Major S1

Gorou Honda, a little boy obsessed with baseball, has always admired his father, Shigeharu. Wishing to follow in his father's footsteps, Gorou dreams of becoming a professional baseball player. In turn, his son's starry-eyed admiration encourages Shigeharu to keep persevering, despite his late wife's death and his unsatisfying position on the second-string team Blue Ocean.

Unfortunately, an elbow injury forces Shigeharu off the team, and he falls into despair. However, after an offhand joke from his childhood friend, Shigeharu reevaluates his choices and decides to keep playing, leaving behind his prime position as pitcher and taking up the bat. Now motivated more than ever, Gorou works hard to carve his way in the Japanese Little League.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Honda, Gorou Main

Kumai, Motoko Japanese

Shimizu, Kaoru Main

Sasamoto, Yuuko Japanese

Komori, Daisuke Main

Kugimiya, Rie Japanese

Sawamura, Ryouta Main

Sasajima, Kaoru Japanese

Satou, Toshiya Supporting

Ono, Fuyuka Japanese

Gibson, Joe Supporting

Ochiai, Kouji Japanese

Honda, Shigeharu Supporting

Koyasu, Takehito Japanese

Shimizu, Taiga Supporting

Hoshino, Momoko Supporting

Noda, Junko Japanese

Kawase, Ryouko Supporting

Endo, Kumiko Japanese

Mitsunobu, Seiji Producer

Furuichi, Naohiko Producer

Kasai, Kenichi Director, Storyboard

Takakuwa, Hajime Sound Director

Reviews

May 18, 2026

emberreviews

Recommended

Major is an immensely compelling baseball series that utilizes its non-baseball moments to their fullest extent possible. Of the many long-running sports anime I’ve come across, this one has, by far, the highest percentage of screen time dedicated to scenes that don’t directly involve playing or training for its sport of choice, and the cast as a whole is all the richer and more fleshed-out because of this. The deeply complicated motivations these characters have, the dramatic and ever-evolving relationships they develop, and the sheer willpower they cultivate through the growth they experience not just as players, but also as human beings truly sets this ... work apart. Gorou as the shining prodigy at the center of all of this and the turbulent life he leads as he walks in his father’s footsteps toward becoming a baseball star is superbly engrossing as a lead character, and watching him grow at varying speeds throughout the series felt surprisingly realistic for his age range and circumstance.
Visually, it is, unfortunately, a bit more of a mixed bag. While the brief cuts of pitching and bat swinging are more than solid and the character designs fairly appealing, there is no denying that this series has some jank to it overall. That said, it is also exceptionally well-directed, rarely wasting any time with dead air or scenes that go on for too long, save for perhaps the final game being stretched just a hair too thin with emotional shounen anime speeches. Even when the compositing starts to fall off or the character models melt a bit too much, it doesn’t last very long, and the quick pacing of it all makes it easy to move on to something a bit more solid. For covering such a wide breadth of content in only two cours, this opening season more than stands on its own as a strong sports narrative, making me incredibly excited for whatever comes next.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Mar 25, 2016

Haruichigloves

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (15/26 eps)

I'm kind of disappointed with this series. I started watching this cause I it was pretty highly rated and I wanted to watch sports anime. I thought the main character's family background was too dramatic and I wasn't really keen to watch a soap opera that was dragged out for way too long. The plot development and struggles were also dramatic. There were bullying issues, death, and injuries.

I consistently thought it shouldn't be this difficult to actually join a team and play baseball. Also, the main character is obnoxious, arrogant, looks down on others, a genius in baseball and kind of sexist. I really ... didn't like the mc and he has the most screen time, so it was pretty annoying to watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 25, 2023

PixelB

Not Recommended

Preliminary (3/26 eps)

I do not think I'm prejudiced at all, dropping Major S1 after a mere 3 episodes, despite it being over 100 episodes long. I do not even think that I'm rating it bad because it's old or meant for kids or whatever. I just think...it's bad. I mean, Hikaru no Go's one of the very few shows I gave a 9/10 in the past years, so when I cannot stand Major S1, it really doesn't really have to do with these factors.

While a show like Hikaru no Go feels timeless, Major just feels old. I do not see any benefit from all of the melodrama ... about the show, and I really do not care about the protagonist. Despite there being many plot events happening, I could not attach myself towards the show. Each episode feels painfully slow. Again, despite the pacing of the show not being that bad, it just did not feel like that. I really just do not care for Gorou's plight, or his family's circumstances. It's too much forced drama or generic.

I do not feel any buildup for anything relevant, and the show does not seem to do anything different. The animation is poor, and that seems to continue for the next few seasons at the very least.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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