Synopsis
Continues the story of Ganbare!! Tabuchi-kun!! Gekitou Pennant Race
Based on Hisaichi Ishii's 1979 manga Ganbare!! Tabuchi-kun!!, which was serialized in the weekly Manga Action magazine. The Seibu Lions baseball team advances to the next round of a tournament thanks to the heroic efforts of star player Tabuchi, though the upcoming stage demands hard work and cooperation. In this sports anime that pits caricatures of real-life players against cartoon characters, the Lions—whose real-life mascot is the grown-up Kimba the White Lion—continue to lose games because Tabuchi is in poor condition; his shadow is becoming paler. A group of fellow players arrives at the stadium accompanied by Dokaben to encourage Tabuchi to pull through. They organize a Tabuchi Day to demonstrate how appreciated he is, but the event proves to be a miserable failure. Eventually, he is lifted out of his depression by the arrival of a girl named Miyoko, who obliges by dressing up as a cheerleader. Note: Real-life members of the Seibu Lions baseball team are caricatured.
In this installment
This 1980 baseball comedy film, adapted from Hisaichi Ishii's yonkoma manga, follows the unlucky but kind-hearted Tabuchi, a struggling player for the Seibu Lions loosely based on real-life ballplayer Kōichi Tabuchi. His poor performance drags the team down, prompting his teammates to organize a "Tabuchi Day" to boost his morale, but it ends in a spectacular failure. Eventually, a cheerleading girl named Miyoko manages to coax him out of his slump.
