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Main Characters
Goro Honda/Goro Shigeno
Voiced by: Motoko Kumai (younger), Showtaro Morikubo (older)
- Berserk Button: Speaking ill about his father. Abusive Parents also seems one, as seen in the second Little League match.
- Book Dumb: He's not particularly interested in studying. This causes him trouble since he needs to pass both the athletic and the academic tests to attend Kaido.
- Bully Hunter: Despite being seemingly uninterested, he stood up to Sawamura and his cronies so they would leave Komori alone.
- Character Tics: His cap often falls off when he's pitching at full force. According to him, this is how he knows he's pitching at his best which becomes a major plot point during Season 6, when it stops happening due to him having the yips.
- Determinator: Noted by many characters and at least one major example per season.
- At the end of season 1, Goro continues to play with a seriously injured arm that will later in the series unable him to no longer pitch with that arm. This leads him to training himself how to become left-handed, initially doing everything with his left-arm.
- Fatal Flaw: His impatience. While his Determinator attitude is an admirable quality, it often leads him to disregard his own well-being (especially when he suffers injuries) and sometimes overwork himself while trying to surpass his limits.
- Goroawase Number: Starting on the Minor Leagues, he begins wearing jersey number 56 regularly, matching his given name phonetically.
- Happily Adopted: At first, it doesn't start out that way but Goro does warm up to Momoko and later Hideki.
- The Hero: Major revolves around Goro's baseball life from childhood to adulthood.
- Heroic BSoD: Goes through one thanks to his yips.
- Heroic Safe Mode: When dealing with the yips.
- Hot-Blooded: Though this begins to die down in later seasons.
- I Can Still Fight!: Part of his determinator personality.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He can be a tad brash and rough around the edges, and quite often is called out for lacking etiquete, but he greatly values his teammates and family.
- Language Barrier: When he travels to America, his English is... lacking, to say the least, always needing someone to translate for him. He improves with time, though.
- Love Revelation Epiphany: It takes Taiga basically telling him "My sister loves you and you're friendzoning her, you idiot" for him to start seeing Kaoru as a woman.
- Oblivious to Love: At least when it comes to Kaoru, he never realized that many of her actions were because she was in love with him since childhood.
- Took a Level in Badass: Every season he learns a new trick related to pitching that makes him even better.
- Trauma Button: Hitting another player with the ball in the head understandably unnerves him.
- Worf Had the Flu: Since he was playing with an ankle injury during the match against Kaido, Toshiya believes their victory was only due to this. Especially since he still gave them a run for their money until he collapsed.
Toshiya Sato
Voiced by: Fuyuka Ōura (younger), Masakazu Morita (older)
- Broken Ace: Becomes one after his parents abandoned him.
- First Friend: To Goro, since he wasn't particularly close to the other kids during kindergarten.
- Happily Adopted: Though he is a bit unstable from his Parental Abandonment, he is genuinely grateful for his grandparents who have taken care of him. It later motivates him to do well in order to pay them back.
- Heroic BSoD: Implied to have gone through one after his Parental Abandonment. A smaller one occurs later in season 6 after he meets his sister and remembers old memories. Luckily, he does get better.
- The Lancer: When he's not Goro's rival, he'll fill this role.
- Parental Abandonment: His parents just left him when he was only a child.
- Raisedby Grandparents: His grandparents take him in.
- The Rival: Despite playing different positions and having been on the same team numerous times, both Goro and Sato considered themselves each other's rivals.
- The Smart Guy: Usually known as a genius rookie catcher.
- The Strategist: Proven to be a talented one as his potision requires him to be one though at the start of season 6, he starts waning. Luckily, he gets better.
- Trauma Conga Line: Oh boy.
Kaoru Shimizu
Voiced by: Yuko Sasamoto
- Bully Hunter: In elementary school, she was one of the few who stood up to Sawamura and his cronies.
- Happily Married: To Goro.
- I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Feels this way towards her husband and her children, saying that her dream is for them to be happy.
- Passionate Sports Girl: For softball, though partially to feel closer to Goro.
- Patient Childhood Love Interest
- Tsundere: Mostly a dere type, only acting tsun to Goro, though this dies down in season 6.
- Victorious Childhood Friend: In season 1, there was a bit of a minor Love Triangle where Kaoru had feelings for Goro, who in turn, had feelings for Ryoko. However, Ryoko ended up insulting Goro's deceased father; this, combined with Ryoko being Demoted to Extra, makes it a Foregone Conclusion as to who he ends up with.
Daisuke Komori
Voiced by: Rie Kugimiya (younger), Kōki Miyata (older)
- Affectionate Nickname: Some of his closest friends call him "Komorin".
- Nice Guy: Willing to forgive people who have bullied him and become very friends with them.
Ryota Sawamura
Voiced by: Kahoru Sasajima (younger), Hirofumi Nojima (older)
- Bully Turned Buddy: He started out as a bully towards Komori, but after Goro and Kaoru confront him becomes friends with them.
- Out of Focus: Since in Season 2 he turns to play football again.
Introduced in Season 1
Shigeharu Honda
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu
- Good Parents: He is very close to his son though is strict when he has to be. When he learned the local little league coach signed Goro up as a pitcher despite being under-aged, Honda Shigeharu forbids him from joining because using the real baseball at a young can seriously harm Goro's hand. Goro does understand and does wait til he's at the proper age to join.
- Nice Guy
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth
Joe Gibson
Voiced by: Kouji Ochiai
- 10-Minute Retirement: Gets forced into retirement due to heart problems at the end of season 5. This lasts all of 7 episodes before He's Back!.
- The Atoner: For killing Shigeharu Honda accidentally. Unfortunately the way he went about it ruined his own family.
- Death Seeker: During Season 5, he insists on playing the finals against Japan despite his heart problems (or rather, because of them, because he expects to die on the mound to atone for killing Shigeharu Honda).
Momoko Shigeno
Voiced by: Junko Noda
- Parents as People: She does try her honest best to be a good a mother but Goro unintentionally pushes her away at times and she is unsure how to respond to that.
- Yamato Nadeshiko
Hideki Shigeno
Voiced by: Shunsuke Sakuya
- The Alcoholic: Temporarily becomes one in season 6 when he was failing at his baseball career. He does break out of it.
- Foil: As a parent, he's one to Joe Gibson - Hideki eventually calls it quits due to getting stuck in a runt, while Gibson is forced into a 10-Minute Retirement due to health reasons. Gibson's son is his biological son, whereas Goro is Hideki's adoptive son, but whereas Joe Gibson doesn't get along with Joe Gibson Jr due to how Sr. chose to be The Atoner, Hideki and Goro get along, even with some disagreements. And while Sr. is unable to give advice to Jr. due to the two playing different positions (and the former never having been in a similar situation), thanks to his experience with Honda, Hideki is easily able to give Goro advice as a pitcher and a player in general.
- I Was Just Joking: Twice over the course of the story, he gave some joking advice that people ended up taking to heart:
- At the beginning of the story, he tells Shigeharu Honda that, since he can't pitch, he could make a comeback as a batter, and it turns out he can be pretty effective as a pinch hitter.
- In Season 5, he suggests Goro he could join the All-Star Japan team as a pitcher for batting practice. This leads to Goro being drafted into the team's roster despite not making the deadline.
- Parents as People: Not that he isn't a good father but does have problems getting through to Goro. Does offer Goro advice from time to time and is the one who suggested to switch arm dominance when Goro couldn't use is pitch with his right arm no longer.
- Nice Guy
Ryoko Kawase
Voiced by: Kumiko Endou
- Adaptation Expansion: She only appeared in season 1 in the manga. However, in season 3 of the anime, she trains Goro with her sliders while in the manga, it was Taiga.
- Braids of Action: Kept her hair this way in season 1.
- Innocently Insensitive: Her comment about Joe Gibson's dead ball being the other player's fault. She's naturally horrified to know that it was Goro's late father.
- Passionate Sports Girl
Introduced in Yuujou no Ikkyuu
Masato Koga
- Green-Eyed Monster: At first, to Goro when he joins their team.
Megumi Koga
- Big Brother Worship
- Nice Girl: Once they get past the misunderstandings, it turns out she's very sweet.
- Sins of Our Fathers: Downplayed, but she and her brother take to dislike Goro when they learn who his father is. As it turns out, Shigeno took the spot as the ace of the same team their father plays at, and they blame him for it.
Introduced in Season 2
Shingo Shigeno
- Big Brother Worship: For Goro, obviously.
Masataka Oobayashi
Voiced by:Ayumi Hasegawa
Yamane Yoshitaka
Voiced by: Hideki Ogihara
- Freudian Excuse: He seeks to get the baseball club shut down because he can't stand seeing others play in front of him. In truth, he wants to play again and is bitter because his injury hasn't healed and thus he can't. Or so he thinks at first.
- Jerkass: Until Goro talked sense into him and Komori was willing to be friends with him.
Egashira Tetsufumi
Voiced by: Daiki Nakamura
- Big Bad: Of season 2 and 3.
- Evil Is Petty: The lengths he goes to screw with Goro just because he refused to play for Kaido include denying him entry to any school with a baseball team, and then intentionally getting him injured in a friendly match. All just because he wouldn't serve as his poster boy to bolster the academy's prestige.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: With the occasional Scary Shiny Glasses, to top it off.
- Hate Sink: It's probably easier to list moments where he doesn't fit this trope than ones that do. In fact, he's the closest thing this series has to an outright villain.
- If I Can't Have You…: A rare non-romantic variant. His whole attitude towards Goro can be summed up as "If you won't play for me, you won't play at all", and goes to extreme lengths to prevent him from playing baseball.
- Laser-Guided Karma: His abuse of his abilities and harsh style of teaching get him fired.
- Screw the Rules, I Have Connections!: When Goro refuses to become the star of Kaido like he wants, he sends word to every major school with a baseball team, threatening to sue them if they accept him as revenge. Of course, he wasn't counting on him enrolling in a school without a baseball club and start it himself.
- Villainous Breakdown: He grows increasingly more and more deranged towards the end of the Kaido vs Seisshu match, screaming in rage and expelling the players for disobeying his orders.
Shizuka Saotome
Voiced by: Sayaka Ohara
- Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Introduces herself as a cheerful coach for the Kaido team, but later confesses that she wants to see the Dream Island team get crushed mercilessly by the Scholarship Team, all with a smile in her face. Subverted, as it turns out she has very good reasons to act that way.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: As it turns out, she wants the players to follow Kaido's manual to the letter to prevent them from getting injured, or worse, dying, like her oldest brother did due to overworking himself in the matches.
Taizou Saotome
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake
Inui
Voiced by: Akimitsu Takase
Ken Mayumura
- The Ace
- The Stoic: Doesn't have much to say, but is always composed for baseball games.
- Worthy Opponent: Eventually comes to see Goro as this, and laments he couldn't face him properly due to his injuries.
Naoki Enomoto
Voiced by: Takahiro Sakurai
Ichiro Yamada
Voiced by: Kenyuu Horiuchi
Ayane Suzuki
Voiced by: Minori Chihara
- Chuck Cunningham Syndrome: Despite being Sato's potential love interest, we never see her again after her one appearance in season 4.
- Cute Sports Club Manager: Becomes this to Mifune East during her final year.
- Girlish Pigtails: Wears her hair in twin braids during middle school, but drops them from Season 3 onwards.
- Ship Tease: Despite being smitten with Toshiya, she has some moments of this with Taiga, as the two grow close due to being in the same class and being in the baseball club.
Introduced in Season 3
Fuji
Voiced by: Takeshi Kusao
- Butt-Monkey
- Delinquent Hair
- Hopeless Suitor: For Kaoru, who finds him annoying.
- Official Couple: Eventually marries Miho Nakamura.
Tashiro
Voiced by: Norihisa Mori
- Jerkass: Pre Character Development.
Taiga Shimizu
Voiced by: Romi Park
- Annoying Younger Sibling: Sometimes he can be this due to his attitude, and Kaoru berates him for it.
- Insufferable Genius: He's a bit arrogant by virtue of being the only player (other than Goro) who's skilled enough to hold his own in the Seisshu team.
- Deadpan Snarker
- Love Confessor: Acts as the middleman to get Goro to understand Kaoru's feelings for him.
- Ship Tease: Has some moments with Ayane.
- You Are in Command Now: After Goro leaves the Seisshu baseball club, he becomes the new captain.
Miyazaki
- Blind Without 'Em: He can't see without his glasses. This brings Seisshu a lot of trouble during the Mifune match, since they're broken accidentally and he can't play that way.
Ichiro Yamada/Steve Timothy
- Accidental Misnaming: He refers to Goro as "Nogoro-kun" due to misreading his name as "Shige Nogoro". Even after being corrected he still sticks with the nickname.
- Gratuitous English: Well, he's American by birth and an English teacher.
- Reasonable Authority Figure
Miho Nakamura
Voiced by: Kana Ueda
- Adrenaline Makeover: At season 4.
- Career-Ending Injury: Fuji accidentally pushed her downstairs, causing her to break her leg and having to retire from the track team. She's naturally very bitter about it because he never came to see her or apologized.
- Cute Little Fangs: Has one.
- Cute Sports Club Manager: Decides to sign up as manager for the baseball club to get close to Goro, even though she doesn't know the sport at first.
- Official Couple: Eventually with Fuji.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. Shares the same first name with Toshiya's younger sister.
- Smitten Teenage Girl
Introduced in Season 4
Ginuma/Hayato Yaginuma
Voiced by:Kenichi Suzumura
- Affectionate Nickname: Goro calls him "Ginumacchi".
- Game-Breaking Injury: Failed the tryouts for the Major Leagues due to a knee injury resurfacing. Nevertheless, Goro convinces him to keep playing baseball when he returns to Japan once he recovers.
Fox
Voiced by: Kenta Miyake
- Nice Guy
- Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Arguably for Toshi, due to their shared position (catcher) and status as a Nice Guy. Somewhat Justified, since Toshi didn't go with Goro when the latter went to the US.
Sanders
Voiced by: Koji Ishii
Alice Jinnai
Voiced by: Atsuko Enomoto
Joe Gibson Jr.
Voiced by: Daisuke Namikawa (older), Akiko Kimura (young)
- The Ace
- Broken Ace: For all his talent, he doesn't play baseball because he enjoys it, and continues to drag the pain of losing his family.
- Freudian Excuse: He's a Jerkass to Goro at first since his dad started to neglect his family in order to atone for killing Shigeharu Honda.
- Heel Realization: Has one when he tries to taunt Goro about having "his father's murderer" watching him play. He's quite shocked when Goro replies that he'd long forgiven Gibson Sr. for that, and he's not playing for revenge, unlike Junior.
- The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Has this feeling towards his father, and his initial antagonism with Goro is rooted on the fact that he knows the latter wants to challenge Gibson Sr. in the Majors.
- Shadow Archetype: He comes across as one to Goro. Both are very talented players, though Goro is mainly a pitcher, while Junior is a home run hitter. Both play baseball for opposite reasons: Goro because he enjoys the sport and wants to follow his father's footsteps, while Junior plays it because he wants to destroy his father, whom he hates. While Goro has all the reasons to hate Joe Gibson Sr. for killing his biological father, he makes it clear that he holds no ill will at him, unlike Junior who still in adulthood blames his father (and both Hondas) for his family being broken.
Jeff Keane
Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa
- The Ace
- Oh, Crap!: If something that goes against his statistics/predictions comes up, he will more likely than not have this reaction.
- Start of Darkness: He originally was a catcher who was rather idealistic, not unlike Goro. However, one time he decided to believe in a pitcher, which cost his team the game and got them eliminated from a tournament. While it doesn't cause him to become a full-blown villain (early on, he's a Token Evil Teammate at worst), it does make him start on the wrong foot with Goro.
- The Stoic
- The Strategist: Reason why he takes Sanders place as catcher.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: He does genuinely care about playing the game. It's just that his focus on using stats to win is a bit too extreme if you don't share the same mindset.
Introduced in Season 5
Waka Onodera/Miho Sato
Voiced by: Mamiko Noto
- One-Steve Limit: Shares her first name with Miho Nakamura.
- Toshi I am your sister
Silva
Introduced in Season 6
Richard Watts
- The Heart: He's a bit blunt about it, but he does his best to keep the team together.
Billy Oliver
Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama
Mike Murdoch
Voiced by: Jin Yamanoi
- Freudian Excuse: He was once framed by two players who hid a pack of drugs in his locker, and nobody believed him when he defended his innocence. Even after he was cleared, he refused to trust his teammates ever again because he felt nobody would trust him.
- Heel Realization: Upon seeing Goro actually giving him advice and having faith in him, he realizes that the problem isn't that he wasn't being accepted by his teammates, but rather, he wasn't accepting them.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Despite often getting into fights with other players, he's shown to be a loving husband and father.
Introduced in World Series