List of Big Windup! chapters

Big Windup! is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Asa Higuchi. The series follows Ren Mihashi, the previous ace pitcher in his middle school's baseball team, who suffers from low self-esteem due to a losing streak and transfers to a new high school. It's the first year that Nishiura high school has a baseball team, and they set a lofty goal of playing in the finals at legendary Hanshin Kōshien Stadium.

The manga is serialized monthly in Afternoon since its debut in 2003. As of June 2010, the chapters have been collected in 24 tankōbon volumes in Japan. The manga was on a 1-year hiatus, and resumed on the November 2011 issue of Afternoon (magazine). The series was licensed in Taiwan by Long Hung Press (長鴻出版社).

Mihashi is torn between feelings of wistfulness towards his old teammates and his still-fragile sense of connection to his new teammates, who are only beginning to understand him. It is up to catcher Abe Takaya to help build Mihashi's confidence in himself, and to convince Mihashi to choose Nishiura as the team where he wants to remain for the next three years. Although the players of Mihoshi initially do not take the threat of Mihashi's pitching seriously, in the end they prove to be very challenging and formidable opponents, and all seems lost before the players of Nishiura rally in order to win the game.

Second baseman Sakaeguchi Yuuta proves to be the key that gets Abe to open up to Mihashi about his past. It turns out that Haruna had gone through some trauma himself before coming to the Senior league, and was initially very harsh and rude to both his teammates and coaches, setting terms and conditions under which he would pitch for the team. He "strictly" set for himself a pitch count limit of 80 pitches per game, per day: a statistic that leaves Tajima Yuuichirou stunned and amazed when he hears it (and gives him a new catchphrase which he will presumably carry to his grave). Despite Haruna's prickly attitude and propensity for laughing at Abe's bruises, Abe felt he and Haruna made a good team until a fateful day where Haruna's strict pitch count and refusal to follow signs arguably lost their team an important game-- and causes Abe to lose respect for Haruna, possibly forever. Upon hearing this sad tale, Mihashi realizes that he is now Abe's pitcher, and that it is incumbent upon him not to make Haruna's mistakes, for Abe's sake.

Following the prefectural match, which Musashino wins 4-3, Haruna tries to run down his former catcher, because he had something he wanted to tell Abe, but is unable to find him. Haruna's childhood friend and current backup catcher Akimaru Kyouhei reflects on Haruna's past, and is grateful to Abe for the hard, painful times that Abe went through with Haruna, because it is to Abe's credit that Haruna is now able to pitch naturally once again.

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