Tatchi (1985–1987) User Reviews

A Timeless, wonderful and thoughtful anime with baseball, romance and more.

[mfredenburg · 9/10 · 29 December 2012]

Not every anime done in 1985 holds up well. TOUCH not only holds up well, but sets a standard for thoughtful drama that few animes meet or for that matter any series of any style.

What sets TOUCH apart is its thoughtful examination of the relationship between Tatsuya Uesugi and Kazuya Uesugi, who despite being identical twins are different as night and day. While this series has humor throughout, it seriously looks at a relationship that despite no intended malice has resulted in the serious diminishment of one of the main characters as a person.

The long-time childhood friend Minami plays a critical central role as she helps advance the story and plot in a way no other character could.

This is a thoughtful anime that has some sadness and poignancy interwoven throughout, yet still has enough fun and enough action to keep younger,less thoughtful audiences interested even if they are too young to understand the deeper issues being addressed.

Really geared for teenagers and above. Male characters do notice pretty female characters bodies and figures and do things real teenage boys do, i.e. look at girly magazines, etc, but this only adds some realism.

A great series by the Japanese best-seller ADACHI Mitsuru

[jacobox · 14 September 2002]

Touch is really a great series. I remember when I first watched it on one of the Spain's national-wide TVs. It was called "BATEADORES". It became a bit famous at that time, but it was only for a time. Today, few people remember it! Now, I've been able to get a copy of those episodes and I can confirm that it is as good as I remembered it was.

Touch is not just a series about baseball at all. Touch is a series about several young characters who live their lives, who get in "touch" ones with others... And one of those "activities" is playing baseball.

But what makes Touch a great series is its perfectly defined characters, its emotivity, its great designs and even its music.

The series deals about three teenagers (Tat-chan, Kat-chan and Minami) who have always been very good friends since they were child. Tat-chan and Kat-chan are brothers (they're twins) and Minami is a girl, their neighbor. Kat-chan is very good at everything, while his brother is just the black sheep of the family (or, at least, that's what people think about him). Kat-chan and Minami are supposed to get married in the future, but it often seems that Minami prefers Tat-chan.

One of the most emotive points of the series is the death of Kat-chan, just before playing the last match before winning the Koshien Championship. At that point, Tat-chan will take his brother's way and start playing baseball and making everyone see he's not such a black sheep.

I would like not to spoil the sinopsis of the series; but I would like to insist on how great this series is. I think it's unfair the fact that it's not well known outside of Japan. And it's also unfair that Spain's TVs don't air this series anymore!!

By the way, this series was called "Prendi il mondo e vai" in Italy and "Théo ou le bat de la victoire" in France.