Baseball may be called the American pastime, but Japan brings a lot of passionate fans and players for the sport.
For high school athletes that play baseball, playing in the legendary Koshien finals can be the highlight of a lifetime.
In terms of baseball anime, a lot of the classics are a bit older, but there are a lot of modern greats out there too. You can even find OVAs of other popular anime like Detective Conan or One Piece where the characters play ball.
If baseball is your sports anime of choice, then head on down below to check out these great baseball anime.
Best Baseball Anime
Ace of Diamond
This series not only has a good plot with a focus on the game, but the great animation to back it up. If baseball is your thing, then Ace of Diamond is really one of those “best of the best” anime series. Unfortunately, for fans of this part of the sports anime genre, they have likely already seen it
Big Windup
Big Windup is all about a baseball player getting his groove back after being on a bad team. It is full of confidence struggles and the main character is so endearing that it has made this series so beloved even outside of sports anime fans.
One Outs
I like to call One Outs the “Death Note of the sports anime genre.” It is not baseball in the traditional sense, but it instead combines high stakes gambling with the sport. You win big. You lose big. As such, the anime involves a lot of strategy and intensity on the part of the main character.
Captain
Released in 80’s, Captain is definitely dated in terms of animation, but it tells a great story of one team and how it grows over a generation. It tells the story of the team, the current captain, and then the captain that takes over after they graduate. It is a fantastic look at these school life stories and it is great to see the team grow.
Battery
Battery follows a prestigious school pitcher who moves to a backwater town and joins a less skilled team. However, the series is not about that obvious angle. Instead of being about whipping the team into shape, it tells a more personal story of him trying to form the battery with a guy talented enough to catch his pitches. It shows a lot of the sport, but there are a lot of personality clashes that prevent an easy bond. It is a small and personal plot perfect for this pretty short sports series.
Major
Like Ace of Diamond, Major is one of those iconic baseball series. Really the thing that makes Major special not just in the sports genre, but in all of anime, is that it tells this huge generational sports story. You follow a kid who plays Little League while his Dad is a Major Leaguer, and you follow that kid all the way to his own Major League career.
Touch
This series is considered a classic to sports anime fans because it has a lot of the classic tropes you like in anime anime. It follows the struggles – personal, romantic, and sport-oriented of twins who may or may not like their childhood friend. It definitely is a story about the game, but it is also very much a dramatic story about their lives as well.
Cross Game
In the mood for a romantic sports anime? Reading the synopsis, you definitely think you know where this is going. The rivals are a guy and a girl, but the guy loves the girl’s older sister. Yet, it doesn’t really place a priority on that romantic relationship. The show is very much about how they all bond through baseball, but romance is definitely a big subplot.
Taisho Baseball Girls
This is the anime version of “A League of Their Own,” without that awkward Tom Hank’s peeing scene. Joking aside, it really is a lot like that movie. The show follows girls playing baseball during a time when girls did not play baseball and even may not have really been expected to even go to school. It’s filled with struggle and love of the sport.
Dokaben
Dokaben, being made in the 70’s, was never big in the West, but it is a great series if you can find it and love baseball. It has a more comical animation style and definitely a more comical plot, but it is a series that treats baseball as the fun sport it is supposed to be and not always this high intensity dramatic thing that modern sports anime paint sports as.
Gurazeni
This series puts a bit of a twist on the sport and breathes new life into the standard baseball anime plots. The series is about a team where they receive performance-based pay. The main character gets paid the most and wants it to stay that way. Instead of sabotaging his teammates, he challenges them so that they can both grow. It’s a lot of silliness, but it is a nicely refreshing watch.
Song of Baseball Enthusiasts
Initially created by the same author as Dokaben, Song of Baseball Enthusiasts takes a more serious route. Like Dokaben, this was also a series big in Japan and likely led to a little more acceptance of women playing baseball in school.
H2
Like baseball, but hate soccer? Probably not, but this series paints soccer players like monsters. Also, this series comes with a lot of romantic drama and one way feelings. It is actually a really great series, especially if you fell in love with series like Cross Game. (The same person created both H2 and Cross Game. This list is populated by many Mitsuru Adachi’s works, in fact.)
Shippu! Iron Leaguer
Robots playing baseball! It’s weird that these sort of plots are not more popular in sports anime.
Mix
Cross Game, H2, Touch, and Mix – all manga by the same author, and all pretty similar. Interestingly enough, Mix takes place at the same high school as Touch, just 26 years later. Still, definitely a lot in common with the other series thematically, but with the benefit of using modern animation techniques.
Moshidora
This series takes a look at high school baseball from another angle – management. Teams typically have a manager that helps keep things organized and schools see it as a way to get practical business education. While this is less about actually playing, it does showcase a lot of the team dynamics and work that goes into a high school team.
Play Ball
This is both a series about baseball and soccer. The main character is injured, and can’t play baseball. So he plays soccer instead, but his love of the game is constantly calling him back to baseball.
Miracle Giants Doumu-kun
This series, admittedly tells a story you’ve heard a few times if you watch baseball anime. The kid’s Dad played on the Giants. The kid has a talent. He then signs a contract with the same team later.
Star of the Giants
Do you want to stare at the origins of baseball anime? This series was made in 1968 and was the first sports manga ever to be adapted to anime. It is a lot of seriousness, but it shows the sport in post-War Japan and deals with those unique problems.
Home Run Kanta
The show is about a kid who secretly plays baseball behind his mother’s back because his father died due to a baseball-related incident. Kenta is, of course, talented, and hiding it from his mother adds some fun levity.
This covers most of the big baseball anime series, but if you know any hidden gem baseball anime that merits a mention, let fans know in the comments section below.
