When it comes to sports, Japan loves baseball. Naturally, the nation would produce a lot of baseball anime.
Baseball series tend to share certain plots, such as winning a championship (typically Koshien, Japan’s national high school baseball tournament).
But, there is a lot of variety and creativity out there, too. If you like comedy, shonen action, romantic comedy, or slice-of-life stuff, you will find it in a baseball anime story.
Here’s our choices for the best baseball anime:
List of the Best Baseball Anime
- Major
- Ace of Diamond
- Touch
- Taisho Baseball Girls
- Big Windup!
- Princess Nine
- Cinderella Nine
- Gurazeni
1. Major
Some anime series are content to have their main characters age from 16 to 19. Not Major.
In the first episode of Major, Goro is a kindergartener with huge baseball dreams. Over the course of six seasons, Goro will play baseball in little league, junior high, high school, Minor League Baseball, and the Baseball World Cup.
By the end of the series, Goro has reached Major League Baseball in the United States.
The series has a sequel, Major 2nd, which continues the story with Goro’s young son.
- Amazon Prime Video (Japan) has the original 2004 Major anime series. There are no subtitles or dubbing. If you’re outside of Japan, you will need a good VPN, such as Nord VPN, in order to watch.
- Crunchyroll has Major 2nd, the sequel series. For all practical purposes, the series is Boruto for baseball. The main character, Daigo, is Goro’s son. Daigo struggles as he tries to follow his famous father’s baseball path.
2. Ace of Diamond
Ace of Diamond is a serious, shonen series about a high school baseball pitcher who aims for the national tournament.
Of course, “winning the tournament” is a common goal of many sports series. Where Ace of Diamond stands out above the rest is its emphasis on baseball philosophy, strategy, and the emotional drama of the sport.
- Crunchyroll has Ace of Diamond, a.k.a. Ace of the Diamond.
- Netflix Korea has Ace of Diamond in Japanese with Korean subtitles. You’ll need a VPN if you’re outside Korea.
How to Watch Ace of Diamond Anywhere in the World
This method works on both desktop PCs and mobile phones or tablets.
- Purchase (or start a free trial) of a VPN. I can confirm that NordVPN works for this purpose.
- In the settings, choose South Korea as your location.
- Fire up the VPN and wait for it to do its magic
- Once you’re connected, navigate to Netflix (browser or app)
- Search “Ace of Diamond” in the Netflix search bar and you should see the anime pop up.
Enjoy! Please note that if your Netflix library doesn’t update to reflect the country you selected in your VPN, you may have to clear the Netflix cache first and try again.
To do this on mobile, go to settings -> apps -> Netflix -> clear cache. To do this on PC, you have to clear the cache in your web browser.
I’ve had no trouble using this method and I still use NordVPN to watch anime from various Netflix country libraries daily.
3. Touch
The 1985 anime series Touch can be hard to find, especially outside of Japan. But within Japan, it’s considered a classic of both the baseball and romantic comedy anime genres.
Manga artist Mitsuru Adachi specialized in high school romantic comedy/ sports manga hybrids, but Touch is one of the better well-known ones. It features twin athletes Tatsuya and Kazuya, and their childhood friend, Minami.
Naturally, Minami ends up as the love interest for both boys — although the one brother seems to be mostly OK with letting the other one have her.
Touch was eventually followed up by Mix, which features a new generation of baseball players.
- Abema has the series, but there are no subtitles or dubbing. You can watch several of the episodes for free if you’re in Japan (or if you have a VPN).
- Amazon Japan also has the series, although you can only watch the first episode for free. There are no subtitles.
- Crunchyroll doesn’t have Touch. But it does have Mix, the 2019 sequel to the series.
4. Taisho Baseball Girls
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba isn’t the only anime series set in the Taisho Era.
If you’re interested in history, you may like Taisho Baseball Girls, a sports comedy with a historical twist.
At the time, baseball was still relatively new and foreign in Japan. Even sailor uniforms were a relatively new idea. And of course, sexism was a big issue for these girls as well.
5. Big Windup!
In the seinen series Big Windup!, Ren Mihashi is a pitcher with a lot of issues. He blames himself for his middle school team losing games. His teammates accused him of nepotism, which further wrecks his confidence.
When he enters high school, Ren plans to quit baseball. However, the high school coach is convinced that he’s a good pitcher, even if Ren isn’t.
6. Princess Nine
An all-girls baseball team from an all-girls high school aims for Koshien in this 1998 baseball anime series.
As with Taisho Baseball Girls, the players face a lot of sexism on their way to the top. In this series, the “princesses” are the first of their kind — a girls’ high school baseball team in Japan. The series combines shojo elements with typical sports anime stuff to create an enjoyable story.
- Crunchyroll has the series.
- Amazon Japan also has the series. As with most series at Amazon Japan, there are no subtitles.
7. Cinderella Nine
Cinderella Nine has a similar name and premise as Princess Nine.
However, the characters in Cinderella Nine struggle just to get a team started. Finding enough players is hard, and the field is in no shape for baseball. Potential players are reluctant to take part.
Luckily, baseball club leader Tsubasa Arihara has enough heart, spirit, and genki determination for a whole team. The anime is based on a mobile game, but it’s not bad.
- Crunchyroll has the series.
- Amazon Japan also has the series. The first episode is free (in Japan).
8. Gurazeni
Gurazeni is a clever sports comedy anime series which looks at the financial side of professional baseball.
In Gurazeni, player contracts are as important as slugging percentages, batting averages, and other sports statistics. This is baseball as business, and players are well aware of their rising or falling worth.
Conclusion
Did our baseball anime list hit a home run? Or did we strike out? Let us know in the comments.
