Gurazeni: Money PitchThis is the story of Natsunosuke Honda, a pro baseball player—a relief pitcher who has been playing pro in a team called Spiders for 8 years. The team operates as a highly-stratified society, where the player's performance determines his annual salary. Natsunosuke is one of the highest paid players in the game. He measures how good players are by how much money they make, and he intends to be on top and stay there, and as such is always looking for players to challenge and does everything to insure that he is better than they are.
WritersYuji Moritaka, Adachi Kintaro
My Workplace / Spot Starter
Apr 6, 2018
Bonda Natsunosuke is an 18 million yen-a-year middle relief pitcher for the Jingu Spiders. Highly conscious of his limited time in the sport and obsessed with earning enough for retirement, Bonda faces a number of tricky situations which could help or hurt his bottom line.
Tendency / Buddies
Apr 13, 2018
Bonda's coach has noticed a fatal flaw in his pitching style: He can only strike out players who make less money than he does! Later, Bonda attempts to help his best friend, a Spiders starting pitcher, earn his first win of the season.
Prefecture Clique
Apr 20, 2018
Tokunaga decides to set a quota for his friends from Yamanashi Prefecture: within the next four games, Ohno needs to hit four home runs, and Bonda needs to get his ERA under 3. Can the two meet the difficult challenge and get their futures back on track?
Railroad to Retirement / The Man Who Couldn't Make Pro
Apr 27, 2018
Bonda must deal with a rematch against 41-year-old superstar Doterai, whom Bonda took out of the game the year before with a hit-by-pitch. Later, he gains an admirer when practicing soccer moves outside of the stadium.
Safe Bets, Risky Bets
May 4, 2018
A manga artist visits the stadium, hoping to use Bonda's life as reference for a baseball manga. However, when Bonda receives the magazine containing the artist's new work, he discovers that the artist has played it "safe."
Multiplier
May 11, 2018
While out on the town one night, Bonda runs into Sekiya, a hard-partying player who makes ten times Bonda's own salary. After refusing the man's hospitality, will he be able to strike him out the next day?
A Minor League Player in the Majors
May 18, 2018
Tohko, a 32-year-old catcher who spends most of his time in the minors, is brought up briefly to the majors. His old friend from college wants him to give up his mediocre baseball career for a steady job, but Tohko refuses. Then, the next day, when he's in the battery with Bonda...
The Commute to the Stadium
May 25, 2018
Japanese pro baseball's strict foreign player quotas has been keeping left-handed pitcher Thomas in the minors, and now he's afraid of getting bumped. On a day when he's brought up to pitch in a major league game, Bonda decides to guide him to the stadium, and advises him in every way he can to make sure he pitches well.
Teacher or Cautionary Tale?
Jun 1, 2018
Batting practice pitcher and scorer Kuriki gives Natsunosuke advice about how to improve his pitch speed. While fearing that a focus on speed could backfire and jeopardize his career, Bonda reluctantly takes his old mentor's advice...
High School Recruit, College Recruit
Jun 8, 2018
Natsunosuke hates Koshien Stadium, which physically shakes from the force of the Osaka Tempters' cheer squad. When he's brought to the mound, he immediately ends up in a tight spot, with no outs and bases loaded. As two of the Tempters' most promising young players come up to the plate, how will Natsunosuke fight back?
No Pitch to Throw
Jun 15, 2018
"Delinquent King" Haratake is a popular middle relief pitcher for the Setouchi Carnabeats known for taking forever between pitches. Natsunosuke is a big fan of his, and looks up to him as a friend and mentor. But when they're both brought in as relief pitchers in the same game, they end up facing each other across the plate!
The Lonely Gourmet
Jun 22, 2018
Natsunosuke has a crush on Yuki-chan, the part-timer at his favorite diner. She doesn't know he's a baseball player, and hardly ever notices him at all... that is, until she comes a game at Jingu stadium, when it turns out she's a Tempters fan!
