Ranked #109

One Outs

“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. read more

So, One Outs is an anime about sports, right? Hell no! Its about Tokuchi owning everyone and kicking their asses! Its very similar to Akagi, so if you enjoyed that the chances are VERY slim that you wont enjoy this one as well!

Story
Well, the story itself isnt really anything special, Its about Tokuchi Toua who is a genius pitcher. He kinda gets forced to join the lowly ranked Lycaons baseball team. Of course his goal is to make their team start winning their matches. So the basic story is pretty ordinary as you can see, but there are two things that makes the whole thing a lot more interesting. The first is how the matches are played. The Lycaons opponents always have better players overall, or some kind of ace up their sleeve and one team is even cheating. Now its Tokuchis job to destroy these opponents using his brilliant mind. Thats right, One Outs is actually more about strategies and mind games than actuall baseball.

The second twist is that Tokuchi gets 5 000 000 yen for every out he pitches, but loses 50 000 000 yen for every point he gives up. And the Lycaons manager cares more about making money out of Tokuchi than winning the actuall games, so he tries to make his own team lose! So outsmarting the other teams is not enough for Tokuchi, he has to fight on two fronts also preventing the manager from ruining the games with his interference. This puts Tokuchi in all kinds of impossible situations, but he always succeeds in coming up with a counter-strategy, and watching this is a blast! The best part is that all of Tokuchis strategies makes perfect sense after they are explained! You never feel like the creators are cheating and leaving out unexplained or logically invalid bits and pieces.

Art
Not a particularly interesting point. Its good, it does the job, it doesnt bother you.

Sound
Not that this matters or affects the score in anyway, but Ill still say it: The OP was pretty good, I actually watched it which I often dont. But of course the important stuff is the bgm and the voices. And well, I have no complaints, they were both very good. The music fit in great with the intense and exciting atmosphere.

Character
Ok, Tokuchi himself is awesome. He is one of the most badass characters ever. Nothing ever fazes him. Even if the situation is looking extremely bad he still remains cold and calculating, soon to be delivering his new plan that will eliminate all his obstacles. The thing is that the other characters are not even half as interesting. They are either tools for him to use, or obstacles for him to completely destroy, using these tools. And thats pretty much it. Of course it doesnt really matter seeing how the point of the show is watching when Tokuchi kicks ass.

Enjoyment
This show never really gets boring. You know Tokuchi is always going to win, but it doesnt matter, because seeing him in action is just too freakin awesome. Also, finding out HOW he will to get out of all the imossible situations and what kind of strategies he comes up with, is another important part. The only complaint here is that it is a bit slow sometimes, but you get so caught up in it that it doesnt really matter at all.

So, One Outs is a show about mind games and tricks more than baseball, and if you like that kind of stuff you must try this one. And yeah, if you like badass characters owning everyone then thats another reason to watch this. Even if you dont give it a try, because its awesome! read more

Hands down my favorite anime. I've rewatched it twice and if it were possible to erase my memories of what happens in this anime, I would likely rewatch it many more times. Now, without further ado...

[Story: 10]
The story revolves around a man named Toua Tokuchi, whose background is effectively unknown. All we know is that he excels in a form of gambling through baseball called "One Outs." This seems to be a theme in madhouse animes, such as Kaiji and Akagi, where the character's past remains a mystery and unknown throughout the story. Anyways, Toua is finally defeated in One Outs by a man nicknamed the "unlucky prodigy batter" Hiromichi Kojima, and due to the stakes of the gamble, Toua leaves the gambling world to lend his prowess to the weakest team in the Japanese Pacific League: the Saitama Lycaons. I won't post any spoilers, but basically the story from here on out is Toua's "conquests" of one team after another, using his sharp wit and gambling instincts to overcome star players, intelligent strategists, and even cheating on the opposing team's part to emerge victorious all while making a pretty penny off his special "One Outs" contract. A great addition is the current tally of Toua's salary due to the contract at the end of every few episodes and by near the end of the series, that number is scary huge.

[Art: 9]
Not outstanding but gets the job done. The way every character is drawn beautifully reflects their personality (i.e. Toua looks almost sinister at times) and as such really enhances the cinematic effect of the anime. It is also fairly realistic, unlike the weird style used in Kaiji and Akagi (although I found that style appropriate for those animes). Since, the story and character are so great, however, I'm not giving art much weight toward the final rating.

[Sound: 8]
OP and ED are decent (nothing special) and sound effects are accurate and well-executed. BGM is fairly limited but it does a good job setting the right mood. Like art, it's pretty overshadowed by the story and as such won't factor much into the final rating.

[Character: 10]
There are several "round" characters in the anime (characters that develop in terms of character and maturity), though surpirsingly one of them is not the protagonist (Toua Tokuchi). I'm referring to the Lycaons team as a whole. Throughout the course of the anime, they change for the better. But Toua, the protagonist, does not. So then, why do I still award a 10 for character? The answer is that Toua's character still works beautifully. He remains the cool, calculating, canniving SOB from begininning to end and while this personality doesn't change within him, it changes his teammates for the better. Through watching him win games with his cunning, you will see the Lycaons as a whole evolve from a downtrodden team that's last in the pennant race to one that is much more positive and has a better outlook on things by the end of the series. So what's amazing is not Toua's ability to change and become a better man himself, but rather his undeniable ability to lead and change every man on his team.

[Enjoyment: 10]
After everything I've said before, the 10 I awarded in enjoyment should be self-explanatory. If you don't care for baseball, or even dislike baseball, but have an appreciation of strategy and psychology among other things, I think this anime will still blow your socks off. This anime is easily addicting enough to make you want to watch the whole thing in one eight hour sitting.

[Overall: 10]
An outstanding anime and my favorite overall. Death Note, Code Geass and a number of other greats don't even come close to this in my book, although I enjoyed them very much. read more

Oh boy, where to start. Well, to begin, if you enjoyed Kaiji and/or Akagi, you can stop reading this right now and go watch this show. If not, well, let's get down to it. One Outs is essentially a gambling show revolving around baseball. This would seem boring normally but the production team is apparently able to make even rock-paper-scissors exciting, so baseball can't be too bad. Though a generic sports anime on the surface, it shines in its characters and extremely unique approach to creating suspense. Hell, there's an episode where both teams have to LOSE the game in order to WIN it. It's only 11 episodes in so far but it's by far my favorite show this season. Go watch it. read more

How nefarious can a main character get?

When one thinks of a sports anime, their mind doesn't even consider the fact that sports can be psychological. I finished this anime in 2 days, and I just have to say....Baseball meets Death Note. Tokuchi, Toua is in my mind the ultimate main character. He's just the definition of a bad ass and that's really what makes this anime so great. The supporting characters in my opinion were not that well developed but the performance of Tokuchi more then made up for that minor loss.

The score was simply beautiful when it was shown, the art was magnificient however like I said sometimes the supporting characters didn't seem like they had a lot of progress. The antognist was your typical greedy SOB which made you cringe when you saw him.

However the main part of this anime is suspense. You can't enter an episode and not wonder what is gonna happen next, that is how well this anime is made. It keeps you guessing and let me tell you, good luck guessing how Toua thinks, because it's damn near impossible.

Overall a 9/10, it's definetely an overlooked anime that deserves some light. You don't wanna miss this for one second. read more

One Outs is a sports anime based on the long-running manga of the same title by Shinobu Kaitani, one of my absolute favorite manga artists. To call One Outs a sports anime is a little misleading. While it does revolve around a baseball team, the anime is more concerned with the psychological workings of its main character, Tokuchi Toa.

Tokuchi is a gambler by nature. At night, he can be found playing a very popular game called One Outs with a platoon of stationed American soldiers. The rules of the game are simple: pitcher versus batter. If the pitcher manages to strike out the batter or make the batter hit the ball within the infield, the pitcher wins. If the batter manages to hit the ball outside of the infield, the batter wins. People place bets on either the pitcher or the batter, and major money is on the line.

Tokuchi is always the pitcher.

Always.

And he’s remarkably good. While he only pitches roughly 75 mph (slow in comparison to most major league pitchers), his record is practically flawless. He strikes out batters like nobody’s business and is an arrogant prick about it too.

Enter Hiromichi Kojima, a famous major league baseball player in Japan comparable to Sammy Sosa out here in the States. However, in all his long years of playing baseball with Lycaons (a fictional baseball team) he’s never won the championship, despite his individual prowess on the field.

Kojima challenges Tokuchi to a game of One Outs with “their arms” on the line. If Tokuchi wins, Kojima will give him a ridiculous amount of money. And if Tokuchi wins, Kojima gets Tokuchi’s arm. Tokuchi Toua will be forced to join the Lycaons.

Now I bet you can all guess that Tokuchi loses. After all, the show would be pretty damn boring if Tokuchi won a butt load of money and went off to buy a yacht or whatever. So now Tokuchi has been thrust into the world of professional baseball and is pitching for the Lycaons.

The main device of this story, however, is Tokuchi’s contract with the crooked manager. Tokuchi believes in merit equaling pay-out. To that end, he sets up this deal:

“For every batter I get out, I get 5,000,000 yen. But for every run I allow, I pay you 50,000,000 yen.”

The manager thinks he’s struck gold when it comes to this dumb rookie pitcher. But Tokuchi’s skills prove otherwise, and the manager has to think of dastardly ways to take down the miracle newbie.

The show follows Tokuchi’s adventures with Lycaons baseball team as he tries to protect his yearly salary and make a killing in the ultimate gamble. He comes up against a variety of tough opponents, each one needing to be outwitted or outplayed.

One Outs is an interesting series to swallow. First of all, you don’t necessarily need to like baseball to like this show. In fact, if you’re a baseball fan, you may find this show hard to stomach at first. (I know I did.) There are things about the way these guys play baseball that is just not realistic. In fact, some stuff is just plain ridiculous. But if you ignore the glaring flaws when it comes to the baseball logistics, you can actually really enjoy yourself.

Tokuchi is an interesting main character. Not necessarily likeable, as he pretty much is entirely self-driven and seems to only care about money. Still, his selfish motives end up helping a lot of other people out indirectly, so you can forgive him for that. He’s also disturbingly anti-social and kinda scary to look at. However, he is just a bit of a genius, and watching him take out his opponents one by one is both frightening and exhilarating.

The supporting characters are somewhat well done. Unfortunately, most of the time, they exist to simply explain Tokuchi’s genius and stare dumbfounded at just how damn smart he is. Kojima is redeemable in the fact that he’s the only one on the team who doesn’t positively fanboy over Tokuchi.

Ideguchi, the catcher, is another story. He’s pretty much Tokuchi’s number one fan, and while he’s certainly likeable (rookie catcher = kinda adorable), he hardly ever gets to do anything cool himself. Most of the time, he’s just following Tokuchi’s instructions. Then again, he arguably becomes Tokuchi’s best friend on the team (catcher and pitcher relationship for the win!) and you forgive him his initial ignorance as he matures and wises up over the course of the show.

There are few characters who are purely comic relief, but they do it well, especially considering the main character of the show is about as funny as a petting zoo catching on fire. After so much “bazball iz seriuz bzness!” you need a bit of a break, and these guys provide it just fine.

Tokuchi’s opponents are actually very well done. They’re not complete dopes at all. In fact, most of them are quite skilled and give Tokuchi a real problem to work his way out of. I wish the final opponent had been a bit more threatening and epic, but eh, twenty five episode anime is twenty five episodes.

The OST is generally pretty good, although the opening and ending themes leave something to be desired. The actual BG music in the show is pretty good though. I wouldn’t mind DLing it and giving it another listen for nostalgia’s sake.

Unfortunately, the anime becomes very “villain of the week-ish” after Tokuchi joins the Lycaons. Don’t get me wrong, the baseball games last more than one episode – in fact, some can span as many as five or six. But the formula is more or less the same for every single opponent and Tokuchi never really grows as a character. In fact, no one really grows that much. The Lycaons decide they actually want to win, but other than that, no single character really discovers anything about themselves. The main device of the plot is Tokuchi and his money. Which can get a little old after awhile.

Visually, the anime is pretty stunning. It followed Kaitani-sensei’s original designs pretty well, adding in a bit more detail and attractive coloring to make a generally great looking show.

The anime, unfortunately, is only one season long and cuts off before the original manga ended. So the ending is not exactly unsatisfying, but incomplete. Sports animes should end with the team winning the god damn championship. That’s how it works. Unfortunately, time constraints meant that this anime would have to settle for ending after a semi-important game.

Overall, One Outs is one of those shows that you watch purely for fun. If you enjoy puzzles/psychological thrillers/sports/blonds, then you’ll probably enjoy this show. I’m a fan of sports anime and of psychological stuff, so this one was a winner in terms of enjoyment for me. Is this one of my favorite animes? Eh, not really. But it was fun while it lasted. But having a main character who is hard to relate to can isolate audiences. If you can’t find a reason to like Tokuchi, you won’t like this show.

But I do like Tokuchi. It’s fun watching him pick apart his opponents’ psyches. So I really did enjoy One Outs.

Overall: 8/10

(But the OP really is ridiculous.) read more

One Outs is an anime that any fan of PSYCHOLOGICAL anime should watch. When it comes to pure enjoyment One Outs is hardly lacking. It keeps you at the edge of your seat from start to finish.

Then there is Tokuchi Toua. A Chain Smoking Cool Main Character who is totally unflappable and Plays Mind Games as if it is second nature to him. One Outs can be watched for him alone. The way he manipulates his opponents is a sight to behold. I Guess it isn't good to spoil anything so I guess the only way to feel the thrill is by watching it.

The animation is fantastic. The Baseball is great too and helped by excellent narration. It is easy to follow. The sound is brilliant too.

The plot is great too. Very interesting matches with Tokuchi Tour as the focal point. The way he uses his presence and intellect in the art of psychological warfare and Baseball is mindblowing.

Overall this anime is one of the best and definitely a must watch. It provides guaranteed enjoyment to most viewers. read more

When i first saw the poster & i saw baseball i was like hell no i wont watch it. But then since i liked kaiji i said ill give it a try. I was totally shocked that i couldn`t stop watching it. It`s so damn interesting. Makes you want to watch every episode & the way of the game & the way of how the game is going is soo amazing. It doesn`t make it as a normal baseball game. It consist of gambling & predicting.
I really love the way of the story it has a lot of mystery that makes you feel like WOW!
So you should really give it a try & watch at the least the first episode & check it you will like it.
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Just a short comment, because most of it has been already said:

If you like exitement of mind games and try to predict patterns how people react - this anime is just right for you.
Forget about baseball and everything else... still its an enjoyable setting - to see how Tokuchi Touya gets under peoples skin .. ♥

Story: its unique and individual.
Art : I like it, but its my taste. Some say they dont like it. I just have to look into Touyas eyes..
Character: Touya outshines everything else. Evil boss stereotypes. The other team members are too "naive" .. or "passive" though only 8
Sound & Enjoyment: just try it out.. tastes differ ^^ read more

First of all, let me say this outright: One Outs is a fantastic anime. It has a great main character, a great underlying story, and is told in a mesmerizing way.

One Outs is a great psychological anime that is massively entertaining in ways I never expected. While this is just a show, you can relate and understand all the mechanics that go into it and the development of the game. You're brought into the minds of each of the players and coaches throughout each of the games played to compliment some of the best theory-fighting there is, all in delicious baseball form. Surprisingly enough, I managed to get though it all with very limited knowledge in baseball, and I'm sure even basic knowledge is more than enough to properly enough this show.

It may seem that One Outs is just a baseball anime that will only appeal to baseball fans, but after even the first 5 episodes I was amazed by how in-depth and fun watching One Outs was. Having a basic understanding of baseball is nice, but certainly not necessary. If anything, you'll love Tokuchi and the way he handles things, and I could very well recommend One Outs on him alone.

Certainly something that exceeded my expectations, but left me hanging at the end. 9/10 read more

this anime surprise me its one of the most enjoyable anime ive seen
even though it doesnt have winning ingredients seen on other great anime like
lovely girls plus romance and drama or a lot of characters that have stories of
there own but who needs those things if a show will give you a lot of excitement
episode by episode with just one hero and his name is tokuchi toua a baseball pitcher

tokuchi toua doesnt have super fast pitches plus he only have a normal body for a baseball player but he compensates with tactics his a genius on strategy and mind twisting the opposing team and will make you say awesome on each intellectual situations on this anime

so watch this one its totally entertaining read more

Okay so ill summarize what this show is in two words, "PSYCHOLOGICAL BATTLES!".

The main character is a pitcher, but not in the way other baseball pitchers are. His fastest pitch is only about the speed a high school pitcher throws, and he doesn't throw super crazy unrealistic pitches either that like movie with his mind or anything.

What he basically does is play mind games against each and every one of his opponents. He throws the pitch you plan to not swing at, but then when you plan to swing at it, he throws the pitch you wont. Its almost that simple, but then again its way more complex.

The story is, this pitcher using his abilities to play in the majors in japan, but not being paid an annual salary like everyone else, instead he turns the whole game into a gambling match. He gains money for each out he gets, and loses money for each run he gives up. The big catch is, the amount he loses for a run much much higher then what he gets from an out.

The show is especially good, because you don't hear the plans from the main characters mind, but you hear the thoughts of the victims. So the whole time you feel as if you are a part of the struggle to get a hit off this pitcher that is playing mind games with everyone. Ill tell you right now, you may think you and your team are winning the battle, but in reality you are sinking in a deep mental trap and are losing the war.

If you like shows like Death Note, Code Geass, Kaiji and others that have a psychological aspect that feels a lot like intense action, you will like this show and be eager for another season of it.

If you like my review you can add me to MAL friends. This is my second review : )

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*very minor spoilers within*

First off I should say I typically hate sports anime/manga. This is one of the few exceptions. One Outs is a sports anime for people who typically aren't fans of the genre. Whether you love or hate baseball really holds no bearing on this series. It focuses more on the psychological battles that take place between the players more than the actual game itself. The main star of the series, Toua Tokuchi, can be best summed up as the Gregory House of baseball. Each episode Toua is presented with a different problem and it's up to his genius level ability of figuring people out, to solve it.

Things start out relatively simple with Toua easily defeating every opponent with little effort put forth on his part. But once the regular play season starts, the teams start pulling out all the stops in their efforts to defeat Toua. Things such as recruiting a track star that can steal bases faster than the ball can be thrown to tag him out, to a stadium with wiretaps all over the place. Even the Lycaons owner tries to screw him over on a regular basis. This is mainly because the owner actually makes more money when his team loses, but also due to the special contract Toua created. The 'One Outs' contract. For every batter Toua strikes out he gets five million yen, but for every run scored against him, he pays the owner fifty million yen. Of course this totally backfires on the owner and becomes a running joke during the series as you get to see his yearly salary soar to ridiculous heights. Toua's got a lot on his plate. It's always fun watching Toua's reaction to things. If someone tries to fuck him over, he'll turn around and fuck them over threefold. I almost feel sorry for some of them.

With Madhouse on animation you know a series will look great. One Outs is no exception. Everything is very fluid when need be, and typically cheesy when applicable. It feels like they did a great job of bringing the manga to life. The opening animation is the only thing I have an issue with. Not because it's bad or anything, but because it's clearly designed to try and get girls to watch this show by showing a practically naked Toua floating around the screen. He's shirtless and is wearing his pants unbuttoned and unzipped. If a strong enough breeze came through, his di** would be out. I prefer taco to sausage thank you very much.

The only other issue I have is the fact that the series doesn't have a proper ending. It concludes at a good stopping point though, but things were clearly left open for a potential second season or OVA sequel. The manga is still running in japan I believe. Both the anime and manga have yet to be licensed for a U.S. release. While the manga has a chance, the anime probably doesn't. Sports anime never sells over here so it'd be a big risk for a company to pick up. It makes me sad because I would definitely buy it. But for now i'll just have to stick to the fansubs.

If this review got you interested in this series then I highly recommend checking it out. You won't be disappointed. It's a sports series that your average genre hater could actually get into. Don't let the near naked Toua in the opening scare you away. Take a gamble on 'One Outs', it's worth the risk. read more

One Outs is a story about some loser team aiming for the top with their veteran, Kojima, and the new guy, Tokuchi. Well, that's the story from the Lycaons' perspective, which we don't really care about. The real deal is going on behind everyone's backs with some shady deal between Tokuchi and the team's owner. The story focuses on things like deception, mind games, and cheating.

[+] I didn't like the opening theme. It sounds kinda emo or something and flaunts a half-naked Tokuchi. The ending theme didn't catch my attention, so I didn't watch/listen to it even once.
[+] Hearing Kaiji's voice from Tokuchi was a little weird, but I think I mostly disliked the lack of emotion in Tokuchi's character.
[+] The art was fine for the most part. I thought it was annoying and unfitting how they'd sometimes make it seem a little bit like a gag manga, throwing in some "THAT'S THE JOKE. LAUGH." moments. I was also annoyed when two players were getting excited and shouting with some "exciting" background, both of them remaining rather still... it wasn't very convincing.

And now for the main course of my review, the characters. I probably already spoiled your appetite, but you're still reading this, so let's proceed.

K O J I M A
I never imagined myself to be someone that would enjoy sports anime (other than Hajime no Ippo), but I really liked Kojima. He was introduced as a man aiming for the top through hard work and dedication. When he faces Tokuchi for the first time, you don't feel like cheering for Tokuchi, the unstoppable pitcher. You want Kojima to win since he's just such a great and respectable guy. This was the only real moment in the series that felt suspenseful to me. Would Kojima win or would he lose? We all know this anime is about Tokuchi just by watching the opening theme, so how will things turn out? Indeed, a very interesting moment made possible by Kojima's character.

I D E G U C H I
This guy is pretty useless, but he's smarter than the other team members. Tokuchi pretty much treats him like crap, but Ideguchi doesn't let that cloud his judgement; he can see that Tokuchi is an incredible man and he has a deep respect for that. In fact, when Ideguchi isn't busy taking up 5 minutes to think of a scheme that turned out to be 100% useless, he often likes to think to himself "Wow, Tokuchi is really amazing!" We come to like Ideguchi since he's in the know and Tokuchi trusts him, plus he's probably the only other player on the team that's really in it to win it. In the end, I don't think he really added that much to the story, though.

T O K U C H I
I'm a bit disappointed, really. He's unstoppable and has virtually no weaknesses. He's unrivaled. This makes things a little boring since there's never any sense of danger. He's never really cornered. Everyone else is always freaking out, but Tokuchi knew everything would come to that moment and he already knew the way out. Sometimes he needs a little more evidence to come to his conclusion, in which case he sends out a few pawns to be sacrificed, then all is clear. He's definitely put into some tough situations, but the problem is that Tokuchi is too perfect and that nothing is ever a challenge. One nice thing about his character is how he improves the team and gets those losers to actually show some spirit, though that should probably be Kojima's job.


Overall, this was pretty enjoyable, but Tokuchi ruined most of the suspense. read more

I found this series long ago, because it was by an author I deeply respect (the guy that wrote "Liar Game"). Yet, it took me years to force myself to start watching it, because... it's about baseball. My humble and subjective opinion on baseball is that it's one of the most boring sports in existence, and to make an interesting story out of it is nearly impossible.
Alas, it's possible!!!
To put it in one sentence: "One Outs" is about a genius gambler/cheater/swindler playing baseball.
If you enjoy complex mind games, or matches with high stakes, or bad-ass anti-heroes, or if you enjoy awesome, then this series is for you.
The downside is that the anime is cut short before any reasonable conclusion, and so the audience is left hanging.
Not one of my favorites, but a definite must see. read more

I wasn't sure when i started watching one outs i mean, psicological baseball??? thats pretty hard to pull out for a 27 episode anime. however, i realized, this anime has a baseball theme but doesnt focus on baseball it's all about gambling and someone who is the masters of masters in gambling.

Story: 8/10
the story is pretty original, a man that can only throw straigh balls at a speed of a high school student pitching on professional league. however, i find the story lacking of climax. there are many times when you just know that Toa is gonna win just because he owns.

another negative aspect is the ending. however i'm not spoiling it but i leaves you wanting more.

art: 9/10

Good art, some characters are a little bit odd but who cares! the art follows a stablished style and follows it neatly.

sound 8/10
Well, the opening didnt sound like an opening and this series didnt left a memorable song which i wanted to download so i just find it "aceptable"

character: 10/10
Toa owns. thats all xD

well beside that other characters are well developed, true to their beliefs every character is very peculiar and behaves acording to their roles. however the serie could get this score only because of the coolness of toa, sincerely.

enjoyment 9/10
eventhough sometimes you are going to know that Toa wins its still intresting to see how he does this. really enjoyable serie.

overall: 9/10
good series for anyone who enjoys psicological games. don't come here seeking for romance there is just one female character and it's a fat woman who you are going to see only on chap 1 and 2 xD read more

As stated several times One outs is a baseball version of Kaiji, for the people who don't know Kaiji its all about extremely complicated bets, with a little glimpse into the darker nature of men.

The strategies used in the game are extremely convoluted and cannot be easily figured out, the viewer only figures out when the show gives enough clues and thats the main appeal of the show. The episodes also end with cliffhangers to make you watch the next episode, this is common in most sports/shonens but in this case the focus is so big on the gambling the cliffhangers are poorly written and can actually frustrate the viewer. The extremely complex gambles and tricks can also cause some frustration, even if you figure out part of it, theres always something else, it drags so long it becomes tiring following all the events sometimes.

The story is often bend, specially in time, to advance quickly parts or even entire games that dont matter to the gambles, as result the characterization is mostly nonexistant, with the exception of the two main characters, but even so, we dont know much about who they are, just their current situation, everyone else just gets stapled with common concepts like: the big brute guy, the chicken manager, or the ruthless greedy owner of the club.

Overall the show is interesting and a good watch, the biggest flaw is the complete focus on the gamble, if you dont like it the rest is quite bad, the flaws I mentioned among others will throw the viewers out.
Finally the ending is rushed and obviously calls for a second season. Once again more episodes will just keep focusing on gambles becoming boring, a trait Kaiji also shared.
read more

The background is baseball, but this anime is about the badass Tokuchi Toua.

The story wasn't anything special, it was just the first few games of the Lycaons (they don't even show whether they win the championship or not, although with Tokuchi at the helm, it can be assumed that they will). The great thing about One Outs is how they carry out Tokuchi's schemes and dramatize his "gambling" with baseball.

The art was great. There aren't any artistic statements, it's baseball, but it was clean and easy on the eyes.

Sound wasn't particularly great either, but once again...this is a very simple, clean cut anime. Anything more dramatic would have interfered with the anime. I liked the baseball music too.

Characterization was definitely the weakest point in this. Tokuchi is awesome as a badass, but he's definitely not a well-rounded character. He's portrayed as a genius (which he is) of gambling, with no weaknesses. All the other characters only serve as a foil to Tokuchi's character, to show how much better he is than them. Tokuchi is a likeable character, even if he is an asshole, and it's mainly the viewer's interest in seeing Tokuchi continue his badass ways that's driving them to watch it.

I enjoyed this anime a lot, I have no idea why. I went through all 25 episodes without skipping anything, nor did I feel the slightest inclination to. This is extremely rare for me. All 25 episodes were fascinating, although it does feel a little repetitive, since it's game after game. There's no outside life, it's all about baseball. But that's okay, because Tokuchi's badass-ness makes it enjoyable.

Overall, I'd give the anime an 8/10. It was very enjoyable, but not well-rounded as a series in itself. It's no work of art, just something that's fun to watch. I'd recommend you to watch it if you like boss characters. read more

To be honest I was not expecting much out of this anime when I started and ended up getting a masterpiece. I don't believe there has ever been a sports anime like one outs.It mixes gambling and strategy with baseball to come up with something totally new. The main character is a freaking genious. If you love seeing people getting totally outsmarted and assholes getting what they deserve than this anime is totally for you!

I was jjuust minding my own business when a couple of my friends walked into my place and started watching this series to get one of our friends to witness A GREAT ANIMe!

This show is Mad skilled unorthadox gAmbling in a nut shell!!
The music is faine but doestn do much for the anime to make it remarkable.
The characters are the strng point of this series.

The art stye isnt anything special.