In a way, One outs is much like Death Note or Code Geass: it’s a show that isn’t exactly smart, but loves to make others think that it’s the smartest kid on the block. It comes from the creators of Akagi and Kaiji, meaning that we get lots of mind games surrounding a god-like character, this time focusing on baseball. If you’re expecing much of the same, though, you’ll find yourself surprised: unlike the above mentioned series, which are all dark and gritty, One Outs goes for a much lighter tone, with a much bigger focus on entertainment, rather than suspense.
Overall, One Outs is a very strange beast. It’s the type of series that has no depth whatsoever. While the different baseball strategies may seem impressive at first sight, it’s simply an extreme version of common baseball tactics, just made more exciting for non-baseball fans. The characters receive no development whatsoever, and the series basically is a string of baseball matches in which Tokuchi (the lead character) always wins.
Instead, the fun in this series comes from seeing tokuchi pwn everyone and his dog repeatedly. while they lack development, the characters in this series have prescence, and it’s always fun to see how badly the enemy teams will be beaten. The series knows that it has a very good combination of suspense and fun, and its got lots and lots of self-confidence. It doesn’t really care of being the deepest series out there, it just wants to have fun, and that’s what it accomplishes here.
By far my favourite part of the show was the faces of everyone after Tokuchi comes up with his umpth plan. When I first started watching, I was a bit afraid that the creators would just copy their own styles used in Akagi and Kaiji, but One Outs was surprisingly refreshing, while still remaining a series that’s typical of these guys.
| Storytelling: | 9/10 |
| Characters: | 7/10 |
| Production-Values: | 8/10 |
| Setting: | 8/10 |
It might not be an original idea, but one thing’s for sure: it’s a whole lot of fun to watch. I don’t think there are too many shows that could get me to come back week after week in eager anticipation. One Outs is definitely one of them though.
Watching this anime is like to see Hiruma (Eyeshield 21) become lead character. I am very like it because the lead character never lose direction.
It also has good OST and background music. Gotta watch it till the end.
Just want to point out that although One Outs is released by Mad House along with Akagi and Kaiji, the original story is by completely different people so I am not sure if comparing these three really make sense other than the fact all the characters have very sharp noses.
Akagi and Kaiji are by Nobuyuki Fukumoto, while One Outs is by Shinobu Kaitani, the man who is now writing Liar Game.
To me it makes a lot more sense to compare One Outs with Liar Game because though there are obvious similarities you can see how much the author actually improved since he wrote One Outs.
Frankly, I thought that One Outs, in a psychological sense, was a lot more in-depth and interesting than Death Note or Code Geass ever were. There was so much subtle insight, which was even backed up by research from the field of Psychology–so I have a lot more respect for this series. Yes, the games were farfetched and rules bent, but like you said- the purpose of this series is to entertain and make us root for Tokuchi even though he is quite despicable at times. The fact that he has no backstory just adds to the fun (no unnecessary addition of seriousness to the plot). And BECAUSE of this, I never found it as pretentious or overbearing as DN and CG. To me, that just makes this serious 100x more intelligent.
@ori Yes, someone finally brings up Liar Game! Actually, it was because of Liar Game that I started watching One Outs, since I loved the brilliant plot twists that Kaitani is always bringing out in his other series. Personally, I can agree that Liar Game is much better than One Outs, but can also definitely see how LG is the brilliant manga it is because of the experience Kaitani gained from writing his other series.
holy crap its like youre oblivious to everything
this show imo was really good , For most part , it was super entertaining