Ookiku Furikabutte

Ren Mihashi is a pitcher who refuses to leave the mound, for better or worse. His middle school team hated him for it, blaming him for their continuous losses and chalking up his starter position to favoritism. In the end, Mihashi ran away to a different high school, convinced that he would never amount to anything in baseball. Upon his enrollment at Nishiura High School, however, he is quickly pulled into the newly formed baseball team with people who recognize his abilities. Mihashi is paired...

Ookiku Furikabutte won the New Hope Award at the 10th Osama Tezuka Cultural Award Ceremony in 2006 for "showing new possibilities of expression in baseball manga." The following year, the series won the Kodansha Manga Award for general manga. The manga has been adapted into three Japanese stage play...