Story:
Kitamura Kou is the main character. Son of Sports Store, and his best friend "First Love" Tsukishima Wakaba, One of 4 Daughters of Batting Centre, Due to their businesses they all become close, pretty much like an Extended Family.
Wakaba's 2nd youngest Aoba is more a "Tom Boy" loves Baseball, Aoba is jealous of Kou taking her sister away, They fight a lot, But mainly due to them being so similar, Kou respects and looks up to Aoba, She is the reason he starts playing Baseball and to live a dream of going to the Kōshien which is basically a super famous tournament for the best high school team in Japan.
Cannot tell you much more without Spoiling the series, From early on *Notice the OP Title Splash* You will understand what i mean after some Episodes have passed.
Art/Sound:
Sound in the series is good, Catchy OP/ED Songs and the voice work fitted all the characters.
Art for me is something people will love or dislike, This series being one that finished in 2010, is in places rather sloppy Animation wise, I have to admit the further the series developed the less sloppiness i saw, Also the styling is very "Retro" My first thoughts was this looked a early 90's Anime not one from 2010, But i have to admit i do enjoy the styling and it doesn't hurt the series, just isn't that special either.
Enjoyment:
From the early Episodes i was thinking should i continues, Issue is for me, I enjoyed Episode 1, Gave me so much detail and hooked me from the very first minutes, But after a few Episodes with the faults i have mentioned with the Style/Animations i was thinking of halting the series, But im sooooooooooooooooo glad i didn't, I stuck with it and reached the 50 Episodes i hardly no time what so ever, 50 Episodes is long this day in age, Most new Series rarely go over 11/12/13 Episodes, it sadden's me they don't because i do say, If i had the choice i prefer this amount of content, it gave its message and story across without feeling rushed or leaving many parts out, This is a longer series done right, And once i was finished i was satisfied with the ending, Wasn't the route i was routing for though, but worked.
As i put earlier, I wondered why many people said this was a 10/10 or a Masterpiece, But after watching the series, I totally understand why people give this a 10, Its very close to a Masterpiece, This being said, Its about Baseball, If you are like me and not a fan of the Sport, DO NOT Let that put you off the series because you will miss out on a gem of a series.
