Bittersweet Symphony

One of my favorite sports growing up that I actually played (and was mediocre at, though less so than soccer) was baseball. A decade and a half later I am still a fan of the great American pastime, being the only guy in Yankees/Red Sox territory to root for the Cincinnati Reds, having been a longer resident of OH than the northeast, and I went to their early 90’s playoff game against Pittsburgh. So the idea of an anime that centers around baseball was an interesting catch, along with the added effect of Drucker’s Management. Worth a shot?

The end of Moshidora was bittersweet, and given the events of the last two episodes, they really pull at your heart strings in a way you didn’t think possible. Overall however, it is a very interesting series about applying the teachings of Peter Drucker’s Management into managing a baseball team. Really, the concept of management works in just about everything outside a business, and I think the moral of the story was that you can apply these concepts to everything in real life. I also think it might be social commentary directed towards American baseball, as they make the statement “Well how do you want us to play baseball?” As for the show, the characters were top-notch, going through everything from love to hate, overcoming weakness, to realizing that they are weak against some things in life and still pressing forward. Ayano also has a pretty mean tackle, perhaps she should play football?

Title: Moshi Koukou Yakyuu no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no Management wo Yondara (Moshidora)
Sub Group I Watched: gg
Episodes: 10
Rating (1-10): 8

Favorite Character: Ayano Houjou
Least Favorite Character: Masayoshi Nikai
Favorite Field Position: Catcher. I was one for a bit in little league, then got moved into the outfield. SS was the place to be back then.
Favorite Manager: Minami Kawashima
Why Nikai? Had to pick a least favorite, but I also thought him to be rather douchey at times, including his decision to be a manager, but then I remember wanting to be an umpire as a kid.

In general housekeeping news I’ve been aware of some Summer 2011 charts for a couple weeks, but I’m electing to wait a couple more weeks for more information to solidify before I do up a Summer 2011 chart for myself of what I plan to watch. One definite watch so far though is Baka to Test to Shoukanjuu Nii because FUCK YEAH Himeji and Hideyoshi. Another series, Mayo Chiki! also looks somewhat interesting. Not sure about anything else at the moment, kinda waiting to see what CB or Cart put out, in addition to what flows by Moetron.

Also, I made a mention of this on twitter yesterday, but lawl at gg’s shenanigans in subbing with Hidan no Aria. I have to imagine it is on purpose, because other stuff done by them has no untranslated words or TL notes (Madoka, Moshidora) so I have to figure they’re trolling this one for the lulz. Sadly I find it somewhat annoying because I am one of those people who doesn’t care for untranslated words in subbing, although I have argued in the past on /a/ threads that some words are best left untranslated, like “tsundere” and really, I’ll be okay with “bi-polar”, but anyone remotely familiar with anime or popular anime culture knows “baka” means “idiot”, (most of us old farts got it from Ruri in Nadesico) and “keikaku” means “plan” (LOL RIBBONS) anything else is just fishing for trolls. So yeah, giving UTW or the much slower Chihiro a shot. Nothing personal gg, you’ll always have a special place in my heart. (TL Note: I don’t have a heart, only a void in which sponges fit through)