Big Windup! (Manga)

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Big Windup! (Ōkiku Furikabutte, often shortened as ''Oofuri'') is a Seinen manga and anime series about High School Baseball by Asa Higuchi, which began serialization in Monthly Afternoon in 2003 and is still on going. It was later adapted to anime by A-1 Pictures; the first season aired for 25 episodes in 2007, followed by a 13-episode second season in 2010.

The series follows freshman Ren Mihashi—who despite being the ace pitcher of his team all through middle school, is a sniveling crybaby with absolutely no confidence. Partly because of his personality and partly because they believed that he was only the ace because of nepotism, he was bullied for all three years of his middle school baseball career, which has left him even more of a neurotic, emotional wreck than before.

When he finally leaves for Nishiura, he finds himself a new team with no seniors that's only switched to hardball that year. Better yet, he meets Abe, an analytical control freak of a catcher who actually appreciates his exceptional command and control. There, he rediscovers his love of the sport as he learns what playing on a team's really like and tries to overcome his emotional baggage.

The baseball games depicted in Big Windup! are realistically long, and Mihashi being the type of pitcher that he is, Nishiura relies heavily on strategy to win their games. It's also notable for Asa Higuchi's incredible attention to detail—even the other teams have hefty lists of named characters, with established relationships, height/weight statistics, and consistent positions in both defense and offense.

The manga series won the prestigious Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize for best creative work in 2006. In 2007, it won the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga.

Now has a character sheet which badly needs more contributions.

The series features examples of:

Abuse Mistake: In Season 2 Episode 5, Tajima calls Hanai out for bullying Mihashi, when Hanai was just trying to talk to the poor guy.
The Ace: Mihashi is the official "ace" of the team, but the real star player is Tajima.
Adaptational Attractiveness: For a lot of the characters.
A Day in the Limelight: Most of volumes 16-19 of the manga are dedicated to Mushashino Daiichi, as is the DVD-exclusive episode 26 of season 1. Bijoudai Sayama gets their own in the DVD-exclusive episode 12.5 of season two.
All Men Are Perverts: Revealed later that they all have their fetishes.
All There in the Manual: The manga omakes and jackets have birthdates and weights and family structures, and also explain some things, such as why Tosei sings 'King of Glory' when they score (it's a Christian school) or where Mihashi's 9-zone pitching board came from (he got his dad to make it).
Always Identical Twins: The pitcher-catcher team for Kasukabe High. They cause Mihashi to panic at the opening ceremony when he thinks the No. 1 has been downgraded to a No. 2. Hanai is also shown to have twin sisters named Asuka & Haruka.
Always in Class One: Averted. Mihashi is in Class 1-9, and most of his other teammates are in 1-7 and 1-3. The only ones in 1-1 are Sakaeguchi and Suyama.
Always Someone Better: It really bugs Hanai that Tajima is better. Coach Momo encourages this feeling because she believes it will make both Hanai and Tajima better.
Anger Born of Worry: Part of the reason Abe yells at Mihashi so much is that he's worried he'll injure himself.
Apologises a Lot: Mihashi in the beginning because he believes everything is his fault. Also Daichi of Sakitama.
Asleep in Class: A deliberate part of Mihashi, Tajima and Izumi's lunchtime routine.
The Atoner: Mihashi is determined to make up for monopolizing the mound at Mihoshi by becoming a "real" ace this time.
Authority Equals Asskicking: How Momoe basically scares Hanai into sticking with the team.
Bad Ass Boast: Tajima boasts that he has never seen a pitch he couldn't hit by the end of the game. So far he's right.
Barbie Doll Anatomy: There are no nipples in the anime. The manga has little round circles.
Batter Up!: While bats are usually used for their intended purpose, Momokan spanks Mihashi with one in episode 1.
Beat Them at Their Own Game: Reversed example. Extensive research and counter-strategizing lets Nishiura beat Tosei in the first round. Bijoudai Sayama do the same to beat them in the fifth round.
Berserk Button: Mihashi's sniveling attitude is this to Abe, who is generally calm in other situations.
Big Brother Bully: Coach Roka of Bijoudai Sayama to Rio.
Big Brother Instinct: Tajima to Mihashi, although the latter is technically older. Abe is protective of Mihashi's physical well-being as well, but for more selfish reasons.
Big Eater: Mihashi, Hanai, Tajima, Izumi, and Abe wolf down heaped plates of curry in episode 25, then repeated the feat (sans Hanai and Izumi) with pork cutlets in episode 13 of season 2.
Big Fancy House: Ren lives in one of these with his parents.
Big "YES!": When Tajima finally manages a 2-run hit against Tosei.
Biting the Handkerchief: Tajima makes do with biting his shirt in Season 2 Episode 13.
Bitter Sweet Ending: Season 2 ends with Nishiura getting knocked out of the Summer Tournament.
Blue with Shock: Mihashi 75% of the time, which causes Abe to go blue too. The other team members have their moments.
Book Dumb: At the start of the series Tajima and Mihashi are in danger of not being allowed to play because of poor grades.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer
- Ren has an inferiority complex, cries easily and has weak velocity on his throws, but he has incredible control over his pitches.
- Tajima is a Cloudcuckoolander who occasionally says inappropriate things and twice almost strips naked in public, but is the most accurate hitter in the team, and a baseball prodigy.
But Not Too Foreign: Rio (and Roka by extension) is a three-quarters Japanese ethnically, but is said to be only quarter-Japanese because his father is Japanese-Brazilian and his mother is half-Japanese, half-European.
Camp Cook: Coach Roka does all the cooking for Bijoudai Sayama. When Nishiura has a training camp, the boys do their own cooking.
Cannot Spit It Out: A chronic problem for Mihashi. This cost them a run in the Mihoshi game when he couldn't tell Abe his concerns.
Catchphrase: Mihashi declares (to anyone who shows him some basic human decency) that is a ''Ii Hito''. He also has a tendency to call people "amazing".
Challenge Seeker: In the Tosei game Tajima is thrilled at the prospect of getting to hit lots of sinkers.
Cheerful Child: Abe's little brother Shun.
The Chessmaster: Momoe, so much. She deftly combines her deep knowledge of baseball with an incredible level of empathy that borders on mind-reading. Whether it's to motivate her own players or put the pressure on the opposition, she almost always knows exactly what to say or do.
- The very first thing she does in the series is to literally drag Mihashi^note onto the field and enlist him as a player, correctly deducing that despite his protests, the fact that he was there at all meant he would be interested.
- Hanai, one of the players, at first doesn't want to play for her because he doesn't think a female coach can do the job properly. Instead of saying anything to the contrary, she simply picks up a bat and ball, executes a perfect catcher fly ^note and then offers him some juice — which she makes on the spot by crushing fresh amanatsu^note(a Japanese variety of citrus) with her bare hands.
- In another episode she plays on Tajima's desire to be challenged to ~~sucker~~ convince him to take backup catcher as his other position. Still later she persuades him to be the lead-off batter and first baseman because of his injury. The other players even take note of how skillfully she maneuvered him into it.
Circumcision Angst: Mihashi is revealed to be embarrassed about this.
Cloudcuckoolander: The aforementioned Yuichiro Tajima is slightly hyper, and picked the school just because it was closest to his home. This is because of an incident where his great grandfather was hospitalised, and his family left for the hospital without him because he didn't get home in time; he doesn't want to experience the feeling of being forgotten again.
Cool Teacher: Shiga-po. Doubles as a Hippie Teacher with his far-out meditation methods.
Compressed Vice: Hanai starts with this, in the form of blatant misogyny. It disappears after episode 1 and is never referred to.
Creator Thumbprint: Asa Higuchi majored in sports psychology and was a member of her high school's softball team. Nishiura's baseball team has a female coach^notevery unusual in Japan who not only understands the intricacies of baseball strategy, but also has an uncanny ability to gauge the mental state of a player and say exactly the right thing to get them to perform better (if he's on her team) or adjust their tactics to exploit a discovered weakness (if he's on the other team). Hmm.
Control Freak: Abe when it comes to Mihashi. Doubles as his Fatal Flaw.
Crowd Chant: Several during the Tousei game, mainly Mi-ha-shi, Mi-zuta-ni and Ta-ji-ma. A heartbreaking one for Nishihiro in Season 2 Episode 12.
Curb-Stomp Battle: Nishiura against Sakitama and Nishiura against Bijoudai Sayama to a lesser extent. The latter match has them on the receiving end.
Cute Sports Club Manager
- Chiyo Shino'oka for Nishiura.
- Suzune Miyashita for the Musashino team.
David Versus Goliath: Nishiura High is a new team playing their first official game with only 10 members. Tousei is the previous year's prefectural champion with over 100 members.
Death Glare: Accidentally invoked on Tosei third base runners by Mihashi.
Did I Just Say That Out Loud?: Happens to his teammates often when Tajima talks about his sexual habits.
Cute Clumsy Guy: Mihashi regularly trips and falls over nothing.
Down to the Last Play: Nishiura's matches against Mihoshi and Tousei are decided in the final inning. Their other games are more cleancut.
Dull Eyesof Unhappiness: Hanai gets these in episode 2 of season two when he compares himself to Tajima.
Dumb Jock: Daichi on the Sakitama team. Averted by Kawai of Tosei and Nishihiro of Nishiura, who are respectively the smartest guys on their teams.
Embarrassing First Name: Hanai's first name is Azusa, which is more common as a girl's name. He hates it so much that he makes his own mother call him by their family name instead. He even avoids going to Tajima's house when he finds out he'd be called by his first name there.
Embarrassing Nickname: Mihashi's cousin Ruri calls him Ren-Ren. When his team mates find out, Hilarity Ensues.
Extreme Doormat: Both seasons of the show are one long lead-up to Mihashi learning that it's okay to say no to the catcher's signs sometimes.
Fake Boobs: Tajima + 2 melons = Momokan...?
Fan Boy: In-story, the reason Abe knows so much about Tajima from the start is because Abe's younger brother Shun is a Tajima fanboy.
Fetish: The Nishiura boys discuss their sexual fantasies at one point. Teachers, Nurses, Shrine Maidens, Western girls Halle Berry and otherwise. And that's the printable stuff.
First-Name Basis: As of chapter 126, Mihashi, Abe, Tajima, Izumi and Sakaeguchi are on a first name basis with each other.
Flaw Exploitation: Bijoudai Sayama mercilessly exploits Nishiura's flaws, especially Abe's control-freakness, to win in the fifth round.
Four-Temperament Ensemble: Although everyone on the Nishiura team eventually gets their turn to shine, the story tends to focus on the four members in the page image. Tajima is sanguine, Hanai is choleric, Abe is melancholic, and Mihashi is Supine. Even before watching the series, you could almost tell just by looking at their expressions in the picture.
Friendly Tickle Torture: The Nishiura 9 perform this on each other to relax before stepping up to the plate.
Game-Breaking Injury: Abe sustains one in the match against Bijoudai Sayama, which contributes to Nishiura's loss.
The Generic Guy: Probably Suyama. Not remarkable for anything at all.
Genius Ditz: Daichi on the Sakitama team is a complete idiot at everything except when it comes to batting, where he regularly hits them out of the park.
Getting Hot in Here: The only problem is that Tajima takes the clothes off without entering the dugout.
The Gift: Largely subverted in that while there are naturally-talented players like Haruna and Tajima, they are shown to train just as hard, if not harder, than everyone else.
Groin Attack: You were wearing a cup, right?
Guilt Complex: The show follows Mihashi as he slowly grows out of this.
Happy Birthday to You!: In Chapter 10, the characters sing that song. At least when the chapter is translated to English.
Hard Work Hardly Works: Averted. Mihashi's phenomenal pitching ability is only the result of him practicing far beyond anyone else's expectations. In fact, he keeps doing extra training after being specifically warned not to. Similarly, it's strongly implied that Hanai and Abe's superior skills relative to most of the team have more to do with experience and diligent practice rather than inborn ability. Even Tajima's talent is shown to be surpassed by his dedication.
Heavy Sleeper: Mihashi sleeps like the dead after the Tousei match.
Heroic Self-Deprecation: Mihashi. Even after he helps the team advance in the Tosei match all he he can think about is how selfish he is.
High School
Hope Spot: In Season 2, Sakitama gets one against Nishiura when Daichi finally gets to bat... only to go out. Later on Nishiura gets one against Bijoudai Sayama in the 5th inning when they score 2 runs and look set to tie soon.
Hormone-Addled Teenager: Largely averted, but occasionally played straight by Tajima.
Huddle Power
Huddle Shot: Happens a few times, common in promotional material.
Humble Hero: Mihashi is willing to give credit to just about anyone except himself.
Hypocritical Humor: At one point in the manga Tajima gets the others involved in a heated discussion about sexual fantasies, only to be shown a few pages later standing off to the side commenting on how perverted they are.
I Can Still Fight!: Abe has to be talked out of returning to action too soon.
I Thought Everyone Could Do That: As Mihashi's replacement pitcher Kanou points out, the entire Mihoshi team failed to recognize Mihashi's strengths on the mound. They were so infuriated that he became pitcher through Nepotism that they gave up on him from the start and hyped up Kanou's fastball by comparison. When Oda, who has previous experience in baseball, joins up after Mihashi left the team, he's stunned when Kanou tells him that Mihashi can divide the strike zone into nine sections and can maintain that sort of control for most of the game- only for the catcher to ask "Is it really that hard?" Kanou drives the point home by confirming that the entire team knew that Mihashi could do that; they just had no experience with pitchers other than Mihashi, so they wouldn't believe that this precision was laudable.
I'm Okay!: A blatant lie from Abe when he insist he can still play with his bad leg.
Ineffectual Loner: Abe starts out thinking that he can personally ensure victory simply by imposing his own will on the insecure Mihashi and essentially having him pitch like a puppet under his command. Momoe sets him on the path to learning that a catcher and pitcher are dependent upon and receive support from each other, and he grows to realize that the bond he forms with Mihashi is the key to the true strength of the team. They lose the Summer Tournament in the fifth round because Abe fails to learn this lesson in time.
It's All My Fault: Abe repeatedly has to reassure Mihashi that it's not.
Abe: You're a hell of a pitcher!
Mihashi: No, I suck!
Abe: No, you're good!
Mihashi: You're lyyyiiinnnngggg!
Abe: LISTEN TO ME, YOU ROCK!
Mihashi [in tears]: LLIIAARRR!
Japanese School Club: The Nishiura baseball team is technically a club activity.
Jerkass Has a Point: Hatake and the rest of Mihoshi may have been cold to Mihashi, but they're completely right about him becoming pitcher through nepotism.
Jerk Jock: Haruna, especially in his middle school days. Hatake as well, at first.
Literal Ass-Kicking: From Kaguyama to Haruna. With cleats on.
Love Bubbles: Usually by Mihashi, although never romantically.
Lovable Coward: Although you're supposed to find Ren's backstory sympathetic and serious, his nervous tics are mostly played for laughs.
Luminescent Blush: Every character is blushing at least a little bit all the time.
- More traditionally, several characters also turn bright red at times, sometimes including Love Bubbles.
Man Hug: Between Abe and Mihashi at the end of the Bijoudai Sayama game in episode 12 of season 2.
Martial Arts Headband: The cheer squad has these, handmade by Hamada.
Mundane Utility: The other characters comment on this when Tajima only uses his remarkable memory to remember baseball scores.
Meet Cute: Subverted — Ren and Chiyo Crash-Into Hello, really build up the tension ... and have other things to do. Apparently, they're not old enough yet.
Men Don't Cry: "There's no crying in baseball!" I just have sweat in my eyes!.
- Averted by most teams when they lose. When Tosei loses, for example, almost all the team seems to be crying after getting eliminated from the Saitama Summer Tournament.
Nepotism: Part of the reason why Mihashi got to be pitcher at Mihoshi Academy. Deliberately averted by Roka of Bijoudai Sayama, who refuses to recruit his younger brother because he doesn't think Rio is good enough.
Nervous Wreck: Mihashi is this by default. The rest of the team has moments like these, and a big part of their training is trying to avoid this.
Never My Fault: The perceived nepotism from Mihashi's previous team was only partially true. More precisely, Ren's talents weren't obvious things like speed or form, but only become apparent with team support, which they wouldn't give him because they thought he didn't deserve his position as ace pitcher. Thus, they lost every game while shifting the blame to him.
Nosebleed: Mihashi gets a rare (for anime, anyway) non-sexual one in the Tosei game.
Nuclear Family: Everyone comes from a stable two-parent family except Sakaeguchi (dead mother) and Tajima (extended family instead).
Odd Friendship: Mihashi and Tajima are as different as night and day personality-wise, but get along great.
Older Than They Look: Tajima's mom looks pretty young for a 57-58 year old.
One-Gender School: Mihoshi Academy and Bijoudai Sayama are both boys' school.
Only Six Faces: In the manga. When they have helmets on, most characters are indistinguishable from one another. According to the Japanese Other Wiki, the author has outright admitted that several characters have the same face model, e.g. Haruna and Coach Momo.
Only Sane Man: Izumi arguably counts.
Opposing Sports Team: Averted. Nishiura have faced Mihoshi, Tousei, Sakitama, Bijoudai Sayama and Musashino (ongoing in the manga) so far, but none of them have fit the usual villainous characteristics of this trope.
Paralysis by Analysis: Nishiura trains themselves to avert it though meditation.
Parental Favoritism: Abe's mother prefers his younger brother Shun and will always go to Shun's games if her two sons have a game on the same day.
Performance Anxiety: Most of the players have suffered from this at one time or another. The saddest example is probably poor Nishihiro at the end of Season 2.
Pool Scene: The Nishiuras get to use the pool in their training camp right after the summer tournament.
Porn Stash: The first thing Tajima looks for when he enters Mihashi's room. He later lends Mihashi a mag from his brother's collection.
The Power of Friendship: Despite frequent reassurances, Mihashi's three years on a team where all the other players blamed him for their losses ^note(meaning all their games, basically) lead to him believing that every setback during Nishiura's games is always his fault. His long road to discovering Team Spirit and finding out that the other players trust him (and learning to trust them in return) is one of the primary themes of the series.
Prone to Tears: Ren is at first extremely shy, often at the point of tears, and stammers, although not naturally but from bullying. Getting comfortable enough to make eye contact again is actually Character Development for him. Although he finds it annoying, Abe at first thinks it means Ren won't argue with him like other pitchers.
Abe: And stop sniveling, it looks like I'm bullying you!* Put Me In, Coach!: Subverted in Season 2. Nishihiro shows exactly what really happens when a newbie who wasn't expecting to play is suddenly thrown into a game halfway through.
Reasonable Authority Figure - Pretty much every adult in the show except Haruna's middle school teacher (referenced in episode 26).
Refusal of the Call: In a more mundane example of the trope, Haruna and Tajima and several other players apparently refused to be scouted by Bijoudai Sayama.
Retcon: In the early manga and anime (eps 1 and 2), Tajima is said to have been on a Little League Seniors team. In Season 2 this is retconned to make him part of a Boys' baseball team (Japan-only youth league). Presumably this was done to explain why other characters like Haruna and Sakaeguchi didn't know him.
The Rival: Tajima, to Hanai. And vice-versa, but only because it's more fun for Tajima that way. Mihashi also expresses the fear that he won't be able to beat Tajima if the latter ever takes up pitching for real, but fortunately Tajima is only interested in batting.
Say It with Hearts: Only in ep 13 of Season 2.
School Festival: Nishiura High has one in chapter 86 of the manga.
Serious Business: High school baseball. There are war movies that portray the job of a fighter pilot or a front line sniper as dull compared to the excitement generated by some of the plays. It's understandable, the setting is Japan, after all.
Shout-Out: In the Tosei game, one of the songs played by the Nishiura cheer squad/band is the theme song of Lupin III. The Tosei band plays the march from Space Battleship Yamato.
- In the match-drawing episode, Rio wishes for a player named Kazu to get hit by a car and die right before the big game. This is the same way and same timing for Uesugi Kazuya's death in Touch.
  - Junta's internal monologue before pitching to Tajima in the 9th inning also mirrors Uesugi Tatsuya's internal monologue before throwing the final pitch of the game in the second Touch movie.
Shown Their Work: Higuchi's knowledge of baseball and player psychology is impressive. So is her ability to balance the presentation such that baseball fans will appreciate the nuances yet total newcomers aren't left wondering what's going on. If you don't know anything about baseball or sports psychology, you will after you watch this series.
Shirtless Scene: Players change their undershirts frequently, so there are a few of these every match.
Sibling Rivalry: Consciously averted by Abe's parents, who make him and his brother Shun play in different Little Leagues.
Sibling Team: The pitcher-catcher team of Kasukabe High.
Spiky Hair: A significant portion of the cast
Spit Take: Mihashi in season 2 when Tajima imitates Momokan...using two watermelons.
Spotlight-Stealing Squad: Volumes 16-19 (approx) of the manga dealt mainly with Musashino High, and they're back again in the most recent chapters.
Squee: Ruri and Hanai's twin sisters have this effect on the boys' mothers, most of whom have only sons.
The Strategist
- Abe is a master of reading an opposing batter's body language to learn their strengths, weaknesses and tendencies. By the late stages of the game he is able to play lesser-skilled opponents like a violin, knowing exactly how they will react to whatever pitch he tells Mihashi to throw.
- Momoe qualifies to an even greater extent. Abe strategizes to win a game; she plans ahead to win the entire tournament. She's an expert in sports psychology and is more aware of what her players are capable of than even the players themselves - which means she pushes them just the slightest bit beyond their comfort zone so that they keep getting better, but never so much that they crack from the pressure.
Tan Lines: Shinooka shows hers off at the Tosei game.
Tareme: Abe and Shun, Abe's little brother. Rio and Oda.
The Tell: Allows Hatake to hit Mihashi's fastball and Tajima to tell the difference between Junta's pitches and pickoffs.
Team Mom: Hanai for Nishiura.
Team Dad: Abe for Nishiura, Kazuki for Tousei and Oyama for Sakitama are the most notable examples.
Team Spirit: The point of the show is to demonstrate how Nishiura slowly builds this up.
Tears of Fear: Common for Mihashi, usually when Abe is yelling at him or Coach Momo has a scary idea.
Tempting Fate: Abe promises not to get sick or injured for the next three years. Uh-oh...
- Before the first match, one of the Tosei players remarks: "Just looking at [Nishiura], it doesn't feel like we could lose this game in a million years, right?"
- A minor one later in the same match: "Well, it's not like they can steal third."
Theme Naming: Rio and Roka are named after places (Rio de Janeiro and Cabo da Roca respectively)
There Are No Therapists: In a normal world Mihashi would get professional help for his crippling issues. In the anime his parents don't even seem to notice.
The Promise: Abe promises Mihashi that he won't get injured during their three years together. See Tempting Fate.
1000 Origami Cranes: the cheer team for Tosei made 1000 Origami cranes to wish their team good luck in the tournament. After they lose, they give the cranes to the Nishiura team.
Too Much Information: Tajima. His teammates physically jump him at least once for this.
Training from Hell: After Nishiura is immediately matched up with the previous year's champion in the summer tournament, Momoe states that the chief difference between good teams and great teams isn't just the quality of their practice, but also the quantity. Therefore, to win, they have to train like their opponents do. Because their home field has no lighting, the only way to increase their practice time is by tacking on extra hours in the early morning and having the players be at school as soon as the sun rises. This routine quickly drives everyone to exhaustion^note day after day until the time of the tournament arrives.
Training Montage: Before the Tosei match.
Tsurime Eyes: Momoe, Haruna, Kanou.
Underdogs Never Lose: Averted. Nishiura loses badly to Bijoudai Sayama in season 2.
Unusual Eyebrows: Mihashi and Momoe both sport squiggly eyebrows.
Weak, but Skilled
- Invoked by Momoe when she points out that although Tajima is supernaturally accurate, he just doesn't have the build to be a power hitter. In one episode he also plays soccer and the irrelevance of upper body strength in the other sport makes him a very good player.
- Same goes for Mihashi. Mihashi's pitches are considered slow compared to other pitchers in the tournament, but his strong control and variety of breaking balls make up for it.
Who Needs Overtime?: The match against Tosei.
Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: In the manga Mihashi is revealed to be scared of dogs.
Workaholic: Mihashi makes up for his lack of talent with a LOT of hard work, even when told not to.
Worth It: Tajima injured two fingers hitting the final ball in the Tosei game, which he describes as "seriously sweet."
Younger Than They Look: Even though he looks older, Abe is actually one of the youngest guys on the team. Mizutani and Nishihiro are the ones who are younger than Abe. Coach Roka is only 20 years old.
Youthful Freckles: Tajima and Izumi (his are actually pimples).