After her father’s death, Mie (Haru) finds a batch of New Year’s cards that were never sent to his fellow high school baseball players. Mie takes it upon herself to get the team back together for the Masters Koshien, a senior baseball tournament.
Of course, she’s going to uncover some family secrets and re-ignite the love of the game in all these older players.
Again (2015, directed by Sumio Ōmori) is basically sweet and simple, and I mean that kindly. Of course, Haruhiko Sakacho (Nakai Kiichi), who is nursing his regrets over his relationship with his daughter, will be won over by Mie’s persistence.
At the heart of the conflict is that Mie’s father was responsible for getting his high school team removed from the tournament due to being arrested. But it turns out her dad was doing it to protect someone!
And yes, the team does get back together and plays the tournament.
It’s about baseball but it’s more about the themes around baseball — a sense of camaraderie, redemption, and second chances. I’ve said baseball loves an underdog story and this can be seen as one. But I would say baseball also loves a comeback just as much.
The performances are heartfelt but the character arcs aren’t unexpected. Still, that’s what I want from a movie like this. It’s comforting. Nothing particularly bad happens and the movie is better for it.
The baseball action is good, although like I said, really not the focus.
To be clear, this isn’t some lost baseball classic. It’s available for rent on Viki for 99 cents and I’d say I more than got my money’s worth. I doubt I would’ve sought it out had I not been watching a baseball movie every week for all of the baseball season. But it was pleasant to watch. It’s possibly slightly instantly forgettable other than for the good feelings it left me with.
