Its worth mentioning here before i delve into the content how I even ended up watching some random baseball anime from the early 70's with less than 200 completed members in the first place. The truth is, I had been recommended Touch by some friends, and I decided that it would be worth understanding the tropes of baseball anime which Adachi's work would play off of, and Samurai Giants is the first major production following the towering Kyojin no Hoshi.
Looking at Samurai Giants from the surface, it seems exactly what you might expect from a show attempting to live in the shadow of a trend setter baseball show about a star pitcher, following its own pitcher: Banba Ban. Banba is introduced as a reckless and emotional highschooler known to throw punches first and pitch so wildly his batting opponents cant help but shiver in their boots. Banba is a man who hates bullies, and this sets the stage for his incredible character arc to maturation as a person, a player, and a pitcher.
A show about a pitcher is always going to focus on the pitch itself, and Samurai Giant's take on the pitching mind game is to pit the most creative monsters against each other. Each of Banba's takes on ways to throw a ball to psych out the sharpest batters out there is unique and entertaining and each plays well to Banba's wild nature, while all of his rivals never shy away from his insanity. From a trope perspective, Samurai Giant's path to live in Kyojin no Hoshi's shadow is through Banba's wild pitching, and the growth of Banba as a player along the way.
Visually, man, this show looks great. Even ignoring the remaster quality increase, this show uses constantly engaging frame composition and a color palette that never fails to say something about the scene. The staff never seems to shy away from using what ever color suits the moment and that works as a strength all the way. The OP and ED's are largely made of clips from the show but the music performance is endlessly catchy.
At the end of the day, Ive found yet another untranslated show the wider western anime audience is missing out on and I hope to see this show get the fan release it honestly deserves.
