is a sports
mangaManga consist of comics and print cartoons , in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century...
written by
Ikki Kajiwarawas an author, manga writer , and film producer also known under the pseudonym . His real name is . The pseudonym was used since he was writing for a rival magazine at the time. Having multiple names would not allow overlaps by the two magazines...
and drawn by
Noboru Kawasakiis a mangaka. He is most famous for drawing the series Star of the Giants. He won the 14th Shogakukan Manga Award in 1969 for Animal 1 and Inakabbe Taisho and the 2nd Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen in 1978 for Football Hawk....
. It was
adaptedFilm adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even other films...
as the first sports
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
television series broadcast in
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, in 1968. It later spawned 2 anime sequels and different anime movies.
The manga appeared in
Weekly Shōnen Magazine, also known as Shōnen Magazine, is a shōnen manga magazine published by Kodansha, first published on 17 March 1959. Despite some unusual censorship policies , its audience tends to skew older with some more mature works and a large portion of its reading population falling under...
about the actual baseball team
Yomiuri GiantsThe are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League of Japan's top-tier major league, Nippon Professional Baseball, and they play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988...
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 Televisionis a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan owned by the Yomiuri Shimbun. It is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV".-Offices:...
, the newspaper
Yomiuri ShimbunThe is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five national newspapers in Japan; the other four are the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun.Founded in 1874, the Yomiuri Shimbun is...
, as well as
Yomiuri Telecasting Corporationis a TV station joining Nippon News Network and Nippon Television Network System in Osaka Business Park, Osaka, Japan founded as "" on February 13, 1958...
.
The show targeted young audiences expanding the imagination of what is physically possible by dramatizing pitches and wind-up sequences.
is a sports
mangaManga consist of comics and print cartoons , in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 20th century...
written by
Ikki Kajiwarawas an author, manga writer , and film producer also known under the pseudonym . His real name is . The pseudonym was used since he was writing for a rival magazine at the time. Having multiple names would not allow overlaps by the two magazines...
and drawn by
Noboru Kawasakiis a mangaka. He is most famous for drawing the series Star of the Giants. He won the 14th Shogakukan Manga Award in 1969 for Animal 1 and Inakabbe Taisho and the 2nd Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen in 1978 for Football Hawk....
. It was
adaptedFilm adaptation is the transfer of a written work to a feature film. It is a type of derivative work.A common form of film adaptation is the use of a novel as the basis of a film, but film adaptation includes the use of non-fiction , autobiography, comic book, scripture, plays, and even other films...
as the first sports
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
television series broadcast in
Japanis an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, People's Republic of China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, in 1968. It later spawned 2 anime sequels and different anime movies.
The manga appeared in
Weekly Shōnen Magazine, also known as Shōnen Magazine, is a shōnen manga magazine published by Kodansha, first published on 17 March 1959. Despite some unusual censorship policies , its audience tends to skew older with some more mature works and a large portion of its reading population falling under...
about the actual baseball team
Yomiuri GiantsThe are a professional baseball team based in Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan. The team competes in the Central League of Japan's top-tier major league, Nippon Professional Baseball, and they play their home games in the Tokyo Dome, opened in 1988...
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 Televisionis a television network based in the Shiodome area of Minato, Tokyo, Japan owned by the Yomiuri Shimbun. It is commonly known as , contracted to , and abbreviated as "NTV".-Offices:...
, the newspaper
Yomiuri ShimbunThe is a Japanese newspaper published in Tokyo, Osaka, Fukuoka, and other major Japanese cities. It is one of the five national newspapers in Japan; the other four are the Asahi Shimbun, the Mainichi Shimbun, Nihon Keizai Shimbun, and the Sankei Shimbun.Founded in 1874, the Yomiuri Shimbun is...
, as well as
Yomiuri Telecasting Corporationis a TV station joining Nippon News Network and Nippon Television Network System in Osaka Business Park, Osaka, Japan founded as "" on February 13, 1958...
.
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.
Story
The story is about Hyuma Hoshi, a 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 basemanA third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run...
until he was injured in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
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 TigersThe are a Nippon Professional Baseball team based in Koshien, Nishinomiya, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and are in the Central League. Hanshin Electric Railway Co., Ltd., the subsidiary of Hankyu Hanshin Holdings Inc., owns the Hanshin Tigers directly...
, he would have to take out his best pitching magic to step up to the challenge.
Characters
- Hoshi Hyuuma: Tohru Furuya
- Hoshi Ittetsu: Seizō Katō
- Akiko: Fuyumi Shiraishi
Fuyumi Shiraishi is a seiyū born on October 14, 1941 in Beijing, Republic of China-Nanjing.-Voice Roles:*Ashita no Joe *Osomatsu-kun 1966 *Obake no Q-Taro 1985 *Kaibutsu-kun 1968...
- Ban Chuuta: Jōji Yanami
, born on August 30, 1931 in Tokyo, is a veteran seiyuu. He is currently represented by Aoni Production.He is best known for the roles of Chuuta Ban , One of the San-Aku , the Narrator and North Kaiō , Super Zeus and Ittan Momen .-TV anime:*Bikkuriman *Cooking Papa...
- Hanagata Mitsuru: Makio Inoue
is a Japanese seiyū. He began voice acting in the '60s, landing small roles in Astroboy, and was the actor of choice for deep-voiced, serious males in the '70s. These days, he rarely takes on new roles...
- Kawakami Tetsuharu: Tadashi Nakamura
- Masaichi Kaneda
is a former Japanese professional baseball pitcher. He is one of the most well-known pitchers in Japanese baseball history, and is the only Japanese pitcher to have won 400 games. He was inducted in the Japanese Baseball Hall of Fame in 1988....
: Teiji Ōmiyawas a Japanese voice and dramatic actor, and a member of the Tokyo Actor's Consumer's Cooperative Society when he died. He attended Nihon University, but withdrew before completing his degree. He was known for playing the roles of kind old men in many 1970s anime series...
- Kyōko: Reiko Mutō
was a Japanese voice actor. She is most well known for playing the voice of Elizabeth Taylor in Japanese dubbed television and films, and playing main characters in Marvelous Melmo , Astro Boy as Uran , and Moomin...
Staff
- Original creator: Ikki Kajiwara
was an author, manga writer , and film producer also known under the pseudonym . His real name is . The pseudonym was used since he was writing for a rival magazine at the time. Having multiple names would not allow overlaps by the two magazines...
, Noboru Kawasakiis a mangaka. He is most famous for drawing the series Star of the Giants. He won the 14th Shogakukan Manga Award in 1969 for Animal 1 and Inakabbe Taisho and the 2nd Kodansha Manga Award for shōnen in 1978 for Football Hawk....
- Director: Tadao Nagahama
Tadao Nagahama was a director of both puppet shows and animation.He is best known as the director of...
, Yoshio Kabashima, Tadaaki Tamazaki, Mamoru Sasaki
- Script: Masaki Tsuji
is a Japanese scenario writer of TV series and films as well as mystery fiction novels. Tsuji was most active in the business from the 1960s through the 1980s, and worked as a script writer on many popular anime TV series for Mushi Production, Toei Animation, and Tokyo Movie Shinsha.Among the...
, Seiji Matsuoka, Tooru Sawaki, Ryohei Ito, Toru Sawaki, Yoshiaki Yoshida
- Music: Takeo Watanabe
was a Japanese musician and composer.In addition to composing the well known theme song for Cutie Honey he has also composed music for multiple television anime and films including Lone Wolf & Cub, Candy Candy, and Mobile Suit Gundam....
- Art director: Isamu Kageyama
- Animation director: Daikichirou Kusube
- Editing: Kazuo Inoue
Movies
The first
Star of the Giants movie was debuted in 1969 as part of the vacation anime festival on large screen theatres in color. The draw was that 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.
| 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 |
Video games
Kyojin no Hoshi (The Anime Super Remix) was released for the
Playstation 2The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony. The PS2 console is the sequel to the original PlayStation console. The successor to the PlayStation, and the predecessor to the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 forms part of the PlayStation series of video game...
by
Capcomis a leading international developer and publisher of video games headquartered in Osaka, Japan. It was founded in 1979 as Japan Capsule Computers, a company devoted to the manufacturing and distribution of electronic game machines...
on June 20, 2002. There were also a number of other games on the same platform.
Impact
- Professional baseball player Ichiro Suzuki
, often known simply as , is a Major League Baseball outfielder for the Seattle Mariners. Ichiro has established a number of batting records, including the sport's single-season record for base hits with 262...
used Star of Giants as a reference to his gruesome childhood baseball training.
External links