There is a reason why anime protagonist are rarely adults. As the thing that matter the most to adults is very likely money also responsibility. It sounds pretty lame right? Even in the richer part of the world people are working everyday just to stay alive even if you are a professional baseball player. Sports anime? You can tell from the cover art that Gurazeni is not your normal sports anime. In fact it is a workplace comedy anime about the daily struggles of our protagonist Natsunosuke Bonda and his acquaintances from different walks of life. This anime is not going to give you awesome matches a lot of the matches are lame on purpose to create hilarious situation. Being a rather realistic sports anime is kind of lame but its also funny at the same time. Money Responsibility Opportunities and Interpersonal Relationship The anime name Gurazeni is actually the combination of the words ground and money in Japanese. It is a reference to the famous quote money is hidden under the pitching ground by former Japanese baseball pro Tsuruoka Kazuto. This quote is a thing because professional baseball player can be one of the highestpaid job in the world. However this only applies to the top athletes. Average athletes not only have to calculate how much they earn spent and left for retirement. They care about baseball only because they care about their salary. And here is our protagonist Natsunosuke Bonda who is probably the biggest salary nerd in the professional baseball scene. This anime follows Natsunosukes daily life showing you how the economic and social environment of Japan is when it comes to money with his twisted values and confidence in a humorous manner. While the MC maybe playing baseball on the pitch he is dealing with all kinds of financial and interpersonal problems as a professional baseball player at the same time. This is what I consider the biggest appeal of Gurazeni. Side characters Another charm of this series is the side characters. I mentioned that the anime follows the life of Natsunosuke. However most of the time this anime only tells stories through Natsunosuke. The stories themselves are about the people around Natsunosuke e.g. top baseball player explayer busts bad player commentator manga artist. Each of them has their own situation and difficulties in surviving. Downside Animation quality is bad and CGI is used. Characters design are not aesthetic at all no pretty boys. Conclusion As long as you understand what you are watching youre going to have fun with it. Animation took away some points but overall an awesome Slice of Life comedy.
75 /100
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