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? 550https://i.post.cc/3rPBwJPF/Screenshot20241105at182802.png While I cant compare manga to the adaptation I can say that MAPPA did a good job of controlling the shows tone. I kept sharing this with one of my friends but Bokuyaku Batterys 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 everyones 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. Theres clearly more to learn about each character especially Kei. He seemed like a fool right from the getgo but the more they let you know about him the more conflicted you become about what is truly happening. Thats precisely what makes me want to continue engaging with this story. One aspect that I must mention is posttraumatic 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. 550https://i.post.cc/xCs65wTj/Screenshot20241105at192447.png Just a quick word about the art and integration of CGI. Im 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 dont know what happened with some of the proportions but it didnt 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? Im not sure if I missed some of them but for the first half of the season there were at least 2 per episode. 550https://i.post.cc/d01dBzb0/image.png 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. Im 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 MAPPAs released series was Bucchigirihttps://anilist.co/anime/165254/BUCCHIGIRI/ which didnt 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 doesnt mean that its not worth giving a try. I like it Ill give it a healthy 8/10 and hope for another season to come out in the future. 550https://i.post.cc/7Ytqzdn9/Screenshot20241105at183936.png Thank you for your attention