''Major 2nd'' (stylized as ''MAJOR 2nd'') is a Japanese

sports Sport pertains to any form of competitive physical activity or game that aims to use, maintain, or improve physical ability and skills while providing enjoyment to participants and, in some cases, entertainment to spectators. Sports can, th ...

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series written and illustrated by

Takuya Mitsuda is a Japanese manga artist from Fukuyama City, Hiroshima Prefecture. He has published his works primarily in Shogakukan's manga magazine, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday''. He is best known for his long-running baseball manga ''Major'' for which he won ...

. It is a sequel to the original manga series ''

Major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

''. It has been serialized in

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

's ''

Weekly Shōnen Sunday is a weekly ''shōnen'' manga magazine published in Japan by Shogakukan since March 1959. Contrary to its title, ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' issues are released on Wednesdays. ''Weekly Shōnen Sunday'' has sold over 1.8billion copies since 1986, ...

'' since March 2015. An

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series adaptation aired on

NHK Educational TV , abbreviated on-screen as NHK E, is the second television service of NHK (Japan Broadcasting Corporation). It is a sister service of NHK General TV, showing programs of a more educational, cultural or intellectual nature, periodically also sh ...

from April to September 2018. A second season aired from April to November 2020.

Characters

Main characters

; :Position: Catcher : :The eldest son of Goro Shigeno and captain of Fūrin Middle School's baseball club. ; :Position: Pitcher, Catcher : :Toshiya's son and Daigo's teammate and rival. ; :Position: Pitcher, Outfielder : :Daigo's classmate and vice-captain of Fūrin Middle School's baseball club.

Mifune Dolphins

; :Position: Pitcher : :Daigo's teammate and Mifune's main and finest pitcher. ; :Position: Catcher : :Daigo's teammate and Mifune's main and finest catcher.

Ōbi Middle School

; :Position: Pitcher : :Ken's daughter and Wataru's twin sister. She is a southpaw pitcher. ; :Position: Catcher : :Ken's son and Michiru's twin brother. He is a catcher. ; :

Family Members

; : :Gōrō's daughter and Daigo's older sister.

Fūrin Middle School

; :Position: Pitcher, Outfielder : ; :Position: Shortstop : : ; :Position: Second Baseman : : ; :Position: Catcher, Outfielder : : ; :Position: Center Fielder : :Daughter of Fujī, from the original Major series. ; :Position: Third Baseman : : ; :Position: First Baseman : : ; : : ; :Position: Pitcher : :

Media

Manga

''Major 2nd'', written and illustrated by

, began in

's ''

'' on March 11, 2015. In November 2018, the series was put on hiatus, and resumed its publication in April 2019. In October 2021, it was announced that the manga would enter an extended hiatus due to Mitsuda's poor physical health; the manga resumed publication on October 26, 2022. Shogakukan has collected its chapters into individual ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. The first volume was released on June 12, 2015. As of November 18, 2021, twenty-four volumes have been released.

Anime

In October 2017, an

television series adaptation of ''Major 2nd'' was announced. It aired from April 7 to September 22, 2018 on

. A second season with the same main cast and staff from the first season premiered on April 4, 2020. Episodes were delayed and rescheduled due to the ongoing

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The season finished on November 7, 2020.

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

streamed the series with English subtitles.

Reception

As of April 2018, the ''Major 2nd'' manga had 5.6 million copies in circulation, for the first 13 volumes.

References

External links

*
''Major 2nd'' official anime website at NHK
* * * {{OLM Anime postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic Anime productions suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic Anime series based on manga Baseball in anime and manga Crunchyroll anime NHK original programming OLM, Inc. Shogakukan manga Shōnen manga