If you’re looking for a series that you may have missed a few seasons back, just looking for a good series, or just looking (I’m single), Oofuri (the pet name for the tongue-twisting Ookiku Furikabutte) is just for you. Honestly, I just wanted to review it. If you haven’t guessed, I’ve been a huge fan for a while.
Oofuri is based on the Kodansha Manga Award-winning title of the same name by Asa Higuchi, and follows its manga-papa religiously. The story centers around Ren Mihashi, a painfully unsure, stammering, unconfident, wimpy-ass pitcher suffering from trauma caused by his hateful junior high baseball teammates. Why would you want to watch a series about such a pussy? Because, unlike many other anime where annoying characters are somehow deemed normal, his friends and teammates can’t stand him. But they’re stuck with him. And so are we. Which, it turns out, isn’t such a bad thing after all.
While the series is experienced mostly through Mihashi’s eyes, the thing that really hooked me to this series was the depth it goes into for each character, and the amount of real knowledge Asa Higuchi has about the sport she is writing about (*coughEyeshield21, I’m looking at you). The characters are probably the most realistic I’ve ever seen or read about in anime and manga, each with their strong points, quirks, and failures (the clean-up batter Tajima apparently can’t go for three days without milking the lizard). Most notably in this series which covers only three of the big games Mihashi’s team plays (yes, three- about an episode an inning for those) is the relationship between Mihashi and his catcher, Abe (or-Mihashi trying to man up and Abe trying to deal with him while manning him up). The relationships between all of the characters- yes, even the opponent teams, is done amazingly. And I love it. It takes a few episodes to ease yourself into the kids’ lives, but once their games get going, you can’t turn away. On to the more technical aspects, the animation is great. There aren’t any speedlines every time a ball is thrown here. We get to watch characters slide through the plate, watch people foul tip, watch the crowd cheer (and move while doing it), and more. The animation was even more cleaned up for the DVDs.
The music, while the first opening, “Dramatic”, eventually invaded my brain for weeks (it became my best friend’s ringtone and still is to today) left a bit to be desired elsewhere. At times it has a very “this is purposely happy” or “you should be feeling inspired right now” tone to it, but for the most part it hides in the background well.
The VAs are awesome at times, mastering the teenage feel without getting to dramatic (excepting Mihashi, who, we all know, is a pansy-ass angstmuffin). Plus, for the guys, there is tons of baseball action (I never cared about baseball until I watched this, and now I make my friend explain everything he knows about it) and for the girls with slash gogles, you can eat your hearts out (guys, don’t be scared off, that same friend also watched the show and I promise he’s manly).
So! If you’re not fully convinced yet, why don’t you check out the free episodes Funimation has on their site, promoting the US Release. The dubbing is actually very clean, and most of the voices fit pretty dang well (I think this show probably employed all 18 American VAs at the same time). The DVDs are being released in two sets- the first half and then second half of the season, which is, in my opinion, a great deal compared to having to buy it disc by disk. So, go watch the free episodes and see what you think. While there is no news yet about a second season, the manga is still running, so don’t whiff it and check that out too.

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