by In anime, which covers a wide variety of genres, including action, mystery, and science fiction, one thing that often surprises viewers is the sudden onset of a “baseball episode” that ignores the worldview of the work.
Though they are outside the main story, baseball episodes tend to be of high quality and are now so popular that people even say, “There are many amazing baseball episodes.” Here, we look back at some legendary baseball episodes created by creators in Japan, a baseball powerhouse.
The best episode of Dragon Ball where Yamcha shines
Let’s start with Dragon Ball. In episode 200 of the anime Dragon Ball Z, “Seven Years Later! I’m a high school student.” Gohan, who lives in the school, also plays baseball in his physical education class, and Yamcha plays baseball.
In episode 10, “Don’t Cry, Gohan! Your First Battle,” which depicts an original episode for the anime, he works part-time as a supporting player for a professional baseball team. Moreover, he has hit consecutive home runs in all the games, making him an up-and-coming player.
This setting is carried over to episode 70 of Dragon Ball Super, “A Challenge from Champa! This Time We’ll Play Baseball!!,” which depicts a friendly baseball match between Universe 7 and Universe 6. This episode also attracted attention because it included a free talk by Masako Nozawa, Toru Furuya, and Masakazu Morita in the audio commentary.
The main character, Yamcha, is the captain of Universe 7. The game starts with Bulma saying complicated things like, “That guy’s only good at baseball,” but since his teammates don’t know the rules, anything goes. Meanwhile, Yamcha, who had replaced the pitcher, overwhelmed Botamo and Cabba with his “Ryo-Fang-Fu-Fu-K .”
The team members praised Yamcha, commenting, “I’ve seen this outfit before…” The episode is also peppered with parodies of familiar scenes. It’s fun to look for them.
