“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!”
 Alternative TitlesJapanese: ONE OUTS InformationType: Manga
Volumes: 20
Chapters: 175
Status: Finished
Published: Nov 14, 1998 to Aug 15, 2006
Genre:
Sports
Demographic:
Seinen
Serialization:
Business Jump Authors:
Kaitani, Shinobu (Story & Art) Statistics Ranked: #1282 2 based on the top manga page. Please note that 'R18+' titles are excluded. Popularity: #510
Members: 35,523
Favorites: 1,318 Resources | Reviews
Filtered Results: 9 / 9
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Sep 1, 2010
“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 ... 
Aug 22, 2015
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. 
Nov 8, 2014
Honesty, this is the best manga I have read so far. The storyline was brilliant, and Tokuchi is simply outstanding. His hair and personality kind of remind me of Hiruma. Although I do not really like sports or stuff like that, I found this to be so much fun, mosty because sports was not the main focus. Needless to say, once I started reading, I simply could not let go of it. Things that Tokuchi did, the way he played other people around his little finger, his personality and the brains to make any situation go in his favour left me with a wide ear-to-ear
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Jan 16, 2017 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 ... 
Nov 20, 2012
Warning: I am not a very good. . . reviewer? So, uhh, beware. *flicks booger at screen.*
*Gintoki comes along and highfives me.* *shot for bad Gintama reference.* - Alright, to be blunt, i'm not a sports person. I'm not even athletic, and i have the stamina of a dying cat that is being weighed down by fifty pounds. i dont even like sports. However, i am easily persuaded by manga- for instance, after One Outs, i liked baseball. After Kurogane, i liked kendo. After Kuroko no Basuke, i liked basketball. After Eyeshield 21 and Prince of Tennis. . . well you get it. So ... 
Nov 29, 2023
I'll start off by saying that this is a criminally under-popular manga even though it belongs in the sports genre and generally sports anime/manga are more on the popular side. I've personally never seen or cared for Baseball and the only reason I decided to read this is because of two things.
1. I found the name "One outs" extremely cool (I mean, it definitely is a cool name for a series) 2. I was interested in the Main character. Now on to the review, Enter Tokuchi Toua, One of THE MOST cunning and psychotic protagonists I've ever seen in anime/manga. I'll put him right up there alongwith Madara ... 
Mar 14, 2024
Possibly the greatest work of fiction in existence. Truly a masterpiece, deserving of numerous readings. One Outs is a story about baseball, but at the same time so much more than that. One Outs is about making friends and enemies, about victory and defeat, about destiny and determination, about the underlying parts of human existence.
The protagonist Tokuchi Toua is truly like no other. Protagonists should overcome some kind of personal weakness in order to grow, instead Tokuchi asks why don't they think to just overcome weakness by increasing their strengths? Protagonists should get the reader to engage with their goals, instead Tokuchi's goal is merely ... 
Jun 6, 2020
I feel like it is truly hard to appreciate One Outs as a story if you don't go in mostly blind. Everything from the characters to the overall pacing of time and events in the story is so well done that at the point of writing this review, this has become one of my favorite sports stories of all time. This manga truly goes in directions you will not expect, and turns tired tropes you see in most typical sports shonen esque manga on their head in the best kind of way. I do not wish to go into detail but as an example I
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Dec 14, 2015
One Outs is a good choice for you if you enjoy any kind of battle of wits, situations where you would have to know how to take advantage of your own disadvantages or how to create a disadvantage out of someone elses advantage.
The story is mostly built on those kind of situations, which are really well thought out and will leave you in awe at best, still kinda impressed at the worst. The point the story will try to drive across is that in order to win, you have to have your mind solely focused on winning, nothing else matters. Not any distraction. Clear ... |
