Copyright © Date Norihoshi / Phoenix Entertainment / AnimeX / NHK

Hayakawa Ryou is an aspiring young high school pitcher with a deceiving curve and a blazing fastball that knocks catchers over and shatters the bats of hitters who think they can catch up to it. Ryou is also a she. But as the montage of scenes from the OP of PRINCESS NINE shows, her sex has never been an obstacle to her growth and development as a baseball player. And as the title of this recent TV series implies, all of Ryou's eight teammates are also girls.
Himuro Keiko is the president of the multi-billion yen Himuro corporation, which sponsors a professional baseball team. She is also the president of Kisaragi Women's Senior High School, and dreams of winning the Koshien national high school baseball tournament. As the series opens, she has been scouting Ryou from afar, who has made something of a name for herself pitching for an amateur team. Ryou's father, Hidehiko, was a famous professional pitcher in his prime and helped his own team win the Koshien tournament before that. But, he died when Ryou was very young, and Ryou and her mother, Shino, eke out a living running an oden shop. Shino does not make enough money to be able to send Ryou to high school, but Himuro will soon step in and offer a full scholarship to her if she pitches on the Kisaragi baseball team, a team which Himuro will build around Ryou.
Himuro's only daughter is the beautiful Izumi, who is as much a tennis star as Ryou is a pitching talent. Like Ryou, Izumi's father also passed away when she was very young. Despite her success, Izumi often feels neglected by her mother; this feeling is heightened when Himuro tells reporters that she has some big announcements for the Kisaragi athletics programs, but does not even tell her own daughter what they are. Izumi has feelings for her long time childhood companion, Takasugi Hiroki, also the child of a rich family.
Hiroki is the new star slugger for the Kisaragi men's team, and he becomes interested in Ryou after she bests him with three pitches in a one-on-one pitcher versus batter match-up. He begins following Ryou around, sometimes advising her on her pitching, and gives her the endearment "Ganmo-chan" ("ganmo" meaning wish or desire), a nickname that first irritates Ryou. This newfound attention that Hiroki is giving to the somewhat plain and tomboyish Ryou naturally does not exactly sit well with Izumi. Later, Izumi will join the team for her own reasons, thus heightening her rivalry with Ryou. Meanwhile, adding to this relationship complexity is Ryou's own childhood companion, the shy and bookish Natsume Seishirou, who is afraid to express his feelings to her.
Himuro hires two other famous players: Yoshimoto Hikaru and the very quiet Azuma Yuki. She also hires Kido Shinsaku as the team's manager—Kido used to catch for Hidehiko. It will be up to these three core players and the manager to first scout players and then actually build a working team. And one of the first priorities is to find a catcher who can actually handle Ryou's pitching.
As this is sports anime, the series conclusion, which coincidentally just aired last month, is almost predictable. But like most sports anime, it is the journey that is interesting rather than the destination. The built-in plot, the team building and growing friendships, and the obstacles and missteps along the path to victory are all staples of sports anime. Formulaic? Yes. But, it is a formula that has proven many a time to hold viewer interest.
In a time when production values are falling, PRINCESS NINE defies that trend. Recently many companies have been releasing TV series with a shorter first disc, often with one or more episodes in CAV format and accompanied by a box to fill with the rest of the series. The remaining discs then come out as CLV. With PRINCESS NINE though, all the discs are CAV, not just the first one, and it appears that the box comes with all editions of the first volume, not just the first pressing. Each disc comes with a color insert for the LD cover art and each volume after the first comes with two discs. The vocal OP and ED are standard fare, but the BGM instrumentals are fully orchestrated symphonic suites.
Seiyuu fans will appreciate the diverse talent employed as well. Not only do many of the nine players feature some fresh names to the industry, but the older characters are voiced by some well-loved veterans. Nagasawa Miki, whose first role was EVANGELION's Ibuki Maya, voices Ryou while Kingetsu Mami, best known as TOKIMEKI MEMORIAL dream girl Fujisaki Shiori, plays Izumi—both departures from their previous roles. The increasingly popular Koyasu Takehito brings Hiroki to life, taunting Ryou with the good humor of an Aburatsubo while maintaining the dignified confidence of Hotohori. Iwanaga Tetsuya gives Seishirou that same modest reticence as he does to Makoto, while another FUSHIGI YUUGI veteran, Ishii "Mitsukake" Kouji, voices the manager Kido.
More impressive, though, are the parents' voices. Sakakibara Yoshiko, the well-known voice of an array of characters from Sylia Stingray to Karla/Leiria to Princess Kushana, brings her unassuming dignity to Himuro Keiko, an excellent casting decision. Ryou's father, Hidehiko, is Gundam pilot Jerid Mesa, Inoue Kazuhiko. And the best surprise of all is the well-loved Shimamoto Sumi, voice to popular heroines Nausicaa, Ginrei, Suzu, and Clarisse, playing Ryou's mother, Shino. It is as if Ryou's mother were everyone's favorite apartment manager, Kyoko. Rounding out the vocal cast are Hikami "Momoko" Kyoko as bad girl second baseman Morimura Seira, Iizuka "Nanaka" Mayumi as enthusiastic but non-athletic right fielder Tokashiki Yoko, and Kasahara "Pixy Misa" Rumi as shortstop Mita Kanako.
Baseball fans should like PRINCESS NINE, and YAWARA! fans should also give it a try. The fact that this is an all-girls' team should add to the interest. This is not A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN, though. These characters all form a team, not an entire league, and their opponents are men's teams. Baseball fans can think Colorado Silver Bullets, only this time the Bullets win (at least this reviewer expects that to happen, not having seen that far into the series). But this is not a battle of the sexes, either. There is far more interest in the relationships within the team than in the competition with the other teams, not to mention the off-field developments with Ryou, Izumi, Hiroki, and Seishirou. In a year when baseball captured national attention again, what better time to see if one's interest expands to baseball anime?

Vol 1: COLC-3294 (COVC-6136 VHS)
50 minute Stereo CAV LD or VHS, comes with box
1 July 1998
¥3800

Vol 2 LD: COLC-3295~6
100 minute (2 disc) Stereo CAV
1 Aug 1998
¥7600

Vol 2 VHS: COVC-6137
50 minute Stereo VHS
1 Aug 1998
¥3800

Vol 3 VHS: COVC-6138
50 minute Stereo VHS
1 Aug 1998
¥3800

Vol 3-7 LD monthly release, COLC-3297~306 through 1 Jan 1999
100 minute Stereo CAV

Vol 4-13 VHS two volume monthly release, COVC-6139~48 through 1 Jan 1999
100 minute Stereo VHS