about the apocalypse, but one focused on a normal person growing up and finding their place in the world. A story where the antagonist is not some cackling lunatic, but a sibling or a friend.

What is interesting about something so mundane? Adachi Mitsuru's "Touch" has the answer.

Uesugi Tatsuya is a lost soul. He ... wakes up every day only to be shunned by his family and classmates for not comparing to his younger brother, Kazuya. Kazuya is virtually perfect– an ace pitcher for Meisei's baseball club, a top-ranking student, a charismatic personality and source of infatuation for the girls– he is everything that Tatsuya is not. But Tatsuya can't quite resent his brother for it, either. He loves him as a sibling and as a friend. He wants him to succeed. Tatsuya's only wish is to remain himself, and who can blame him?

The one thing that the two share is a mutual affection for Minami. For as long as they can remember, the three have been together as neighbours and as friends. Kazuya's dream is to bring Minami to the Koushien, while their parents have their own goal in mind: for Kazuya and Minami to marry each other in the future. Tatsuya naturally does not like this.

And neither does Minami, it seems. What about her feelings? She has no idea if she actually loves Kazuya or if it's just something that she's just been forced to accept over the years. And what about Tatsuya and her feelings for him? Of course she doesn't want to leave a close friend behind for something that her parents haphazardly decided. Of course she doesn't want to separate the two brothers for something that doesn't need to be. Both of them are equally important to her, even if Tatsuya might tell her otherwise.

So goes the story of Touch. For a while.

Things are eventually victim to change. There is a certain tragedy that follows which completely changes the course of the story. It proves difficult to describe the impact this has without spoiling the most important scene of the anime, but what should be noted is that the first arc of the story is a build-up for everything that comes after. The first 26 episodes function as an extended prologue for a much greater tale.

For most people, "26 episode prologue" will sound off as an instant reason to avoid the anime. Don't. Every piece of dialogue between Tatsuya and Kazuya, every moment of frustration with Tatsuya's or Minami's attitude, every slow-pan over the school courtyard – it all exists for a very specific reason. It is there for the viewer to establish a connection with the characters and the world that they live in. How many times have we had an anime where it throws us deep into the story before we can establish any sort of connection? Far too many. Touch is a slow anime, and it wants you to listen closely.

The story of Touch is ultimately Tatsuya's story. Over the course of a massive 101 episodes, we see him grow from a lazy, bitter child to a determined adult. Determined not only in the sport of baseball, but for Minami and his friends as well. Friends that he never had before. A Minami that loves him as more than just a childhood friend. Even his parents are left wondering how Tatsuya of all people could have made it so far on his own. By the time he's on the mound leading to the Koushien, Tatsuya has surpassed Kazuya.

Where Gurren Lagann turned Simon into a Kamina clone, Touch opts instead for Tatsuya to remain himself to the very end. He matures and changes, but that selfish, lazy person inside of him is still there. It feels natural, never forced, much like any ordinary person might mature over the years. An evolution, but not a 180. Even if his attitude might infuriate you from time to time, that's never a bad thing. Tatsuya makes mistakes and says the wrong thing at times– just as we do. He's flawed like any human being.

Considering Tatsuya's personality, the relationship between him and Minami is naturally slow to develop. This has inevitably drawn some frustration with those seeking steady romantic progression, but I will ask, why does it need to be that way? Why must every romance develop in exactly the same way? The two love each other, of course, but they have also been together since they were small children. It was never the love-at-first-sight phenomenon common in media today. Touch is meant to be realistic more than idealistic.

Adding to the cast is the rival of the two brothers, Nitta Akio. As the power hitter of one of the country's best baseball teams, he is the natural obstacle between the brothers and the Koushien. A rival in love, too, but a friend just the same. He shows us that you can have an antagonist who is also friendly with the protagonist, one that doesn't need to fill the conventional role of an enemy. This friendly rivalry effectively makes the final match at the end of the story all the more rewarding and emotional, witnessing two characters you've grown attached to facing each other off for their last chance at the Koushien. You want Tatsuya to win, but you don't quite want Nitta to lose, either. We don't often find characters like Nitta in anime.

The supporting cast is just as great. Meisei's baseball club is coloured by the presence of the catcher, Kotarou, who has a difficult relationship with Tatsuya. First enemies, and close friends by the end, they slowly open up to each other in a genuinely believable and endearing way. On less-than-great terms is Yoshida, who has a sort of... creepy admiration for Tatsuya, eventually reaching the point where he starts to copy Tatsuya's pitching style. There is also Nishimura, another rival to Tatsuya (though Tatsuya is ever reluctant to care about him), and Nitta's rebellious sister, Yuka, who finds herself drawn to Tatsuya as he starts to become recognised as a pitcher. Initially she seems a bit of a filler character to pull Tatsuya away from Minami, but this is eventually shown not to be the case. Yuka has her own reasons to feel the way she does for Tatsuya, while Tatsuya is never truly interested in anybody but Minami. What Yuka actually ends up revealing is just how much Tatsuya loves Minami.

Perhaps most important, though, is the interim coach, Kashiwaba. He is the sole enemy in the story. As the kind of dude who regularly abuses and overworks the baseball club (his first meeting with the club is by punching Tatsuya), kicks puppies, and chain smokes and drinks in public ... it's kind of natural to hate his guts. But he has his reasons for what he's doing. Maybe not completely justified, but he is a damaged person, once kind and selfless. Through Kashiwaba's backstory (gradually revealed over the course of the anime's second half) he proves to have much more relevance to the overall story than merely existing as a source of conflict. He represents a Tatsuya in a different situation– the person that Tatsuya could have become if things turned out differently. Kashiwaba realises this and relentlessly targets Tatsuya for it, convinced that the person he sees through him is long dead. Though he never fully redeems himself by the end, the moment where Kashiwaba decides to give a helping hand to the team when they need it most is one of the most gratifying scenes I've personally experienced in anime.

The dialogue is also phenomenal, with one of the most powerful moments in the story occurring over a quick cup of coffee. Tatsuya disappears before the start of one of his final matches and Minami finds him sitting carefree in her family's coffee shop, sipping away like nothing is the matter. When she talks to him, Tatsuya reveals that he's there because he's nervous, because he needs to calm himself in a familiar environment. He describes how much he has started to love baseball (something he was forced into only a couple years before) and realises how flawed he is as a person. We realise then just how much Tatsuya has changed. There are times before when, sure, some changes in his personality become evident, but this scene is the moment when it all starts piecing together. His evolution is so human and natural that you wouldn't ordinarily notice it.

Even when the big tragedy occurs earlier on in the show, the characters don't scream and cry. They react with shock, denial, and then with remorse. The emotional impact of the scene comes from empathising with the characters' emotions– not through some sappy music playing in the background. Melodrama is not a part of Touch's itinerary, and it's all the more brilliant for it.

Despite being an anime focused on sports, Touch is easy for anybody to get into. Regardless of whether you're a fan of baseball or somebody who despises it, there isn't a huge focus on the sport itself. Sure, there is the occasional match that will stretch on for several episodes, but it's fundamentally there as a way to develop the characters. There is never any complex baseball terminology to impede your enjoyment (or understanding) of the matches. And thankfully, the obnoxious "spectators in the stands explain every single thing that the players do" cliché is kept to a minimum. The sports genre really, really needs to stop doing that!

Touch is almost 30 years old and still has one of the best soundtracks today. Many of the tracks continued to give me chills even after the third, fifth, and tenth time they played. In particular is Hoshi no Silhouette (Kazuya's theme), motivational on the same level as the Gurren Lagann soundtrack or even the Rocky theme. The openings of Touch also represent a distinct mood of each arc in the story. By the time the depressing second opening kicks in (immediately after the tragedy), it becomes evident that Touch isn't the carefree rom-com that it first seemed to be. The fifth and final opening is also superb, fitting in perfectly with Tatsuya's struggle in the last few episodes, and the credits slowly fading in and out gives the impression that the story has finally reached its climax, soon to end. I don't think it would be an exaggeration to say that it is my favourite anime opening of all time.

The artwork is fantastic for its time. Even if you aren't particularly drawn to 80's and 90's animation, the age ceases to be noticeable after the first dozen episodes. Adachi Mitsuru's character designs hold up well even to this day (although the background characters can sometimes look identical to each other) and the overall art style steadily matures as the story progresses. A few three-to-five second batting sequences are reused here and there throughout the story, which can be a bit jarring, but to otherwise keep such a high quality for 101 episodes is nothing short of commendable.

It is difficult to review an anime that has changed my life in many ways. How can you critically define emotion? How can you be certain that anybody else will feel the same way? You can't– humans are inconsistent creatures. There are many things that Touch does exceptionally well, but I don't believe that Touch is merely an exceptional anime. It is something more than that. It's a life-affirming, empowering journey that brings the tarnished word "epic" back to its true meaning. Epic not for its length (which is a colossal 101 episodes), its scope, or even its story, but for its ability to show us just how much we can grow.

Whether you admire it from a distance or feel an intense emotional impact, or whether you dislike older stories and adore the new, Touch is the kind of anime that should be experienced by everyone. It is more than a classic. It's an achievement for the anime industry as a whole.

I'm just glad I found an anime like Touch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 10

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Jul 9, 2021

RoxyRenee

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Preliminary (63/101 eps)

This anime is incredibly slow and some of the characters are frustrating, it's over rated and yes, I am keeping in mind this was created in the 80s. There are some good rivalries that keep you interested but there is soo much non baseball drama going on and not enough baseball drama considering this is a baseball anime.

Before going further let me start off by saying I'm only 63 episodes in. I plan to watch all but if this doesn't get updated then my rating stands.

--- MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS GOING FORWARD ---

Story 6/10: The story is alright. It has some points what make ... you binge watch and at other times it's so slow and boring you just want to skip. The slowness is understandable in the beginning when they are trying to build characters and get you emotionally involved with them, however there is a little too much slowness in the pace that is unnecessary. You already know Kazuya is going to die from the other descriptions of the anime. "a tragedy hits" well with two competing brothers that's obvious. Because the baseball rivalries keep me interested is the only reason it scored 6/10 for me. There aren't enough games either, where are the practice matches? The plays are also rushed and don't feel like they're putting enough emphasis on the game itself

Art 5/10: I mean it was made in the 80s so it obviously won't compare to anime of today, but it feels mediocre compared to Dragonball (82) & Akira (88). It also isn't completely horrible like others of it's time. This anime lands right in between the two.

Sound 6/10: The music is alright, again suited for the 80s in which the anime was created. The opening songs don't really get me pumped for the show in any way. But again if you compare it to todays anime openings that are like miniature trailers it's no wonder.

Characters 5/10: The main characters are somewhat frustrating. I have broken down the characters below with the most issues. Some of the characters aren't too bad and the development individually can be seen for some as a pose to others. There are some that had no reason to even make an appearance.

Uesugi, Tatsuya - Isn't actually lazy like the description indicates. He pretends so that his twin brother Uesugi, Kazuya can have the spotlight. He doesn't want to see his brother upset from losing so he himself doesn't try. As a result he never honed his talents so naturally became second as his brother worked really hard to become the best. He secretly loves their childhood friend Asakura, Minami but submits to his brother for no reason. Even though he gives his brother and Asakura, Minami all the time in the world to be close he still sulks and gets upset about his brother making a move. After his brother dies, he still isn't vocal about his feelings towards Asakura, Minami but wants to act like he's a boyfriend and get mad at her getting attention from being a gymnast or getting attention from other guys. (the guys part is mainly her fault though and I will explain why when we get to her) When Nitta, Yuka starts to show interest in him she won't take his subtle hints about him not being interested and he doesn't say it directly to her either. Which is annoying, stop leading the girl on to believe she has some sort of a chance. That being said over time you can see a real change in him starting when he started the boxing club.

Uesugi, Kazuya - He knows he doesn't compare to his older brother but still basks in the spotlight his brother lets him have. He doesn't even try to get his brother to try harder without using Asakura, Minami as the prize. He acts like Asakura, Minami is property to be owned and even though he knows that she doesn't like him like that he persistently tries to force his feelings on her. To the point where he tells her she's going to ask for her hand. It's almost like he's afraid of losing to his brother so he's trying to own her permanently. He never sticks up for his brother even though his brother holding back is the reason why he was able to become the best. His brother is call the stupid brother and Kazyua just lets them.

Asakura, Minami - Is the most annoying female character known to man. I just want to punch her. She is childhood friends with both Uesugi, Kazuya & Uesugi, Tatsuya and has shown favoritism to Kazuya since they were children. When Kazuya finally tells her he loves her instead of answering him she tells Tatsuya she loves him. This puts both brothers in a competitive state where they want to compete for her Kazuya becomes more rushed and tries to control the situation with ownership (see above) and Tatsuya now feels like he's not good enough because she is always giving more attention to Kazuya. When Kazuya tells her he is going to ask for her hand in marriage she starts to cry. Why? just tell him you aren't interested in him. You lead him on and then get upset when he's serious. She also manipulates Kazuya by telling him to take her to Koshien. Of course he's going to want to take you if he feels like you'll love him more if he takes you. When Kazuya dies, she then does the same this to Tatsuya, she starts giving more attention to Nitta, Akio. She hides herself in his hospital room when Tatsuya went looking for her and visits Nitta, Akio everyday when she didn't need to do that more than once or twice. She knows that Tatsuya gets jealous but she does it anyway. Then gets surprised when Nitta, Akio shows interest in her. She doesn't deny that she thinks Tatsuya as her boyfriend when Akio asks but she also doesn't deny Akio in the same way she didn't Kazuya. She then gets jealous when Tatsuya is getting attention from Nitta, Yuka. She also has Nishimura, Isami interested in her. Instead of telling him herself she's not interested she wants Tatsuya to act like a controlling boyfriend and make him back off. When she gets kicked off the baseball team as a manager because she is prioritizing her gymnastics club and they already have a manager, she gets angry and wants Tatsuya to do something about it. Why don't you do something yourself like quit gymnastics. The coach wasn't wrong when he said they don't need a manager who is only half ass-ing their role. You are not the center of the world get over yourself. For being childhood friends with both Tatsuya and Kazyua she really doesn't actually get Tatsuya, she's always putting him down around others who believe in him. Like when the baseball team was first trying to recruit him she kept saying there was no way he could do it, he isn't going to follow through blah blah blah yet, at this point he was doing very well in the boxing club. When she finally went to see his match because Kazyua was dead and wasn't in the baseball club anymore, she distracted him by yelling and she told his friend to make the match stop because it was dangerous. At this point he has been in the boxing club long enough that if you really cared you would have said something at the beginning. She also pretends like she doesn't know what's going on and plays innocent way too much. Almost like she's the victim.

Yoshida, Takeshi - is a pitcher rivalry to Tatsuya. It would have been a great rivalry because they portrayed it very good through character's personality and actions, however, after a few episodes they just get rid of him by making him move away. So what was the point.

Nitta, Akio - is a baseball rivalry for Tatsuya, originally Kazuya. His character is a good match for the rivalry between the two and you actually want to watch the development between the two.

Coach - the coach they bring in as the interim coach is extremely drastic in his methods to make the team better. This may be because it was created in the 80s and the abusive nature of the coach was realistic for dramatic purposes. Unlike now a days where it's absolutely not okay in society. If you can look past that and see why the coach needed to be so drastic you could understand.

Nitta, Yuka - is the younger sister of Nitta, Akio and is supposed to bring the romance rivalry into play. She's annoying when she's being clingy to Tatsuya and fake when she pretends to be nice to others. She runs into people or gets in their way and then blames them, however this is how her character is supposed to be in order to show she's young. So it's more normal than the annoyances that come from Asakura, Minami.

Matsudaira, Koutarou - is the catcher and was close to Kazuya before he died. His character is annoying at this point because he acts like Tatsuya isn't the one who lost his twin brother like he himself was the closest to Kazuya, so he acts like a brat for a while especially when Tatsuya wants to join the baseball club and he's the only one against it. Other than that he's a great supporting character

The other characters don't really matter, they're real character supporters.

Enjoyment 6/10: It depends on the individual person whether this is enjoyable or not. For me only episode chunks are enjoyable. Overall the anime is paced incredibly slow for no reason. Which makes me feel bored watching.


Overall 6/10: I give this a 6/10 If you were to condense the episodes to the only ones that matter for character development and rivalry and baseball games then maybe it would be better. I feel obligated to finish it in its entirety and that's the only reason I haven't dropped it. It also doesn't start to get really interesting till you get to the 30s episodes after seeing the brother die. And they don't really show a lot of the effects of his death either. I would understand if they used that to slow down the pace of the show but they didn't. The few episode that catch my attention is what keeps it interesting.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Nov 28, 2023

Muta-

Not Recommended

Funny

This anime is ridiculously boring, like to an extent that is incomprehensible. You'd have to be strapped to a chair to watch this plotless disaster of a show with more 2 minute pauses per episode than one piece.

The first 26 episodes are apparently the "setting", yet nothing really happens. A confession is made and the anime should end right there, yet it goes on for 80 or so more episodes.

I recommend not watching this! People get a ego and admiration for old shows with low member counts, to fill their ego of finding "hidden gem anime." This isn't a hidden gem. This is hidden ... for a reason, no one wants to watch this.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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