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Ookiku Furikabutte/Big Windup Manga Gets 3rd Stage Play

The November issue of Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine revealed on September 24 that Asa Higuchi's Ookiku Furikabutte (Big Windup!) manga is receiving a third stage play adaptation in February 2020. The play will run as a "doubleheader" with a new run of the first stage play adaptation from February 14 to 24.

Yutaka Narui is returning to direct and write scripts for the play.

The first stage play adaptation of Higuchi's manga ran in February 2018 at the Sunshine Theater in Tokyo. The sequel play (seen right), titled Ookiku Furikabutte: Natsu no Taikai-hen (Summer Tournament Arc), ran at the Sunshine Theater in Tokyo and the Umeda Arts Theater in Osaka in September 2018. Yutaka Narui directed and scripted both plays, and Shun Nishime played Ren Mihashi.

The manga has been running in Kodansha's Monthly Afternoon magazine since September 2003, and the 31st volume shipped on July 23.

The series centers on Ren Mihashi, a losing pitcher who quits his middle-school baseball team after his teammates harass him — they think he only became a pitcher because his grandfather ran the school. In high school, Ren is forced to become a pitcher again, but he and his new team eventually recapture the spirit of the game.

The story inspired two television anime seasons. Funimation released the first season of the anime in North America in 2009, and Nozomi Entertainment released the Big Windup! Season 2 anime in 2016. Crunchyroll is streaming the second season of the anime.

Sources: Monthly Afternoon November issue, Big Windup! stage plays' website