Ballpark de Tsukamaete!

Ballpark de Tsukamaete! – A Hidden Gem of Spring 2025

Every anime season, I set aside a few shows to binge once they're complete—sometimes I hit gold, sometimes I end up dropping a dud. But this time? Ballpark de Tsukamaete! turned out to be a grand slam.

This anime flew under the radar among the many titles released in Spring 2025, but it ended up being one of the most refreshing and underrated series of the season. At first glance, it looks like your typical sports anime—but it’s far from it. While most sports shows focus solely on the players' struggles, rivalries, and the pressure of competition, ... Ballpark de Tsukamaete! offers a broader, more human perspective. It explores not just the game, but also the lives of the stadium staff, their interactions with fans, their daily challenges, and—most importantly—their love for beer (yes, beer plays an unexpectedly wholesome role here).

The pacing is on the slower side, but it works in the show's favor. It lets you soak in the atmosphere of the stadium and see baseball through the eyes of everyday people—the die-hard fans, the vendors, and the employees who make each game possible. There are also some light romantic subplots sprinkled throughout, which add humor and warmth without overpowering the main themes.

Produced by EMT Squared, a studio I’d previously considered above average, this anime is where they truly hit the ball out of the park (pun fully intended). From direction to voice acting to art and sound design, everything sits comfortably at a solid 7/10 across the board. It's consistent, sincere, and genuinely enjoyable.

My only regret? Not watching this sooner. If you’re tired of the same recycled tropes each season, this is your wildcard pick. It’s different, heartfelt, and full of unexpected charm. Definitely recommended for regular anime watchers who want something grounded yet uplifting.

This anime really puts me in a tough spot. If I were to give a direct rating, it'd be like 6.49....just barely enough to round down to 6 but also a cut above most 6/10 shows. Generally speaking, I don't even watch to completion most 6/10 shows to begin with....

What can I say? Everything about this show is OKAY. Characters are okay, animation is OK, voice acting, episodic arcs, and storytelling, and everything else is just average. I didn't hate any particular episode with a burning passion, and I was never compelled to watch the next episode with much rapt attention either, though.

Ruriko is the ... titular female lead, while Murata is the male lead; both are heavily archetypal of the relationship between the bratty, high-energy junior teasing her shy male senior. There's not actually much of any romance, if at all, and I didn't find it to be particularly annoying or endearing too though. It's...just average? Many other characters prop up, all of which with a minor story to tell. There is a large, static set of side characters that each play their own role in the anime, all encompassing the ballpark, and I can't say I hate any character or love them. That's a lie, actually. I did find Dennis Young to be particularly annoying, but other characters offset his annoying personality. For example, Kojiro is a well-depicted veteran of the constantly underperforming Motorsuns team.

I have run out of things to say. It's an average slice of life encompassing a Japanese Baseball League stadium of an established, but below average professional team. There, you encounter variety of characters, encounters, and episodic scenarios that are over-embellished but good enough. I didn't have to slog myself through the show, but I wasn't particularly high energy about watching the next episode. I'll probably forget all of the contents of this show sooner rather than later, but I don't regret watching it either.

There's no shortage of baseball anime out there. The sport of baseball is by far and away the most popular sport in Japan, with it bringing in an estimated 1.64 billion usd, or nearly 240 billion yen in 2025 so far, and the year's only half over. Because of that, it shouldn't be surprising to anyone that there's way too many baseball anime to count, dating all the way back to 1968 with Star of the Giants. However, this anime takes a different spin on it, rather than focusing on the players, the topic that most sports anime would want to narrow ... in on deeply, instead it focuses on a romcom between two people in the stands, a dude watching the games, Koutarou Murata, and a girl who works there to dispense beer for the guests, Ruriko.

I'm expecting a lot of people to disagree with me on this, as this is the type of anime that tends to get quite popular these days among people who watch romance/romcom anime, but I wasn't a big fan. Although it wasn't AS bad as I expected. I was anticipated the second coming of Nagatoro, and while it does have some of those sensibilities, it's not THAAAAAAT bad. Honestly, most of it was just kind of boring, with occasional moments of surprising entertainment, but not nearly enough to salvage it for me. It also seems kind of strange, because most of the people who who were looking forward to this anime would want the interactions between the two leads, the romcom stuff, but that's only like 50 percent of the show, there's a lot of scenes that focus on the players or other characters that I can't imagine this series' target audience cared about in the slightest. I also just can't get over how much Murata physically resembles Naoto from Nagatoro, I'm sorry but I can't help myself but hold that against it, especially considering the other similarities that the two series' have. But I didn't hate it at least.