Story: The story focuses on Honda Goro, who is in kindergarten when the show starts. The first quarter or so of the series focuses on Goro in kindergarten and just establishing his personality, life and family and friends. The rest of the series jumps ahead to when Goro starts little league and... let the baseball begin!
Art: It's clean and crisp and pretty simple. I certainly didn't have any complaints. The style doesn't have as much depth as the more mature series out there, but I think it's appropriate for the subject matter and the ages of the characters. In other words, it suits the story. =)
Sound: The OP/ED are fine... whereas I don't love them (and I so rarely do), they don't bother me in anyway either, which is pretty good, imo. ;) I did like the voice acting. I thought they did a good job with their characters and their emotions without going overboard and overacting the way some shows do. There is a little Engrish, but... I figure if you watch enough anime, you just get used to it -- it's intended for a Japanese audience after all.
Character: Goro's great. I found myself rooting for him and cheering him on; he's just really charismatic. He's enthusiastic and single-minded and I can't help but appreciate that type of personality, especially in a sports anime. His father is loveable and one of my favorite anime dads. Even his kindergarten teacher is cute and likeable. And during the course of the show, you get to see a bunch of teammates and opponents that have their own brand of flavor and charm that adds nicely to the mix.
Enjoyment: This probably sounds so cliche and fake, but seriously... I laughed, I cried, I groaned and I cheered. For real. And maybe that says something more about me than the show, but it was an unexpected emotional roller coaster in a way. I mean, I really thought it was just going to be another generic shounen and it would just kill some time, but it ended up being compelling and I really felt sucked in and interested. So much so that I'm currently still watching it in its fourth season (btw, girls, Goro grows up to be kind of a hottie and so does Toshi ;D).
Just for reference: S1 focuses on elementary school level little league; S2 Goro's in his last year of middle school and his first year of high school; S3 is the rest of high school; and S4 is Goro post-high school.
