Ever wanted to play baseball, not in a league of your own, but right alongside the guys?

The Kisaragi Princesses, a gutsy all-girls high school baseball team, do just that in this amazing 26-episode series. It all begins with Ryo Hayakawa, junior high school student & the ace relief pitcher of her town's (adult, male) baseball team. She's graduating, but unlike her brainy friend Seishiro (accepted to the prestigious Kisaragi High School), she plans to end her education & instead help her mom out at her oden bar. This all changes, however, when she's drafted for a baseball team--at the Kisaragi Girls High School!

The story follows Ryo & her teammates (once they recruit enough girls to fill a team, which takes almost three volumes to do) as they struggle to make it to Koshien for the national high school championships. Their obstacles include a parents' association that hates them, a family scandal from the past, players that need serious coaching, & their own personal idiosyncrasies crashing up against their teammates'. This show is as much about the characters as about the sports competition--definitely a strength as you care about not only who wins, but who gets to do so with their self-respect intact, who gets the boy, who doesn't care about boys, who gets away with defying their parents... well, you get the picture.

I've read countless reviews where the author said s/he didn't usually like sports anime, or shoujo, but that Princess Nine won them over. Believe them! It's not an exaggeration to say that Princess Nine has something for everyone: there's obviously the sports appeal, plus a roster of likable, realistic characters, shoujo romance, & of course lots of humor! Add in bright, charming character designs, a score well performed by the Warsaw Philharmonic, & a complete lack of fanservice, & you have a formidable show.

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