Battery Drama Episode 1: Be Serious

I remember trying to watch Battery once before and I absolutely hated it because it seemed like such a pointless story.  It was right after I finished Koishite Akuma, which I had mixed thoughts on, but I was interested to see Yuma's progression and so I went to seek out Battery.  It was hard to find.  I found it on mysoju but the quality was so distracting that I couldn't bear to watch more than two episodes before skimming through the entire series.

I remember thinking to myself, "Whoever that kid is, he's so genki compared to Yuma.  His smile is adorable."

That kid was Sho.

It wasn't until recently that I told myself that I needed to watch Battery from start to finish, to give it a chance, if not for Yuma, whose character I yawned at, for Sho.  So I did it.

I got through episode one and I found myself nodding quietly.  I had watched the making of the drama too and maybe that had influenced me a little bit because I could completely appreciate the work that went into making this drama.

It's a baseball drama about a battery, a pitcher and catcher team and how they become friends.

But to be honest, it's a total love story between Yuma and Sho's characters.


Episode 1

The episode starts off with Nagakura Go (Sho) on his bicycle, rushing somewhere.  He knocks over everything and bumps into people but he's in such a rush that he doesn't bother to stop and properly apologize.  He runs into a bag of flour and is doused in powder but he still keeps cycling, excitedly thinking to himself, "He's coming!  He's coming!  He's coming!"

Of course, no one knows what the hell he's talking about but they sit back in shock at the mess that Go has left behind and think, "Wasn't that the hospital director's son?"

There's a brief flashback of Harada Takumi (Yuma) on the pitcher's mound.  He pitches a great throw and...the catcher fails to get it.  Takumi's disappointed once more at the level of incompetence surrounding him but Go, who is standing in the bleachers, can think is, "What the hell did I just see?  That was amazing."

The scene cuts to present day Takumi.  His family stopped the car so that his little brother Seiha (Shintaro) could get some fresh air.  I think they're by a temple?  Seiha gets sick easily so the family always worries about him.  Takumi broods as he looks down at the valley.  Seiha's amazed that there still is snow on the ground.

Takumi picks up some snow and forms it into a ball, pitching it down into the valley.  It hits a branch and Seiha asks Takumi if he did that on purpose.

Takumi goes, "Of course," as if he never misses his goal.

At the same time, Go has arrived at his destination.  He looks down the road to see any signs of arrival but he doesn't see anyone.

Takumi's family heads back to the car and Takumi stays for a minute longer.  He picks up more snow and makes a ball with it, hurling it once more into the valley...

where it amazingly hits Go.

Was it intentional???

Go is a bit disorientated, shocked that snow just came out of the sky from nowhere.

Pretty intro.

Takumi and his family have arrived at their new house in Nitta.  They're coming to live with his grandfather.  Although the reasons are unclear, I assume that it may have something to do with either a job loss or Seiha's health.  Takumi takes a paranoid glance at the road but ignores it and enters the house.

We see Go spying from down the road, a happy smile on his face.


Seiha has a cute moment with his grandpa and the dog.

Takumi is changed into some sweats.  He looks out the window at the sky and his grandpa, who is standing outside, spots him and tells him that when Takumi was younger, he was always looking up at the sky in his pictures.  His grandpa tells him to look lower at his new school and tells him that the baseball team is below Takumi's standards.

But Takumi arrogantly replies, "That's untrue.  It doesn't matter how much they suck.  If they have me on their team, they'll win.  That's a better way of putting it."

Takumi goes for a run and, ignoring his grandpa's direction, goes down a trail which leads him to a temple.  He stands at the temple, a bit lost but not frazzled.  He imagines that he's pitching and throws a fake ball.

Go pops out of nowhere, still covered in flour and compliments him on his imaginary pitch.  He tells Takumi that he knows all about him.

Takumi asks Go if he was the one following him and Go bashfully affirms it.

Go tells Takumi that he must have been frustrated, throwing well but having no one skilled enough to catch his balls.

Takumi asks him what the hell he wants and Go tells him that he wants to catch one of Takumi's pitches.

Takumi looks at him and pretty much scoffs and brushes off Go's request, thinking that Go is arrogant for thinking that he could catch one of Takumi's throws.  He jogs back home, leaving Go deflated for a moment before renewing his spirit.

The following day, Takumi's mother's old friend comes to visit.

It turns out that Go is his mother's friend's son.  What a coincidence.

Go volunteers to help move boxes around the house but keeps getting sidetracked, aggravating Takumi.  Go puts the box down and stares amazingly at Takumi's grandpa's baseball trophies.

Go helps bring a box to Takumi's room and there, he confesses his love to Takumi.

This throws Takumi off and he shoves Go away but Go explains that he's not in love with Takumi, but with his baseball and he wants more than anything to be a battery with Takumi.

Takumi gives him one chance just so Go will shut up.  Takumi warns Go that people have gotten hurt before trying to catch his ball but Go takes it in stride and asks Takumi to continue pitching how he normally does.

Go fails to catch it and the disappointment is written all over his face.  He runs after Takumi to request one more try but Takumi is up to his neck.  Go asks Takumi if he's lonely, thinking that no one can catch his pitches, experiencing misunderstanding because of his talent.

Takumi is a bit dumbstruck; he had never thought of himself as lonely.  He pitches it, wondering if he really had been waiting for someone to come be his catcher.  The ball flies and...Go catches it.  Both of them are in shock and they find themselves smiling, pleased.

Go's mom appears, pissed that he brought his baseball equipment.  He was supposed to quit baseball after elementary to focus on his intensive studies in order to be part of the 6 percent elite.  Go loves baseball so much but he feels obligated to do what his parents want him to do too.

Takumi gets scolded by his mother for tempting Go with baseball but Takumi retorts that Go wanted to play, not him.

Takumi's mother hates baseball, not caring much about Takumi's talent because her childhood was overridden by her father's love for baseball.  Takumi's more in shock about finding out that Go is transferring schools to improve his studies.  After so long, Takumi had found someone competent but who was also not going to be there.

Takumi goes jogging again the next day and spots a girl named Mayu by the rocks playing a flute.  Out of nowhere, a boy in a baseball uniform pull's Takumi's hood over his face and tells him to stop looking at Mayu.  He drags Takumi to a baseball field where he's joined by Seiha, Go and Go's friends in a welcome Takumi, goodbye Go party.

Go introduces him to his baseball teammates and they drink strawberry juice together.  Sawaguchi Fumito is the son of an orchard owner and Higashidani Ken is the son of a sushiya chef.

Go suggests a scrimage but Takumi is his normal brooding self and says he's going home but is interrupted by the entrance of Takumi's Grandpa's friend who wants to badly hit Takumi's pitch out of the park.  Takumi agrees but he's just upset because no one seems to be taking baseball seriously like he is.

He throws it and get two strikes.  The final one he fails and his grandpa's friend hits it because Takumi was distracted by Go's ringtone.

Seiha manages to catch the ball.

Go checks his phone and groans and reassures Takumi that the hit was just a fluke.  Go has to go home to help out at the hospital, leaving Takumi cold.

Takumi's mom scolds him for letting Seiha play baseball but Takumi's not hearing it.  All he can think about is how Go is abandoning him after getting his hopes up.

The next day, Go is getting ready to leave to his new school.  His two friends are there and Takumi "coincidentally" jogs by.  Takumi doesn't say much, just listens as Go blabbers on about what Takumi should do in his absence and gives him his phone, telling Takumi that he doesn't need it.

Takumi doesn't need it either and as Go gets onto the train and the door closes, Takumi pitches the phone into a garbage can on the opposite side of the platform, making Go's eyes widen in disbelief.

Takumi goes jogging again a few days later and stops at the temple.  He pitches by himself again when suddenly Go appears, saying that he'll give up the dream of being in the 6 percentile of successful people if he can just play baseball with Takumi.  He wants to create the greatest battery with Takumi.

My thoughts

For an intro, it's set up nicely.  We see Go and Takumi's views on baseball and teammates without getting too swamped in introductions.  It's an odd pairing type of drama, one serious and the other one goofy and I hope to see that well played out. 

So far, it's not as campy as I thought it would be.  For a drama featuring young Johnny's, the production quality is solid although I could do with less of a brooder.

Yuma's character is aggravating but understandable.  Takumi is a skilled, a talented young pitcher with no one to pitch to.  He's jaded already about baseball but can't bring himself to quit because perhaps, to him, baseball is what he is.  Pitching is just what he does.  He doesn't get close to people because he tells himself that he'll just be disappointed. 

Sho's character is fun.  Just plain fun.  I always tend to love the goofballs more.  He lights up the screen with his goofy smile.  Go is also a talented catcher and in his own way frustrated that he can't play the baseball he wants to play.  When he saw Takumi pitch, he felt inspired, as if he had found his way to being happy through baseball.  I think that Go honestly believes that for him, playing baseball makes him happy but he also believes that studying to be a doctor could also make him happy.  For Go, seeing Takumi, playing baseball with Takumi helps him choose for himself the road he wants to take to be happy. 

Episode one is called "Be Serious".  I think that although Takumi continually has this thought, he never is serious about anything.  He thinks he is, but really he's just being stubborn.  And Go is a lighthearted character, but he's always serious in his endeavors.  He is the one who sought out Takumi, he is the one who begged to play baseball with him, he is the active character, carving out his own life, serious about his future.