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Star of the Giants
巨人の星 (Kyojin no Hoshi)
Demographic	Shōnen
Genre	Sports
Manga
Author	Ikki Kajiwara (story) Noboru Kawasaki (art)
Publisher	Kodansha
Original run	1966 – 1966
Volumes	19
TV anime: [1]
Director	Tadao Nagahama(director) Daikichiro Kusube(animation director)
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Network	Nippon Television, Animax
Other networks: TMC
Original run	March 30, 1968 – September 18, 1971
Episodes	182
TV anime: Shin Kyoujin no Hoshi [2]
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Network	Nippon Television
Other networks: TMC
Original run	1977-10-01 – 1978-09-30
Episodes	52
TV anime: Shin Kyoujin no Hoshi II[3]
Studio	TMS Entertainment
Network	Nippon Television
Other networks: TMC
Original run	1979-04-14 – 1979-09-29
Episodes	23
Movie adaptations
A list of movie adaptations

Star of the Giants (巨人の星, Kyojin no Hoshi^?) is a sports manga written by Ikki Kajiwara and drawn by Noboru Kawasaki. It was adapted as the first sports anime television series^{[citation needed]}broadcast in Japan, in 1968. It later spawned 2 anime sequels and different anime movies.

The manga appeared in Weekly Shonen Magazine about the actual baseball team Yomiuri Giants using fictional characters. It was launched by the "Yomiuri Group" which at the time owned not only the actual baseball team, but the TV network Nippon Television, the newspaper Yomiuri Shimbun, as well as Yomiuri Telecasting Corporation.^{[citation needed]}

The show targeted young audiences expanding the imagination of what is physically possible by dramatizing pitches and wind-up sequences. While staying true to being a sports anime, the contents are not simulated like real baseball. It was closer to fantasy surreal anime, though that was the norm within manga publications at the time.^{[citation needed]}

Contents 1 Story 2 Characters 3 Adaptations 3.1 Anime 3.1.1 Staff 3.1.2 DVD 3.2 Movies 3.3 Video games 4 Impact 5 References 6 External links

The story is about Hyuma Hoshi, a promising young baseball pitcher who dreams of becoming a top star like his father Ittetsu Hoshi in the professional Japanese league. His father was once a 3rd baseman until he was injured in World War II and was forced to retire. The boy would join the ever popular Giants team, and soon he realized the difficulty of managing the high expectations. From the grueling training to battling the rival Mitsuru Hanagata on the Hanshin Tigers, he would have to take out his best pitching magic to step up to the challenge.

• Hoshi Hyuuma - Voiced by: Tohru Furuya
• Hoshi Ittetsu - Voiced by: Seizo Katou
• Akiko - Voiced by: Fuyumi Shiraishi
• Ban Chuuta - Voiced by: Jouji Yanami
• Hanagata Mitsuru - Voiced by: Makio Inoue
• Kawakami Tetsuharu - Voiced by: Tadashi Nakamura

• Original creator: Ikki Kajiwara, Noboru Kawasaki
• Director: Tadao Nagahama, Yoshio Kabashima, Tadaaki Tamazaki, Mamoru Sasaki
• Script: Masaki Tsuji, Seiji Matsuoka, Tooru Sawaki, Ryohei Ito, Toru Sawaki, Yoshiaki Yoshida
• Music: Takeo Watanabe
• Art director: Isamu Kageyama
• Animation director: Daikichirou Kusube
• Editing: Kazuo Inoue

Beginning in 2001, the series was re-released on DVD format.

The first Star of the Giants movie was debuted in 1969 as part of the vacation anime festival on large screen theatres in color. The draw is the most people had black and white TVs at the time. The Star of Giants vs Mighty Atoms TV special reached the U.S and was renamed to Astro Boy vs the Giants^[4].

Japanese Name	English Name	Release Date	Type	Run time
巨人の星	Star of Giants the movie	1969	movie	90 mins
	Star of Giants vs the Mighty Atom	1969	TV special	30 mins
巨人の星　行け行け飛雄馬	Star of Giants: Ike Ike Hyuma	December 20, 1969	movie	75 mins
巨人の星　大リーグボール	Star of Giants: Dai Big League	1970	movie	70 mins
巨人の星　宿命の対決	Star of Giants: Shinjuku no Taiketsu	1970	movie	60 mins
新巨人の星	New Stars of Giants	1977	series	52 Episodes
新巨人の星	New Stars of Giants the movie	1977	movie
新巨人の星II	New Stars of Giants II	1979	series	23 Episodes
	Stars of Giants Special Edition: Fierce Tiger Mitsuru Hanagata	2002	series	13 Episodes

Kyojin no Hoshi (The Anime Super Remix) was released for the Playstation 2 by Capcom on June 20, 2002. There were also a number of other games on the same platform.

• Professional baseball player Ichiro Suzuki used Star of Giants as a reference to his gruesome childhood baseball training.^{[citation needed]}

• Star of Giants Official anime site by Tokyo Movie Shinsha. (Japanese)