News Tidbits
Ookiku Furikabutte Hits Another Homerun!
ANN reports that Kodansha, one of Japan’s publishing powerhouse, announced the winners of their 31st Annual Manga Awards yesterday, May 9, 2007. Leading the pack is Ookiku Furikabutte, winning in the General category 「一般部門」. Other categories include Children’s 「児童部門」, Boys’ 「少年部門」, and Girls’ 「少女部門」.
Oofuri joins the ranks of previous winners such as Capeta (2005), Basilisk (2004), and Vagabond (2000). Come June 21, 2007 will be the awarding day. Winners will take home 1,000,000 yen prize money and, of course, bragging rights. Last year, Oofuri also won in the Tekuza Cultural Prizes in the Creative category, banking in another 1,000,000 yen. Previous winners of the Creative category include big names such as Yunagi no Machi, Sakura no Kuni (2005) and Hikaru no Go! (2003).
Here’s a complete list of winners of Kondansha’s 31st Annual Manga Award:
General category: Ookiku Furikabutte by Asa Higuchi
Children’s category: Tenshi no Furaipan by Etsushi Ogawa
Boys’ category: Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei by Kouji Kumeta and Dear Boys Act II by Hiroki Yagami
Girls’ category: IS by Chiyo Rokuhana
Thoughts
Congratulations to Asa Higuchi, author of Oofuri, for garnering another major prize in the manga industry. This makes Oofuri look more promising and hopefully more people will notice it and watch the anime series. I have yet to read beyond the first volume of the manga, but I am already in-love with the characters, which is obvious in my summaries. Summary of episode 04 will be coming out by tomorrow, hopefully.
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12 comments for “Ookiku Furikabutte Hits Another Homerun!”
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Oofuri is bloody good. As is Capeta. But tragically, most anime otaku are so detached from sports thanks to their real-life inabilities that many fail to appreciate these excellent manga/anime.
Yeah, I can really feel that Oofuri is not getting the attention it deserves from anime watchers. One of the true underdogs of the season. ~__~
Wow, yet another important prize. They sure are all deserved. I still don’t understand how so praised works can be neglected by the communities… this is looking more and more to me like the excellent Kekkaishi which won the Shogakukan award in the shounen category, yet gets no love in English-speaking forums and such. It’s not like the series are ignored in Japan either (Kekkaishi gets very high ratings, Oofuri gets awards + apparently a good deal of discussion among anime fans).
The worst thing might actually be that once people give this type of series a try, they’re rarely disappointed, even when the genre doesn’t seem appealing at first glance (I am totally no good when it comes to sports yet Oofuri is my favorite show of the season tied with DtB). Dear English-speaking fans, please at least bother to watch the first episode of series that get lots of praise..?
I’ll be looking forward to your summary of ep04, it’s great to see someone blogging Oofuri.
@Katapan Yes, I fear the sports theme is scaring away anime watchers. I, for one, have only the most basic knowledge of baseball and yet, I am able to enjoy the series.
Really… you do not need to be an expert of baseball to enjoy this series. It would be a bonus though if you did, however, the essence of the story is not lost with the lack of baseball knowledge.
I believe that Oofuri’s appeal transcends the theme of baseball, it is about friendship, being on a team, and most importantly, self-discovery. Like I said a thousands times over, Oofuri is about the characters, not the baseball. I don’t even bother with the baseball most of the time.
Anyway, thanks for giving your thoughts Katapan, Oofuri needs more fans like you ^^
i really wish they don’t judge the anime purely on the theme. I hate it when I read comments on forums that basically say “anime sports don’t work”, etc..etc.. Ugh..I really love ookiku furikabutte. I really hope many more otakus will discover this great series.
People are just getting too hung up over it being a sports anime and either disregard it due to it having a sports theme or come with pre-conceived notions and sometimes even determined to dislike it. It is hugely disappointing.
I suppose most of them are mainly interested in wish/fantasy fulfilment shows, i.e. harem, moe, etc. Some are literally “no pretty/cute girls in show, no deal.” *sighs*
I also hope that more and more people will discover this series, and eventually, see how wonderful of a series Oofuri is~! ^-^
and how true, leongsh. people need to look deeper into animes and not just watch for the sake of fulfilling their desires for fanservice… o_O;;;
All right Ofuuri.
At an anime forum, most anime fans, and myself, agreed that sports anime(plus lots of sports live-dramas) are just more watched in Japan because it’s just more accepted and more “normal” than fanservicey anime which is seen as negative over there, while here in the U.S. anime seems to be all about what appeals to otaku only, which is why I watch so few anime on TV here even though there’s a lot of it.
A lot of anime fans I know just have the idea that “anything or anybody connected to sports=mean jocks.” Which is why it was, and sorta still is, hard for me to connect with most anime fans in real life and my more casual friends just aren’t into anime at all. Luckily I have anime forums and anime blogs to discuss all types of anime with less closed-minded individuals!
It’s too bad there aren’t more sports related entertainment here in the US like Japan which has lots of sports dramas that are all really good. I can only think of Friday Night Lights which incorporates both the great sports action and character insight. Some of the best stuff that goes on the field isn’t seen in the game. Sports is more than the actual game, it’s about the people, their minds, cooperation, and their team-spirit.
I guess when we think of Sports anime, the technical aspect comes to mind immediately and most of the time assume that we cannot relate with the characters. However, mostly, that is not the case. ~__~
Well, I am glad that there really are people who appreciate Oofuri and all its beauty. Thanks guys for sharing your opinions here.
I hope that those who stumble upon this post will be convinced to give Oofuri a chance. So, that they will be able to judge for themselves if Oofuri will be worth their while or not.
hihis.. i just managed to catch oofuri just afew days ago.. n i loved it.. think it’s my most fave show of the season at the moment.. the subs are abit slow so i went to search for blogs covering this anime.. you’re the only one who’s consistent about this anime.. so glad i found here.. hehes..
@heppy Thanks for stopping by
Oofuri truly is love 
Please do enjoy and read the summaries, there are also a lot of people interested in the anime that share their views in the comment section. You may want to participate in the discussion from time to time ^^
what does otaku mean?? o_O