Manga / Ace of the Diamond

aka: Diamond No Ace

"We're not the Kings! We're the Challengers!"

Ace of the Diamond, or, Diamond no Ace or Daiya no Ace is a shōnen baseball manga written and illustrated by Yūji Terajima and published by Kodansha. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 2006 to 2015. In 2008, the manga received the Shogakukan Manga Awards for the shōnen category, and in 2010, it won the Kodansha Manga Award for best shōnen manga. In August 2015, a sequel series called Ace of the Diamond Act II began serialization, and is still ongoing.

Sawamura Eijun is a pitcher from rural school Akagi Junior High, where the school's baseball team was fairly bad^note To be exact, they never won. Despite this, Sawamura thoroughly enjoyed playing with his teammates, and was dead set on entering high school with them and continuing their journey to Koushien there. However, he's scouted by a manager from an elite private school in Tokyo. After some deliberation and encouragement from his junior high teammates, he decides to carry their dreams with him as he moves to Tokyo to join Seidou High School's powerhouse baseball team. Unfortunately for him though, what he finds there isn't quite what he expected...

An Anime adaptation by Madhouse and Production I.G aired as part of the 2013 Fall season. The second season, styled Ace of Diamond: Second Season aired as part of Spring season of 2015, and its last episode marked the end of the manga adaptation (as well as, the end of Sawamura's first high-school year, in-universe). Ace of Diamond: Act II also gained an anime adaptation, this time produced only by Madhouse, which started airing in the Spring season of 2019.

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This series contains examples of:

• The Ace: Seidou has no "true" ace, and the ace number is the ultimate goal for Tanba, Furuya, Sawamura, and Kawakami; as they are the four first-string pitchers, and the ultimate premise of the series. Tanba is chosen as the ace, but sustains an injury before the summer tournament, when jerseys are handed out, he is given the ace number, thus making him the ace. The reporters mention this as the main reason why Seidou lost against Inashiro on the road to Koshien.
  • After the loss against Inashiro and the third years graduated, jerseys were redistributed to the first string players, Sawamura was given 18, Kawakami stayed at 10, and Furuya was given the ace number, 1.
  • In Act II, Furuya's declining performance in their loss against Ichidaisan during the Spring Tournament resulted in a decision to revamp on number assignments based on everyone's performance in the practice matches. Sawamura rose to the occasion and started on matches against stronger teams, and finally earned the ace number for the Summer tournament. Furuya's number returned to 11.
  • In terms of batting, Haruichi boasts the highest avg on the team at .571 (meaning he hits the ball 57.1% of the time) and during the Summer Tournament of his first year, he boasted a perfect 1.000, the next closest to him is Shirasu with .333 (33.3%, hits a third of the time).
• Adaptational Dye-Job: In Ryousuke's OVA, the Kominato brothers hair is depicted in a reddish pink color rather than their standard light pink.
• Affectionate Nickname: Sawamura was called "Ei-chan" by his Junior High team and he calls Haruichi "Harucchi" (which basically means "Little Haru-chan") fondly. In their childhood, Haruichi referred to his brother as "Ryou-chan," and their mother still calls him it.
• Aloof Big Brother: Ryousuke is this to Haruichi. His instincts were also aloof, he'd lightly scold Haruichi for crying rather than standing up for himself when bullied, but would then in secret go fight those that bullied his brother.
• Always Someone Better: Since the first moment Furuya gets a place on the team due to his insanely strong pitches. Sawamura, however, has to fight for it.
  • Ryousuke and Tetsu have both claimed that their younger brothers are this to them.
• Artistic License – Sports: The pitch they keep calling a sinker is not a sinker; the pitchers throw it with either a screwball or vulcan changeup grip. A true sinker is a two-seam fastball that is thrown with the full weight and spin on the top of the ball, making it drop sharply to the arm-side of the pitcher despite the high speed of the pitch. What the show calls a sinker is actually another type of breaking ball.
• Awesomeness by Analysis: Miyuki usually uses this to strike out the batters, then uses it again to score when at bat.
  • Act II has new first years Koushuu and Seto doing this, due to the "thinking baseball" ingrained to them in Junior High.
• Back Story: To the date three of them has been released as extras: Miyuki's, Kuramochi's and Ryousuke's.
• Battle Aura: At times Tetsu can get extremely passionate when facing a rival. Or his own teammates.
  • Furuya gets a lot like this, too.
• Battle Cry: Before every match.
• Berserk Button: Seriously, don't badmouth Chris in front of Miyuki. Ever.
• Big Brother Instinct: Ryousuke was very close to Haruichi when they were younger and protected him from bullies, however, their relationship became estranged when Haruichi took up baseball and they played the same position. Currently, they are still estranged, but Ryousuke shows that he still cares and looks out for Haruichi, just not as openly as before.
• Big Brother Worship: Haruichi really admired Ryousuke since they were little kids. In fact, it's his worship of him that makes him decide to use wooden bats, in order to catch up to Ryousuke, and have Ryousuke acknowledge him. He does, in their decisive match against Inashiro Tech. In their youth, Ryousuke described it as Haruichi "copying" him.
  Haruichi: "Aniki has always been my hero."
• Big Little Brother: Downplayed, but played straight; Haruichi is roughly an inch taller than Ryousuke, who is two years his senior.
  • More notable with the Yuuki brothers. When they're side by side, Masashi clearly has a few inches over Tetsu, who is three years older.
• Bilingual Bonus: Shunshin who speaks fluent Japanese as well as his mother language Taiwanese, even speaking in Taiwanese at his at-bat during the Seidou-Akikawa game.
• Broken Ace: Tanba becomes this during the series.
  • Furuya big time during Act 2.
• Broken Tears: Narumiya, after Inashiro lost at Koshien, in both his first and second year.
  • Most of Seidou's players after the final against Inashiro. Especial mention to Tetsu.
  • Eijun gets these when he is placed in the first string and Chris isn't.
• Book Dumb: Sawamura and Furuya qualify as this. To the point that Sawamura has to beg Kanemaru for help. He barely passes his exams. Furuya does not.
• Break the Cutie: Sawamura during the final game against Inashiro.
• Brutal Honesty: Miyuki has no problem in telling the first-years pitchers how much they suck.
• But Not Too Foreign: Chris, who is half-American.
  • Averted with Shunshin, who is 100% Taiwanese and is from Taiwan.
• Butt-Monkey: Poor Sawamura is the usual target of Kuramochi's judo moves, and of Ryousuke's head-chops.
• The Captain: Tetsu. Miyuki, later.
• Cast of Snowflakes: Most times the author puts special attention in the spectators.
• Childhood Friends: Narumiya and Miyuki seem to know each other pretty well.
  • Toujou and Kanemaru played in the same team during Junior High.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: Furuya's mind is not always where it should to.
  • Todoroki Raichi shows signs of this, too.
• Combat Commentator: Miyuki. Justified as he is the one in charge of calling the pitches.
• The Comically Serious: Furuya.
  • Tetsu, oh my god.
  (as everybody is getting ready to victory-toss the coach) Tetsu: *Battle Aura* "What's the Guinness World Record?"
• Confusion Fu: Sawamura's specialty. His pitches lack the speed and control of most of the other pitchers, but because of his unique pitching style, the trajectory of his pitches shift, even if he uses the same pitch over and over. And the shift can be subtle or wild, depending on how hard he pitches. Thanks to the lower speed of his pitches, he's easier to get hits off of than, say, Furuya, but because it's completely impossible to predict the ball's trajectory shifts, it's damn near impossible to get a decisive hit off of him. This makes him harder to score off of than the other pitchers, despite them being harder to hit off of.
• Crippling the Competition: One of Teikou's players tries to do this to Miyuki. It kicks him back in the face when Miyuki, despite being hurt, ends the game with a very epic home-run.
• Crowd Chant
• Crowd Song
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Seidou's first couple of games at the Summer Tournament, if they can be called games.
  • Act II's practice matches where Sawamura is the starting pitcher are mostly this.
• Curtains Match the Windows: Haruichi.
• Cute Sports Club Manager: Seidou has four of them. During Act II, they have five.
• Deadpan Snarker: Miyuki, all the time.
• Death Glare: Sawamura tries to scare first-base runners with one.
• Determined Expression
• The Determinator: Sawamura is the proclaimed mood-maker of the team.
• Does Not Know His Own Strength: Furuya still has to learn to pace himself when pitching.
• Don't Think, Feel: Shunshin Yuu of Akikawa when at bat.
• Dope Slap: Ryousuke used to deliver these first to Kuramochi, and most recently to Sawamura.
• Down to the Last Play: Most of Seidou's games turns into this.
• The Dreaded: Tetsu evokes this in rivals when it is his turn at bat.
  • Raichi does, too.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Haruichi has been noted many times that he looks like a girl.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Chris. It gets better when Sawamura starts to grow on him.
• Embarrassing Nickname: Isashiki's "Spitz of Seidou" title, don't call him it.
• Embarrassing Haircut: Masuko accidentally shaves a huge streak in his head when he forgot to change the setting on his razor, as a result, he had to shave his entire head to even it out, when he walks into breakfast, the reaction from the team is predictable.
• Epic Fail: Sawamura is terrible at batting.
  • Miyuki being incapable of hitting the ball with the bases unloaded.
• Even the Guys Want Him: Most of rival teams are amazed by Miyuki's skills. It takes a turn to worse when even Yakushi's players and coach dubs him as the pretty boy catcher.
  Mishima: Die, you pretty guy!
• Eyes Always Shut: Ryousuke.
• Face Palm: A collective one when Sawamura is on the mound.
• Fallen Hero: It has been seven years since Seidou went to Koshien.
• A Father to His Men: Kataoka, if he only cares about one thing, it's his players. The best example being him being the first one to run onto the field when Tanba got hit with a pitch.
• Four Eyes, Zero Soul: Miyuki. And it amuses him
  Furuya: I've always thought about this, but... Miyuki-senpai, your personality is really nasty.
  Miyuki: Haha. Well said!
• Fragile Speedster:
  • Furuya, who has the fastest fastball of all of Seidou's pitchers, has weak nails and poor stamina, even worse in Summer, as he hails from Hokkaido.
  • Kuramochi is the fastest runner in the Seidou team, but his batting power is nothing to write home about.
  • Haruichi is an all-around amazing baseball player, being able to pick where and how far he hits a ball at bat, can jump up and catch a ball and throw it while still in air, and has incredible speed, all in all, his skills surpass his first-string, third year, older brother, Ryousuke; but like Furuya, he lacks in stamina.
• Friendless Background: In a flashback it is seen how no one wanted to play with Furuya due to his pitches being insanely strong.
  • Miyuki didn't spend his childhood exactly surrounded by friends, either.
• Friendly Rivalry: Sawamura and Furuya spend big deal of time fighting each other for a place at the mound, for a sit next to Miyuki, or even for a tire.
• The Gadfly: Miyuki loves to mess with people. Just because he can and it amuses him.
• Game-Breaking Injury: Chris's shoulder, which he's trying to rehab. Also his former teammate from middle school Zaizen suffered a leg injury.
  • Right when Tanba solidifies his spot as The Ace, he gets hit in the jaw from a wild pitch during a game, the game was called as a result from the injury and he was out for several months with a fractured jaw. As a result from the injury and recovery process, Tanba was benched for the first few games of the summer tournament.
  • Miyuki was tackled by a player of Seikou during the Fall Tournament semifinals, but continued to play during the finals regardless. He was forced to sit out during the Meiji Jingu tournament, lest that he could make it worse.
  • Furuya was on the edge of suffering a back injury during Act II, due to his incorrect pitching form. Thankfully the rest of the team caught on before it happened.
  • The above ended up being a foreshadow for Kawakami, who's been benched for the Summer Tournament vs Ichidaisan while waiting for the MRI results on his injury.
• Glasses Are Sexy: The female reporter from Baseball Kingdom admits to having a glasses fetish. She gushes over Miyuki, and acquires a Luminescent Blush when she observes the bespectacled pitcher from Akikawa Academy.
• Goggles Do Nothing: Averted with Miyuki, as Word of God states he uses contact lenses during the games and the goggles to avoid dust.
• Hair-Trigger Temper: Mei, especially when people get hits off him in the eighth inning of the Seidou-Inashiro game, Seidou managed to score three runs, Mei was able to stay calm on the mound and finish his pitching session of the inning, but as soon as Inashiro was in the dugout, he went into the back area and threw a tantrum. His teammates often worry if his frustration and anger will effect his playing.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted, as everybody trains to the point of collapse.
• The Heart: Tetsu's role as the team captain.
  • Sawamura eventually grows into this by Act II.
• Hero-Worshipper: Sawamura to Chris.
  • Furuya went to Seidou because he read an article about Miyuki.
• Heroic BSoD: Sawamura suffers one after he hits one of Inashiro's players in the 9th inning. It's made even worse when he gets relieved by Kawakami and he blows the save.
  • Sawamura also suffers this during the Seidou vs Yakushi practice game, Raichi hit a homerun off him after Sawamura vowed not to let Kataoka down, he manages to stay calm, but is mentally crushed and is then relieved by Kawakami when he allows two more runners on base. Kawakami also suffers from this in the same game while on the mound, due to the memory of Raichi's homerun scored off of Sawamura replaying mind, affecting his usual control.
• Heterosexual Life-Partners: Sawamura and Chris.
  • Tetsu and Isashiki.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Zaizen. He sends his teammates out to deliberately exacerbate Chris' shoulder injury, before coming out himself to finish the job. But Sawamura, incensed by his inability to help Chris, ends up using his confusing pitches to exacerbate Zaizen's injury instead.
• I Can Still Fight!: Miyuki decides to hide his injury from the team and play against Yakushi. Even after they realize he asks the coach to let him keep playing.
  • Similarly with Ryousuke in the Seido-Inashiro game, as he had injured his leg in the previous game and his continuing to go all out has worsened it. The only one who knows of it initially is Kuramochi, who allows Ryousuke to still play, and Ryousuke never outright tells anyone of the injury. Kataoka eventually catches on and compliments Ryousuke for his toughness, but pulls him out of the game and subs in Haruichi.
  • Kawakami tries to appeal for this for the upcoming match against Ichidaisan. Kataoka didn't budge.
• Hot-Blooded: Sawamura, even by manga and anime standards.
  • Isashiki, definitely.
• Idiot Hero: Sawamura. Along with the Hot-Blooded trope above, this is what largely causes almost everyone to write him off thinking that he's just another baseball star wannabe. Furuya also isn't too bright, but he's a lot quieter about it.
• Important Haircut: Tanba, the Ace of Seidou as punishment for failing the challenge imposed by his teammates. Though he didn't fail, he was injured by a dead ball before he could properly attempt challenge.
• Incompletely Trained: At first Sawamura didn't even know how to grip the ball properly.
  Sawamura: "Four-seam? Is that a foreign rapper."
• Irony: Sawamura initially wanted to form a battery with Miyuki upon arriving at Seidou, and he was borderline furious that he was to form a battery with Chris, however, after bonding with Chris, Sawamura wants to keep the battery with Chris alive and is actually upset that he has to partner up with the person he originally wanted to be his catcher; he slowly comes to accept Miyuki, however, but still desires to be in a battery with Chris.
  • It takes him a while but he starts remembering more frequently that he actually only came to Seidou because Miyuki left such a big impression.
• It's Personal: The Fall Tournament gets even more dramatic when the team learns of Kataoka leaving if they don't make it to Koushien.
• Japanese Delinquent: Kuramochi, when he was in Junior High.
• The Leader: Tetsu. Then Miyuki.
• Losing the Team Spirit: After the third years retire. Fortunately, their farewell game manages to renew their spirit for the Fall Tournament.
• Luminescent Blush: Haruichi is highly prone to this.
• Manly Tears: Sawamura as well as other members of the team.
  • Also when a Team is defeated in a tournament.
  • Kataoka at the end of the Fall Tournament, as he thanks the retired third years for their continued support of their juniors in the team.
  • Sawamura gets his biggest moment of this in the Summer Tokyo Tournament finals, after Seidou wins the rematch against Inashiro.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Sawamura gets this reaction after finding out about Chris' Game-Breaking Injury after he insulted him.
• My Greatest Failure: Mei views his wild pitch from the previous year's Koshien, which resulted in Inashiro being eliminated, as this; it's so bad that it haunts him, keeping him up at night and unable to get proper sleep, and he wants nothing more than to go back to Koshien and redeem himself. He gets the chance to after Inashiro beats Seido, but Inashiro once again gets eliminated.
• The Napoleon: The Kominato brothers are the shortest two players on the team, Haruichi being marginally taller than Ryousuke, both are below average height for boys their age and they are 164cm or roughly 5'4 (Haruichi) and 162cm or 5'3 (Ryousuke) in comparison to the rest of their team who are in the 170+ centimeter range.
  • The captain of Seikou, Shinichirou Masu, is extremely short at 166cm compared to the other players, but that doesn't deter him in the least.
• New Powers as the Plot Demands: Sawamura seems to learn a new pitch ball before every important game. It doesn't always work, though.
• The Nicknamer: Sawamura comes up with a nickname for many members of the team; such as:
  • Haruichi - "Harucchi", Ryousuke - "Nii-san", Jun - "Spitz-sempai" and "Beard-sempai", Tetsu - "Leader", Kataoka - "Coach Shades" and "Boss".
• No Indoor Voice: Sawamura is a very loud kid.
  Miyuki: We'll go with Kawakami and Noisymura~
  • Isashiki cannot tone it down, either.
  Isashiki: Who are you calling, Spitz-sempai?!
• Opposing Combat Philosophies: More like Opposing Training Philosophies. While both Kataoka and Ochiai are good and effective coaches, their methods differ greatly: Kataoka strives to make the team grow as a whole, in both practices and with each game, while Ochiai wants to build up an ace pitcher the team can revolve around, and is perfectly willing to sacrifice victories in important matches or even other players to do so.
• Passing the Torch: With the third years graduating, a lot of first and second years took over the empty positions, the most prominent being Haruichi taking his brother's position, number, and batting spot before moving into the clean-up batters.
  • Tanba's ace number is passed to Furuya.
  • Leadership is passed from Tetsu to Miyuki along with his position as clean-up batter.
• Perpetual Smiler: Ryousuke.
• Pintsized Powerhouse: The Kominato brothers.
  • Raichi Todoroki is probably the best example. His father trained him from an early age with a heavy bat to build up his strength.
• Pre Ass Kicking One Liner:
  Miyuki: We're not the Kings. We're the Challengers.
• Put on a Bus: The third years after the summer tournament, justified as they are graduating.
  • The Bus Came Back: Most of the retired third years are seen during the new team training and matches.
• Reaction Shot: More often than not.
• Real Men Cook: It is stated in the Official Guide Book that Miyuki can cook. It is later confirmed in the anime he learnt to cook at an early age because of reasons.
• Red Oni, Blue Oni: In the anime, Seidou and their opposing team are depicted with red or blue coloring, it's used to show both state of mind of the individual showcased players and the team's personalities in comparison to the other.
  • It was best shown during Raichi's second at-bat against Eijun; Eijun was blue and Raichi was red, Eijun was calm, collected, and focused on doing well for his coach and team while Raichi was eager and focused on hitting the ball because he wanted the challenge rather than doing it for the team.
• Rousing Speech: Kataoka is a master of this.
• Running Gag: Despite Sawamura being awful at batting, he is amazingly good with bunts. He even gives tips to his teammates. And no, they're not exactly thrilled about it either.
  Sawamura: Where are you bunting the ball?? You have to be like this and hit it right on the line!!
  Kuramochi: Shut up! Hearing this from you really pisses me off!
  • Furuya has an astonishing ability to fall asleep anywhere.
  • In the Spring Tournament, Miyuki's inability to bat without runners in base.
• Say My Name
  "MIYUKI KAZUYAAA!", anyone?
• Scary Shiny Glasses: Miyuki. Rei also has her moments.
• Second Place Is for Losers: There's no glory for those who stay at Koshien's gates.
• Serious Business: Teenagers with an only concern- baseball.
• She's Not My Girlfriend: Sawamura says this word for word whenever Wakana is mentioned.
• Shout-Out: In episode 45, Narumiya laughs going "Upupupu" and talks about instilling despair into Sakurazawa, clearly he is a fan of Monobear.
  • Raichi's "Kahahaha" also qualifies as this.
  • Whenever it's Yuki's turn at bat, Seido's band, other non-first string players, and crowd members in support of them will sing "Lupin the Fire" by SEAMO.
  • To get his pitching rolling, Ogawa Tsunematsu sings the theme of Anpanman.
  • Maki Yousuke of Sensen has "A Cruel Angel's Thesis" as his walk up song.
• Shrinking Violet: Haruichi is the shyest and least outgoing member on the team off the field, and surprisingly, Tanba was this during his first year.
  • Raichi as well. Some of his classmates were shocked to see him on the field being so loud and pumped up, wondering if it was actually him.
• Sibling Yin-Yang: Ryousuke and Haruichi; Haruichi is the shy, sweet, kind, and mellow younger brother in comparison to Ryousuke who is borderline sadistic, violent, and condescending at times; they also seem to have a Red Oni, Blue Oni kind of bond.
• Spoiler Opening: There are a couple, but "Final Victory" is probably the most jarring example.
  • The first opening (Go Exceed) shows Sawamura wearing the #20 jersey, which makes his getting into the first string a foregone conclusion.
  • The third opening (Hashire Mirai) is first used during the Seido vs. Inashiro game. It features some clever foreshadowing, but also the fact that Yakushi appears at all, after having been defeated by Seido in the preliminaries, makes it pretty obvious that the protagonists won't be playing at Nationals.
  • The sixth ending (Final Victory) starts after the Inashiro game. Furuya is clearly wearing the ace number, which makes Sawamura's role in the recent loss and his mounting mental issues that much more painful.
• Southpaw Advantage: The series has many lefties among its ranks. Protagonist Sawamura Eijun and major antagonist Narumiya Mei are the two most important examples. However, oddly, there's no real advantage to being a Southpaw in-series aside from the standard "slight advantage against left-handed batters"; of the strongest pitchers, fully half are right-handed, including the Ace of the back-to-back National Champion Komadai Fujimaki High, Hongou Masamune.
• Stealth Mentor: Chris.
• Strong Family Resemblance: Haruichi looks like a younger Ryousuke, just with bangs. Both boys also resemble their mother, Ryousuke looking almost like a male carbon copy.
• Supporting Leader: Tetsu.
• Taught by Experience: Sawamura has no formal baseball training. Whatsoever. In fact, he hardly knows some of the basics of the game, but this lack of instruction actually helped him to develop a unique pitching style.
• Tears of Joy: Sawamura.
• Teen Genius: Narumiya.
• Third Time's The Charm: Miyuki had vowed to defeat Mei and the rest of his friends in Inashiro one day, and their teams faced each other in the West Tokyo finals three years in a row. He finally succeeded in his third year.
• Those Two Guys: It's easy to forget that Kadota and Shirasu are in the starting lineup; especially since Kadota often gets pulled out of games once Furuya is done his end of the pitching cycle. Eijun even lampshades this with Shirasu when he compliments him for his performance at bat early in the series and has to ask for his name.
  • The other members of the first string that don't regularly play.
  • Literally everyone outside the first string from Seido are easy to forget, especially since there are so many; the only really memorable member in the stand is Kanemaru and he gets upgraded to first string after the summer tournament.
• Took a Level in Jerkass:
  • Furuya when he was given the ace number. At some point, he believes that his teammates need him more.
  • Haruichi starts acting a lot more like his brother Ryosuke during the second year.
• Tournament Arc: Every team dreams with reaching Koushien. They have to win every match in the Preliminaries to get there.
• Under Dogs Never Lose: Except when they do.
• Vitriolic Best Buds: Miyuki and Kuramochi.
  • Sawamura and Okumura, in Act 2. The vitriol comes from their polar opposite personalities and how Okumura hates most of Sawamura's traits. The best buds part comes from their near-identical passion for baseball itself.
• Worthy Opponent: Sawamura is getting there.
• Wrestler in All of Us: Kuramochi sure does know how to apply a good Boston Crab, along with other submissions and techniques. Word of God says he learned how to wrestle when he was younger and used to do it before baseball.
• Years Too Early: Miyuki to Sawamura during a practice game against some third years.
  Sawamura: And here I thought I'd able to play against you.
  Miyuki: Haha. You're still a hundred years too early.
  • Okumura in Act 2.
  Okumura: As frustrating as it is, they way I am now, I can't reach it...the place where they are...damn...it's so vexing that I'm only a first year...
• You Are in Command Now: Tetsu to Miyuki after the third years retire.

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