Something that may be of interest and/or amusement - here's a YouTube clip of some Japanese musicians performing the "painopainopai" song that Koume sings in the first episode:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJq5i75x6jI

I guess the tune is a real Japanese folk song. Who knew? :eyespin:

So how is it different? The NBA isn't actually basketball, but rather a way to earn money and thus different rules apply? You argue that it's different, but you don't explain why. The girls had a fanbase and neither team was making money. I understand that they aren't playing at the professional level, but are you implying that the rules for who can or can't play baseball are different at the professional level than at the regular level?

I don't understand how the girls losing [lol@your taking one sample and applying it to a whole gender] means that women in general shouldn't play baseball. It seems to me that you're taking a point and drawing a completely unrelated conclusion from it.
But here, since you didn't like the NBA example, I'll give you another. Any type of competitive game [like fighting games or Pokemon] has its characters split into tiers that show where each character is ranked based off of tournament results, etc. To me, you're arguing that you shouldn't let any any character play except those of the highest tier, although in plenty of tournaments a lower tier character is able to win.

You do realize that the comments they make in the beginning of the game, like the pitcher saying that he didn't go easy [I don't remember the actual quote], are supposed to indicate that although their demeanor wasn't serious, they were putting a serious effort into it, right? I don't know if you play sports, but that does happen.
Also, hypotheticals and exaggerations make me laugh. The girls showed that they had the ability to adapt once the boys started 'playing seriously' [which, in my opinion, they were from the beginning], so there's just as much a chance that they could've had an even match as the chance of the guys destroying them if they played a million matches or whatever.

To me, you're just saying that they're never going to win and never explain why, and it just gives off the impression that you're saying they're not equal because they're girls and that skill doesn't matter. Tell me, why does the fact that they're girls mean that they can't play baseball well? If that's not what you're saying, then what are you saying?

Have watched the last episode several days ago. It was really a nice experience. This anime series is funny, touching, heart-warming and very entertaining.

As for the loosing or winning, in my opinion it does not matter anymore whether the girls has lost the match, since they already have proven that they can play baseball and that they can do that very professionally too; much better than the first time against the guys. At that time that was a big defeat for the girls, but this match in the last episode the girls just need a little bits to win; this is a huge improvement! This is already proof that they can play baseball.

You can also say the guys almost lost instead of the girls didn't win, but due to luck for the guys and the girls being unlucky this time - Koume-chan slides just a bit too far! Otherwise the girls would have won the match. And above all the guys were really shocked that the girls have become so good at playing baseball; they had problems with the girls at the beginning of the match (maybe also partial due to under-estimating the girls). Also do not forget that the girls have trained just for a relatively short period before doing the match against the guys who have already played baseball for seasons. Furthermore, I think the guys also know that they are saved by luck that they have won the match, in other words luck has saved their face; otherwise the entire baseball team had to disband if they really has lost to a bunch of girls; well you know how people and especially men think about girls and women at that time...

In the end it's also about sportsmanship, not everything is about winning or being the number 1 of the world; if you are not enjoying when you are playing baseball or any other sports, then why still do it?

Yeah, it's a song from that era, which is why they used it.

I thought the tune was an arrangement of Marching Through Georgia by Henry Clay Work....

Yeah, it was mentioned earlier in the thread. See this post.

where can i read the taishou yakyuu musume light novels?

Bump to say that this series is now licensed by Sentai Filmworks/Section 23 Films. I may have to check it out!

I am both amazed and delighted that this show's getting a DVD release in November. I hope Sentai/Section23 continue this trend of picking up shows I never expected to be licensed.

Wow...just...wow.

I was so annoyed by the recent Sword Art Online episode that I actually started on this show to get my Kanae Itou fix...

...And I get a years worth supply in the first 4 minutes...

[EDIT]

Finally finished this show. What a lovely little series. I enjoyed it from start to finish.

Also just finished this series - what an enjoyable work!

The summer camp ep was the only one that got a little slow for me at parts, but otherwise the story was a "page turner" as far as the analogy applies to anime, I guess.

Kudos to Sentai for making it available, btw.... In my opinion it deserves more attention. ^^