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Posted by tatsunokofan on 22-09-2014 at 21:06:
Baseball Ninja Team Ucchaman
Hi all!
This is slightly old news now, but since it hasn't been brought up here yet, I figure I should mention the Baseball Ninja Team Ucchaman! What is Ucchaman? Well, that takes a little explaining.
You see, the Nippon Professional Baseball Pacific League team in Fukuoka is the Softbank Hawks. Softbank is a Japanese telecommunications and internet company, and they own the team. Unlike America, where companies purchase the naming rights for the stadiums where teams play, Japanese companies purchase the teams themselves and attach their names to them. As a result, you have teams with names like the Lotte Marines and the Nippon Ham Fighters. The Hawks were owned by Daiei prior to being bought by Softbank in 2005, and were then known as the Daiei Hawks.
During the latter part of the Daiei Hawks era, the caps and batting helmets worn by the Hawks players were decorated with designs to look something like the head of a hawk, with eyes and a beak. Not surprisingly, when people saw this design, they noticed a resemblance to the helmet designs of a certain group of bird-themed heroes, and these became known as "Gatchaman caps" and "Gatchaman helmets."
This design was later replaced by the current Softbank Hawks design, which eliminated the Gatchaman-like aspects of the headgear. However, 2014 is the 75th anniversary of the Hawks. As part of the celebration, they resurrected many of the old uniform designs, and Hawks fans were happily buying nostalgic reissues of the old caps and batting helmets. Among the most popular were the "Gatchaman" caps and helmets.
Recognizing a good thing when they saw it, the Hawks decided to create a Gatchaman-themed collaboration, centered on their Left Fielder and 1st Baseman Seiichi Uchikawa. The result of that collaboration was a new character, the Baseball Ninja Team Ucchaman! As you can see in this publicity image, Ucchaman is Mr. Uchikawa dressed as G-1, Ken, the Eagle. As Mr. Uchikawa's uniform number is '1,' he is now U-1 of the Baseball Ninja Team.
Before you ask, no, there was never a U-2~U-5.
The main events for the Ucchaman campaign were the Hawks games against the Seibu Lions on August 19th and 20th. For those two games, fans could buy 4,000 yen premium tickets that included not only their seats for the game, but also came with an exclusive Ucchaman towel.
Starting on August 19th, fans who wanted more could head over to the Hawks team stores, where they could snap up an Ucchaman T-shirt, an Ucchaman keychain, Ucchaman twin megaphones, and much more. Here is a sampling of what they made:
You can see the entire line-up of Ucchaman items on the Ucchaman Goods page here:
http://softbankhawks.co.jp/news/detail/11194.html
And, of course, fans could still get those nostalgic Daiei Hawks "Gatchaman helmets" to help show their team spirit!
During the games themselves, the Hawks showed a specially made Ucchaman film, featuring Ucchaman coming up to bat against the opposing "Galactors" baseball team. What happens when Ucchaman faces off against the Galactors pitching robot? You'll have to watch and find out, as the film can be found here:
http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/51515042
In the real world, the two games against the Lions did not go in favor of the Hawks. The August 19th game ended in a tie after 12 innings (Japanese baseball rules are different than American baseball rules. Their games can go no longer than 12 innings, and can therefore end in a tie). The August 20th game was won by the Lions, 4-2. Perhaps things would have gone differently if Mr. Uchikawa had shown up for the games dressed as Ucchaman. But, alas, he only appeared wearing his regular baseball uniform.
Anyway, this was all fairly silly, and done in the spirit of good fun. However, Ucchaman now has a permanent place in Gatchaman history!
James
Posted by amethyst on 22-09-2014 at 21:25:
It may be silly, and All in good fun, but I'd bet baseball fans in all countries thrive on this.
Thanks for sharing!
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Posted by ChrisW on 22-09-2014 at 21:41:
Ah, that explains some things I saw on Yahoo Japan auctions!!!
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Posted by Redbird on 22-09-2014 at 21:45:
I'm not a baseball fan at all, but that's very creative! 
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Playing darts with the Condor's feather shuriken...
Posted by Springie on 23-09-2014 at 00:35:
Fun idea! It's nice to see them using Gatchaman in their merchandise!
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Posted by Transmute Jun on 23-09-2014 at 13:10:
That is certainly amusing! I'm still trying to figure out the female bird that has Jun's colors and attracted the Firebird....
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Posted by rachel on 24-09-2014 at 15:39:
Softbank Hawks always produces interesting stuffs for fans!
Thank you for sharing!
Posted by tatsunokofan on 28-09-2014 at 05:59:
Hi all!
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I'm not really sure where the confusion comes from. it's not like this had deep subtext or anything. Ucchaman hit the ball, and using the Baseball Ninpo Firehawk, the ball became a firebird that should have been an out-of-the-park home run. However, the Galactors pitching robot brought out a pretty lady hawk that caught the firebird's eye (Wink, wink. nudge, nudge), causing it to fly back to the pitcher, turning the home run into an out. Really, what you saw is exactly what you got.
James
Posted by ChrisW on 28-09-2014 at 20:57:
LOLOL
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