Yowakutemo Katemasu (弱くても勝てます; English title: Baseball Brainiacs) is a Japanese television drama series that aired on NTV from April 12 to June 21, 2014. The full title is Yowakutemo Katemasu: Aoshi Sensei to Heppoko Kōkō Kyūji no Yabō (弱くても勝てます〜青志先生とへっぽこ高校球児の野望〜), which translates to "Even If We're Weak, We Can Win: The Ambitions of Aoshi-sensei and the Clumsy Baseball-Loving High School Students."
The series is based on a non-fiction novel by Hidemine Takahashi. It stars Kazunari Ninomiya (of the idol group Arashi) as Aoshi Tamo, a researcher at Tokyo University who, after his laboratory closes temporarily, takes a job as a high school teacher and becomes the coach of the school's struggling baseball team. The team has only five members and has never won a game.
Key Details:
- Genre: Drama
- Network: NTV
- Episodes: 11
- Running Time: 54 minutes per episode
- Average Viewership: 9.9%
- Ending Theme: "Guts!" by Arashi
Main Cast:
- Kazunari Ninomiya as Aoshi Tamo (teacher/coach)
- Kumiko Asō as Riko Tone (sports magazine writer)
- Kasumi Arimura as Yuzuko Tarumi (team manager)
- Hiroko Yakushimaru as Kaede Tarumi (Yuzuko's mother)
- Sota Fukushi as Kimiyasu Akaiwa
- Yuto Nakajima as Tsuyoshi Shirao
- Kento Yamazaki as Kōki Ebato (team captain)
- Kanata Hongō as Shunichi Kamezawa
- Katsuhiro Suzuki as Masami Kashiyama
- Dori Sakurada as Eisuke Shikata
The drama follows the story of a brilliant but eccentric teacher who applies scientific and analytical thinking to coaching a weak baseball team, aiming to prove that even a weak team can win through strategy and determination.
