Major tells the story of Gorou Honda, a boy that has always been obsessed with baseball. At first it started as admiration for his father, a professional pitcher. However, even after an injury forces his father off the team, Gorou aims for the sky. Follow him as he climbs up to professional greatness!
As one of the top and the longest baseball anime series of all-time, Major is a rollercoaster of sports anime feels. If you are chasing that same high, then consider these recommendations.
Anime Like Major
For Fans of Baseball
Ace of Diamond
After a bad last pitch, Eijun Sawamura is frustrated when his last middle school ball game ends in a loss. Determined, Eijun and his team vow to make it to Nationals in high school. However, everything is thrown for a loop when his unique pitching style earns Eijun an invitation to Japan’s top high school for baseball. Accepting, he struggles to find his place on a team of such talent.
Ace of Diamond is somewhat of a more compact version of Major. Not only are they both baseball anime series, but they are both also about hotheaded pitchers that really only pitch in one style. While not as fleshed out as Major, Ace of Diamond does present a good, albeit clichéd, story and some great humor.
Cross Game
The Kitamura and Tsukishima families have always been close due to one owning a sports store and the other owning a batting center. Being the same age, Kou Kitamura and Wakaba Tsukishima spend a lot of time together with Wakaba’s younger sister Aoba being jealous. However, this is a tale of these three friends and their deep foray into baseball.
As Major spans across the character’s life, there are a lot of relationships, and that is what Cross Game is more about. Yes, it is also about characters playing baseball, but one can easily get more wrapped up in the romantic element and character relationships in Cross Game. If you enjoy baseball with interesting characters, then these are much in the same.
Big Windup
Ren Mihashi was an ace of his middle school baseball team, but only because his grandfather owned the academy. Due the obvious and unwanted nepotism, Ren was crippled by anxiety over how his pitching led to the team’s constant losses, even with the endless practice he put in. The bullying of his team and low self-esteem got so bad that Mihashi decided to go to high school in another prefecture, intent on giving up on baseball despite his love for it.However, when he is unwillingly dragged onto the school’s reviving baseball team, he finds that his new teammates might just be his perfect match.
When set side by side, the main characters in Major and Big Windup are the opposite of each other. Gorou is confident, motivated, and talented while Ren is unwilling and not a genius pitcher. However, they are both baseball stories, and while the characters are different, you still want to root for both of them.
For Fans of Genius Main Characters
One Outs
Toua Tokuchi is an athlete and a gambler. He makes his money with a serious fastball and a simplified game of baseball called One Outs. However, one day he is approached by a veteran slugger and asked to join his long unsuccessful team, but the owner of the team doesn’t want him to threaten the money that he makes by losing. Toua, being the gambler that he is, eventually settles that for each out he pitches, he gets 5 million yen, but for each hit, he loses 50 million.
While One Outs focuses more on the gambling element than actual baseball, Toua shares a few similarities with Gorou. They are both brilliant pitchers and highly motivated people. Of course, Gorou is motivated by more wholesome reasons.
Inazuma Eleven
The Raimon Middle School soccer club, Inazuma Eleven, is struggling and on the verge of being disbanded. Mamoru Endou, the team captain, is determined to stop it. His first task is getting soccer genius Shuuya Gouenji to both play soccer again and do so on his team.
If you enjoyed the youthful vigor in Major’s earlier season before they grew up, then Inazuma Eleven is definitely something to look into. Although it is about soccer, it is about talented soccer players intermingled with the hard working ones to achieve their goal.
Kuroko’s Basketball
For three years in a row, the Teikou Junior High basketball team took the championship crown thanks to their outstanding players. However, after graduating, the team split up and went to different high schools. At Seirin High School, two students have been recruited to the team. Taiga, a player just returning form the US, and Kuroko, a student whose lack of presence allows him to move around the court unnoticed. Kuroko was Teikou’s phantom sixth man who, while receiving little recognition, guided the team to victory with his assists.
Similar to Major, in Kuroko’s Basketball, it is not a hard working protagonist with a dream, but a group of people that are really good at playing a sport and have ambition. It less training montages, and more just playing the sport really well. There is also a fair amount to learn about the characters in both series as well.
For Fans of Childhood to Adulthood
Captain Tsubasa
Tsubasa Oozora has been playing soccer from a very young age, and doing it mostly for fun. However, in elementary school, he realizes it has turned into more of an obsession and he has big dreams to aim for the top. In order to follow his dreams, he and his family move to Nankatsu, a city renowned for excellent elementary soccer teams. However, while Tsubasa was the best in his hometown, there is a lot of talent in Nankatsu.
In both these series, you watch young children with big dreams grow into adults and realize those dreams. Similarly, they don’t do it on their own, both shows are constantly fueled by friendships, teamwork, and, of course, rivalries.
Yawara
Yawara Inokuma is interested in being a normal girl. However, being trained in Judo by her grandfather who was a former champion, she is constantly pushed towards the sport. Unfortunately for her, his manipulations are too good and ambitions for her too great, and she ends up being forced into the world of Judo.
Like Major, you follow the main character from their youth to their adult life as they engage in the sports. However, there are a few notable differences here. However, Yawara is a great choice for those that liked the romance and relationships in Major as well as the comedy, but still want some sport action.
Capeta
After losing his mother, Taira Kappeita put on a tough front for his father, but was actually lonely. One day, his father brings some spare parts home and builds a go-cart. The pair decide to head to a circuit and take it for a test. There they discover the frame is bent, yet despite this, Taira’s technique managed to not only drive it, but almost surpass the fastest cart driven by Minamoto Naomi. Seeing this, Naomi’s mother encourages him to enter the official race.
Capeta is essentially Major, but with go-karts. A kid gains a passion and eventually works towards getting better at that passion. While Capeta starts the main character young, it does only follow him to high school whereas Major moves into Gorou’s adult life.
Do you have any more anime recommendations like Major? Let us know in the comments section below.
