One Outs

One of my friends suggested this anime when I was frantically asking around for other anime once I finished Death Note. I didn't have high hopes from it, but that was before I got sucked into the intense mind manipulation by the title character, Tokuchi Toua !! He reminds me of Yagami Light or L, as you please, and has a stark contrast from other genius level characters with an aloof, whimsical, arrogant and devilish nature. The only one aspect in which the anime could have improved was to have a little bit of back story on the title character, but nevertheless, doesn't take away the shine from an extremely solid and well built plot. For sports fans, this will take you to another level and I guarantee you, this will NOT disappoint !!

You would not think that gambling and baseball works good together, but this anime proved me wrong. When the story really began it was mind-blowing. You would think that it would get worse over time, but it was great until the end. The side characters may be a little unnecessary, but the main character...oh lord that guy. Fantastic.

Go watch it! Start at 10 o'clock in the morning and finish it in the same day.

There's something captivating about watching someone constantly outwit those who want to bring him down. The main character Tokuchi is smooth, arrogant, and always out-thinking anyone who thinks they have him cornered, battling his enemies in their minds and sometimes flat out breaking people with how much he can beat them in a game of wits. The show is clever in how it ramps up the ways in which it backs Tokuchi into a corner with seemingly no way out, or thwarts his first plan only to reveal it was a feint or he had a backup all along. The series ends in a sort of weird place and I wish more of the manga had been adapted, but as I'm left wanting more I'd say that's a good mark for the show. My biggest criticism is that the supporting cast behind Tokuchi, with the exception of his catcher, can be at times dumb or boring with how far behind Tokuchi's thinking they can lag. Overall though it was a ride I enjoyed start to finish and while partly because I love baseball, I think this is something for anyone who enjoys a good bit of deduction or psychological battles rather than physical ones.

Look don't get me wrong, I like my psychological genre type of anime and appreciate Madhouse for producing pretty great anime. However, I just felt after watching a few episodes that it just didn't click with me. It could be the fact I'm just not interested in baseball and like I've watched some good sports anime such as Haikyuu!!, Yowamushi Pedal and Free! so far. Hate valleyball, rusty with cycling and need to swim again but yet, those three anime were actually intriguing to watch!

Just unfortunately, One Outs isn't part of my approved list...

This anime is all about strategies and manipulation or showing the baseball club dark world business