113th G-View: Moshidora

Hello and welcome to the G-Views, where creativity is respected and Dokuro-chan is rejected. My grandfather and father are both baseball fans and players (of course gramps retired) so it’s natural that although I’m not a sportsperson myself, I know a thing or two about the sport and watch it on occasion. My point is that the following show has to do with baseball, more like the managerial and cooperative aspect of the sport. Let’s take a look at Moshidora.

Alternative title:

Drucker in the Dug-Out

Moshi Kōkō Yakyū no Joshi Manager ga Drucker no Management o Yondara (Japanese)

もしドラ (Japanese)

もし高校野球の女子マネージャーがドラッカーの『マネジメント』を読んだら (Japanese)

Genres: drama

Themes: sports, baseball,

Number of episodes: 10

G-Rating: 10/10

Plot Summary:

A school girl leads a baseball club using lessons from a book called Drucker’s Management.

Minami Kawashima becomes the new manager of Tokyo’s Hodokubo High School baseball team to help her best friend, Yūki Miyata. Yūki is the current manager, but due to her weak health, she ends up in a hospital and might undergo a surgery. While searching for a book to assist her, Kawashima accidentally buys “Management: Tasks, Responsibilities, Practices”. Written by Peter Drucker, one of the most important authors on the subject of business management, the book ironically guides Minami on how to administer the team.

Before we proceed, there’s something everyone interested in watching this show must know. If you’re one of the following kinds of people, don’t bother wasting your time on this one:

A: A person who has ADD or ADHD.

B: A person seeking enlightenment or something that will make your brain hurt for days. (In a sense it does challenge one’s mind in the business management field at least.)

C: A frequent Youtube commenter.

D: Not a Slice of Life fan.

As for everyone else, read on. I suppose it also helps that you’re either a fan of the manga or baseball in general. This isn’t One Outs or anything like that, it’s more like Taishou Yakyuu Musume, except not as moe. Yes it can a little moe at times but it’s not the show’s main selling point, not by a long shot.

To describe this show in one sentence would be like this: A beginner’s guide to baseball/business management with essence of Slice of Life and Sports.

The 1st thing I need to make note of is the fact that both Peter Drucker and his book do exist and it can be purchased online if you wish.

Having been part of a hospitality and tourism school a while back, I can easily understand the terms and lessons Minami reads each episode since it’s a running theme that most of the social/personal issues going on in each episode usually has something to do with one of the chapters in the book, or Minami refers to them to be exact. Also, ignore the fact that she’s 16. In the anime world, women are usually the one who excel in intelligence when they’re not going gaga over a guy. Anyway, it’s pretty cool how they associate baseball management with that of a business. The similarities or tweaking to match BM’s standards is both entertaining and interesting to watch and think about if you’re planning on becoming or studying any form of management. Another cool aspect that the show demonstrates is how other sports such as Track Running and Judo can have on players’ performance.

The music is fun to listen overall. It’s nothing spectacular but I enjoy the soundtrack nevertheless.

The animation is good, nothing special. It has a nonchalant and relaxing vibe to it in both setting and character design. So yeah, it’s alright.

The characters/drama portion. To be honest, calling this show a drama is a little too blunt since I don’t see it as life long traumatizing or death threatening, just your basic High School issues such as fitting in, low self-esteem, communication trouble etc. You also get of course, trials and tribulations of management such as team organization, new recruitment, strategy implementation, team motivation, human resources, public speaking, etc…actually the drama portion doesn’t intensify until the 3rd quarter of the show…and…yeah……….moving along.

Minami Kawashima (left) is your classic tomboy with a girlish side character who works incredibly hard as a team manager on behalf of her best friend, Yuki Miyata. Headstrong and full of energy, Minami starts off as a girl leading a pack of young players to adulthood and their first Nationals competition. However, as expected this road is far from easy and she, along with her teammates must face many personal trials and challenges to reach their goal.

Yuki Miyata (right): Minami has three guides in her mission to lead the team to the Nationals. Yuki is one of them and Minami’s main source of inspiration to push her onward to victory. A true warrior and source of light to the team, friends and family. While Minami is the voice of victory, Yuki is the voice of reason, compassion and hope. Plus she looks adorable wearing her Summer hat.

Minami’s third guide, aside from Management, is the will to succeed despite her past issues.

Ayano “Huh? oh…yes” Hojo (Middle): I think her catchphrase speaks for itself. In case you don’t get it, she’s a shy girl who is very intelligent and serves as the team’s scorekeeper/assistant manager along with two other members who will join later on. Her reason for joining the team is actually quite simple. She’s also a huge admirer of Yuki’s but this admiration isn’t referred to very often but when it does…oh yeah.

You also have the supporting cast and the baseball team members themselves, some get more screen time than others but you can relate with most of them as the journey to the Nationals progresses. If I had to pick my fav players they would be Keiichiro Asano and Masayoshi Nikai.

Oh yeah, there’s one last thing I forgot to mention. You don’t have to be a baseball fan to like this show. You can pretty much get your money’s worth from the story and awesome characters. Frankly the baseball’s just a bonus. The show’s real charm lies within its excellent cast and their interactions with one another, the show’s calm and enjoyable setting and the creative combination of economy and sports management into multiple strategies based on said combo.

In conclusion, this show’s for the patient and ones seeking something that isn’t over the top and is realistic. Stick around long enough and you’ll be paid handsomely with a fresh experience that is just right in terms of the genres and themes it portrays. It doesn’t exaggerate and flows smoothly from beginning to end. Give it a watch if you think you’re calm enough to watch something simple, yet effective.

P.S.: This is my 2nd pick for the top 11 shows of 2011. Please excuse me…it happened again. Hint: KnM.