With such a cast, you would think the series should be getting much more attention.
Summary:
- Oblivion Battery is an upcoming baseball anime, scheduled for April 2024.
- The first trailer was rather disappointing.
- The series has a great cast and staff.
- There isn’t much hype among the Western audience.
Oblivion Battery (Boukyaku Battery) is an upcoming anime adaptation of the sports manga of the same name written and illustrated by Eko Mikawa. It’s produced by MAPPA and is scheduled for April 10, 2024.
Baseball anime
Oblivion Battery follows Haruka Kiyomine and Kei Kaname, who used to be incredibly skilled baseball players. They were a bit too good even, an unstoppable force ruining the dreams of other baseball players.
However, Kaname lost his memory, and they both have to start fresh at a new school, where they meet players who quit baseball after losing to the duo. A new baseball club is forming, though, which will give Haruka and Kei another chance to play their favorite sport.
The anime adaptation was announced in August 2023, and since then there hasn't been much information about it. But last week gave us the first trailer for the series.
The trailer, however, brought a lot of disappointment. Everyone knows what MAPPA can do, but the animation in the video leaves much to be desired. Is Oblivion Battery not the top priority for the studio?
No one’s talking about it
The most surprising thing is that Oblivion Battery isn’t getting that much attention. It’s a sports anime, and there are a lot of great examples of them becoming hugely successful. Haikyuu alone is good enough proof, but the chances of Oblivion Battery receiving the same treatment are low for now.
The staff of the series is spectacular. Masato Nakazono is directing the anime, and he’s worked on such huge series as Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man.
On top of that, you can find such stars as Nobunaga Shimazaki (Mahito from JJK), Mamoru Miyano (Light from Death Note), and Yuki Kaji (Eren from Attack on Titan) among the cast. Which makes it even more surprising that fans aren’t excited about the anime.
Still, fans say that the Oblivion Battery manga is very popular in Japan, and they say it’s a really enjoyable experience. Perhaps it’s just the Western audience, who need more time to really get interested in the project.
Fans also find the English title of the series quite interesting. Battery is a term used to describe a duo of a baseball catcher and pitcher, but it can also mean “the act of beating,” so the first thing that comes to fans’ minds is that someone is going to beat another person to oblivion. Was it an intentional wordplay?