21
35
7
WandereR
Borneo
Life is Baseball
As the proverbial phrase goes, when life gives you lemons you make lemonade out of them. Or in baseball terminology, when life throws a curveball at you, hit it right out of the park.
Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de revolves around a mysterious ex-pro baseball player, Ito Tomohiro, who hangs out at a local batting centre helping a variety of female customers deal with their life problems using what he calls Baseball Theory. He is able to discern their predicaments by observing the way they bat and has an uncanny ability of psychologically projecting their psyche into an utterly immersive fantasy world - a baseball stadium where he draws upon his experience in baseball competitions and strategies to deal with their respective problems.
Central to this premise is 17-year old Natsuha Mai, a part-timer at the batting centre and who happens to have her own troubled past. Joining Tomohiro’s efforts in helping these customers enables her to eventually exorcise her own demons.
Running at 30 minutes each, this 9-episode medium-budget production features slice-of-life themes presented in an episodic format that involve the workplace, family and relationship dynamics. Although the themes are not explored with profound depth, as expected of a short series, the storytelling of each story arc is rather engaging and still manages to tug at the heartstrings, particularly in the final episode.
The leads are decently portrayed by Sekimizu Nagisa and Nakamura Toru, as Mai and Tomohiro respectively. A Japanese baseball legend makes a cameo appearance during each episode, along with the multitude of guest stars. The catchy and upbeat J-rock intro and outro themes are performed by CreepHyp, namely Shoumona and Konnani Kanashiinoni Hara ga Naru.
All in all, Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de is a well-produced quality short format series which I would categorise as a lighthearted healing drama. The baseball terminology isn’t too challenging to comprehend, provided you have good quality subs, while the life lessons conveyed are contemplative rather than outright didactic. A wholesome viewing experience indeed.
Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de revolves around a mysterious ex-pro baseball player, Ito Tomohiro, who hangs out at a local batting centre helping a variety of female customers deal with their life problems using what he calls Baseball Theory. He is able to discern their predicaments by observing the way they bat and has an uncanny ability of psychologically projecting their psyche into an utterly immersive fantasy world - a baseball stadium where he draws upon his experience in baseball competitions and strategies to deal with their respective problems.
Central to this premise is 17-year old Natsuha Mai, a part-timer at the batting centre and who happens to have her own troubled past. Joining Tomohiro’s efforts in helping these customers enables her to eventually exorcise her own demons.
Running at 30 minutes each, this 9-episode medium-budget production features slice-of-life themes presented in an episodic format that involve the workplace, family and relationship dynamics. Although the themes are not explored with profound depth, as expected of a short series, the storytelling of each story arc is rather engaging and still manages to tug at the heartstrings, particularly in the final episode.
The leads are decently portrayed by Sekimizu Nagisa and Nakamura Toru, as Mai and Tomohiro respectively. A Japanese baseball legend makes a cameo appearance during each episode, along with the multitude of guest stars. The catchy and upbeat J-rock intro and outro themes are performed by CreepHyp, namely Shoumona and Konnani Kanashiinoni Hara ga Naru.
All in all, Hachigatsu wa Yoru no Batting Center de is a well-produced quality short format series which I would categorise as a lighthearted healing drama. The baseball terminology isn’t too challenging to comprehend, provided you have good quality subs, while the life lessons conveyed are contemplative rather than outright didactic. A wholesome viewing experience indeed.
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