Taishō Baseball Girls


Taishō Baseball Girls. is a light novel series written by Atsushi Kagurazaka and illustrated by Sadaji Koike. Tokuma Shoten has published four novels as of October 2013. The novels have been adapted to a drama CD, a manga serialized in Monthly Comic Ryū, and an anime television series aired in 2009. The TV series had been licensed in North America by Sentai Filmworks, anime distributor Section23 Films 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, introducing Koume, who is the 14-year-old daughter of a yōshoku 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-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.
;Koume Suzukawa : The main protagonist of story, second member and catcher of team. She is the daughter of a yōshoku restaurant owner. Her dream is to wear a sailor uniform.
;Akiko Ogasawara : Koume's closest friend, captain and pitcher of the team. She is from a wealthy family.
;Yuki Souya : 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. She supplied first baseball equipment for the team and also "stole" first team uniforms from her family kimono shop.
;Noe Kawashima : Third/fourth member and main strategist/tactician of the team.
;Tomoe Tsukubae : 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. Unlike her twin, she wears a sailor uniform for school. She shares a room with her twin in the school dorms.
;Shizuka Tsukubae : 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.
;Kyouko Sakurami : Seventh-eighth member. She has a large crush on Tomoe, and when Tomoe asked her to join – she agreed without thinking.
;Tamaki Ishigaki : Ninth member. Yuki's childhood friend. Initially she was the most skilled player in team.
;Kochou Kikusaka : Noriko's replacement. Before the baseball team she was on the track team.
;Anna Curtland : She is the English language teacher, class 2–1 homeroom teacher and the girls' coach.
NamePositionClassMembership order
Akiko OgasawaraPitcher2–1Initiator
Koume SuzukawaCatcher2–12nd
Shizuka TsukubaeFirst base2–16th
Yuki SouyaSecond Base2–13rd/4th
Tomoe TsukubaeThird Base2–15th
Tamaki IshigakiShortstop2–19th
Kyouko SakuramiLeft Fielder1–17th–8th
Owari Noriko
Center Fielder2–27th–8th
Kochou KikusakaCenter Fielder1–1—
Kawashima NoeRight Fielder2–13rd/4th

Others

;Noriko Owari : The newspaper club president. Initially she was seventh-eighth member, lately she retired from the team, but she stays their fan.
;Saburou Kitani : 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.
;Sousuke Iwasaki : 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.
;Banboku Takahara : 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 series

An anime television series based on the novel series, produced by J.C.Staff, was announced in August 2008, aired starting on TBS from July 2, 2009, to September 24, 2009, replacing K-On! in its timeslot. It was directed by Takashi Ikehata with character design by Kanetoshi Kamimoto, who is known for his design work for Takara Tomy toys. The anime had a length of 12 episodes and two 5-minute-long specials were released with the two first Blu-ray of the series.
The anime was licensed by Sentai Filmworks and the complete collection was released on November 16, 2010.

Drama CD

;Taishō Baseball Girls: Young Ladies Hiking

Manga

A manga series by Shimpei Itoh began in the September 2008 issue of Monthly Comic Ryū.

Novels

;Taishō Baseball Girls.
;Taishō Baseball Girls: Covered in Dust and Dirt
;Tokyo#Etymology
; Taishō Baseball Girls. 4''