Heroes of the Game

The Moment

MLB had a new generation of extraordinary players, but many of them weren't yet global stars. Opening Day, and a season beginning in Tokyo, was a rare chance to change that.

What I Did

I helped shape an entertainment platform that treated players like protagonists. We used anime as the storytelling language because it already understood the drama of baseball. The rituals. The silence. The explosive moments that turn athletes into heroes.

I led the creative direction and helped bring together the right talent to do the work with care, including animator Hiroshi Shimizu, whose hand-drawn approach gave the work its soul.

What Became Possible

Players like Shohei Ohtani, Aaron Judge, Bobby Witt Jr., Paul Skenes, and Julio Rodríguez were introduced at a scale that matched their talent, inviting fans around the world to meet them as heroes in the making.