Voice actress Ikumi Hasegawa is joining the voice cast of the upcoming The Catcher in the Ballpark! TV anime series. The anime will premiere in Japan sometime in 2025.
Hasegawa will voice the character, Aona. She joins a main cast that so far includes Fairouz Ai as Ruriko and Satoshi Inomata as Murata.
Junichi Kitamura (Fluffy Paradise) is directing the anime adaptation, with Shigeru Murakoshi (I Parry Everything) as series screenwriter, Fumio Ida (Yadamon, Basquash! co-character designer) as character designer, and MONACA (Protocol: Rain) as music composer. EMT Squared is in charge of the animation production.
The original manga series by Tatsuro Suga was first serialized on September 3, 2020 in Kodansha’s Morning magazine and has released 15 volumes as of November 2024.
The Catcher in the Ballpark! centers on an office worker named Murata, who comes across Ruriko, a vendor selling beer who resembles a gyaru. Despite becoming her first regular customer, Ruriko still acts cold towards Murata, but her innocent personality shows up whenever he’s out of sight.
