Otaku Surf

Cross Game Series End: An Unlikely Anime for a Gundam Fan

Posted on 30. Mar, 2010 by admin in Anime/Manga

One of the main characters, Kou, pitching during a crucial game.

An anime centered on baseball is something I had no intention on watching. I like my anime with either hardcore science fiction, like Gundam or Akira, or crazy comedies, like the first season of Hayate no Gotoku.

When the first episode of Cross Game came out I had heard so many good things about it, I decided to check it out since the second season of Hayate no Gotoku wasn’t what I was expecting. I was looking for something different. And I’m glad I stuck with Cross Game to it’s end.

Aoba and Kou the main characters in Cross Game.

Cross Game came to an end with episode 50 and I’m amazed that the series was just as good as it ended as when it started.

The anime is based around a high school baseball team trying to get to the championships, but the underlying hook line and sinker for me was the characters relationships, which remains intact and somewhat the same in the end. Which for many anime series would equal disappointment, but left me pretty satisfied and I’m betting the whole audience too.

Aoba in the stand watching a pivotal game.

I think the baseball games throughout the series were well done and dramatic enough to keep you glued in as you watched what implication a game lost or won meant for the characters. For me the best games in the series revolved around a rival team with a stone faced ambitious player named Azuma. One of the best aspects for me in the series revolves around things or people not always what they seem to be.

And Cross Game is just that. From the onset it looks to be a simplistic animated series revolving around a boy and girl’s infatuation with baseball, but from the first episode you can tell it’s much more than that. The first episode has a very surprising moment, something specific happens that caught me off guard, which sets the tone for what’s to come.

There are some advances in the characters relationships throughout the series and especially in the end, but Aoba is still Aoba and Kou is still Kou at the end of the series. I really enjoyed the series and it’s taught me to put aside any preconceived notions of anime series and try something different because you can get a series like Cross Game every now and then.

Aoba is still Aoba in the end.

Tags: anime, Cross Game