Review: Ballmastrz: 9009 “Big Boy Body, Bigger Baby Boy Heart! Can You Endure the Pain of Love? Babyball, Discover It Now!”

Overview(Spoilers Below):

The Leptons find themselves in an interesting crisis when their beloved Babyball experiences an unexpected upgrade. Babyball is feeling particularly down on himself and while he’s still his usual conceited self, he starts to become rather sensitive over the fact that he operates without appendages. For the purpose that Babyball has to fulfill within “The Game,” this ball status isn’t a problem—in fact, it’s an asset, but when Babyball laments over his inability to enjoy activities like consummate a relationship with a woman, he becomes vulnerable. During this moment of weakness, Crayzar approaches Babyball with a tempting proposition that gives him the privilege of his very own body. Initially Babyball is over the moon with his new look, but as time goes on he begins to learn that a body is not everything that it’s cracked up to be and he starts to long for how things used to be. Unfortunately for Babyball, Crayzar is such a renegade wild card that he doesn’t know if he’ll be able to reverse what he’s done and be able to be there for his team when they need him the most.

Our Take:

Ballmastrz: 9009 is a series that’s blessed with an extremely surreal cast of different characters, but if there’s anyone that feels particularly underdeveloped, it’s Babyball. Granted, Babyball gets a ton of screen time and he’s one of the most prominent characters in the series, but the fact that he’s a ball can often be confused with a character trait in itself. It doesn’t help that Dana Snyder’s voice is so distinct and evocative that his strong performance can be confused with an actual personality. Babyball is lewd, selfish, and always ready to have a good time, but these are all elements of him that have been clear since the show’s very first episode. As Ballmastrz’s second season attempts to further flesh out its cast, “Big Boy Body, Bigger Baby Boy Heart! Can You Endure the Pain of Love? Babyball, Discover It Now!” puts Babyball in the hot seat and makes use of him as a character and not just an appendage of the crazy sport that fuels this series.

Babyball is paired with Gaz during the lascivious actions that kick off his whole existential dilemma. Babyball is so often used as a foil for Ace, so it’s helpful that this episode gets to show off a bit of his bawdier impulses and his dynamic with Gaz as they hit the bars together. It makes for a welcome contrast to Ace’s wholesome nature. Both Gaz and Babyball are messed up and depraved in similar ways, so these two characters share a very fun dynamic at they let themselves go after a hard day’s work of playing “The Game.” Hopefully this season of Ballmastrz: 9009 will continue to experiment with different character pairings as it digs deeper into the Leptons.

“Big Boy Body, Bigger Baby Boy Heart!” may follow a rather predictable trajectory with the whole nature of this “Be Careful What You Wish For” parable. Even though the story beats move in the direction that you’d expect, the episode still manages to build to a number of surprises. For instance, Babyball resorts to a Disney-esque musical number during his moment of peak sadness that causes Crayzar to appear as his Fairy Godmother. It’s this level of bonkers ambition that makes Ballmastrz: 9009 such an entertaining series. It’s not afraid to take weird risks or turn into a musical and the beauty of these stylistic detours is that once they happen there’s a strange precedent set that can later be returned to in the series.

Babyball’s new appearance kind of looks like if he, Flypp, and Lulu did a three-person fusion dance together. It’s a bulky, muscled mess, but it pleases Babyball and the rest of his team, too. Everyone loves Babyball’s new look, but the new affection and confidence that he experiences also causes his heart to grow, so to speak. This turns Babyball into a much more positive individual. It’s a bit of a shift for everyone, but not one that’s any stranger than him now having arms, legs, and a super-ripped torso.

“Big Boy Body, Bigger Baby Boy Heart!” really pumps up the anime aesthetic here with Babyball’s new look. His elated expression often shifts into kawaii/chibi mode as he relishes his fresh appearance. It’s kind of baffling how many out of context screenshots taken from this episode could easily look like the strangest episode of Sailor Moon that was ever put into production.

Babyball physically seem like a changed person/ball, but Gaz is determined to see how his performance has improved on the game field before making any final decisions on his supposed upgrade. Just because the guy can whip up a mean pistachio ice cream doesn’t mean that any real growth has taken place here. The Leptons soon learn that there has been plenty of change in Babyball, but not necessarily for the better. His newly positive attitude results in him losing his fighting spirit when he’s in his next match. He turns into an “everyone gets a trophy” kind of player that believes that because it’s called a “game” it should be “fun.” Quickly the Leptons turn on Babyball and he ricochets from being their MVP to becoming their punching bag. To add insult to injury, the Leptons face a team full of innocent kittens that normally wouldn’t pose any sort of challenge if Babyball were acting normally.

The visual extremes that are present as the Leptons viciously smash adorable kittens into bloody pulps are fantastic. With the endless possibilities that are possible with the different teams that the Leptons face, it’s nice to see Ballmastrz taking advantage of just how ridiculous and visually arresting these matches can be under the right circumstances. “Big Boy Body, Bigger Baby Boy Heart!” takes this whole cat theme even further with how the next opponents that they face are basically evil Totoros that decided to join a biker gang. There’s also a whole run-down amusement park vibe to the match that really works for it. Both of the opposing teams that the Leptons face play into different staples of the anime genre, but in completely different ways. Hopefully the series will continue to riff on and lampoon classic anime character designs in surprising ways. There are limitless examples to pull from for inspiration.

Gaz takes some initiative here and decides to try to help Babyball get through these changes and bring back his competitive edge by getting him laid. Gaz is confident that Babyball’s new body will help him avoid the hurdles that held him up in the past, but Babyball’s emotions run high and he’s more a vulnerable mess than he is a ladykiller. He bums out the entire bar with his sob stories and Babyball’s vastly naïve and out of touch approaches towards small talk with women are even more humorous than the ways in which he originally strikes out. Unfortunately, Babyball isn’t any closer to becoming a more productive member of the Leptons that can actually make use of his chiseled body. Even his and Ace’s combined Ballmastr form is much clunkier with Babyball’s body hanging off of it.

In the end, it’s Babyball’s immense love towards Ace that’s able to make a difference and help give him the advantage on the field. Babyball’s connection to Ace helps him understand that he’s always had a body, so to speak, in the form of Ace and the Ballmastr figure that they form together. As long as Babyball can trust and support his best friend, he has a surrogate pair of arms and legs through him. It’s a resolution that may be a little pat, but the episode still gets to defy expectations and feature a brutal twist where Babyball’s head is severed from his new body, rather than him learning a lesson or Crazyzar reversing his actions. This resolution also gets to lovingly mock the power of life-giving tears from Pokemon: The First Movie, so everyone’s a winner.

“Big Boy Body, Bigger Baby Boy Heart!” reaches a cathartic conclusion that works, but the final sequence where Ace and Babyball plummet through the air towards the Earth is another awe-inspiring scene from this show’s amazing repertoire of animation. It’s sequences like this that make me so happy that this show exists and that it’s able to truly do whatever it wants with its animation. The episode is already a success before that point, but it’s the icing on the cake that turns this installment into an even more powerful offering. It’s proof of how Ballmastrz: 9009 makes every frame and second count and that it can accomplish more in a brief thirty seconds than other programs do in their entire runtime. “Big Boy Body, Bigger Baby Boy Heart! Can You Endure the Pain of Love? Babyball, Discover It Now!” is another successful effort from the show’s second season, which continues to point towards this being one of the most enjoyable and challenging animated series of the year.