You know, being from Boston I get swept up with Red Sox Nation every time the season rolls around. The excitement, fervor, and insanity that envelopes everything surrounding Fenway takes over everywhere you look. Commercials, news, and sports shows all feature the stars and highlights, and going to Fenway is one of my favorite things to do. You know what though? Baseball is boring as all hell. And an anime made about baseball? Yeah, that’s kind of boring too.

<I>Big Windup</I> came out in Japan in 2007, but it wasn’t until 2009 that FUNimation brought the license to the States. Now, a year or so later, the numero uno publisher as inducted the series into the S.A.V.E. lineup. All 26 episodes of the series are presented on four DVDs in this release.

To be perfectly honest, <I>Big Windup</I> has a lot going for it. For starters there’s the uniqueness with the baseball theme. I mean, I can’t think of any other show out there that has baseball as its main premise. The show also tells an interesting enough story and features some good character development. The problem is the sum of the parts are only slightly greater than individual aspects, which leaves the show feeling like it never quite lives up to its potential.

The series starts out by introducing a whiny crybaby of a kid named Mihashi. In his middle school he was the “ace” pitcher for the baseball team, however, it was a position gained largely through nepotism since his grandfather ran the school. That probably would have been well and good, but the fact that his team didn’t win a game in the three years he refused to step down from the mound…well, I think you can figure out they didn’t get along well.

Seeing as his confidence has been dashed at the middle school, Mihashi decided to jump ship and attend a high school in a different region. The only problem is that he apparently loves baseball and when the opportunity arises to be a part of the new high school’s team, he takes it. You see, I say it’s a problem because Mihashi is still a whiny candy-ass. He spends the majority of the show talking about how much he loves pitching, but constantly cries about how much he sucks and how the team he’s on is going to lose, and everyone will hate him, blah, blah, blah. It makes his character largely unlikeable and was one of the problems I had with the series.

Fortunately, the characters that surround Mihashi more than make up for his shortcomings. The show really assembles a solid cast with a few standout personalities such as Abe the catcher, who really becomes Mihashi’s right hand man. If anything Abe is there to support Mihashi and help him to stop being such a pussy. It takes a while to get to that point, but <I>Big Windup</I> really gives these two characters time to develop. Other interesting characters include an energetic cleanup hitter, a busty coach, and a few other random players on the team.

The cast really comes together to give you the sense that Mihashi’s shortcomings on his middle school team had more to do with his peers rather than himself. Unfortunately the moral of the story that you can do anything if you’re confident enough just doesn’t work quite as well. This has more to do with Mihashi’s poor personality than anything else, but the show built up around him isn’t strong enough to support that.

Ultimately <I>Big Windup</I> is oddly paced and suffers from annoying characters and weaker elements (odd training exercises for one thing). It’s endearing at times and entertaining in parts, but to use a tongue-in-cheek metaphor; the show is a single or maybe a double, but never a homerun. If you’re okay with that and are interested in anime about baseball then this S.A.V.E. edition’s cost makes it a very affordable way to satisfy your curiosity.

<I>Big Windup</I> is presented on DVD with a 1.78:1 aspect ratio and has been enhanced for anamorphic playback. The show looks good with clean lines, smooth animation, and an all around sharp image. Colors are nicely saturated and there’s very little grain or compression to complain about. Occasionally there’s a little black line on the right hand side that flutters. I’m not sure what it is, but it’s not super distracting. The audio comes with Japanese 2.0 and English 5.1 and features a suitable mix for the action. This is a dialogue heavy show and not necessarily the most dynamic, but the presentation is just fine anyway.

Clean animations and trailers are the only bonus features you’re going to find here.

Ultimately I’d say <I>Big Windup</I> is worth checking out if you’re a huge baseball nut and don’t mind wimpy characters. It was unique and interesting enough to keep me going until the end, though Mihashi continuously annoyed the crap out of me. This S.A.V.E. release should seal the deal for most would-be interested parties.

Consider this one lightly recommended.

<I>Review material provided by FUNimation</I>

Tags: Anime, DVD, FUNimation, Review