Mix: Meisei Story is the latest anime adaptation of a series from legendary baseball manga creator Mitsuru Adachi. Many of the all-time greatest stories about Japanese high schoolers playing America’s pastime were created by this single author.
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This includes Touch, the series that Mix follows up from. Bringing together a new group of students to continue the legacy of the legendary Meisei High School team, the series follows step-brothers Touma and Souichirou Tachibana as they aim for a chance to compete at the Koshien. The show also explores the legacy created by the characters in Touch and their connection to the modern day.
10Big Windup!
At its core, Mix is a story about the bond between brothers manifesting in their connection as a pitcher-catcher battery. While Ren Mihashi and Takaya Abe aren’t brothers, their bond is central to the story of Big Windup! as well as the success of their scrappy underdog team.
Both players experienced disappointment and trauma at the hands of middle school teammates. While Abe helps bring Ren out of his shell, the pitcher will help Abe learn how to trust again.
9Ace Of Diamond
While it isn’t the result of a prior series, the players in Ace of Diamonds have their own legacy to protect. Seido High School is one of the most prestigious baseball programs in the nation, and its faculty are hungry for another championship.
Although Eijun Sawamura displays promise and untapped potential as a pitcher, he has a lot to learn before he’ll be ready to wear the ace number for such a prominent organization. Fortunately, he’ll have help from his teammates, including two talented catchers who work to get the most out of his unique style.
Although not a baseball story, Haikyuu! excels as a story about a mismatched duo united by a common goal. All Shoyo Hinata wants to be is a volleyball star despite his short stature. When he finally gets enough players to participate in a middle school tournament, he’s immediately eliminated by the cold, calculated play of Tobio Kageyama.
Although Hinata vows to surpass his new rival, the two are stunned to discover that they’ll be playing on the same high school team and trying to revive the legacy of Karasuno High School.
Another Mitsuru Adachi series, H2 leans more into its romance subplot than most sports shonen tend to. The show follows talented middle school baseball players Hiro Kunimi and Atsushi Noda.
After the pair is forced to abandon baseball due to career-threatening injuries, they find themselves unable to escape their love for the game. The show also includes a parallel love triangle and sports rivalry between Hiro and his childhood friend and teammate, Hideo Tachibana.
It’s always refreshing to get to feature a straightforward sports story focused on a girls' team. Yomi Takeda has stepped away from baseball after a devastating loss in middle school. Aiming to just relax in high school, her plans are spoiled by a pair of energetic twins who convince her to help them rebuild the baseball club.
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Slowly recruiting a ragtag team, Yomi rediscovers her passion for the game and her connection with her friend Tamaki. Then, she aims to with the National Baseball Tournament.
5Kuroko’s Basketball
Kuroko’s Basketball is sort of like the sequel to a manga nobody actually wrote. In that imagined original series, a group of five generational talents came together to form the greatest middle school basketball team in history. But rumor has it that this so-called “Miracle Generation” was supported by an invisible sixth player.
Now, in the current story, that sixth player will need to work with a brand-new group of players to defeat each of his former teammates and help them rediscover their love of the sport they once enjoyed together.
4Cross Game
One of the most endearing baseball stories of all time (and another in the Mitsuru Adachi lineup), Cross Game is a rare departure from the school sports story.
Rather than focusing on just a few years of high school or middle school baseball, Cross Game introduces a small cast as young children and follows them all the way through their run to the high school baseball championship. It’s a beautiful story of loss, perseverance, and what it really means to love someone.
Another story that breaks from the single-season or three-year story arc, Major follows Goro Honda from kindergarten all the way to the professional leagues. It’s a story that spans 78 volumes in the original manga and over 150 episodes in anime.
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While certainly not for the faint of heart, hardcore sports anime fans will be delighted with the sheer volume of content available in this series that explores just what it takes to achieve your dream of playing a professional sport.
While Mix is a solid sports story in its own right, the viewing experience is greatly enhanced by an understanding of the legacy its characters are attempting to live up to. That legacy was created in this prior Mitsuru Adachi work. Instead of stepbrothers, Touch focuses on twins Tatsuya and Kazuya Uesugi.
Like any good Mitsuru Adachi story, the brothers are also embroiled in a romantic subplot with their childhood friend Minami Asakura. Propelled by the young girl’s affections, the duo work towards the all-important sports anime goal of playing in the Koshien.
At the core of nearly every great baseball anime is the relationship between the pitcher and catcher, known as the “battery.” This concept gives the show its name, and as expected, its full focus is on that relationship.
Adapted from a novel series, the story follows young pitcher Takumi Harada, who has long been frustrated by catchers who couldn’t handle his pitches. His luck finally changes when he meets Go Nakagura. Finally, with a pitcher he can trust, Takumi will be able to really pursue his dream.
