Major

2004 • TMDB 8.2 • 6 seasons • 154 episodes • Animation • NHK Educational TV

Overview

Major is the story of a boy who never stops running toward home plate. Goro Honda is the son of a professional pitcher, and baseball is the only language he has ever truly spoken. When tragedy strikes his family, the game becomes both his grief and his purpose, and he vows to become the best pitcher in the world. Across six seasons and 154 episodes, the series follows Goro from a small boy in Little League through high school ball, the minor leagues and finally the major leagues in Japan and America. It is a coming-of-age epic built on sweat and setbacks: injuries, rivalries, crushing defeats and the friendships that carry him through them. Goro’s stubborn refusal to quit — and his bond with childhood rival Toshiya Sato — turns a sports anime into a warm, old-fashioned story about growing up, keeping promises and chasing a dream that keeps moving further away the closer you get to it.

Main Cast

• Noriko Hidaka as Chiaki Honda
• Junko Noda as Momoko Hoshino
• Shunsuke Sakuya as Hideki Shigeno
• Yuuko Sasamoto as Kaoru Shimizu
• Kaoru Sasajima as Ryota Sawamura
• Showtaro Morikubo as Gorō Shigeno
• Masakazu Morita as Toshiya Sato
• Rie Kugimiya as Daisuke Komori
• Takehito Koyasu as Shigeharu Honda

Seasons Snapshot

• Season 1 — 26 episodes, premiered November 13, 2004. Young Goro discovers baseball and vows to follow his father onto the mound.
• Season 2 — 26 episodes, premiered December 10, 2005. Goro’s high school years and his rivalry with Toshiya Sato intensify.
• Season 3 — 26 episodes, premiered January 6, 2007. Goro chases his dream across the Pacific to American baseball.
• Season 4 — 26 episodes, premiered January 5, 2008. The minor leagues test Goro’s arm and his resolve.
• Season 5 — 25 episodes, premiered January 10, 2009. Goro reaches the majors and faces the world’s best hitters.
• Season 6 — 25 episodes, premiered April 3, 2010. The story closes with the finale “To the Future” on September 25, 2010.

TMDB also lists a 3-episode Specials collection from 2010, not counted in the 154-episode total.

Why Watch Major?

• A true coming-of-age epic: six seasons following one boy from Little League to the majors.
• Baseball action with real stakes — every game matters because every loss costs Goro something.
• Goro’s never-give-up spirit makes him one of sports anime’s most inspiring heroes.
• A moving father-and-son story at the heart of all the fastballs and home runs.
• Rivalries that last for years, especially with Toshiya Sato and Joe Gibson Jr.

Trailer

No official trailer available. TMDB lists no videos for this series, and no official-channel trailer surfaced — only fan edits and clips — so we have not embedded a video here.

Where to Watch

As checked on JustWatch US on October 30, 2026: Major (2004) is not available for streaming in the United States — no stream, rental or purchase option was listed for the TV series. Note that the 2022 film titled Major on Netflix is a different work.