One Outs

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Japanese: ONE OUTS

Information

Type: Manga

Volumes: 20

Chapters: 175

Status: Finished

Published: Nov 14, 1998 to Aug 15, 2006

Genre: Sports

Themes: Adult Cast, Psychological, Team Sports

Demographic: Seinen

Serialization: Business Jump

Authors: Kaitani, Shinobu (Story & Art)

Statistics

Score: 8.54¹ (scored by 12,561 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #127²

² based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #518

Members: 36,032

Favorites: 1,328

Resources

Wikipedia

8.54

Ranked #127Popularity #518Members 36,032

MangaBusiness JumpKaitani, Shinobu (Story & Art)

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Volumes: /20

Chapters: /175

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Synopsis

Toua Tokuchi, a master of gambling and mind games, holds the remarkable record of 499 wins and zero losses in "One Outs," a simplified form of baseball that consists of only a batter and a pitcher. Visiting Okinawa, Tokuchi's hometown, is Hiromichi Kojima, the star batter of the Saikyou Saitama Lycaons, the weakest team in the Japanese baseball league. Dreaming of leading the Lycaons to winning the championship, and in dire need of a replacement for their injured pitcher during a training camp, Kojima involves himself in a game of One Outs, only to lose to a normal fastball from the seemingly invincible Tokuchi.

Mesmerized by his prowess, Kojima recruits Tokuchi to the team after narrowly avoiding defeat in a rematch, believing he might just be their key to victory. However, the greedy owner of the Lycaons refuses to give him a decent salary, leading Tokuchi to suggest an unusual contract: every out he pitches will gain him five million yen, but every run he gives up will lose him fifty million yen. With his fate now tied to that of the team, Tokuchi's fight to bring the Lycaons to victory becomes yet another gamble—the very thing that he does best.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Characters

Tokuchi, Toua

Main

Ideguchi, Satoshi

Main

Kojima, Hiromichi

Main

Takami, Itsuki

Supporting

Big Mama

Supporting

Johnson, Dennis

Supporting

Saikawa, Tsuneo

Supporting

Kawanaka, Junichi

Supporting

Mihara, Yuuzaburou

Supporting

Oikawa, Mitsuo

Supporting

Reviews

Sep 1, 2010

Hattori_Hanzo

Recommended

“What does it mean to be a winner, the last one standing? It means to climb over a mountain of corpses to get to the top. By no means is it a glorious sight to behold, and in fact, it is extremely cruel. Even so, if you still wish to seek victory... then you must become a devil.”

Tokuchi Toua’s words reverberate through Kojima Hiromichi’s mind as he steps up in the decisive showdown against their biggest opponents, the all-star Chiba Mariners team. Kojima is the cleanup batter of the struggling baseball team, Saikyou Saitama Lycaons. Even though he is regarded as a local hero, he ... has never won the championship. At the age of 43, this season might be his very last chance. It has only been a year since he first encountered this extraordinary young man in an underground baseball gamble called “One Outs”. After convincing him to join Lycaons, Tokuchi has slowly and miraculously transformed one of the weakest team around into a title contender. Will Kojima finally be able to fulfill his lifelong wish and lead his team to glory?

One Outs is not your typical sports manga. Created by Kaitani Shinobu (author of Liar Game), One Outs doesn’t gloss itself with pompous values such as teamwork, sportsmanship, hard work, determination or friendship. Tossing all naivety aside, it portrays the baseball game as a place where the victor walks over the fallen and the winner takes all. To win, you must deceive, cheat, and manipulate your adversaries, even your very own team mates. What makes One Outs truly unique is that it is all about trickery and mind games… in baseball.

The centerpiece of this manga is undoubtedly Tokuchi Toua. He is probably one of the slickest and most badass characters in town. He is a 134-kmph pitcher who can only throw straight balls. Laughable in professional baseball’s standard. However, Tokuchi is the ultimate trickster. Behind his arrogant and nonchalant demeanor, lies the ability to read everyone like a book. He deceives and manipulates everyone to dance around at his whim. Once Tokuchi catches hold of his opponent’s weaknesses, he will exploit them ruthlessly and utterly destroy the very core of their spirit, all the while mocking at their foolishness. Whatever you throw at him, be it true skill, cheating or foul play, he will always be able to counter it with an ingenious strategy. All is fair game and only the winner defines what justice is.

The other characters are pretty much forgettable and have little role to play. Seriously. One Outs is a one-man showpiece, letting you gush at the awesomeness of the protagonist. But that isn’t necessarily such a bad thing. Once you get into the story, Tokuchi works his charm and keeps you guessing his next move. The biggest disappointment is probably Kojima, since he is supposedly the heart and soul of the Lycaons team. Excusing the injury he suffered at the start of the story, he hardly makes any impact on the outcome of the matches.

The story itself is full of intrigue. The One Outs contract that Tokuchi signed with Lycaons sets the stage for the high stakes gamble between him and the owner. The owner, being the despicable money-grubbing bad guy, will resort to any means possible to destroy Tokuchi and win the bet. Throughout the Lycaon’s quest for the championship, Tokuchi is pitted against all kinds of opponents: from the fastest base runner, a genius batter with unrivalled in-motion vision, a master tactician, an expert cheating team and even sabotage by his own team mates. This is where the story draws you in. Cliffhangers and suspense are aplenty. You know Tokuchi is gonna kick everyone’s butt but you just have no idea how. And he’s never going to reveal it until the very end. The strategies and schemes used are brilliant, and the execution by Tokuchi is near flawless. Be it the weather, the pitch, the people, or the game rules. He will find a way to bend them to his advantage.

Some people who watched the anime might complain that the story only revolves around the One Outs contract, making the matches pointless. However, Tokuchi has planned far ahead and everything he does has a far-reaching influence. The anime only covers the first half of the manga. Without spoiling too much, I can tell you that the third quarter is about a revised One Outs contract and the rest deviates from the contract completely. There is much more character development at the later stages, when Tokuchi tries to change the loser mentality of the Lycaons team and improve the team in his own unique way.

I do find the final stages of the story slightly lackluster. Even though it is nice to see another side of Tokuchi, trying to honor his promise with Kojima, it fails to build up the tension and reach a really climatic ending. I suppose it’s the result of the epic battles that were crafted out earlier, that the final showdown pales in comparison. In my opinion, this is what keeps One Outs from being a true masterpiece.

The artwork is nothing spectacular, but does its job and is fairly decent. I especially like how the mangaka draws the expressions of the characters. The drawing is believable and makes the comedic moments hit the mark perfectly when they occur, albeit occasionally. I have no complaints.

One Outs is a really fun read, especially if you like baseball and something intelligent. I never watch baseball games and barely know any rules. Nonetheless, I enjoyed it immensely. I don’t think I need to remind you again but Tokuchi really kicks ass!

“Nobody wins, but I!”

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Aug 22, 2015

Shinsuoh

Recommended

More than a sports manga with funny, action packed moments it deals a lot with the psychology & physical pressures of professional athletes in Baseball and shows a behind the scene look at sports corruption and politics. The main character Toa Tokuchi is a cool, calm, calculating gambling demon who will not hesitate to do what he has set out to do. Toa Tokuchi is the life & soul of this series and he is also a very distinguishable character in manga/anime history.

TYPE A series with a 9.2/10 rating.

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Jan 16, 2017

joodense

Mixed Feelings

Funny

IMO the other reviews on here are far too generous, this is the first review I've written on MAL, but felt the need to put my 2 cents out there since I'm the only one who wasn't blown away by One Outs.

The artwork is definitely simple, and has been criticized even by fans. I noticed inconsistencies and simple artwork in general, even stuff like a missing foot in one particular panel. For a sports manga, the action is simple and drawn clearly enough to tell what is going on, but not exciting. Characters stretch in impossible ways and a few of the character designs are ...

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Poll: One Outs Chapter 124 Discussion LegendGoldDark - Mar 6, 2014	1 replies	by Sun_Chan »» May 17, 2024 11:50 AM

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