The story isn't anything unique or original. The plot is basically the same as any other sports anime: the main character, who starts off with almost nothing, journeys to become a great player who eventually wins the trust of his teammates and fights to win a championship. Of course along the way he must endure and go through lots of hardships, obstacles and as hard as it may be, develop friendships with his other teammates. That main character in Diamond no Ace's story would be Eijun Sawamura, a pitcher who attends Seido, an elite baseball school. Eijun is a hard-working, determined boy who used to play baseball because he wanted to have fun with his friends, but as the plot develops, he plays baseball in order to become the ace pitcher of his school's team, and become a winner. To add onto the sports aspect of the anime, the plot also takes place in school for a lot of times (some real comedy relief from the seriousness of the baseball matches). The development of friendship between teammates/friends, and rivalries between opponents were masterfully done. The suspense build-up and excitement in the baseball matches were quite shocking to me, because I didn't expect baseball to seem so epic and entertaining.
Personally I think that the biggest strength of Diamond no Ace is the variety of interesting characters and how much time is being spent developing the characters aside from the main character, Eijun Sawamura. Eijun, despite being the focal point of the plot, almost feels like a vessel through which the viewer can see and interact with the other side characters. Because the sport of baseball makes it necessary for a lot of characters, there are a lot of characters. But almost none of the side characters are shown just for a gimpse in an episode, then to be found nowhere the next episode. All the characters have some kind of development and unique trait to them that makes them all memorable. I could discuss in detail about 10 other characters in the anime, but since that'd take too long, I'll mention just one other character: Satoru Furuya, who is Eijun's rival for the "Ace Pitcher" spot on the team. He's very bad at communicating/getting along with other people, and is keeps to himself for the most part. It's revealed in his past that he never got along and was never accepted by his teammates, but on Seido, he finally does get acceptance by his teammates, leading him to show a tiny bit more emotion. His passion for baseball and determination matches that of Eijun, and so their rivalry for the ace pitcher position takes root, but they also seem to development a friendship and sort of respect/understanding for each other. Diamond no Ace's use of characters is easily a 10/10.
The music and art in the anime were definitely good. The openings for Diamond no Ace set the exciting tone to come in the anime. The other soundtracks used during the baseball matches managed to amplify the suspense in each moment. The sound of each hit was looouuuudd!! But that also added suspense. The art in the anime was very bright, colorful, and clear; the art that I like. The baseball matches were drawn to near perfection. The characters were all distinctively drawn. The voice acting was superbly done; it must have been hard for them to be yelling all the time.
My enjoyment aspect of the anime was "high". Before watching this anime, I didn't expect much, I just watched it because it was on the recommendations list for Haikyuu, one of my favorite anime. But, I was to be surprised to say the least. Diamond no Ace switched around from school-life friendships to off the field issues, to the fantastic baseball matches, never failing to keep me interested. I'd tell all sports-lovers to watch Diamond no Ace, and I'd recommend anyone else to give Diamond no Ace a shot (maybe first 10 episodes), because it's definitely an anime worth giving a chance. Hehe, thanks for reading and I hope you do give Diamond no Ace a watch!
