Star of the Giants

Star of the Giants
	File:StarofGiantsAnime.jpg
巨人の星; (Kyojin no Hoshi)
Genre	Sports
Manga
Written by	Ikki Kajiwara
Illustrated by	Noboru Kawasaki
Published by	Kodansha
Magazine	Weekly Shōnen Magazine
Demographic	Shōnen
Original run	1966 – 1971
Volumes	19
Anime television series
Directed by	Tadao Nagahama(director) ; Daikichiro Kusube(animation director)
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Original network	Nippon Television, Animax
Original run	March 30, 1968 – September 18, 1971
Episodes	182
Anime television series
Shin Kyoujin no Hoshi
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Original network	Nippon Television
Original run	October 1, 1977 – September 30, 1978
Episodes	52
Anime television series
Shin Kyoujin no Hoshi II
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Original network	Nippon Television
Original run	April 14, 1979 – September 29, 1979
Episodes	23
Movie adaptations
	A list of movie adaptations

Star of the Giants (巨人の星, Kyojin no Hoshi) is a sports manga written by Ikki Kajiwara and drawn by Noboru Kawasaki. It was adapted as the first sports anime television series ^{[citation needed]}broadcast in Japan, in 1968. It later spawned 2 anime sequels and different anime movies.

The manga appeared in Weekly Shōnen 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.^{[citation needed]}

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.^{[citation needed]}

Story

The story is about Hyuuma 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 baseman until he was injured 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 in the Hanshin Tigers, 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
Ban Chuuta: Jōji Yanami
Hanagata Mitsuru: Makio Inoue
Kawakami Tetsuharu: Tadashi Nakamura
Masaichi Kaneda: Teiji Ōmiya
Kyōko: Reiko Mutō

Adaptations

Anime

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

DVD

Beginning in 2001, the series was re-released on DVD format.

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^[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: Big League Ball	1970	movie	70 mins
巨人の星宿命の対決	Star of Giants: Shukumei no Taiketsu	1970	movie	60 mins
新巨人の星	New Star of Giants	1977	series	52 Episodes
新巨人の星	New Star of Giants the movie	1977	movie
新巨人の星II	New Star 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 2 by Capcom on June 20, 2002. There were also a number of other games on the same platform.

Impact

Professional baseball player Ichiro Suzuki used Star of Giants as a reference to his grueling childhood baseball training. ^{[citation needed]}

References

^ Clements, Jonathan. McCarthy Helen. [2006] (2006). The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised & Expanded Edition. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-10-5

External links

Star of Giants Official anime site by Tokyo Movie Shinsha. Template:Ja icon

[1] Clements, Jonathan. McCarthy Helen. [2006] (2006). The Anime Encyclopedia: Revised & Expanded Edition. Berkeley, CA: Stone Bridge Press. ISBN 978-1-933330-10-5

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