Here’s what happens when you keep your eye on the idol instead of the ball.
As a professional baseball player, Shuhei Fukuda, who plays for Japan’s Fukuoka-based Softbank Hawks, must have spent years hearing coaches tell him to keep his eye on the ball. On a recent day at the ballpark, he had his eye on something else instead.
In a video shared by Japanese Twitter user @kento_mmrnwug, Fukuda enters from the left side of the image just as the video starts, while his teammate, Kai Takuya, is being interviewed. But as the camera zooms out, we see that it’s not just anyone interviewing Takuya, but popular anime/video game voice actress Maaya Uchida, whose credits include female lead Rikka in Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions and Ranko Kanzaki in The Idolmaster. Uchida is also a vocalist with three albums to her name and had a recurring role in live-action TV series Unofficial Sentai Akibaranger.
In addition, Uchida has the attractive looks and cheerful grace that have become such important tools in catching the attention of anime fans…and also professional baseball players, apparently, as shown at the video’s 14-second mark.
As Fukuda continues wandering around the field, he keeps looking back to sneak peaks at Uchida, until he eventually walks right into the metal frame of a net set up to keep balls from flying around the field.
While a display of clumsiness by an ordinarily talented athlete is always going to generate plenty of laughs, online comments haven’t been that harsh, with many taking into account the special circumstances that lead to the incident.
“I can’t say I don’t understand Fukuda’s thought process.”
“Can’t be helped. Maaya is just that beautiful.”
“I would absolutely do the exact same thing.”
After untangling himself from the net, Fukuda rubs his knee in pain as he walks off, but even then, he can’t resist glancing back multiple times, It’s probably a good thing that Uchida wrapped up the interview soon after, or else Fukuda probably would have ended up staring at her until he plowed into the outfield wall.
Source: Hachima Kiko
Top image: Pakutaso
Follow Casey on Twitter, where he’s now wondering if Odell Beckham Jr.’s altercation with a kicking net was also anime voice actress-related.