Little League Arc

Little League Arc
Kanji	リトルリーグ編
Rōmanji	Ritoru Rīgu hen
Manga
Volumes	12
Chapters	95
024. A New Semester 025. Second-Rate Sport 026. Rebuilding Little League 027. Pilfer 028. Form of Bullying 029. Rebel of the Bullied 030. We're Friends From Now On 031. Batting Center 032. First Match 033. Prodigy Baseball Youth 034. One-Man Show 035. Teamwork 036. Desperate Base Run 037. Wet Mound 038. Just One More Inning 039. Together Forever! 040. Unexpected Twist 041. The Best Team 042. A 3-Years Reunion 043. The Team Dad was in 044. A Mother's Love 045. Dad's Shadow 046. Going Forward 047. Gibson's Invitation 048. To See With My Own Eyes 049. Here I Come, America! 050. The All-Star Game Begins! 051. Straight Ball Challenge! 052. See You Again 053. Out of Place!? 054. Fat Power 055. Begin the Practice Match 056. From the Left Side!? 057. Winning Shot 058. Variation!? 059. Sequelae 060. Yokohama Little's Challenge 061. Impulsive Wager 062. Cheating Pitcher 063. Coach Kashimoto's Reminiscence 064. Match Suspended 065. Coach's Thoughts 066. The Marathon Challenge 067. Why Am I This Nervous? 068. The Girl Pitcher 069. Nocturnal Ping-Pong 070. Last Day of Training Camp 071. I Quit! 072. Shimizu's Paper 073. White Dots on a Blue Sky 074. Autumn Tournament 075. The First Match! 076. The Opponent's Strength 077. The Black Triangle! 078. Black Attack Force! 079. First Run 080. Fine Play! 081. The Last Batter 082. The Enemy's Flaw 083. First Victory? 084. Victory Night 085. Shigeno's Feelings 086. Momoko's Feelings 087. The Second Game 088. Komori's Retired! 089. Sawamura the Pitcher! 090. Back Home! 091. How to Throw a Forkball? 092. Kyuta and his Dad 093. A Robot? 094. Change Denied! 095. This is Baseball! 096. Choosing the Catcher 097. You Up for It? 098. Changing Coaches 099. Difference in Skill 100. Counterattack! 101. Here's the Home Run 102. The Attack Continues! 103. Changing Catchers 104. Nice Read! 105. The Secret Weapon's Identity! 106. Changeup! 107. The Coach Returns 108. Let Her Walk? 109. To The Extra Innings! 110. I Don't Care Anymore... 111. Goro's Determination 112. Something Importan 113. Inner Strength 114. I Don't Want to Run Away! 115. Obsessing Over The Run 116. It's Not a Dream! 117. Shigeno and Goro 118. New Bonds 119. Don't Say Goodbye
Anime
Episodes
Number of Episodes	20
Ep7: Goro Honda, 9 years old! Ep8: Team Complete! Ep9: Alone on the Mound Ep10: Showdown in the Rain Ep11: The team Dad played on Ep12: An Invitation from Gibson Ep13: Summer! Baseball! Training Camp! Ep14: Reckless Practice Match! Ep15: The Coach's Feelings Ep16: I Quit! Ep17: The Tournament Begins! Ep18: Aim for Victory! Ep19: Mother's Happiness Ep20: Goro's Mistake!? Ep21: This is Baseball! Ep22: The Night Before the Duel Ep23: Do Not Lose! Ep24: Chase it! Overcome it! Ep25: Everyone Together Ep26: Don't Say Goodbye

The Little League Arc is the second story arc of the MAJOR series.

It is centred on Goro Honda's elementary school life with his new mother, Momoko Hoshino. He enrols into Mifune Elementary and joins the Mifune Dolphins, where he hones his baseball talents while learning the importance of teamwork with his teammates.

Summary

Rebuilding the Mifune Dolphins (Manga: Volume 3, ch. 024 - Volume 5, ch. 040, Anime: Episode 007 - Episode 010)

Three years after Shigeharu Honda's death, Goro Honda, now under the care of Momoko Hoshino, turns 9 years old, the minimum required to join a Little League team. Goro also enrolls into Mifune Elementary School and has to work towards rebuilding the Mifune Dolphins, a team he got to know during his infancy but was unable to do so. In order to rebuild said team, Goro has to recruit three more members to have a full team and be able to play baseball. After getting a full team, the Dolphins are put against a team of adults as a final test in order to get the rights to train in the baseball camp.

Meeting the Yokohama Little and an invitation from Gibson (Manga: Volume 5, ch. 041 - Volume 7, ch. 052, Anime: Episode 011 - Episode 012)

Momoko Hoshino and Hideki Shigeno start building a friendship as Momoko asks him for advice on how to raise Goro. During this time, the coach from Yokohama Little, Shigeharu's boyhood baseball team, tries to recruit Goro. He discovers that Toshiya Sato plays in the Yokohama Little too, but ultimately refuses the position after Momoko is hospitalized with an stomach ulcer for worrying too much about him and decides to beat the Yokohama Little in the league. As the Dolphins start their preparations for the upcoming tournament, Goro receives a letter from Joe Gibson inviting him to go to the U.S and watch his All Stars match. As Momoko is hospitalized, She is unable to attend the game with Goro, so Goro takes Shimizu with him to the U.S. There, after the match, he finally gets a chance to talk with Gibson in person.

The Training Camp (Manga: Volume 7, ch. 053 - Volume 9, ch. 073, Anime: Episode 013 - Episode 016)

The Mifune Dolphins realize a trip to a training camp in order to prepare for the Little League tournament, there they meet the Yokohama Little again and square off against the top team in North Tokyo, the Kuki Little. At the training camp, the Dolphins also meet Ryoko Kawase, a female pitcher recently recruited by the Yokohama Little. Goro rapidly develops a crush for the girl, something that makes Shimizu feel jealous and left aside. At the end of the training camp, Shimizu attempts to leave the Dolphins, but Goro ultimately convinces her to stay after witnessing her love for baseball.

Little League's First Match: Honmoku Little (Manga: Volume 9, ch. 074 - Volume 10, ch. 083, Anime: Episode 017 - Episode 018)

The Little League starts and the Dolphins are first paired against the Honmoku Little, a team led by Okamura Triplets that uses an unusual defense tactic called the "Black Triangle". After losing for most of the game, the Dolphins manage to turn the tables and win the match after discovering the Black Triangle's weakness.

Little League's Second Match: Totsuka West (Manga: Volume 10, ch. 084 - Volume 11, ch. 095, Anime: Episode 019 - Episode 021)

Right after the Honmoku match, Totsuka West's ace is seen analyzing the Dolphins team alongside his father. As the Dolphins start training for their upcoming match, Goro finds out that his mother has been dating Hideki Shigeno for quite some time. This leaves Goro with the fear of being abandoned, but the day before the match, he has a heart to heart talk with his mother and comes into terms with her relationship. The Dolphins ultimately win the match, however, Komori is left injured and unable to be the catcher in the next game. To make things worse, the Dolphins' next opponent is revealed as being the Yokohama Little.

Little League's Third Match: Yokohama Little (Manga: Volume 11, ch. 096 - Volume 14, ch. 116, Anime: Episode 022 - Episode 026)

After Komori is injured, Goro trains Shimizu to take his place as the catcher for the next game. Coach Ando also injures his back and is unable to attend the game, with Momoko acting as a temporary substitute. Goro finally fullfills his goal of beating the Toshiya and Ryoko's Yokohama Little, the number one team in all of Japan. However, Goro injures his right arm by pitching too much over the course of the game and stumbles at home, worrying Momoko.

The end of the Little League and moving to Fukuoka (Manga: Volume 14, ch 117 - Volume 14, ch. 119, Anime: Episode 026)

As Goro isn't present during the semifinals match, the Dolphins promptly lose it, ending at fourth place in the tournament. However, no one in the team is sad as they beat the best team in Japan. After dating for some time, Hideki proposes to Momoko, to whom she accepts. They get married and Hideki is offered a position in a Fukuoka team. This means Goro will have to move away and will not be able to play with his friends anymore. Goro leaves without telling anyone, and his friends are shocked when they hear the news.

Manga and Anime Differences

The anime adaptation tones down the scene where Sawamura bullies Shimizu and Komori at the school on chapter 028. It also ommits the bullies appearance at the batting cages from the start of chapter 031. Aside from these two small ommissions, no scenes from the manga were cut from the anime. Other than that, the scene where Goro goes on a date with Ryoko and meets Toshiya is shown earlier in the anime, in the form of a present day scene. In the manga, this scene occurs during a flashback.

Matches

• Mifune Dolphins 3 - 4 Shoutengai Attacks - Ch. 032-040.
• Major League All Stars Match (national team wins by 3-2) - Ch. 050-052.
• Kuki Little 2 - 1 Urayasu Little (training camp) - Ch. 054.
• Goro vs. Kamigauchi (1v1 strikeout challenge) - Ch. 054-055.
• Mifune Dolphins 3 - 17 Kuki Little (friendly match) - Ch. 055-059.
• Mifune Dolphins 0 - 0 Yokohama Little (friendly match, called after one inning) - Ch. 061-064.
• Little League's First Match: Mifune Dolphins 5 - 1 Honmoku Little - Ch. 076-083.
• Little League's Second Match: Mifune Dolphins 6 - 5 Totsuka West - Ch. 087-095.
• Little League's Quarterfinal: Mifune Dolphins 10 - 9 Yokohama Little - Ch. 099-115.
• Little League's Semifinal: Mifune Dolphins 3 - 10 Unnamed Little League team - Ch. 119.

Important Events

• Three years after Shigeharu's death, Goro joins the Mifune Dolphins little league team.
• At school, Goro meets Kaoru Shimizu, Daisuke Komori and Ryota Sawamura.
• Goro receives an invitation letter from Joe Gibson and talks to him in person.
• The Mifune Dolphins go to a training camp to prepare for the Little League and face Kuki Little in a friendly match and lose.
• During the Little League, the Mifune Dolphins beat Honmoku Little, Totsuka West and Japan's number one team Yokohama Little, but are ultimately eliminated in the semifinals and come out in fourth place.
• After dating for quite some time, Hideki Shigeno and Momoko Hoshino get married. Goro and Momoko begin using the Shigeno surname.
• Goro, Momoko and Hideki leave for Fukuoka.