Accepting his fate as a salaryman, Murata seeks to escape the stresses of his job by indulging in his favorite hobby—watching his regional baseball team play.
Often spending his nights at the local baseball stadium, he grows close to a gyaru beer girl that serves not only him, but a whole slew of curious visitors that all gather to watch baseball.
Honestly? I like watching this more than watching actual baseball. If you are looking for more anime recommendations like Catch Me at the Ballpark, head on down below.
Anime Like Catch Me at the Ballpark
For Fans of Diverse Workplace Stories
Working
Due to his love of cute things, Souta Takanashi ends up taking a job at the Wagnaria family restaurant in Hokkaido at the behest of the small and cute Popura Taneshima.
However, while he enjoys doting on Popura, he must stay on his toes while working with his more eccentric colleagues.
Similarities Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Working
- The plot is people working, visiting that business, and otherwise living their lives
- Small character stories that are built up non-linearly throughout the series as it juggles its large, re-occuring cast.
- Slice of life comedy and light absurdity
- Romantic baiting
Differences Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Working
- Working is set in a family restaurant, not a baseball stadium
- Catch Me at the Ballpark has a good spread of focus between workers and staff, Working mostly focuses on the staff.
- The staff in Working are younger, and often high school-aged.
Servant x Service
Servant x Service follows three new civil servants in the city of Mitsuba.
Each character is driven by their own personal motivations, but never-the-less they are encouraged to work hard for the city even if it is a thankless job.
Similarities Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Servant X Service
- The plot is people working, customers visiting, and people just living their life
- Large re-occuring cast of both workers and customers
- Slice of life comedy and light absurdity
- Romantic baiting
Differences Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Servant X Service
- Servant X Service becomes far more focused on the romantic aspect and that eventually takes focus off the slice of life work comedy of it all.
- Servant X Service follows the workers and visitors to a governmental city office, not a baseball stadium.
Denki-gai no Honya-san
Umio is a shy kid that took a part-time job at a manga store to fund his hobbies. However, while the store is in the center of the city, Umio and his new co-workers are more interested in spending time inside.
Similarities Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Denki-gai no Honya-san
- The plot is people working a job, customers visiting them, and everyone living their lives
- Slice of life comedy and light absurdity
- Eccentric characters
Differences Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Denki-gai no Honya-san
- Denki-Gai no Honya-san follows the workers at a book shop, not a baseball park.
- Denki-Gai no Honya-san is far more focused on the workers and not as focused on the customers whereas Catch Me at the Ballpark is more evenly split.
Skull-Faced Bookseller Honda-San
This is the story of Honda-san, a skeleton that works in a bookstore. He mans the manga counter and fulfill requests for his strange customers like Gintama tentacle doujinshi and deals with his variety of equally odd co-workers.
Similarities Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Skull-faced Bookseller Honda-san
- The plot is people working a job, customers visiting them, and everyone living their lives
- Slice of life comedy and light absurdity
- Eccentric characters
Differences Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Skull-faced Bookseller Honda-san
- Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san follows a worker in a bookstore, and really only follows his POV.
- Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san features a lot more eccentrically weird customers for comedy
- Skull-face Bookseller Honda-san has a more stylized art style in that a lot of people don’t actually look like people, since it is semi-autobiographical.
Police in a Pod
After high school, Mai Kawai’s priority is to get a stable job. However, after taking a variety of civil servant exams, she is faced with the reality that she was denied by every agency except for the police academy.
Joining the police force as her only option, she receives constant criticism by disgruntled civilians. As she gets ready to turn in her resignation, she meets Seiko Fuji, the former ace of the Criminal Affairs Division that is assigned to be her new instructor.
Enchanted by this talented and passionate officer, Mai decides to give police work a second chance.
Similarities Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Police in a Pod
- Characters working in a job you don’t traditionally see anime made about.
- Eccentric large cast of characters
- Slice of life comedy with light absurdity
Differences Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Police in a Pod
- Police in a Pod is about police officers.
- Police in a Pod focuses more on the lives of the officers and not so much the people they interact with, so there is not a lot of the same “re-occuring customers”-type character like you get in Catch Me at the Ballpark.
- As Police in a Pod follows police, it does actually have some more serious, non-comedy moments despite being a comedy anime. Like Catch Me at the Ballpark, it does balance comedy with actual substance pretty well.
Life Lessons With Uramichi Oniisan
On the set of children’s show “Together with Mama,” 31-year-old Omota Uramichi is upbeat and cheerful to the children, but they are all ultimately put off as they get a taste of his adult angst and darkness that comes out in his cheerful voice.
Yet, failed gymnastics coach Uramichi isn’t the only one who is feeling the burden of a life passing him by. Others on the show suffer similar adult darkness.
Similarities Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan
- Characters working in a job you don’t traditionally see anime made about.
- Eccentric cast of characters
- Slice of life comedy with light absurdity
- Mascot violence.
Differences Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Life Lessons with Uramichi Oniisan
- Life Lessons With Uramichi Oniisan is about the host and staff on a children’s TV show.
- The comedy in Life Lessons With Uramichi Oniisan is more black comedy styled jokes about how miserable it is to be a working adult where all your dreams are dead.
- As it follows a kid’s show host, Life Lessons With Uramichi Oniisan is more about the staff of the show and not so much the audience of it.
For Fans of Sports Comedy
Clean Freak Aoyama-kun
He is charming and cool and respected by everyone, but while Aoyama is idolized by everyone, they must do it from afar.
Aoyama suffers from mysophobia, a fear of germs, that makes him an absolute clean freak who avoids contact with others. This makes it difficult to indulge in his passion—soccer—which is a rather dirty sport.
While Aoyama is a clean freak, when it comes to taking his underdog team to Nationals, he knows some things are worth getting dirty for.
Similarities Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Clean Freak Aoyama-kun
- Sports comedy anime
- Eccentric characters used for comedy
Differences Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Clean Freak Aoyama-kun
- Clean Freak Aoyama-kun is about soccer players, and high school ones at that.
- Clean Freak Aoyama-kun follows more the sports team, and not the staff surrounding that team like Catch Me at the Ballpark.
- Catch Me at the Ballpark works with a lot of characters, many of them eccentric in unique ways. Clean Freak Aoyama-kun is more about the main character.
Gurazeni
Natsunosuke Honda is a professional baseball player who is a relief pitcher for a regional team called the Spiders.
As baseball salaries are determined by their performance, Honda has worked hard to maneuver himself to be the highest paid player on the team through performance and strategy. However, while his high salary sees him lauded as a skilled player—and he is determined to keep it that way—there are always players looking to take his spot.
Similarities Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Gurazeni
- Specifically baseball-themed sports comedy
- Both series take place at a baseball stadium and often follows adults
- Eccentric characters
Differences Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Gurazeni
- Gurazeni more so follows the baseball players whereas Catch Me at the Ballpark is more focused on the stadium staff
- In terms of comedy, Gurazeni is a more serious show, more focused on showing the lives of baseball players rather than using those eccentric characters for specific jokes.
Oblivion Battery
In middle school, Haruka Kiyomine and Kei Kaname formed a genius battery that crushed the dreams of anyone that played against them. However, Kaname lost his memory and decided to put playing baseball behind him.
Not wanting to leave his catcher and best friend behind for baseball fame, Kiyomine joined Kaname in entering Kotesashi High School, a public high school that doesn’t even have a baseball team.
However, the duo are not the only middle school baseball stars that chose to hide from the sport there, and they discover that a love for baseball may fade but it never completely goes away.
Similarities Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Oblivion Battery
- Specifically baseball-themed sports comedy
- Eccentric characters used for comedy
Differences Between Catch Me at the Ballpark and Oblivion Battery
- Oblivion Battery is about high schoolers hobbling together a team.
- Oblivion Battery likes to switch between rib-ticklingly funny and weird to poignant and emotional.
- Oblivion Battery works with a smaller, younger cast and focuses more on their personal stories.
Do you have more anime recommendations like Catch Me at the Ballpark? Let fans know in the comments section below.
