From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
H2 (エイチ・ツー, Eichi Tsū
?) is a Japanese manga
written by Mitsuru
Adachi portraying high school baseball. It has been made into an 41-episode
anime series and an 11-episode
television drama series
directed by Yukihiko Tsutsumi.
Plot
During middle school, Hiro Kunimi (pitcher), Hideo Tachibana
(third baseman and 4th bat), and Atsushi Noda (catcher) were
teammates on the baseball
team. Thanks to their exploits, their school achieved an unbeaten
record on their way to consecutive national championships.
However, after an injury, a doctor told Hiro that if he
continued pitching, his elbow would shatter in three months.
Likewise, Noda was diagnosed with a career-ending waist injury by
the same doctor, ending their dreams of Kōshien. Hiro chose to go
to Senkawa High School, which lacked a baseball team. On the other
hand, Hideo went to Meiwa Daiichi High School, one of the
top-ranked high schools in the country, along with Hikari Amamiya,
his girlfriend (and Hiro's childhood friend).
Hiro decided to join the soccer team, and Noda joined the swim team.
After it was revealed that the doctor who "diagnosed" Hiro (and
Noda) was a quack, Hiro and Noda return to playing
baseball. Their first hurdle was to persuade their headmaster, who
hated baseball. Haruka Koga, the manager of the baseball fans club,
assisted them in their endeavors.
Through a family friend, Haruka managed to persuade the
headmaster to allow the baseball club to be created if they managed
to beat another team. The team chosen was surprisingly Meiwa
Daiichi, Hideo's team. (one of the members of Meiwa Daiichi was the
umpire and lied to make Meiwa Daiichi win)Although Senkawa
ultimately lost the game, the headmaster allowed the club to be
formed—also letting his son Yanagi return to baseball.
The headmaster also employed Fujio Koga, Haruka's brother, as
the team's coach. Their first game as an official team was against
Eikyo High School in a friendly match. Eikyo, a team with the famed
pitcher Hirota, beat Senkawa easily.
In the second year, the new baseball club gains three notable
members: Sagawa, Shima, and Ohtake. Sagawa was an old friend of
Hideo's, while the latter two were relatives of Hirota. Although
initially planted by Hirota in order to destroy Senkawa from
within, they soon grow used to the friendly atmosphere of Senkawa.
In the final game before the Koshien, Senkawa managed to defeat
Eikyo.
Senkawa were set to meet up with Meiwa Daiichi after two
opponents in the Koshien tournament. It would have been a fight
between rivals Hiro and Hideo, except that Senkawa lost in the
second round to Iba Shogyo. The loss was due to Hiro not being
willing to injure the opposing pitcher and the opposing pitcher
taking advantage of that injure while Hiro is pitching. Meiwa
Daiichi went on to win the Summer Tournament. While this happens
Hideo, Hiro and Hikari love triangle becomes evident and the two
baseball players start growing apart and even though Hiro has
feelings for Haruka he starts making his decisions to win Hikari's
heart.
In the third year, Senkawa wins the Spring Tournament and then
for Summer it matches up against Meiwa Daiichi in the semi finals
in a game which will define one of the finalists but also if either
Hiro or Hideo wins Hikari's heart. At the last inning with Senkawa
leading the score, Hideo doubts Hiro and himself and misses a
fastball losing the game but keeping Hikaru. Senkawa goes on to
play the finals and the manga ends.
Characters
- Hiro Kunimi (国見比呂, Kunimi
Hiro
?)
- Voiced by:
Shinnosuke Furumoto
- Live action actor: Takayuki Yamada
- The protagonist,
Hiro initially escaped to Senkawa in order to forget baseball.
After his elbow was properly diagnosed, he strove to strengthen the
newly created Senkawa baseball team as its star pitcher. Although he's blessed with a huge
amount of talent since childhood, he's also hard-working and
passionate about the sport. This combination results in one of the
most monstruous pitchers ever created in the world of fiction. He's
a fearsome batter(the third batter of Senkawa's line-up for most of
the series) and a first-class fielder. Kunimi also displays inhuman
amounts of stamina and focus(during his first Koshien game in the
manga, Hideo states that "He could pitch 18 innings and even then
get a no-hitter"). Although he throws a great fastball(152km/h by
the end of the series), he has less control over his forkballs.
However, since his failed forkballs turn out to be fastballs, it
leads to a degree of unpredictability in his pitches. He has also
developed a high-speed slider that may only be caught by a
professional level catcher.Hiro was responsible for introducing
Hikari to Hideo. He has belated romantic feelings for his childhood
friend, Hikari Amamiya, and starts to also develop feelings for
Senkawa's manager, Koga Haruka.
- (Birthday: January 16 (was retconned by author from January 28 to fit
plot purposes)[Volume 20, Chapter 190, P.3])
- Hideo Tachibana (橘英雄, Tachibana
Hideo
?)
- Voiced by: Mitsuru
Miyamoto
- Live action actor: Koutaro Tanaka
- Hiro's best friend and greatest rival in baseball, they were in
the same baseball team in middle school. Hideo has been dating
Hikari since middle school, and aims to enter the professional
baseball leagues after he graduates from high school. Like Hiro,
he's a natural-born genius when it comes to baseball, but that
doesn't stop him from working very hard to become even better. A
fantastic batter, he becomes the clean-up hitter for Meiwa Daiichi
High as a first-year, quickly becoming a national star after that.
There's a scene in the manga where Meiwa's coach states that
"Letting Hideo face off against high-school pitchers with an
alluminium bat in his hands is almost cheating". That only goes to
show how skilled Hideo is as a batter.
- (Birthday: November 6)
- Hikari Amamiya (雨宮ひかり, Amamiya
Hikari
?)
- Voiced by: Keiko
Imamura
- Live action actor:Yui Ichikawa
- Hiro's childhood friend and Hideo's girlfriend, Hikari dreams
of becoming a journalist. She is a member of the archery club, but
has once come in as a temporary manager for Meiwa Daiichi's
baseball team during the Koshien by Hideo's request. Although she
seems happy with Hideo, she seems to have feelings for Hiro as
well.
- (Birthday: August 16)
- Haruka Koga (古賀春華, Koga
Haruka
?)
- Voiced by: Masami
Suzuki
- Live action actor: Satomi Ishihara
- Daughter to the businessman whom Hiro's father works for, she
was a high school baseball enthusiast. A hardworking baseball club
manager, she played an instrumental role in creating and supporting
Senkawa's baseball club. As time goes along, her feelings for Hiro
grow more apparent, but Hiro chooses not to respond. She dreams of
being an air flight stewardess as well as a professional
baseballer's wife.
- (Birthday: March 3)
- Atsushi Noda (野田敦, Noda
Atsushi
?)
- Voiced by: Kenjirō
Tsuda
- Live action actor:Akiyoshi Nakao
- The catcher that makes up Senkawa's battery, Noda is the third
person in the friendship of Hideo and Hiro. Fat and lazy, Hiro
still acknowledges that Noda is a good catcher: able to make
decisions about fielding and understanding the general condition of
the team. Likes to joke around a lot and make bad puns, but it's
actually a wise and clever person, becoming the captain of
Senkawa's baseball team as a sophomore. Noda is Senkawa's clean-up
hitter, and although his performance is inconsistent, he's a great
batter with a good balance of strength and timing.
- Ryūtaro Kine (木根竜太朗, Kine
Ryūtarō
?)
- Voiced by: Shinichi
Takenaka
- Live action actor: Yuuma Ishigaki
- Used to play for the Hakusan Angels in primary school until
Hideo replaced him. He turned to soccer instead, his athletic
ability helping him. He tries to persuade Haruka to give up on her
baseball ambitions, but later joins the baseball team in order to
get closer with Haruka. Kine acts as leadoff batter and center
fielder, and was also pitcher when he was in the Hakusan Angels. As
a homage to Kakefu, he does left-handed baseball swings. As Haruka
and Hiro's relationship gets better, he plots with Miho in order to
split them up. Often used as comic relief by Adachi, he's also
portrayed as a good player with a great baseball sense(and a lot of
luck). Likes to brag, but also works pretty hard when motivated.
Kine is also the best center fielder shown in the series.
- Miho Osanai
- One of the managers for Meiwa Daiichi, she joined in order to
get closer to Hideo. However, she fails in this due to Hideo's
loyalty to Hikari. She attempts to break them up, but continually
fails. She later plots with Kine in order to break up Hideo and
Hikari. Their plotting results in both Miho and Kine getting
closer.
- Miho does not appear in the anime.
Notable
baseball teams
- Senkawa
- Coached by Fujio Koga, Haruka's brother, the Senkawa team was
newly created. However, the presence of Hiro, Atsushi, Yanagi and
Kine soon proved that Senkawa was a threat to be considered. In
Hiro's second year of high school, 3 notable players joined
Senkawa: the fast Osamu, the boxer Ootake, and the shortstop Sagawa
Shuuji, a friend of Hideo. In Hiro's third and last highschool
year, several well acknowledged first-year players joined Senkawa,
but none were focused on explicitly.
- Meiwa Daiichi
- Hideo and Hikari's school, Hideo is the star player. Miho is
one of the managers of the team, but Hikari sat as manager during
the team's Koshien games although she was just a temporary manager.
The coach is understanding, and gets along well with Hideo.
- Eikyo
- Eikyo's star pitcher, Hirota, is considered one of the best
pitchers in the Koshien with his 142 km/h left-handed fastballs.
With the backing of the calculative Coach Shiroyama, they were
considered serious contenders for the Koshien. Hirota aimed to get
to the pros. However, Shiroyama's calculative strategy kept their
best catcher, Oogura on the bench.
- Iba Shogyo
- The star pitcher, Kohei Tsukigata, and the star hitter, Jin
Shimizu, are both fans of Hiro and Hideo respectively. Tsukigata's
pitches, and his curveball in particular, are extremely well
controlled, and he had the potential to be considered a genius if
he had started training early. They defeated Senkawa in the Koshien
tournament as Hiro was willing to sacrifice his own leg in order to
not hurt Tsukigata's hand.
See also
These are titles with a similar theme of baseball.
External
links
Shogakukan
Wikis
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