Star of the Giants
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Star of the Giants | |
|---|---|
 |
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| 巨人の星 (Kyojin no Hoshi) |
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| Genre | Sports, Shōnen |
| Manga | |
| Authored by | Ikki Kajiwara, Noboru Kawasaki |
| Publisher | Kodansha |
| Serialized in | |
| Original run | 1966 – 1966 |
| No. of volumes | 19 |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Tadao Nagahama, Yoshio Kabashima |
| Studio | TMS Entertainment |
| Network | Nippon Television |
| Original run | March 30, 1968 – September 18, 1971 |
| No. of episodes | 182 |
| Movie | |
| Directed by | |
| Studio | TMS Entertainment |
| Released | 1969 |
| Runtime | 90 mins |
Star of the Giants (Japanese: 巨人の星) is the first sports anime series televised in Japan in 1968. It was adapted from the classic 1966 manga series of the same name and later spawned different movies. It is also referred to as "Kyojin no Hoshi", "Hoshi of the Giants".
Contents |
[edit] Story
The story is about Hyuma Hoshi, the promising young baseball pitcher who dreams of becoming a top star like his father Ittetsu Hoshi in the professional Japanese league. His father was once a 3rd baseman until he was injuried in World War II and was forced to retire. The boy would join the ever popular Giants team, and soon he realized the difficulty of managing the high expectations. From the grueling training to battling the rival Mitsuru Hanagata on the Hanshin Tigers, he would have to take out his best pitching magic to step up to the challenge.
[edit] Concept
The manga appeared in Weekly Shonen Magazine about the actual baseball team Yomiuri Giants using fictional characters. It was launched by the "Yomiuri Group" which at the time owned not only the actual baseball team, but the TV network Nippon Television, the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun as well as Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation. The show targeted young audiences expanding the imagination of what is physically possible by dramatizing pitches and wind-up sequences. While staying true to being a sports anime, the contents are not simulated like real baseball. It was closer to fantasy surreal anime, though that was the norm within manga publications at the time.
[edit] Staff
Original creator: Ikki Kajiwara, Noboru Kawasaki
Director: Tadao Nagahama, Yoshio Kabashima, Tadaaki Tamazaki, Mamoru Sasaki
Script: Masaki Tsuji, Seiji Matsuoka, Tooru Sawaki, Ryohei Ito, Toru Sawaki, Yoshiaki Yoshida
Music: Takeo Watanabe
Art director: Isamu Kageyama
Animation director: Daikichirou Kusube
Editing: Kazuo Inoue
[edit] Characters
| Japanese Name | Voices by |
|---|---|
| Hoshi Hyuuma | Tohru Furuya |
| Hoshi Ittetsu | Seizo Katou |
| Akiko | Fuyumi Shiraishi |
| Ban Chuuta | Jouji Yanami |
| Hanagata Mitsuru | Makio Inoue |
| Kawakami Tetsuharu | Tadashi Nakamura |
[edit] DVD
Beginning in 2001, the series was re-released on DVD format.
[edit] Adaptations
The first Star of Giants movie was debuted in 1969 as part of the vacation anime festival on large screen theatres in color. The draw is the most people had black and white TVs at the time. The Star of Giants vs Mighty Atoms TV special reached the U.S and was renamed to "Astro Boy vs the Giants"[1].
| Japanese Name | English Name | Release Date | Type | Run time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 巨人の星 | Star of Giants the movie | 1969 | movie | 90 mins |
| Star of Giants vs the Mighty Atom | 1969 | TV special | 30 mins | |
| 巨人の星 行け行け飛雄馬 | Star of Giants: Ike Ike Hyuma | December 20, 1969 | movie | 75 mins |
| 巨人の星 大リーグボール | Star of Giants: Dai Big League | 1970 | movie | 70 mins |
| 巨人の星 宿命の対決 | Star of Giants: Shinjuku no Taiketsu | 1970 | movie | 60 mins |
| 新巨人の星 | New Stars of Giants | 1977 | series | 52 Episodes |
| 新巨人の星 | New Stars of Giants the movie | 1977 | movie | |
| 新巨人の星II | New Stars of Giants II | 1979 | series | 23 Episodes |
| Stars of Giants Special Edition: Fierce Tiger Mitsuru Hanagata | 2002 | series | 13 Episodes |
[edit] Video games
"Kyojin no Hoshi (The Anime Super Remix)" was released for the Playstation 2 by Capcom on June 20, 2002. There were also a number of other games on the same platform.
[edit] Trivia
- Ichiro Suzuki professional baseball player used Star of Giants the anime as a reference to his gruesome childhood baseball training.
[edit] References
- ^ Clements, Jonathan. McCarthy Helen. [2006] (2006). The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised & Expanded Edition. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-10-5
