[JAPAN] Televiews / Boys baseball drama ‘Battery’ scores; long-running family ramen shop drama strikes out

In the latest column for “Televiews” by Wm. Penn for the Daily Yomiuri, Penn wrote, “The first batter in the new season’s starting lineup April 3 was a pitcher. In Battery (Thursdays, 8 p.m., NHK-G, 10 episodes), Yuma Nakayama, all of 14 years old in real life, stars as high-speed hurler Takumi Harada. Sho Takada, 15, is Go Nagakura, the first catcher brave enough to face and catch his fast ball. The two Johnny’s Jr. lads are playing 12-year-old primary school grads ready to join the middle school team and already dreaming of playing at Koshien Stadium in the national high school baseball championship.”

“As the first new evening series, it deserved a glance, but initially I held out no hope at all for yet another youthful baseball tale.”

“Fortunately, it was surprisingly well done. NHK will rerun the first two episodes April 13 from 4:30 p.m. (except in Hiroshima Prefecture and the Tohoku region). Episode 2 will start at 5:13 p.m. plus 30 seconds. How’s that for precise?”

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Tags: Televiews, Wm. Penn