(CR) Baby Steps

[LoweGear]

[ANN] Tennis Manga Baby Steps Gets TV Anime Next Spring

Originally Posted by ANN

This year's 50th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine is announcing on Wednesday that a television anime adaptation of Hikaru Katsuki's Baby Steps manga has been green-lit. The anime will air on NHK's public television channel E-Tele this spring. Kenji Saito (Dennō Coil, Bakuman., Bottom Biting Bug) is producing the anime for NHK.

The story follows "Ei-chan," a punctual and earnest boy who has strived for straight As since elementary school. He began going to a tennis school during high school. There, he meets Natsu, a beautiful, earnest girl who only has passion for tennis.

Katsuki launched the manga in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 2007. The 28th compiled volume will ship on November 15, and the 29th will follow on January 17. Weekly Shōnen Magazine's sibling publication Magazine Special will have a Baby Steps cover and a special Baby Steps chapter with a color opening page on November 20.

Now this was an announcement that took me by surprise. I'm not normally a fan of sports manga, and certainly not long-running ones. Baby Steps though is the exception, since it's so... normal compared to other sports manga (i.e. no special super powers, no exaggerated moves, no earth-shattering balls etc), yet still quite exciting - I know nothing much about tennis, yet this manga has me engaged in it. This is a seriously underrated title, and glad it's going to get exposure via the anime soon.

[Guardian Enzo]

This probably ranks among my 10 favorite adaptation announcements in anime, no exaggeration. Baby Steps really is tremendous - I did play tennis and I appreciate how accurate the series is in depicting it. But it also has a terrific main character, and excellent understated romance and a good deal of wit. It's fantastic.

I'm surprised, but mostly because my tastes rarely overlap with what gets adapted and what gets multiple seasons - in its own terms, Baby Steps is actually very popular and it was always a decent candidate to get an anime sooner or later.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Oh.
Hell.
Yes.

The best currently running sports manga finally gets an adaptation. I just hope it ends up being at least four cours so they have plenty of time to develop the story.

[leokiko]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

This probably ranks among my 10 favorite adaptation announcements in anime, no exaggeration. Baby Steps really is tremendous - I did play tennis and I appreciate how accurate the series is in depicting it. But it also has a terrific main character, and excellent understated romance and a good deal of wit. It's fantastic.

I echo everything that Enzo wrote.

[Miraluka]

I hope they don't bring destruction to the dinosaurs, again.

[LoweGear]

Originally Posted by Miraluka

I hope they don't bring destruction to the dinosaurs, again.

Baby Steps isn't that kind of manga. Even after nearly 200 chapters, it doesn't introduce fantastic reactions or superpowers into the equation.

[Kirarakim]

Never read the manga, but looking forward to this based on what I heard.

[Pocari_Sweat]

So is this like Cross Game except with tennis? Sign me up if that's the case.

[MeoTwister5]

Any news on the studio?

[Guardian Enzo]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

So is this like Cross Game except with tennis? Sign me up if that's the case.

No, not remotely. Much more about the sport itself, and the journey towards trying to become great at something through intellect and hard work.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by Pocari_Sweat

So is this like Cross Game except with tennis? Sign me up if that's the case.

In terms of plot it's actually pretty close to YowaPedal or Chihayafuru told from Tsutomu's point of view, though the tone isn't as eccentric as the former nor as romanticized as the latter.

[Saito123]

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I literally jumped from my chair.
Best day ever.

Can't wait

[Pocari_Sweat]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

In terms of plot it's actually pretty close to YowaPedal or Chihayafuru told from Tsutomu's point of view, though the tone isn't as eccentric as the former nor as romanticized as the latter.

Oh, so restrained?

That's pretty nice to hear since Tennis is probably my favourite sport.

[AbZeroNow]

Two bad signs for this anime: Studio Pierrot and original content.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...with-new-plots

But this getting 2 cours is potentially good news.

[Utsuro no Hako]

Quoth ANN:

This year's 50th issue of Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine provided more details on the television anime adaptation of Hikaru Katsuki's tennis manga Baby Steps on Wednesday. Pierrot (Naruto, Pierrot) is animating the television series in 25 episodes. Katsuki is collaborating on the creation of episodes with original stories not told in the manga.

I don't think my interest in a series has dropped so fast.

EDIT: Ninjaed!

[fertygo]

Originally Posted by Utsuro no Hako

Quoth ANN:



I don't think my interest in a series has dropped so fast.

EDIT: Ninjaed!

What wrong with that?

Your purist blood raging?

[Utsuro no Hako]

Originally Posted by fertygo

What wrong with that?

Your purist blood raging?

The manga has almost thirty volumes of material but they're going to be wasting episodes on filler.

[yellowscarves]

Not very often do you hear an announcement telling you there will be filler.... I fully agree with Utsuro. Baby Steps has been running since 2007 and there's over 200 chapters of content available. The romance is slow, but everything else is executed perfectly. As far as I'm concerned, unless the anime original stories feature more of Ei-chan and Natsu together, they really have no place in the adaption.

[Kanon]

Originally Posted by AbZeroNow

Two bad signs for this anime: Studio Pierrot and original content.
http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/news...with-new-plots

But this getting 2 cours is potentially good news.

I visited this thread for the first time today. I was getting more and more excited as I scrolled down until I reached this post and it all came crashing down. First time I've experience such a fast emotional roller coaster.

Pierrot's only redeeming quality is that they often animate long-running series, but if it's only going to be 25 episodes and filled with fillers then there's no point. I'm not going to write this off completely yet but my expectations are very low. I'll add the manga to my backlog instead.

[SoloPanda]

This is my favorite sports manga, I'm really looking forward to seeing it animated