Well everyone, it’s time for me to binge-watching this anime based on a mobile game. This is Hachigatsu no Cinderella Nine where it revolves around Tsubasa Arihara recruiting girls to form a baseball club in Satogahama High School.
Unfortunately for Tsubasa, it appears that the girls are not interested in playing baseball and besides, her antics have caught the attention of the student council.
Luckily, her best friend Tomoe Kawakita got her back, but the student council won’t let Tsubasa recruit girls unless she form an association first. I mean, Arihara needs to form one properly.
So, they went to the faculty room where one of the teacher named Momoko Kakehashi gave them an application form. Of course, they need at least 3 people to form an association.
Meanwhile, let’s introduce some new characters named Akane Ukita and Yuuki Nozaki. While Ukita is a shy girl who’s physically-weak, Nozaki is quite athletic as she played basketball before.
Still, both Akane and Yuuki are recruited by Tsubasa and Tomoe since they really need at least 3 people to start an association in Satogahama High School. Man, if only there’s one more person who will join them so that Arihara can make a fully-fledged baseball club.
Now then, the newly-formed baseball association decided to play with a bunch of kids at the river bank.
Of course, this place is not ideal to play baseball and not to mention that they don’t have enough players to play the game. Therefore, Tsubasa Arihara came up an idea to modify the game to play with just 6 players on each side.
Anyways, time to play some baseball and we’re gonna start with Yuuki Nozaki where she hit the ball decently. Well, not a bad start for this rookie!
For Akane Ukita, she was inspired to play the game even though Akane doesn’t run faster nor jump higher as the rest.
And speaking of Akane, she was given a chance to play thanks to Yuuki Nozaki. Let’s see how Ukita fare better against the kids.
Well them, time to test it out as Tsubasa Arihara hit a ground ball in which the opposing team will have a hard time getting it.
But for Akane Ukita, she managed to get the ball and throw it to Yuuki Nozaki with all her might.
Gotta say that Akane did a good job even though Akane took a long time getting it. I’m sure that she’ll improve in the future!
Anyways, both Akane Ukita and Yuuki Nozaki joined the newly-formed baseball association. Of course, Tsubasa Arihara and the rest must buy some equipment first if they want to play ball.
Luckily, the shop owner offered some second-hand baseball equipment in which Tsubasa and her friends can buy it for cheap, although they need to fix them up first.
On the other hand, it appears that Tsubasa and the rest found a student from their school who’s interested in baseball.
Anyways, this is Waka Suzuki who’s a regular on this shop. Of course, she’s not here to get recruited by Tsubasa Arihara.
That’s because Waka-chan brought her brother to buy some new equipment. Yeah, it’s sucks that Tsubasa didn’t get another member… but I bet that Arihara will eventually get Suzuki-san.
Now then, Waka Suzuki told everyone that her brother is playing college baseball at Takuhou University. Of course, Waka’s brother wants her to play baseball, but she insists on doing managerial role instead. Scratch that, she’s not gonna join the association… yet.
Meanwhile, Kakehashi-sensei told the girls that there’s a baseball field that they can use for practice. However, the field is far away from Satogahama High School.
Oh, and not to mention that it’s being covered with grass. Well, seems that this field needs some cleaning to do.
Anyways, this is Hinata-san where the owner told everyone that the baseball field was not used for a very long time. However, Hinata-san told them that there are tools that can be used to clean the field.
And so, Tsubasa and the rest took out the weeds so that the baseball field can be used again. C’mon, they need to work harder if they want to play ball and also, cleaning the field is part of their training.
Oh yeah and speaking of Waka Suzuki, let’s talk about her as she once played baseball together with her brother.
But much like Akane Ukita, Waka is physically-weak that she’s not cut into playing baseball, therefore she focused on creating strategies instead.
Regardless, Tsubasa Arihara wants Waka Suzuki to join her baseball association so that it’ll become an official club in Satogahama High School.
Even though Waka is weak much like Akane, she still have that passion of playing baseball together with her new friends.
Of course, Waka-san needs to work hard in order not to get hurt when catching Tsubasa’s fastball. Y’know, I think she’ll be a good catcher in the future.
Now that the baseball association has 5 members, they can finally call it as an official club! Then again, they need a club advisor first.
Well, Momoko Kakehashi decided to volunteer to become their club manager and not only that, but the baseball club got a room to stay and discuss everything about baseball.
Still, they’re 4 members short because c’mon, baseball is played with 9 players per team. Therefore, Tsubasa and her friends must find some new recruits in order to play ball with other schools.
Well, at least there’s one person who’s interested on joining the club… as a cheerleader.
Anyways, this is Yoshimi Iwaki where she’s passionate on cheering everyone including the newly-formed baseball club. Of course, Yoshimi can’t cheer a team with only 5 players, so Tsubasa asked her if she can find another member who can join the club.
Fortunately, Iwaki found a new recruit named Aoi Asada who’s known for being a gambler. No, not the one who plays casino games, but rather simple ones like rock–paper–scissors.
Well, that makes 6 club members then. Scratch that, the baseball club now has 7 members if Yoshimi Iwaki is included, but I doubt that Yoshimi can play baseball other than cheerleading.
Meanwhile, it appears that someone is tailing them in which Waka Suzuki noticed that person over there.
Said person happened to be Ayaka Nakano who is gathering information for her next big scoop at the newspaper club… except that Satogahama High School doesn’t have that club.
Then again, Tsubasa Arihara agreed to tag Ayaka Nakano along as the baseball club are going to a special place as part of their training.
That’s right, they’re going to a batting cage where they’ll practice their batting skills and have fun with it.
Now then, here’s Ayaka Nakano where she takes a crack on batting the ball.
And as you can see, she scored a homerun on her first try. You know what, I think Nakano should ditch her career as a journalist and become a baseball player full-time!
On the other hand, here’s another person who’s very serious on hitting the ball…
This is Ryo Shinonome and as you can see, she’s one serious baseball player upon getting a homerun. Oh yeah, and I forgot to tell you that she’s enrolled in Satogahama High School which means that Arihara can recruit Shinonome.
Unfortunately for Tsubasa, Ryo won’t join her club because she doesn’t want to deal with amateurs. Um, they’re amateurs but it’s not like that the new recruits completely suck at playing baseball because there’s room for improvement.
Man, I wonder why Ryo Shinonome refused to join Tsubasa Arihara’s baseball club? Did Arihara did something to tick Shinonome off? Y’know what, I think it’s time to learn more about it.
Anyways, it turns out that Tsubasa Arihara and Ryo Shinonome are pitted each other in a senior little league championship game, with Arihara playing for Fujiura Little League team while Shinonome plays for the Kuramoto Chuo Little League team.
Although Kuramoto Chuo is a powerhouse compared to Fujiura, Shinonome’s team is a bit messy where teammates blame each other when mistakes are made. This is where Tsubasa Arihara and her teammates fare better because they have teamwork and they don’t give up easily.
In fact, Tsubasa Arihara scored a walk-off grand slam in which Fujiura won the championship game.
Even Ryo Shinonome couldn’t believe that a weaker team made an incredible comeback, which is why Shinonome resented Arihara for not playing the game seriously.
Sadly for Arihara, she quit playing baseball for 6 months after her team won the All-Japan Senior Little League Baseball Championship. But thanks to Tomoe Kawakita, Tsubasa returned and created a baseball club in Satogahama.
Well, I have to give props to Tomocchi for bringing Tsubasa back to the world of baseball. Of course, it would be nice if Arihara can recruit Shinonome…
Unfortunately, Ryo Shinonome doesn’t want to join a ragtag bunch as she wants to join a semi-professional team instead. And while she fared better during the tryouts…
…Ryo’s team sucked that they made mistakes which Shinonome got angry at them.
Look Ryo-chan, they’re not at your level so why don’t you help your teammates instead of yelling at them!
On the other hand, Tsubasa Arihara and the rest are here to cheer Shinonome, even though she doesn’t want a cheering squad ’cause it’s a bit distracting.
But you know what, I think it’s time for Ryo Shinonome to drop her arrogant act and let these girls cheer her on. After all, baseball is about teamwork!
In any case, we’re now at the bottom of the 9th inning as Ryo’s team are at a deficit against the regulars. So, Shinonome will have to tie up the score in order for her fellow recruits to have a chance of winning the game.
Anyways, Ryo Shinonome slide towards the home plate but there’s no indication on whether she made it safely or got tagged out.
However, Shinonome managed to score a run as she finally touched the home plate. But then again, it’s not about winning nor losing as the coaching staff will grade these recruits based on how they performed and communicate well with their teammates.
Sadly for Ryo Shinonome, she didn’t make the cut because Shinonome is having a hard time working with her teammates with her haughty attitude.
Of course, this is a hard lesson for her as Ryo will have to change her attitude for the better. C’mon, teamwork is important after all!
With that said, looks like Ryo Shinonome has decided to join the baseball club as she asked Tsubasa Arihara to hand over the ball to her.
For Tsubasa, she’s happy to see Ryo joining her baseball club as they finally have 9 members. They only thing that they need to do is to train harder and get some uniforms for their first official game.
In any case, that’s about it for the first 4 episodes of Hachigatsu no Cinderella Nine. Honestly, it reminds me of Taisho Yakyuu Musume where you have girls playing baseball. Unlike Taisho Yakyuu Musume, this anime takes place in modern times and I’m sure that women’s baseball has become popular in Japan, but not much.
Still, this show is a bit interesting to watch but the problem is that the animation provided by TMS Entertainment is a bit dodgy. It would be nice if the animation is improved in future episodes, but I’m skeptical for that.
Anyways, I’ll see you next time as I have 8 episodes left to watch Hachigatsu no Cinderella Nine. Now, I hope that the girls won’t be discouraged on their first official game because it’s gonna be a good experience for them regardless of the results.
The Anime Rambler - By Benigmatica 