Year:
1998
Studio:
Kensei Date
Phoenix Entertainment Inc
NHK Enterprises 21 Inc
Feature:
5/5
Extras:
1/5
Princess Nine is an anime series of 26 episodes telling the tale of a
group of nine teenagers who become the first female baseball team in
Japan to compete in the high school national tournament. The series
focuses on Ryo, a 15 year-old phenom with an unhittable fastball. She
has a deceased dad with secrets that she does not know about and she is
involved in a love triangle with a phenom batter in the boy's school
and his long time friend and her teammate.
It's a pretty good series about girls growing up and becoming a team
and finding love. At times it is very melodramatic and sometimes it
gets a bit repetitive, especially if you watch all the episodes fairly
quickly. The animation is very good and the voice acting is also good.
I especially liked Hilary Haag voicing Ryo because she has a
distinctive young girl voice with a very happy quality to it.
The extras are relatively minimal. Voice actor bios, character bios,
clean opening and closing sequences, karaoke versions of the opening
and closing sequences, and anime trailers.
01. Hayakawa Ryo, Age 15!
Ryo Hayakawa (Hilary Haag) is a young girl who plans to not go to high
school to help her mom run the family udon shop, ten years after her
father, a great baseball pitcher, died. Ryo is in love with baseball
and more or less secretly plays for the Wildcats, a local city team.
Willing to sacrifice her future and her gift, Ryo's life is going to
take a dramatic when she catches the eye of Keiko Himuro (Kelly
Manison), who controls two top-ranked high schools, one for boys and
one for girls.
02. A Baseball Team at a Prestigious Girls' School?
Keiko Himuro reveals her plan to form a girls' baseball team at
Kisaragi Girls' High School and to win the Koshien National
Championships in three years. Her first recruit is Ryo, who is
conflicted about going to high school until mom tells Ryo that dad was
a star high school baseball pitcher. Meanwhile, boy's prep baseball
star Hiroki Takasugi (Vic Mignogna) becomes enamored with Ryo, which is
going to make his current girlfriend and tennis prep star Izumi Himuro
(Monica Rial) quite jealous.
03. In My Father's Footsteps
Ryo interviews with Keiko Himuro and is accepted into the school.
Seishiro Natsume (Chris Patton), her long time friend, is happy that
they'll both be attending the same campus. But tension mounts when
Shinsaku meets Hiroki. Izumi and Ryo compete in a bit of tennis and
baseball.
04. Welcome, Seira!
Ryo meets her other two teammates, Hikaru Yoshimoto (Cynthia Martinez)
and Yuki Azuma. The trio also meet their coach, Shinsaku Kido (Andy
McAvin), whom Ryo has run into in the previous three episodes. Coach
Kido recruits Seira Morimura (Kelli Cousins) from the streets.
05. Wave Motion Swing!
The ditzy Nene Mori (Jennifer K. Earhart) shows up and becomes the
team's equipment self-appointed manager. Ryo travels to another city to
recruit tomboy Koharu Hotta (Kira Solar) and her Wave Motion
Swing.
06. Catch This!
Wanna-be pop star Yoko Tokashiki (Tiffany Grant) applies for the team.
Nene finds a catcher for the team, the very large and insecure Mao
Daidouji (Shelley Carlene-Black). Both players are rank beginners.
Coach Kido puts the moves on Ryo's mom, Shino (Christine M Auten).
07. We Need You, Izumi!
Ryo is told that Hiroki and Izumi are an item and feels strangely
jealous. The team starts practicing and they're a long way off from
being competitive. The principal's daughter, Kanako Mita (Aninda
Praptiningtya) wants to join the team but is afraid of his father
finding out. The team still needs another good batter and Coach Kido
thinks Izumi is a perfect candidate.
08. The Future on the Line
Izumi finds her mother's locket, which turns out to have a picture of
Ryo's dad. Keiko reveals to her daughter that she and Ryo's dad had a
fling before she met Izumi's dad. Izumi challenges Ryo to a match. If
Ryo wins, Izumi joins the team. If Izumi wins, the baseball team will
be disbanded and Ryo has to leave school. Yuki (Margeaux Baulch)
finally talks, revealing that she has a best friend named Fiffy, an
alien who came 18 light years to Earth.
09. Winners & Losers
The big match with Ryo pitching against Izumi. Ryo realizes that Izumi
is hurting because of her and in a moment of kindness gives Izumi and
easy pitch to hit. Izumi wins and the baseball team must be disbanded.
But then she has a change of heart and lets the team remain.
10. The Kisaragi Nine!
The team plays its first practice game, this one against a boy's junior
high school team. Although the girls score the first run, the boys team
soon realizes their weak points and starts exploiting them. Down three
runs in the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded with two outs, it's
Nene's turn to bat and things look hopeless. And then Izumi shows up to
win the game.
11. Aim for Koshien!
Izumi joins the team and works hard to improve her fielding. Keiko
convinces the Koshien board to allow the girls to play if they can beat
Rinkai Dai High School. Ryo is told that her dad played professional
baseball and that she can throw a magic ball. And then she finds out
that there was "incident" involving her father. But nobody wants to
elaborate.
12. One Hundred Pitches
Ryo wants Coach Kido to teach her to throw the Lightning Ball. In
exchange she will till his rather good-sized garden. Meanwhile the
girls practice for their game against Rinkai Dai. Izumi challenges Mao
-- if she can catch at least one of 100 fastballs Ryo throws she has to
leave the team.
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13. The Girl
Stratagem
The game against Rinkai. Knowing that their team is hopelessly
overmatched at this time, Coach Kido has his team use their girlish
wiles to distract the boys and gain an early 2-0 lead. But the boys
recover and threaten to tie the game as the episode ends.
14. Lightning Ball
Rinkai ties the game because Kanako's wig almost fell off and she
couldn't catch the ball. In disgust she shucks the wig, revealing her
true identity to her father watching in the stands. Exhausted and with
the game on the line Ryo finally understands what she needs to do. She
summons the will to throw lightning balls to strike out the side and
win the game.
15. Scandal
In the wake of their victory, the team runs into strife. Kanako is
forbidden to play with the team. Yoko is lured by a talent scout. Ryo
finds out that her father was accused of fixing games. Ryo is
devastated while the school tries to weather the scandal.
16. Exile
When the pressure becomes unbearable, Ryo quits the team and runs away
from home. She goes to her dad's home town, where she meets a man who
used to know her father and tells her what a good man he was. A storm
brews up and Ryo runs out two help a couple of stranded kids as the
episode ends.
17. Visions
After rescuing the two kids, Ryo falls unconscious and is taken to the
hospital where she is in critical condition. As everyone rushes to see
Ryo, she has a dream about her father. When Ryo seems to be lost, Izumi
makes a dramatic entrance and with the help of the other girls talks
Ryo back to life.
18. The Gift
Ryo's daring rescue gets newspaper coverage. With that fame and
Kanako's plea to her father, there is enough momentum to reinstate the
baseball team. Coach Kido and Keiko Himuro reveal to Ryo that they
think her father was framed.
19. Hearts & Diamonds
Ryo overhears that Hiroki's birthday is tomorrow and she stays up all
night making an embroidery for him. Meanwhile Seishiro can't bring
himself to declare his feelings for Ryo. Hiroki and Izumi go to a
picnic where Izumi hints that she wants their relationship to deepen.
Hiroki declares his love for Ryo. Hikaru flirts with Seishiro. Coach
Kido swears off of alcohol in order to impress Ryo's mom.
20. Back in Training
After the last episode, Izumi now has a mad-on for Ryo, which is
affecting her batting and fielding. The girls try to find out who Coach
Kido has the hots for. Izumi finds Hiroki's medal when it falls out of
Ryo's bag. Hikaru lets slip that she has a crush on Seishiro. Izumi
calls Hiroki but can't bring herself to tell him her feelings for him,
though she does tell Ryo in a midnight confrontation. Hiroki shows uo
at training camp. Yuki loses Fiffy.
21. I Hate You, Takasugi!
Hiroki visits Izumi and drops Ryo's gift handkerchief, which Izumi
picks up. Yuki passes out during practice. The Izumi-Ryo feud heats up
as Izumi resorts to dirty tricks with the handkerchief. Ryo goes
looking for Fiffy which gives her time to think. She gets stuck out in
a thunderstorm and runs into Hiroki. Coach Kido reveals a hint about
Yuki's troubled past. Ryo tells Hiroki that she hates him and breaks
his heart.
22. You're Not Alone Yuki
Yuki's past is revealed, leading to her almost suicide attempt and
finding Fiffy. The girls talk to Yuki until she comes to grips with her
loss. The girls' first game in the tournament is against Hori High
School, apparently made up of a bunch of rough boys who cheat.
23. Beauties vs the Beasts
The game starts out scoreless. Hori hitters can't hit any of Ryo's
pitches until Hikori shows up to watch the game and throws Ryo out of
kilter. In the bottom of the ninth inning Coach Kido finally gives some
advice and the girls score to win the game.
24. The Kiss
Ryo regains her confidence and the girls win their second, third and
fourth games of the tournament to reach the quarter finals, all without
giving up any runs. The girls win again to make the semi-finals against
Kisaragi Boys School. Seishiro visits Ryo and she breaks down. Seishiro
confronts Hiroki. Hiroki's grandfather talks to Ryo. Izumi tells Hiroki
she has his handkerchief, and that she loves him. Hiroki has to
disappoint Izumi. Izumi asks to kiss Hiroki and Ryo happens to see them.
25. Field of Broken Dreams
Koharu is told that her father collapsed and her batting suffers.
Hikaru puts the moves on Seishiro. Ryo can't find the strike zone as
she thinks back on Hiroki and Izumi's kiss. Top of the ninth they're
down 5-0. Yoko: base hit. Mao: fly ball out. Ryo: strike out looking...
26. Shine, Princess Nine!
Seira: bunt for a base hit. Koharu's dad faxes her a message, "Wind".
Hikaru: base hit, bases loaded. Koharu: 2-strike Grand Slam! Izumi:
triple, stretched out to an inside-the-park home run! Yuki: line drive
out to Hiroki. Side out.
Izumi slaps Ryo. Then explains to Ryo that what she saw was a goodbye
kiss.
Bottom of the ninth. Hiroki is the first batter. Ball. Ball. Ball. Ryo
is exhausted. Hiroki declares his love for Ryo on national television.
Ryo starts throwing lightning balls. Strike. Foul Ball. Home Run! The
girls lose but this is only the beginning...
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