On Sunday, November 10, Kadokawa surprised anime and manga fans by announcing the arrival of a second season for Oblivion Battery (Bōkyaku Battery), the baseball anime based on the manga written and illustrated by Eko Mikawa. The news was revealed through an announcement video, confirming that the series, which debuted in spring 2024, will have its long-awaited continuation.
The first season of the anime premiered on April 9, 2024 and was simulcast on platforms such as Crunchyroll, allowing viewers around the world to enjoy the series as it aired in Japan.
A fight to recover the love for sport
The story follows the adventures of Haruka Kiyomine, a talented pitcher considered “perfect”, and Kei Kaname, a skilled catcher known as “the General”, who in their youth dominated baseball at the school level. However, their story takes an unexpected turn when Kei suffers amnesia and loses all memories related to his love for the sport.
Throughout the first season, Haruka and Kei meet again at Kotesashi High School in Tokyo, a place where baseball is almost unknown. There, they join other players who had retired after being defeated by the duo. Among these former players are Aoi Todo and Shunpei Chihaya. Together, the four characters decide to rekindle their love for baseball, while helping Kei regain his passion for the sport.
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The magic of MAPPA in Oblivion Battery
The anime is produced by MAPPA, one of the most popular animation studios at the moment, known for its work on other hits such as Jujutsu Kaisen and Chainsaw Man.
The direction is by Makoto Nakazono, while the scripts are written by Michiko Yokote, a veteran in the industry who has worked on other successful adaptations such as The Dreaming Boy Is a Realist. The character design is done by Hitomi Hasegawa.
The music is provided by Tomoki Kikuya and Hiroko Yamasaki, who have composed a soundtrack that perfectly accompanies the intensity and emotion of the baseball games in history. In addition, the anime has two theme songs that will be characteristic: the opening theme “Lilac” performed by Mrs. Green Apple, and the ending theme “Wasurena Uta” by Macaroni Enpitsu.
The success of Oblivion Battery
The plot of Oblivion Battery has been very well received. One of the main attractions is its emotional focus and the evolution of the main characters, who must face their own fears and difficulties to continue playing baseball. In this sense, the relationship between Haruka and Kei is marked by their friendship and the struggle to overcome Kei’s oblivion. This becomes the core of the story, connecting viewers to the characters and their stories.
The manga debuted in April 2018 on the Shōnen Jump+ digital platform and quickly gained popularity. As the story progressed, the series established itself as a well-known one in the sports manga category and reached 19 collected volumes until September 2024.
This manga has also been recognized in several awards. In the Next Manga Awards of 2019, Oblivion Battery was positioned in sixth place in the web manga category and recently, in 2024, won the Grand Prize in the “I Want to Read It Now” category of the Rakuten Kobo E-book Awards.
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