One Outs
| One Outs | |
|---|---|
 THE SMUGGEST PITCHER | |
| Original Manga | Shinobu Kaitani |
| Director | Yuzo Sato |
| Music | Akihiko Matsumoto |
| Format | Anime (TV) |
| Made By | Madhouse |
| Episode Length | 22 Minutes |
| # of Episodes | 25 |
Contents
Genre
Sports, Psychological, Gambling
Sum it up in a Sentence:
An gambler takes up a high-stakes contract with a baseball team that hasn't won a title in years.
Main Description
Hiromichi Kojima, the star batter of the Lycaons, heads to Okinawa to train and bring himself out of a slump. There, he meets Toua Tokuchi, a 134-kmph/83 mph pitcher and the undisputed king of a gambling form of baseball called "One Out." At Kojima's urging, Tokuchi signs up with the Lycaons. His contract differs form the usual, though, in that he gets 5,000,000 yen for every out he pitches, but loses 50,000,000 yen for every point he gives up.
If You Liked This, You Might Like...
- Liar Game (By the same Author)
- Akagi
- Kaiji
- Death Note
Personal Opinions
Roflfox
Baseball, the great American pastime. The great... alright well let's be honest. Baseball isn't exactly the most exciting thing in the world to watch unless you're a statistics nerd, but Japan's got a solution for that. Enter One Outs, the story of Tokuchi Toua, the most fabulous pitcher you'll ever meet. Toua joins up with the Lyacons, a down-on-their-luck team that's got no hope for changing their losing ways. The catch? Toua's contract means he loses big time money for every one run he gives up, while making a pretty decent gain with every out.
This is what makes One Outs so fun to watch and such a different take on the game itself. This isn't just about baseball, the sport takes a back seat to the mind games Toua plays with his opponents, his teammates, and the Lyacon's Owner who will stop at nothing to bankrupt Toua and keep him from making off with a fortune. It's like Akagi meets Death Note, only with baseball. In addition to it's unique premise, One Outs boasts a funktastic jazz soundtrack written by Akihiko Matsumoto that keeps the flow going and fits the mood perfectly.
The only real downside to the show is that the first three episodes, which serve as an introduction to Toua's character before he joins the team, are extremely slow. Once you hit the fourth episode mark though it takes off, and with every coming cliffhanger you'll find yourself hard pressed to hit stop.
OldTimeyprospector
One Outs is a pretty great show, if you're not a huge baseball nut and can a) deal with there being a fairly small amount of baseball actually going on and b) suspend your disbelief about the rampant cheating and shenanigans going on in a "professional" league. Tokuchi is a fantastically lovable bastard of a main character, though the rest of the cast is pretty flat. I definitely enjoyed the show, but I found the ending to be a bit abrupt, and there wasn't really any resolution or wrap-up, so I felt like I was left somewhat hanging. All told, though, it's definitely worth checking out.
Keyboard Kid
One Outs is a great watch from start to finish. It has a tight, tense plot that really keeps you hooked. As other posters mentioned, it's not really about the game of baseball, but the games of cheating and strategy, which is far more entertaining to me. I finished the series in two days, and didn't regret it one bit. The intro isn't exactly bad, but it's not representative of the series as a whole. Solid show, if you liked Kaiji, Akagi, Death Note, or Liar Game (same author), definitely give this a shot.
