The Hanshin Tigers release a DVD every season that takes fans backstage to see some of the key moments of the year from different angles, with exclusive interviews with the players involved in those plays/games.
And if you look on the team’s official website now, they are still selling the 2022 version. It is the same price as this one was: ¥5,500. This surprises me, and yet it doesn’t. Hanshin Tigers fans are passionate and voracious and some will consume anything offered to them. Anyhow, you want to know how this particular documentary is, right?
I will start by saying that it was produced before the playoffs started, so it only includes the regular season. This is unfortunate, as it sure would be nice to have a single disc with the entire season, including the most important part (the Japan Series and the end of the 38-year drought, not to mention the victory parade, awards, etc.) of the year.
This one starts with the press conference in October 2022 at which Akinobu Okada talked about the direction he would take with the team. It then flashes forward to the spring, looking briefly at camp in Okinawa as well as the World Baseball Classic.
But the fun truly begins as it gives us highlights and unseen footage of key games during the year. Obviously, it starts with Opening Day (including a brief clip of Randy Bass greeting his old mate Okada before the game), and then covers the whole first series. Then, the impressive first start and meteoric rise of Shoki Murakami (April 12 @ Giants). In case you forgot, the CL MVP was slotted in as a starter because Masashi Itoh was hurt and Takumi Akiyama stumbled in his first try of the year. Murakami was a reliever to start the year, and was ready to go five innings or so. He did much better than anyone expected, though it is of note that the bullpen catcher said to the camera, just as Murakami was heading out to the mound at the start of the game, that he would throw five shutout innings. (Murakami did him two better.)
Little by little, fans are reminded of some of the season’s key moments and games. But it’s more than just a highlight package. We get to see Seiya Kinami arriving at the ballpark before anyone else and practicing. We get a look back at the acquisition of Koutaro Ohtake last December, as well as the tears he shed when the Tigers rallied to give him a win in late May, allowing him to set a personal high in wins.
It doesn’t only cover the good times, though. Yuasa’s struggles, Chikamoto’s injury, and Umeno’s season-ending beaning also get significant coverage. It helps show that this team’s pennant run was not without its adversity.
Naturally, the most exciting part of the DVD is in the final one-third, which shows the team pushing its way through the competition and ultimately clinching the pennant on September 14 at Koshien Stadium against the Giants.
On that note, almost all the coverage on the disc comes from home games (the exception being games at Tokyo Dome), as the club owns the rebroadcasting rights to that material. It sure would have been nice to have a bit more balanced coverage. But I guess it is what it is.
In all, I am completely satisfied with the two-hour length of the movie, and the quality of the cuts shown. I am not sure I would want to start collecting these DVDs annually, unless the team goes on a run and keeps winning championships. If they do, then these videos practically pay for themselves.
In the meantime, local cinemas are showing a (presumably) different movie about the 2023 season this coming Friday. You can guess who’s going to be lining up to watch it! Yours truly! (See you at Nishinomiya Gardens on Friday night, anyone?)