Play Ball (manga)

Play Ball
Manga volume 1 cover
プレイボール
(Purei Bōru)
GenreSports
Manga
Written byAkio Chiba
Published byShueisha
ImprintJump Comics
MagazineWeekly Shōnen Jump
DemographicShōnen
Original run1973 – 1978
Volumes22
Anime television series
Directed bySatoshi Dezaki
Produced by
  • Yutoku Abe
  • Hiroyuki Ooizumi
  • Takashi Mizukami
  • Hiroyasu Isshiki
Music byKaoru Wada
Studio
Original networkAnimax
Original run July 4, 2005 – March 27, 2006
Episodes26
Manga
Play Ball 2
Written byYūji Moritaka
Published byShueisha
MagazineGrand Jump
DemographicSeinen
Original runApril 5, 2017[1] – May 6, 2021[2]
Volumes12[3]

Play Ball (Japanese: プレイボール, Hepburn: Purei Bōru) is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akio Chiba. It was serialized in Shueisha's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1973 to 1978, with its chapters collected in twenty-two tankōbon volumes.

The manga was adapted into a two-season anime television series co-produced by Eiken and Magic Bus, which aired on several Japanese television stations as well as the anime satellite television network Animax from July to September 2005 (1st season) and from January to March 2006 (2nd season).

The series was released concurrently with Chiba's other major work, Captain, the other series for which he won the 22nd Shogakukan Manga Award for shōnen in 1977.[4]

  1. ^ 「キャプテン」「プレイボール」のその後描く、コージィ城倉新連載が開幕. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. April 5, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  2. ^ 三田紀房の医大生もの＆秋本治の刑事ギャグがGJに、「プレイボール2」は完結. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. May 6, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  3. ^ 「プレイボール2」完結巻、巻末には「キャプテン」初代担当とちばあきお長男の対談. Natalie (in Japanese). Natasha, Inc. July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  4. ^ 小学館漫画賞：歴代受賞者 (in Japanese). Shogakukan. Retrieved 2007-08-19.