[Ended] Moshidora: Management Like Nothing Else

This, is a fairy tale of epic proportion, a Cinderella story that with not magic, but logic.

Before this, I have never thought I'd be a baseball themed anime other than One Outs. Moshidora, not only managed to get me interested, but also pulled me so far in and get emotionally attached that when the pre-climactic drop hit, I could not stop tears from rolling out from my eyes.

Grant it the part that got me so pumped up emotionally doesn't really have anything to do with baseball itself, nevertheless, that was a very well made climax. People knows me knows that when I tell you an anime is good, you ought to ask me whether back whether it's good in a traditional sense, or it is "my type of good", which usually involve very strong negative emotions. While this is definitely a good anime by traditional measure, the final climax (or pre-climax depending on how you look at it) just put the icing on the cake by acing the emotional part of the story.

Another interesting thing about this anime is the fact it's almost a full length short season (10 episodes is slightly short of a normal short season), but instead of the traditional three month airing schedule, they aired one episode per day for 10 straight days. With an extremely tight schedule like that, not only it helps in building continuity of the story, the shortened delay between the pre-climax and what is to come really helped in rendering a much heightened emotional climax.

Final Scoreboard:

Drama: 93 (Emotional)

Comedy: 88 (Deformation)

Action: 90 (Baseball)

Art/Animation: 92 (Typical, but very lovable)

Sound/Music: 90 (Good)

Character: 98 (Very distinct personalities)

Plot: 94 (Applied management theory)

Ending: 90 (Fairy tale like)

Re-watch value: 60 - May not be as emotional, but still intriguing

Overall: 94 - Sports anime of the Season

Recommendation: Strictly speaking, this really isn't a sports anime, just as One Outs is not really a sports anime either. But if you are looking for a sports anime to watch and don't mind baseball anime, this actually provides enough to satisfy your craving. However, if you're simply looking for a well written, emotional story, and don't mind a little Cinderella style fairy tale, definitely pick this one up. It is a very good anime. Maybe I can find a better award for it when rest of the season finishes up, but for time being, I'm going to at least hand it:

Sports Anime of the Season for April 2011 Anime Season