I don’t exactly enjoy the idea of rating something before it’s over but after 59 episodes I think I've gotten the gist of the show. From the standpoint of someone who has been around and played baseball since I was able to walk, Diamond no Ace is a show that gets baseball right. DnA is by no means a perfect show but in terms of understanding the sport of baseball and developing the characters as a result, it hits the nail on the head. So if you are looking for a realistic baseball anime then DnA should be on your very short plan-to-watch list.
In Depth Review:
For me, personally, I've found shows that exceed the 20-30 episode mark are hard to get into. Though I never felt that while watching DnA, now whether that was because of my ability to relate to the characters and the situations or not could be left up for interpretation. DnA is simply the anime adaptation of the DnA manga that has been published since 2006 and is still publishing. The current show is being animated primarily by Production I.G. with help from Madhouse. The show begins with a practically hopeless pitcher by the name of Eijun Sawamura who has a couple tricks up his sleeve. Eijun is scouted during a game with his middle school team and ends up getting an offer to play baseball with one of the most renowned baseball high schools in all of Tokyo: Seido. The story picks up from there on, so for the sake of not spoiling anything major I will not say any more. With that aside lets begin with the actual review.
Story: 7/10
The story itself is not anything special, it follows your regular routine in a shonen similar to that of Naruto. Where the main protagonist is not reliable in the slightest but has the will and determination to get better, However the story begins to take a bit of a turn after the initial arc. The story turns more into the team itself instead of what the main character can accomplish and that in itself turns into one of the story’s strong points. Granted that the story is a bit generic but you can’t exactly expect much in that aspect from a light-hearted sports anime, what the show does it does to the best of its abilities.
Characters: 9/10
The characters are one of, if not the strongest point of this show. As I said previously the show turns into more of the team and form that you don’t just feel for one of the characters but everyone as a whole. You physically want them to win against every team they play against, following every player and hoping that they can do their part in sealing the win for the team. Characters are certainly something that this show did right and I feel other shows could learn from it.
Art: 6/10
Unfortunately the art and animation suffer a bit because of the sheer length of the show. You can’t exactly ask for gorgeous fight scenes, well in this case batting or fielding scenes. Mainly due to the fact that the animation studios simply do not have the money to invest into a 60+ episode series. I won’t harp on the art for too long but they do again use it to the best of their abilities which is by no means a bad thing. All in all the art is not bad, it’s just very mediocre from their excessive use of still frames and such.
Music/Sound Design: 7/10
In terms of sound and music design there really isn't much to choose from aside from the sounds of dialogue and baseballs being hit and caught. With the occasional hype music to keep you in tune with the scene. Aside from those sounds, which do in fact sound accurate, I can’t REALLY rate this. So from that I just went with my go to rating, really nothing more to say about this.
Overall: 8/10
Now I don’t particularly like to rate things subjectively but because this one hit home (no pun intended) for me this is MY opinion on the show. It really reminded me of some of the things that baseball was to me, whether remembering these things are a bad thing or not I have yet to find out. The show suffers from small things such as many still frames and mediocre animation but that is not what makes this show great. The teamwork of everyone, the build-up of every antagonist and every game, giving characters that need a back-story one. Everything about this show just fits for what it is. Sports anime can be particularly hard to get into, especially if you don’t understand many of the complex rules of the game such as baseball. However this show is by no means hard to get into and if you’re looking for a longer sports show, give it a try.
