Baseball is life for those in the Koshien, Japan's wildly popular high school baseball championship. But for Coach Mizutani and his players, cleaning the grounds and greeting their guests are just as important as honing their baseball
skills.
"Compelling and illuminating! Its heartbreaking agonies and hard-earned ecstasies make Koshien eminently worth watching." -Mark Schilling, Japan Times
It's time for the 100th annual Koshien, the wildly popular High School baseball tournament
that defines the Japanese summer, and whose alumni include U.S. baseball star Shohei Ohtani and former Yankee Hideki Matsui. For its diehard competitors, being on the winning team will be the achievement of a lifetime.
Coach Mizutani's whole life has been in preparation for Koshien. A stubborn but passionate man,
his brand of baseball is beautiful, if extreme, in a uniquely Japanese way: rigorous year-round training, shaved heads, and self-sacrifice all help to instill in his players that their primary goal is to grow as human beings. But inside, Mizutani boils with desire to validate his career by reaching the sacred grounds of Koshien.
Across Japan, four thousand schools begin knockout competition, with only one winner from each prefecture able to advance to Koshien. In director Ema Ryan Yamazaki's dramatic and intimate journey to the heart of the Japanese national character, will Coach Mizutani’s good deeds add up to a miracle or prove a relic of the past?
"★★★★! This compelling sports documentary has strong messages of perseverance, teamwork, loyalty, and integrity and will appeal to baseball fans and families interested in Japanese culture or traditions." -Common Sense Media
