Boukyaku Battery (TV)

Haruka Kiyomine and Kei Kaname were once recognized as the most formidable pitcher-catcher duo in middle school baseball. Known as the "General," Kaname paired his expert strategies with Kiyomine's explosive pitches, crushing the dreams of many starry-eyed players who hoped to one day make it to the big leagues.

High school freshman Tarou Yamada is one such former player. Having given up on competing, he enrolls in Kotesashi High School—a completely average public school with no baseball team to speak of—where he discovers that his new classmates are the legendary pair who once destroyed his dreams. Adding to this shocking revelation, he learns that amnesia has reduced the once level-headed General to a vulgar class clown. Having lost all interest in baseball, Kaname dragged a disappointed Kiyomine to Kotesashi simply because the school was close to where they live.

As Kotesashi forms a fledgling baseball club, Yamada meets other players he once admired who also left baseball behind. While they might be unwilling now, Yamada believes that if he can convince such talented athletes to start playing again, it might be possible to achieve their dreams and win the national championship—as long as they can put up with Kaname's incessant joking.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kaname, Kei Main

Miyano, Mamoru Japanese

Chihaya, Shunpei Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Toudou, Aoi Main

Azakami, Youhei Japanese

Kiyomine, Haruka Main

Masuda, Toshiki Japanese

Yamada, Tarou Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Tsuchiya, Kazuki Supporting

Yamaya, Yoshitaka Japanese

Iwasaki, Tsutomu Supporting

Kanao, Tetsuo Japanese

Takagi Supporting

Yanagita, Junichi Japanese

Toudou's Older Sister Supporting

Ueda, Hitomi Japanese

Takasu Supporting

Kijima, Ryuuichi Japanese

Tanaka, Shou Producer

Kimura, Makoto Producer

Hasegawa, Hiroya Producer

Kawamoto, Sachi Producer

Reviews

Sep 17, 2024

symiel

Recommended

It's a good sports anime. Not revolutionary, but solid. The problem was the first 3 episodes that almost got me to drop this series. Oblivion Battery didn't make the greatest first impression. It starts out pretty slow and one of the main characters (Kei) seems really annoying. Thankfully, as more cast is introduced, focus on his antics is somewhat dialed back and it becomes bearable, even endearing in a way. Maybe it's Stockholm Syndrome, but at this point his flagship joke "nipple hair" gets a chuckle out of me.

Story:
It's simple and fairly standard - an underdog public high school team aims for Koushien. What sets ... it apart is Kei’s amnesia, which is not my favorite plot device, but the premise of an elite player becoming an amateur again is interesting enough. It remains to be seen how stark differences between pre- and post-amnesia Kei’s personality will be resolved.

The show also knows when it should get more serious - characters’ backstories aren’t played for jokes.

Characters:
The cast is enjoyable and their interactions are funny. Some characters are kinda tropey - Chihaya is a smart and sassy four-eyes and Todo is a hotheaded brawn over brains guy. There’s also Tsuchiya the otaku.
Kiyomine seems bland, but the story hasn't properly focused on him yet, so it might change. His relationship with pre-amnesia Kei seems interesting, but we haven’t seen much of it in this season. Yamada is a likable everyman that glues together the team. Post-amnesia Kei has a cringy sense of humor, but has a heart in the right place.

Animation&Art:
It’s visually appealing, definitely not low-budget and it’s showing. The characters’ faces sometimes remind me of “Making Charlie Kirk’s face smaller” memes though.
It’s also got known VAs (Yuki Kaji, my beloved).

Enjoyment: 9/10
Obviously the least objective part of the review. Sports anime are my comfort shows, so if they aren’t doing anything especially bad, I’m going to like them. It was one of the shows I waited for the most every week. What I want from this genre is to see protagonists put in effort and develop friendships along the way and this anime delivers this.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 19, 2024

Wrosgar

Mixed Feelings

Funny

Informative

Watch episode 11.

Overall a good enough show. If you're into sports anime and a team coming together, there's a good chance you may like it - only if you overlook one of the main characters being overly obnoxious and almost had me stopping multiple times.

Whether you give the shot a shot or not, watch episode 11. Even if you give up part way through, or if you don't watch it at all. Watch episode 11. I think most people can grasp any missing info based on context in the episode, so no concern about being lost. But the overall animation and production level of that ... one single episode soars through the roof and as a standalone is a 10/10 episode. It's absolutely fantastic, and highly recommend anyone and everyone to watch that single episode if you appreciate high quality animation, standout cinematography, good use of sound, and solid pacing, you'll love this episode. It's seriously one of the best I've seen all year.

Do yourself a favor, and watch episode 11.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jun 19, 2024

Ondine_chan

Not Recommended

Preliminary (9/12 eps)

I am disappointed that MAPPA has released such a terrible baseball anime. I understand they tried to make a comedy anime, but if you take all the seriousness out of the sport and then add a completely childish main character who doesn't even want to play, it becomes a joke. I don't even understand what this anime is about; there is literally no character development, no joke that is actually funny for people with more than three brain cells, and it's just cringe, very cringe and boring. By episode 9, I thought maybe the anime would take a turn and Kei would regain his memory, ... and I would finally see an anime comparable to Haikyu!! But no, if you want to watch a baseball anime where the characters improve episode after episode, teach you the rules of the game, and you see interesting matches, THIS IS NOT THE ANIME YOU ARE LOOKING FOR. On the other hand, if you want to watch a high school teenager behave like a 6-year-old and five other teenagers trying to take baseball seriously while only embarrassing themselves in every game and losing disastrously, then this is your anime. Seriously, it's so cringe, so horrible, I gave it a score of 4, completely disappointing, it doesn't even deliver the basics, I DO NOT RECOMMEND IT.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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'Boukyaku Battery' Receives Second Season

The official website for the television anime adaptation of Eco Mikawa's Boukyaku Battery (Oblivion Battery) manga announced a second season on Sunday. The firs...read more

Nov 10, 10:18 AM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (18 comments)

Spring 2024 Simulcast List [Update 6/10]

In this thread, you'll find a comprehensive list of television anime acquired for simulcast release during the Spring 2024 season. Anime series licensed for hom...read more

Apr 5, 1:40 PM by Snow | Discuss (29 comments)

	Poll: Boukyaku Battery (TV) Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jul 2	52 replies	by IzayoiSk »» Nov 25, 9:13 AM
	Poll: Boukyaku Battery (TV) Episode 10 Discussion Stark700 - Jun 18	24 replies	by OokamiRisu »» Nov 13, 10:08 PM
	Season 2 confirmed Dbagas8 - Nov 10	7 replies	by Kimmy- »» Nov 10, 1:13 PM
	Poll: Boukyaku Battery (TV) Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Apr 9	62 replies	by BlaizeV »» Nov 4, 11:10 AM
	Poll: Boukyaku Battery (TV) Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Jun 25	45 replies	by Red »» Oct 6, 11:59 PM