Ookiku Furikabutte

おおきく振りかぶって
Oofuri
Big Windup

Manga8.22889 votesPublishing

Award WinningComedySportsTeam SportsSeinen

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About this title

Synopsis

Ren Mihashi is a pitcher who refuses to leave the mound, for better or worse. His middle school team hated him for it, blaming him for their continuous losses and chalking up his starter position to favoritism. In the end, Mihashi ran away to a different high school, convinced that he would never amount to anything in baseball. Upon his enrollment at Nishiura High School, however, he is quickly pulled into the newly formed baseball team with people who recognize his abilities. Mihashi is paired up with the gruff catcher Takaya Abe, who promises to bring out his full potential as an ace—so long as he never disobeys his directions. This marks the start of Mihashi's journey to build the strength and confidence needed to stand with his new teammates on any field. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

Publication notes

Ookiku Furikabutte won the New Hope Award at the 10th Osama Tezuka Cultural Award Ceremony in 2006 for "showing new possibilities of expression in baseball manga." The following year, the series won the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga. The manga has been adapted into three Japanese stage plays, each based on one of the story arcs. The series also received a video game adaptation; titled Ookiku Furikabutte: Honto no Ace ni Nareru Kamo, it was released on December 13, 2007 for the Nintendo DS by Marvelous Interactive.

Published

Sep 25, 2003 to ?

Authors

Higuchi, Asa

External links

MyAnimeList page Official Site Wikipedia Wikipedia

MAL rank: #488
Members (MAL): 10,830
Favorites (MAL): 327

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Adaptation

Main characters

Ren Mihashi746 fan favorites
External profile
Class: Year 1 Class 9 Position: Pitcher Birthday: May 17 Blood type: AB Height: 165 cm Weight: 53 kg Family: Parents Mihashi, the main character of the series, is a nervous boy with no self confidence. He is shown to have always had this personality, (which seems to come in part from his father, who displays some of the same mannerisms) however, it became much more pronounced in middle school, where he was bullied by his teammates on the baseball team after gaining a place on the team apparently through favouritism, as his grandfather owned the school. The other members of the team were resentful of this and felt that their reserve pitcher, Kanou, was far more talented than Mihashi. However, Mihashi refused to give up the mound and pitched in every one of their games, even when his teammates stopped trying and the catcher wouldn't give him signs to throw. Eventually, Mihashi decided to change schools for high school and succeeded in gaining a place in Nishiura. Although he felt guilty for ruining his junior high teams enjoyment of the game, and thus promised himself he wouldn't play baseball in high school, Mihashi let slip that he was a pitcher, and is thus dragged into the baseball club, who had no other pitcher. Although Mihashi is convinced that he has no talent, he has been practicing hard at pitching since elementary school, and his new teammates, in particular the talented catcher, Abe, are astounded at his highly accurate aim. When pitching, he divides his target into nine sections, which is said to be above the level of a professional pitcher, who would divide it into four. Mihashi also has four breaking balls, including unusual fastball which often confuses opposing batters. His pitches are said to be quite slow, although with training from Momoe his speed increases later on in the series. Mihashi's relationship with Abe as a battery is often strained, with Abe quick to lose his temper and Mihashi fearful of angering him, however, Mihashi greatly respects Abe and is eternally grateful to him for wanting to be his catcher, noting that if it weren't for Abe's skill at reading the opposing team and calling for the right pitches, Mihashi could never make anyone strike out. Abe, in turn, appreciates how hard Mihashi works on his control and his dedication to pitching for the entire game. With his help, and the encouragement of his new teammates, Mihashi's confidence in his pitching as grown slightly, though he still firmly believes it would be nothing without Abe, to the point that Abe promises not to get sick or injured for their three years of high school, in order to be able to catch all of Mihashi's pitches. Mihashi gets on well with the rest of his team mates, particularly Tajima, who always seems to understand him even when Mihashi can only stutter a few words. He was childhood friends with Hamada, who he calls 'Hama-chan,' and they lived in the same apartment building until Mihashi moved away. He is also close to his cousin Ruri, having lived with her family during middle school, though he dislikes it when she calls him 'Renren,' and is also friends with Ruri's neighbour, Kanou, who was his rival for the position of pitcher in middle school. Although he became more formal with Kanou in school, likely out of guilt for not giving up the mound to him, Kanou has always thought that Mihashi was a better pitcher than him. They are now on good terms again, and Mihashi calls Kanou by his childhood nickname, 'Shuu-chan.' Despite his low self-confidence, Mihashi is very stubborn, refusing to give up the mound even when so exhausted that he starts losing control of his pitches, and becoming upset at the idea of the team needing a reserve pitcher. He is quite guillable, loves to eat, and has a fear of dogs. Mihashi's grades are very poor, and he says he had to work hard in order to get into Nishiura. He loves pitching so much that his mother mentions he's always holding a ball, even in his sleep.
Takaya Abe409 fan favorites
External profile
# Class: Year 1 Class 7 # Family: father, mother and younger brother # Position: Catcher,and vice captain # Throws/Bats: Right/Right # Uniform number: 2 # D.O.B: December 11 # Blood type: O # Height: 170cm # Weight: 55kg Abe is the teams catcher, and also one of their better batters. His skills as a catcher were developed during middle school, when he played in the Seniors league. Abe was paired with a talented pitcher named Haruna, whose pitches were so hard and lacking in control that he was constantly covered in bruises. However, he persevered, knowing that if he could catch Haruna's pitches, he would gain a place as a regular. Although he succeeded, Abe soon began to resent Haruna, who strictly refused to throw more than 80 pitches per game, even if it meant walking off the field, and never followed Abe's signs. Because of this, Abe initially values Mihashi for his obedience, desire to stay on the mound, and control. However, he comes to appreciate just how much work Mihashi puts in, and is determined to win games using Mihashi's pitching and prove to him that he is a good pitcher. Abe has a very short temper, particularly with Mihashi, and is noted to have a loud voice, even when laughing, which intimidates not only Mihashi but sometimes his other teammates too. However, when this is pointed out to him, he takes great pains to be more patient with Mihashi and speak more gently. He was charged by Momoe to look after Mihashi, and he takes this very seriously, constantly monitoring Mihashi's practicing, what he is eating, and how much sleep he's getting, causing Izumi to note that he's very bossy. Abe is also a driving force on the field, generally shouting out instructions to his teammates during play, and closely analyzing the opposition. He uses this habit to his advantage as he is very good at predicting which of Mihashi's pitches will cause a batter to strike out. (Source: Wikipedia)