Nine (Japanese: ナイン, Hepburn: Nain) is a baseball manga series by Mitsuru Adachi. It was serialized in Monthly Shōnen Sunday Zōkan from the October 1978 through November 1980 issues. The series was adapted into three anime television films and a live-action television drama. An altered version of the first anime film was released in theaters, with new and re-arranged music.
The story is about two friends who were star athletes in junior high school who decide, on entering high school, to join the struggling baseball club so they can have a challenge. The title comes from the nine members of a baseball team.
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Plot summary
Just before entering Seishū High School, track star Katsuya Niimi and judo champion Susumu Karasawa see a girl crying as the school loses a baseball game. The boys decide to join the team and improve it in order to make her smile. The girl turns out to be Yuri Nakao, daughter of the baseball coach, and they learn the baseball team will be shut down if it doesn't start winning. The series follows the three, as well as pitcher Eiji Kurahashi, as Niimi and Karasawa learn about baseball and what it means to be one of nine players on a team, as they work together through high school make it to Kōshien.
Characters
Character voices listed are for the anime releases only.
Katsuya Niimi (新見 克也)
Voiced by: Toru Furuya
Center fielder on the Seishū High School baseball club, in love with Yuri. In junior high, he held the national records for the 100 meter and 200 m races for his age group. His favorite food is gomokuzushi. He wears the number 8 on his jersey.
Yuri Nakao (中尾 百合)
Voiced by: Mariko Ishihara (TV movie 1), Mariko Kurata (TV movie 2), Narumi Yasuda (TV movie 3)
The manager of the Seishū High School baseball club and daughter of the baseball coach. There is a growing romance between Yuri and Katsuya.
Susumu Karasawa (唐沢 進)
Voiced by: Kei Tomiyama
Right fielder on the Seishū High School baseball club. In junior high, he was the prefectural champion in judo. He wears the number 9.
Eiji Kurahashi (倉橋 永二)
Voiced by: Kaneto Shiozawa
Left-handed pitching ace on the Seishū High School baseball club, and was one of the top pitchers in all of Japan in middle school. Lives with his father, a truck driver.
Yukimi Yasuda (安田 雪美)
Voiced by: Tamie Kubota
Star athlete of the Seishū High School track club, who has a crush on Katsuya since Middle School. After transferring to Seishū at the beginning of the school year, she begins pursuing him, much to the annoyance of Yuri.
TV movies
Film 1
The first Nine TV movie aired on May 4, 1983, on Fuji TV's Nissei Family Special program.
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Film 2
The second Nine TV movie, Nine 2: Sweetheart Declaration (ナイン 恋人宣言, Nain Koibito Sengen), aired on December 18, 1983, on Fuji TV's Nissei Family Special program.
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Film 3
The third Nine TV movie, Nine: The Last Chapter (ナイン 完結編, Nain Kanketsuhen), aired on September 5, 1984, on Fuji TV's Nissei Family Special program.
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Theatrical movie
The first Nine TV movie was remade into a theatrical movie titled Nine the Original (ナイン オリジナル版, Nain Orijinaruban), released on September 16, 1983, by Toho. Modifications were made to the original TV movie to fix problems with it, and some of the voice actors and background music were changed as well. When the Nine movies are rebroadcast on TV, this movie is shown in place of the original TV movie.
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TV live action drama
A Nine live action TV drama special aired on January 5, 1987, on Fuji TV's Monday Dramaland (月曜ドラマランド, Getsuyō Doramarando) program.
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