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Cross Game is the story of Ko Kitamura and the four neighboring Tsukishima sisters, Ichiyo, Wakaba, Aoba, and Momiji whose parents own the local baseball batting centre. Wakaba and Ko were born on the same day in the same hospital and are close enough to boyfriend/girlfriend as 11 year olds can be. Aoba, one year younger than them and a keen baseball player, hates how Ko is "taking" her sister away from her. However all that changes after tragedy strikes the Tsukishima family affecting the relationship between Ko, Wakaba and Aoba. After a time skip of 4 years the show begins in earnest ... following Ko as he enters high school and his attempt to guide his team to reach the finals of the baseball tournament.

Cross Game is based off the shonen sports manga by Mitsuru Adachi, and in many ways Cross Game follows the standard shonen sports manga formula. A talented individual joins an underachieving team and as the team ‘level’s up’ through it’s many challenges including attempts to disestablish the team they finally reach their goal. It contains copious amounts of baseball .. and in one case one crucial game spans 3 episodes! Normally I’d run a mile from such a show. While I don’t mind baseball I’m certainly not a fan and my preference for anime is generally not shonen. Yet I’m going to recommend Cross Game and even more, I consider it a masterpiece. Why you ask? The answer is simple .. the characters that inhabit and develop within the baseball world created by Mitsuru Adachi, along with the awesome comedy.

Visually Cross Game looks childish in its animation style with very ‘retro’ character designs based off Mitsuru Adachi distinctive manga style. You would almost be forgiven in thinking that this was an american cartoon instead of an anime with it’s muted colours. That doesn’t mean that the show skimps on it’s animation. Just don’t expect it to look like Angel Beats. Soundtrack wise there are a couple of awesome insert songs but apart from that the soundtrack is pretty sparse and just lets you enjoy the show.

Anyway, I think that you’ll be able to tell after the first two episodes whether you’d like Cross Game. Personally it’s .. well it’s probably the only sports anime I’ve bothered to complete and it’s one of my favorite shows.

While the Manga has been licenced and been published in english, currently the anime is sitting with Vis Media (who licensed the manga) and has yet to see a DVD release.