"Boukyaku Battery" is a baseball anime about a group of five high school students who once gave up on pursuing professional careers, only to meet each other at a public school and get back on track.

The main cast is quite diverse in personality and their backgrounds, yet united by their love of baseball. Well... apart from Kei, but his extreme contrast to everyone else brings balance to the team. It could be just a basic sports anime with a clear goal set from the first episode, but that would be too boring. The twist to the whole story lies within Kei and us being exposed to the fact that he has amnesia after a head injury. He does not remember anything about his glory days with Haruka, or does he?

While I can't compare manga to the adaptation, I can say that MAPPA did a good job of controlling the show's tone. I kept sharing this with one of my friends, but "Bokuyaku Battery"'s strong point lies in this perfect balance between seriousness and fun. Initially, I hated the comedy bits, but they were quickly contrasted with the reactions from the cast members, which made it fit. Serious topics felt even more impactful in this lighthearted setting. This season did not reveal everyone's backstories and struggles, but the ones that were shown made me reflect on how people in sports feel about their aspirations, goals, and the challenges they face. One of the backstories even made me cry. There’s clearly more to learn about each character, especially Kei. He seemed like a fool right from the get-go, but the more they let you know about him, the more conflicted you become about what is truly happening. That's precisely what makes me want to continue engaging with this story.

One aspect that I must mention is post-traumatic amnesia. At first, I thought it would be nice to say a few words about how it affects people in real life, but that would also be like a spoiler. Additionally, as I said before, Kei seems to be shrouded in mystery, so I cannot say much until I learn more about him.

Just a quick word about the art and integration of CGI. I'm mostly satisfied with everything, but it was rather silly to look at some of the characters and imagine how massive a forehead they probably have. I don't know what happened with some of the proportions, but it didn't impact my overall enjoyment too much. I have also taken a quick glance at the OVA for this series which was also released by MAPPA in 2020, and some of the characters looked better there; plus, the retro vibe made it feel nostalgic. The action (game) scenes were well done. I loved the angles, transitions and the slight touch of CG that made things look better. Oh, yes, have I mentioned the number of references in this anime? I'm not sure if I missed some of them, but for the first half of the season, there were at least 2 per episode.

With the amount of attention this series got and its score on tracking websites, my hopes were not that high, but it ended up impressing me. It made me want to pick up the manga. I do think, specifically, this season of "Oblivion Battery" is underrated. I'm pretty sure a lot of people never thought of giving it a try since it started coming out during Spring 2024, which was filled with highly anticipated releases. In addition to that, the last MAPPA's released series was "Bucchigiri", which didn't do that well. Of course, this anime will pale in comparison to beloved old sports series that still reign supreme over most newer stuff, but it doesn't mean that it's not worth giving a try. I like it, I'll give it a healthy 8/10 and hope for another season to come out in the future.

Thank you for your attention♡