Oct 2, 2009
Taishou Yakyuu Musume was a nice surprise in this Summer 2009 season.
While most "moe-oriented" shows nowadays tend to let their own cuteness take over and steal the spotlight, Taishou avoids this pitfall by not letting go of the baseball focus but few times when to flesh out their characters.
As a slice-of-life show, the most remarkable aspect in this anime is the setting, which takes place in Japan’s 20s, providing an interesting background for the story to unfold. The cultural differences between now and then are definitely the show’s greatest highlight, because it not even once stops being interesting. This show is a great look on
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the uprising of feminism, which even if I can’t say it’s historically correct in the context of this decade, is deeply associated in this case with the girls’ interest in baseball. This theme is handled with subtlety.
You aren’t required to know the rules of baseball to enjoy this anime, but if you’re a baseball fan you should definitely check it out as it certainly has a different approach than most sports shounen anime… it is more similar to that of slice-of-life/moe shows, but without losing the focus of what it is all about - of course, the "train and and you'll get better" aspect is still present. If you’re joyed by all things cute you can get into this blindfolded, as you’ll go crazy in the very first minutes when Koume sings us a song to introduce old Tokyo. Additionally, this is can be very interesting for anyone who’s into pre-World War II Japan.
The characters in this show aren’t really anything special, and they mostly fit the common moe stereotypes. In the short spam of 12 episodes, it’s impossible to flesh out and develop all of them, but it manages to be satisfying at least for the main lead Koume. Although you may be lead into thinking this anime is full of yuri undertones, they’re non-canon... well, maybe except for one or two characters taking "friendship" a bit too far, and real fangirl for her Onee-sama... so I guess it manages to satisfy both shoujo-ai goggles addicts and not, with such it's large, sympathetic cast. Meanwhile there are some romantic developments here and there too (not between girls), so this really is a show for anyone who just finds the girls to be adorable. The side-characters are very interesting too, due to the setting’s influence – I especially enjoyed Koume’s interaction with her parents, since she hid her hobby from them, while they hold expectations common of that era. I’ll leave this unspoiled to not break down your enjoyment of the series.
J.C. Staff did a nice job with the production. The animation is pretty colorful without being too hard on the eyes and fluctuates from basic to very fluid, when they're playing baseball, for example. The soundtrack doesn’t really shine but it’s fitting, and the OP/ED themes are especially catchy, sung by the golden cast of voice actors who all perform top-notch...
What could be overlooked as terribly generic, manages to be very entertaining overall, even if a bit simple and formulaic. This is a great show for anyone looking for a short, fun, cute and yet thrilling experience and doesn’t mind if the characters don’t undergo some deep study or development, even if they’re doing something supposedly groundbreaking.
Reviewer’s Rating: 8
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