

Things by Maeda Jun feature baseball. A lot.

Episode 1 of _Clannad: After Story_ is a baseball episode, and there's a fair
bit of baseball elsewhere in both seasons of _Clannad_. Episode 4 of
_Charlotte_ is a baseball episode. Episode 4 of _Angel Beats!_ is a baseball
episode, and the whole Hinata/Yui thing later in the show is also rife with
baseball. _Little Busters!_ is brimming with baseball. I'm told that _Rewrite_
(the VN) also has baseball in it. Dunno about _Air_ or _Kanon_ , but I'd be
surprised if they were devoid of baseball.

I know baseball is big in Japan, and I know that Maeda's work is formulaic to
a degree (ever seen the Maeda Jun bingo board?), but this goes beyond that.
Why does Maeda Jun put baseball in so many of his works? (I've heard that Key
has some sort of sponsorship deal with a baseball team. Is this true? If so,
that'd explain it.)


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jun-maeda key
Why do Maeda Jun productions so frequently feature baseball?


The two reasons I can come up with is that [Baseball is one of the most
popular sports in Japan](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baseball_in_Japan), and
therefore is a common
[troupe](http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BaseballEpisode) in anime
and Maeda Jun just uses it a lot, in order to provide a filler and some comedy
in a show.

The second reason is advertisement for Yokohama DeNA BayStars, where they
collaborate on the baseball episodes, where some characters are based on or
named after the DeNA team members. But, I can only be [sure for that for
Charlotte](http://seagull.hateblo.jp/entry/charlotte-baystars), not the other
anime you have mentioned.

> This entire anime is done in collaboration with DeNA Baystars, which is a
> baseball team in Yokohama, Japan. The characters are even named after the
> team members.


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Baseball is the most popular sport in Japan, especially HS Baseball or the
"Koshien tourney" so it isn't that much of a surprise in some animes if
Baseball is shown... Dunno bout this though but in Clannad, I think Jun Maeda
still isn't that much into Baseball yet, the main character there plays or was
a previous basketball player and the other blonde dude was a soccer player, I
think. In season one, probably, there was a basketball tournament that took
place in that first show which indicates that Jun Maeda was probably a
basketball fan or watcher before but then shifted his focus to Baseball...
After watching the Baseball episode in Clannad after story, I think that's the
time Maeda's interest and passion for the game of Baseball blossomed... and
that goes on and on now after seeing Angel Beats, Little Busters and now
Charlotte having such well put Baseball scenes.


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