Star of the Giants

Star of the Giants (Japanese: 巨人の星, Hepburn: Kyojin no Hoshi) is a Japanese sports manga series written by Ikki Kajiwara and illustrated by Noboru Kawasaki. It was serialized in Kodansha's Weekly Shōnen Magazine from 1966 to 1971. It is 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. It was adapted into an anime television series broadcast in Japan in 1968.[1] It later spawned two anime sequels and different anime movies.

Star of the Giants
Cover of the first volume of Kyojin no Hoshi, as published in Japan by Kodansha
巨人の星
(Kyojin no Hoshi)
GenreSports
Manga
Written byIkki Kajiwara
Illustrated byNoboru Kawasaki
Published byKodansha
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Magazine
DemographicShōnen
Original run1966 – 1971
Volumes19
Anime television series
Directed byTadao Nagahama
StudioTokyo Movie
Original networkYomiuri Television
Original run March 30, 1968 – September 18, 1971
Episodes182
Anime film
Kyojin no Hoshi: Chizome no Kesshōusen
StudioTokyo Movie
ReleasedJuly 26, 1969
Runtime90 minutes
Anime film
Kyojin no Hoshi: Ike Ike Hyūma
StudioTokyo Movie
ReleasedDecember 20, 1969
Runtime70 minutes
Anime film
Kyojin no Hoshi: Dai League Ball
StudioTokyo Movie
ReleasedMarch 21, 1970
Runtime70 minutes
Anime film
Kyojin no Hoshi: Shukumei no Taiketsu
StudioTokyo Movie
ReleasedAugust 1, 1970
Runtime60 minutes
Anime television series
Shin Kyojin no Hoshi
StudioTokyo Movie Shinsha
Original networkYomiuri Television
Original run October 1, 1977 – September 30, 1978
Episodes52
Anime television series
Shin Kyojin no Hoshi II
StudioTokyo Movie Shinsha
Original networkYomiuri Television
Original run April 14, 1979 – September 29, 1979
Episodes23
Anime film
Directed bySatoshi Dezaki
Tadao Nagahama
StudioTokyo Movie Shinsha
ReleasedAugust 21, 1982
Runtime110 minutes

Story

The story is about Hyūma Hoshi, a promising young baseball pitcher who dreams of becoming a top star like his father Ittetsu Hoshi in the professional Japanese league. Ittetsu was once a 3rd baseman until he was injured in World War II and was forced to retire; now an impoverished and bitter widower, he's raised Hyūma and his older sister Akiko in a very severe environment. 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 in the Hanshin Tigers, Hyūma would have to take out his best pitching magic to step up to the challenge.

Characters

Media

Manga

Anime

Beginning in 2001, the series was re-released on DVD format. In June 2013, a five set Blu-ray release was released.

Films

The first Star of the Giants movie debuted on July 26, 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 the Giants vs. Mighty Atom TV special reached the United States and was renamed to Astro Boy vs. the Giants.[1]

Japanese Name English Name Release Date Type Run time
Star of the Giants vs. Mighty AtomJune 9, 1969TV special30 mins
巨人の星Star of Giants: The MovieJuly 26, 1969movie90 mins
巨人の星 行け行け飛雄馬Star of Giants: Ike Ike HyumaDecember 20, 1969movie75 mins
巨人の星 大リーグボールStar of Giants: Big League BallMarch 21, 1970movie70 mins
巨人の星 宿命の対決Star of Giants: Shukumei no TaiketsuAugust 1, 1970movie60 mins
新巨人の星New Star of GiantsOctober 1, 1977series52 episodes
新巨人の星New Star of Giants: The MovieDecember 1, 1977movie
新巨人の星IINew Star of Giants IIApril 14, 1979series23 episodes
Stars of Giants Special Edition: Fierce Tiger Mitsuru HanagataOctober 23, 2002OVA13 episodes

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.

Reception and legacy

On TV Asahi's Manga Sōsenkyo 2021 poll, in which 150,000 people voted for their top 100 manga series, Star of the Giants ranked 38th.[2]

The anime series ranked fifteenth on TV Asahi's Top 100 Anime 2005 poll.[3]

Professional baseball player Ichiro Suzuki used Star of Giants as a reference to his grueling childhood baseball training.[4] The anime was remade in India in 2012 as Suraj: The Rising Star where cricket was substituted for baseball.[5] Episode 18 of Kyatto Ninden Teyandee (dubbed and released in North America as Samurai Pizza Cats) includes a pitcher named Puma Pochi, voiced by Tōru Furuya, as a direct parody of Hyūma Hoshi. In English, the character is renamed Fernando Curtainzuela.[6]

References
  1. Clements, Jonathan. McCarthy Helen. [2006] (2006). The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised & Expanded Edition. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-10-5.
  2. テレビ朝日『国民15万人がガチで投票!漫画総選挙』ランキング結果まとめ！ 栄えある1位に輝く漫画は!?. animate Times (in Japanese). Animate. January 3, 2021. Archived from the original on January 3, 2021. Retrieved January 3, 2021.
  3. Macdonald, Christopher (September 23, 2005). "TV Asahi Top 100 Anime Part 2". Anime News Network. Retrieved November 1, 2016.
  4. Whiting 2009, p. 6.
  5. Correspondent, A (3 December 2012). "Colors to air Japanese 'anime' remake from Dec 23". MxM India. Retrieved 20 October 2016.
  6. Tatsunoko Production (January 2019). Samurai Pizza Cats Official Fanbook. Udon Entertainment. p. 56. ISBN 978-1-77294-038-1.

Whiting, Robert (2009). The Meaning of Ichiro. Grand Central Publishing. ISBN 9780446565226.

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