One Outs

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Alternative Titles

Synonyms: ONE OUTS Nobody wins, but I!

Japanese: ワンナウツ

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Information

Type: TV

Episodes: 25

Status: Finished Airing

Aired: Oct 8, 2008 to Apr 1, 2009

Premiered: Fall 2008

Broadcast: Unknown

Producers: VAP, Nippon Television Network, D.N. Dream Partners

Licensors: None found, add some

Studios: Madhouse

Source: Manga

Genres: Sports, Suspense

Themes: Adult Cast, Psychological, Team Sports

Demographic: Seinen

Duration: 23 min. per ep.

Rating: PG-13 - Teens 13 or older

Statistics

Score: 8.33¹ (scored by 115,720 users)

¹ indicates a weighted score.

Ranked: #232²

² based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.

Popularity: #1013

Members: 238,615

Favorites: 4,078

Available At

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AniDB

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Synopsis

Toua Tokuchi is a prodigy when it comes to both baseball and gambling. Pitching nothing but mediocre fastballs, he has made a name for himself by attaining 499 consecutive victories in the game of One Outs: a one-on-one showdown between a pitcher and a batter. Despite his remarkable abilities, however, Tokuchi sees the sport as nothing more than a way to make some quick money.

When Hiromichi Kojima, a legendary hitter for the struggling Saikyou Saitama Lycaons, witnesses Tokuchi's skills firsthand, he realizes that the man might be exactly what the team needs to get out of their slump. Determined to recruit Tokuchi no matter what, Kojima places his own career on the line and defeats Tokuchi at his own specialty—One Outs.

Forced to become a Lycaon, Tokuchi soon finds himself at odds with the team's owner, Tsuneo Saikawa. After Saikawa refuses to give him a reasonable salary, Tokuchi proposes a special contract: pitching an out will earn him five million yen, but giving up a run will cost him fifty million. With every game having the potential to either make or break him, Tokuchi must outwit all who stand in his way.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Adaptation:

One Outs

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Tokuchi, Toua

Main

Hagiwara, Masato
Japanese

Ideguchi, Satoshi

Main

Yamaguchi, Kappei
Japanese

Kojima, Hiromichi

Main

Isobe, Tsutomu
Japanese

Takami, Itsuki

Supporting

Matsukaze, Masaya
Japanese

Big Mama

Supporting

Fujita, Toshiko
Japanese

Johnson, Dennis

Supporting

Kusunoki, Taiten
Japanese

Kawanaka, Junichi

Supporting

Terashima, Takuma
Japanese

Saikawa, Tsuneo

Supporting

Utsumi, Kenji
Japanese

Oikawa, Mitsuo

Supporting

Furukawa, Toshio
Japanese

Nishimura, Kyousuke

Supporting

Tokumoto, Yukitoshi
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Tamura, Manabu

Producer

Nakatani, Toshio

Producer

Satou, Yuuzou

Director

Yajima, Tetsuo

Episode Director, Storyboard

Edit

Opening Theme

"Bury" by Pay money To my pain

Edit

Ending Theme

"Moment" by Tribal Chair

Reviews

Jan 24, 2010

PureLionHeart

Recommended

“Nobody wins, but I!”, the subtitle of the series, couldn’t be more accurate.

One Outs is the story of the extremist gambler Toua Tokuchi, his battle to completely crush his opponents in the Japanese Pacific Baseball League and, perhaps less importantly to the pitcher, earn a beefy salary while doing so. While advantageous, and likely to increase one's enjoyment of the series, a deep knowledge of the sport of Baseball is not required. Make no mistake; the series is first and foremost about the character, rather than the vehicle used to display his feats.

The story begins in the island of Okinawa, with the star player ... of the Lycaons, Kojima Hiromichi, training for the upcoming season in the hopes of leading the dismal team to the championships. It is here the title game is revealed to be a betting competition between batter and pitcher, with both sides attempting to overwhelm and suppress the other respectively. Tokuchi is revealed to be the undisputed king of the game, and through multiple matches with Lycaons members and Kojima himself, Tokuchi loses his first contest yet and agrees to join the Lycaons at the behest of Kojima, who believes he can lead the team to victory.

It is here that the primary antagonist is revealed, and the driving gamble of the series is set. The Lycaons team owner, Saikawa, is only concerned with money and the return he can get on stadium seating compared to his losses from expenses such as the players salary. As an all-too-intriguing prospect to Tokuchi and Saikawa, the One Outs contract is formed, granting Tokuchi 5,000,000 yen for every out he acquires as pitcher, but a deduction of 50,000,000 yen for every run he gives up. Thus the stage is set for a battle between the two, whilst Tokuchi also has to deal with the other teams in the league and the various methods he must dispel to win the game with a profit. A fun and smart little addition to the series is the revealed sum of Tokuchi’s current salary, usually given after every few games, to give the viewer an idea of just how much the strategist is escaping with.

Toua Tokuchi (And his very black & white view of winning & losing) is very much the star here, with even the over-lording antagonist being delegated to a role of being completely outwitted and shocked at each loss. In this sense, the series is very much like another oft-compared Madhouse anime, Akagi (In fact, both characters share the same voice actor, Masato Hagiwara). The spotlight is always on the overly-confident, cold-blooded genius, and you seldom if ever really feel like he’s going to lose, no matter what the predicament. If this isn’t your type of thing, One Outs might not be right for you, and another Madhouse gambling series, Kaiji, is likely more up your alley. Secondary characters such as Kojima and the catcher, Satoshi Ideguchi, essentially act as reasons for Tokuchi to explain his plans, though they occasional prove useful on their own, and the owner is always most concerned with ways to recoup his losses on the games with Tokuchi.

The rival teams all have various methods for victory, from star players to expert strategy to outright cheating, and watching these plans be revealed, falter, and be destroyed in kind by Tokuchi’s insight never gets tiring. The extents of the wild gambler’s methods are seen to truly reach their peak during the team’s third match with most powerful squad in the league, the Mariners. As if controlling puppets on a string, he turns the game into a farce just barely within the rules, with both teams striving for errors and various other foul plays in a race against time. Another example has him practicing the principles of “an eye for an eye”, responding to an intentional pitch thrown to injure him with throwing the bat at the pitcher during his swing. As all the teams have multi-layered paths to their own victory, the three-game series’ are never over too quickly, as both sides continually adjust in an attempt to corner the other. Many of the “tricks” aren’t easy to discern by oneself, and will paste a smile on your face or have you laughing manically upon the eventual reveal and Tokuchi subsequently using it against the opponents.

The series artwork is fairly realistic, with exception of characters like the Manager and Assistant Manager who are drawn in the fashion of comic relief. The series makes use of a few foreign (Essentially American) players as well, and draw then is somewhat stereotypical fashion, but still utilizing good designs. It seems Madhouse also wanted to appeal to female otaku in the series as well, with the OP housing continual shots of Tokuchi shirtless and looking aloof.

The audio work in One Outs is fitting, but the musical side never really rises above. It all fits great in the series and never feels out of place, but it’s also not really a soundtrack you would listen to outside of the anime. The voice acting is done really well, with Tokuchi’s voice actor, Masato Hagiwara, easily stealing the show thanks to his familiarity in the role (And gambling anime in general) thanks to his previous work as the title characters in Akagi and Kaiji. The Lycaons manager also performs admirably in his efforts at comic relief, making it a bit hard not to chuckle every time he calls for a “safety bunt-o”.

The series provides everything a viewer could want in a series based on mental and/or gambling, and the use of baseball allows all 25 episodes to remain fresh thanks to the numerous ways the rules can be warped and the loopholes that can be exploited. Anyone looking for series revolving around plans, schemes, and overall mental talent will certainly not be disappointed.

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Apr 16, 2014

ktulu007

Mixed Feelings

One Outs was a baseball manga written by Kaitani Shinobu. It was adapted into an anime by our old friends at Madhouse, who brought us such classics as Black Lagoon, Petshop of Horrors and Rideback. Unfortunately, they've also been behind some of the worst anime I've ever seen such as Highschool of the Dead and Devil Hunter Yohko. I'm honestly not predicting their best work this time around, although a lot of that is more to do with the subject matter than anything else. I am not a person who cares about sports in the slightest. So, let's look at One Outs and see if ...

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Aug 22, 2022

jaliscojackson

Not Recommended

DISCLAIMER: I wrote this when I was maybe 15 or 16, and while I still think One Outs is repetitive and boring, I think a lot of my criticisms here are unfair. Still, I will not be taking this review down because I like it when One Outs fans come to the comments in my profile and act like there's something here worth debating about. Why don't you go to war for an anime that's actually worth something? Anyways, please enjoy this juvenile rant.

Shit.

I cannot express to you my level of disbelief at the fact that so many people gave this show a rating above ... 6. This show has to be the most stinking pile of shit I have ever seen in my favourite genre of anime: sports. And I know what people are going to say. "Oh but dude, this isn't a typical sports anime! You just don't understand baseball! You just don't understand Tokuchi Toua's intelligence!" This is false. You would have to be a mentally impaired slug to not understand Tokuchi Toua's intelligence after watching this series. In fact, that's basically the only thing that you take away from this series, besides a pretty decent OP and ED.

Characters:

There are none. No, wait, that's incorrect. There is one. One character. His name is Tokuchi Toua. He is the only person in the whole show. He is the only person in the entire world with a mind that is capable of functioning. Yes that was me exaggerating. But not really. The only reason any other character exists is to highlight Tokuchi Toua's godlike, incomparable intelligence. So let's give the cast a name. I propose, "Tokuchi Toua and His Bunch of Braindead Bitches." Because everyone is his braindead bitch. Not just the players on the team, but the manager, the owner, the players on the other team, and maybe even his parents for all the fuck I know. This wouldn't be as much of a problem if they at least gave us some backstory, some insight into Tokuchi's past that lets us see what made him this way. Anything that shaped his personality. But NO! God forbid we get a backstory on the only character worth caring about! Let's get backstories on characters that disappear after 3 episodes! Like that cheating manager! Or that shitty catcher! You know, they tell us that he's been playing One Outs his whole life, but they don't explain how he knows so fucking much about baseball. I'm just left to assume, but I won't dwell on that because it's not a very big complaint of mine. Hold up, did I mention that Tokuchi Toua is the perfect human being? That he is perfect in every sense of the word and nothing he does is incorrect? Because that's exactly how it seems. At the very beginning they tell us that, "despite his slow pitches, he still wins because he plays with other people's minds!" Which is fine, until you realize that he can, indeed, pitch fast. Fast enough to get the fastest baseball runner in the world out. He was hiding that trick all along. No mind games needed here. No weird tactics. Nothing. So yeah TL;DR, Tokuchi Toua is the everything and everybody else is either his bitch, an evil cunt, or both.

Music:

Usually one of my favourite parts about an anime but fuck. There's nothing here. I like the OP and ED, but besides that all there is is a bunch of bland, forgettable, funk tracks. And some atmospheric stuff I guess. Shit.

Story:

Interesting premise, I'll give it that. It starts off really strong, and basically has me hooked up until about episode 10-12, where I realize that every game they play is the same shit. The same predictable outcomes. I'll admit it is entertaining to watch the process by which Tokuchi arrives to victory, but if you don't know much about baseball and if you don't like sports/psychological anime, then I don't think you would enjoy this anime past the 8 episode mark.

Themes:

Not even the most basic and easy themes to explore are even hinted at in this anime. The theme of teamwork and unity to achieve a certain goal or purpose, the theme of never giving up regardless of how the odds are against you. These are all themes that are prevalent in sports anime, and I'm not saying all anime should follow genre conventions, but if you're going to choose between following a convention and not doing anything at all, I'd usually say go the conventional route. Teamwork can't be explored because they chose to replace characters with the cast of, "Tokuchi Toua's tools to triumph." In case you haven't noticed, I love alliteration.

TL;DR don't watch unless you absolutely adore baseball or psychological anime. And even then don't expect much.

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Poll: One Outs Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Torisunanohokori - Apr 2, 2009	211 replies	by Sud3na2-k »» Apr 7, 7:54 AM
Season 2? kush_void - Mar 13, 2022	6 replies	by IndienRock »» Mar 31, 9:48 PM
Poll: One Outs Episode 20 Discussion ( 1 2 ) zq - Mar 9, 2009	52 replies	by TRC_Randy »» Feb 4, 8:04 AM
Poll: One Outs Episode 4 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Bakayaro - Nov 6, 2008	96 replies	by TRC_Randy »» Jan 26, 1:29 AM
Poll: One Outs Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) datsunvic - Dec 25, 2008	70 replies	by i-loathe-sasuke »» Dec 4, 2023 2:43 PM

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Tokuchi, Toua

Ideguchi, Satoshi

Kojima, Hiromichi

Takami, Itsuki

Big Mama

Johnson, Dennis

Kawanaka, Junichi

Saikawa, Tsuneo

Oikawa, Mitsuo

Nishimura, Kyousuke

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One Outs

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Synopsis

Background

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Characters & Voice Actors

Staff

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Ending Theme

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