is a Japanese

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a ''wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English languag ...

series written by Atsushi Kagurazaka and illustrated by Sadaji Koike.

Tokuma Shoten is a publisher in Japan, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. The company was established in 1954 by Yasuyoshi Tokuma in Minato, Tokyo. The company’s product portfolio includes music publishing, video game publishing, movies, anime, magazines, m ...

published four novels from April 2007 to June 2010. It has been adapted into a drama CD, a

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 serialized in ''

Monthly Comic Ryū is a Japanese monthly ''seinen'' manga and anime magazine published by Tokuma Shoten. The magazine was originally a quarterly special issue of ''Animage'', beginning in 1979 before switching to a monthly schedule and finally suspending publica ...

'', and 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 animated by

J.C.Staff , is a Japanese animation studio founded in January 1986 by Tomoyuki Miyata, who previously worked at Tatsunoko Production. The studio's first release was ''Yōtōden'' in 1987. They have produced several well-known anime series, such as '' Food ...

aired between July and September 2009. The anime had been licensed in North America by

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is S ...

and

Section23 Films SXION 23 LLC, doing business as Section23 Films is an American multimedia distributor based in Houston, Texas specializing in releasing anime and Japanese films. Established in 2009, Section23 is one of five successors to ADV Films; alongside Se ...

released the complete collection on November 16, 2010.

Story

In 1925, after being told by a baseball player that women should become housewives instead of going to school, two 14-year-old Japanese high school girls named Koume and Akiko decide to start a baseball team in order to prove him wrong. During this time, when even running was considered too vulgar for women, baseball is known as "what the boys do" and they face many difficulties when having to find enough members, to get permission from their parents and also when learning about the sport itself. The first book in the series opens in Taishō 14 (1925), introducing Koume, who is the 14-year-old daughter of a

yōshoku In Japanese cuisine, refers to a style of Western-influenced cooking which originated during the Meiji Restoration. These are primarily Japanized forms of European dishes, often featuring Western names, and usually written in katakana. It is an ...

restaurant owner, and a student at a local girls' academy. One day, Koume's friend, Akiko, asks her to join in an all-girl baseball team and have a match against a boys team. While the first volume can be read as a stand-alone work, the second volume develops the storyline further. The second book is set in the summer of Taishō 14. Koume, Akiko, Manoe and the rest of the nine members of the Baseball Girls continue to face off against numerous all-boy teams, and have trouble dealing with the fast balls thrown by the boys. To combat the anxiety they experience, playing against more experienced teams, they decide to abandon their traditional baseball uniforms in favor of a

kimono The is a traditional Japanese garment and the national dress of Japan. The kimono is a wrapped-front garment with square sleeves and a rectangular body, and is worn left side wrapped over right, unless the wearer is deceased. The kimono ...

-style uniform. The girls also partition off the batter's box so that other teams cannot see what they are doing. Apart from baseball, the series also deals with certain cultural changes that are not seen quite so often in anime. For example, the popular "sailor" school uniforms, now a staple of real-world Japanese schools, as well as school-based anime and manga, are only just being introduced into Japanese society during the Taishō period in which this work is based.

Characters

Main characters

The main characters are the members of the girls' baseball team ''Ouka-kai''. Most of the girls are from class 1–2 and the team's coach is their homeroom teacher. ; : The main protagonist of story, second member and

catcher Catcher is a Baseball positions, position in baseball and softball. When a Batter (baseball), batter takes their at bat, turn to hit, the catcher crouches behind home plate, in front of the (home plate, home) Umpire (baseball), umpire, and recei ...

of team. She is the daughter of a

restaurant owner. Her dream is to wear a sailor uniform. ; : Koume's closest friend, captain and

pitcher In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...

of the team. She is from a wealthy family. ; : Class president and childhood friend of Tamaki. She and Tamaki played baseball with boys when they were in elementary school. She is third/fourth team member: she spoke with Koume about their baseball team in the evening, but Koume didn't recognize her desire, and so Yuki repeated her request on the following day again (after Noe). She supplied first baseball equipment for the team (catcher mask, several

gloves A glove is a garment covering the hand. Gloves usually have separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb. If there is an opening but no (or a short) covering sheath for each finger they are called fingerless gloves. Fingerless glov ...

and balls) and also "stole" first team uniforms (western-like sport uniform) from her family kimono shop (it was too modern, so it didn't sell and was kept in storage). ; : Third/fourth member and main strategist/tactician of the team. ; : Fifth member and Shizuka's elder twin sister. She has a huge crush on Koume and joined the team to be closer to her. Before the baseball team, she was in the newspaper club. She is very athletic and her dream is to hit a

home run In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run i ...

. Unlike her twin, she wears a sailor uniform for school. She shares a room with her twin in the school dorms. ; : Sixth member and Tomoe's younger twin sister. Before the baseball team, she was also in the newspaper club. Unlike her twin, she normally dresses in traditional Japanese clothing. ; : Seventh-eighth member. She has a large crush on Tomoe, and when Tomoe asked her to join – she agreed without thinking. ; : Ninth member. Yuki's childhood friend. Initially she was the most skilled player in team. ; : Noriko's replacement. Before the baseball team she was on the track team. ; : She is the English language teacher, class 2–1 homeroom teacher and the girls' coach.

Others

; : The newspaper club president. Initially she was seventh-eighth member (she was forced to join by Tomoe because she owed her money), lately she retired from the team, but she stays their fan. ; : A young man who's a promising chef and works in the Suzukawa's restaurant. He becomes Koume's fiancé through arranged marriage in the middle of the anime. ; : Akiko's arranged finance. He held chauvinistic views believing women belonged only in domestic roles prompting Akiko to take up baseball. He changes after playing against her. ; : One of Iwasaki's fellow baseball players, due to a misunderstanding he self-proclaims himself Koume's boyfriend henceforth becoming extremely rude and pushy about it.

Media

Anime

television series adaptation animated by

was announced in August 2008 and aired for 12 episodes on TBS from July 2 to September 24, 2009, replacing ''

K-On! is a Japanese four-panel manga series written and illustrated by Kakifly serialized in Houbunsha's ''Manga Time Kirara'' magazine between the May 2007 and October 2010 issues, and also serialized in Houbunsha's ''Manga Time Kirara Carat ...

'' in its timeslot. It was written and directed by Takashi Ikehata with character designs by Kanetoshi Kamimoto, who is known for his design work for

Tomy is a Japanese entertainment company that makes children's toys and merchandise. It was created from a merger on March 1st 2006 of two companies: Tomy (founded in 1924 as Tomiyama, changing the name to Tomy in 1963) and long-time rival Tak ...

toys. The anime was licensed in North America by

and the complete collection was released on November 16, 2010.

Drama CD

; :Audio CD, 72 minutes, 7 tracks, Frontier Works, FCCN-0032, 21 December 2007.

Manga

A manga series by

Shimpei Itoh is a Japanese manga artist. His best-known works include ''Moldiver'' and ''Hyper Doll''. He recently began a new series, '' Taishō Baseball Girls'', based on the light novels by Atsushi Kagurazaka. Itoh's works are characterized by fight teams ...

was published in ''

'' from July 19, 2008, to February 19, 2011 and collected into five volumes.

Novels

; :221 pages, April 17, 2007, , Tokuma Shoten ; :202 pages, August 20, 2008, , Tokuma Shoten ; :212 pages, July 2009, , Tokuma Shoten ; : 224 pages, June 17, 2010, , Tokuma Shoten

References

External links

大正野球娘。at Comic Ryu
(official site)
Official anime site
(at TBS) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Taisho Baseball Girls 2007 Japanese novels 2008 manga 2010 video games Anime and manga based on light novels Baseball in anime and manga Baseball novels J.C.Staff Japan-exclusive video games Light novels PlayStation Portable games PlayStation Portable-only games Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Suzak Inc. games Taishō period in fiction TBS Television (Japan) original programming Tokuma Shoten manga Video games based on anime and manga Video games developed in Japan Women's baseball Works about women's sports