Greedy Bears

Greedy Bears is the fifth episode of the BNA: Brand New Animal anime series.

Overview
Michiru and the Bears compete through the Anima City Baseball League as Shirou unravels the dirty secrets behind the games.

Summary
Michiru joins the Bears baseball team when they are suddenly in need of a pitcher. She takes advantage of her gorilla arm and cheetah leg powers to propel the team to the championships. Meanwhile, the coach is reprimanded by the baseball gambling boss for not fixing and losing the match. The championship game against the Killer Animals starts and the coach is nowhere to be seen. The coach has stolen the gambling money and the boss finds out. The game crawls to a stop as the spectators are irritated about their stolen money. Michiru and the Bears remind everyone that baseball is about fighting to win with all you got. The spectators settle down and the match resumes. The Bears, unfortunately, lose the game, and Shirou having stopped the coach returns the stolen money.

Plot
Michiru is shooting hoops while Shirou is lounging on a lawn chair. Shirou points out she's still in her Beastman form. Michiru said it's because it's more convenient being in this form. She asks Melissa if there are any basketball games in this city. Melissa says yes but takes her to a baseball game instead. Michiru is disappointed and Melissa leaves.

The match is between the Pink Flamingos and Bears Baseball Team. All the players are in their beast forms. A ball flies her way, and Michiru throws it back using her transformed beast arm. Jackie who caught the ball is dumbfounded and screams miracle ball. The flamingos are defending now. One catcher tosses knives at a batter running who collapses on the ground. The ref calls the batter out. Michiru is flabbergasted and protests but the flamingos call her out for snitching.

Marie greets Michiru in the bleachers. She explains that Anima City baseball is comparable to a fight to the death gambling game. The gambling draws in the eager spectators, whether the players live or die. The Flamingos are batting, and the batter swings the ball right into a catcher's head. The catcher is whisked off the field. Without a pitcher and having only nine players left on the team, Jackie asks the coach, Dante, for help, but gets no response. Taking the matter into his own hands, he calls a pitcher change with Michiru. Michiru changes and stands at the mound. A flamingo taunts her and she gets irritated. She taunts back, then launches the ball with her beast arm. It's a strike after strike and the flamingos are unable to hit a ball. Michiru is at the bat and hits the ball into the scoreboard.

Meanwhile, Rose wants Shirou to look into baseball gambling in the city. She points out the Dodo team went extinct due to the extreme baseball. The Bears team marches home celebrating their victory. They bring Michiru back to their humble home and beg Michiru to join the team. Michiru apologizes and walks out. Jackie begins telling a sad story about their lives in the squalid living conditions, and baseball is all they have. Annoyed, Michiru agrees to join on the condition no violence is allowed during matches.

The next match is with the power team, the Buffalos. The Bears are winning because they outspeed the Buffalos easily. However, the coach begins making exaggerated signs to bunt, and the Bears start losing. This continues until Michiru, who sends the ball flying instead of bunting. She grows cheetah legs and runs home. They eventually win the game with Michiru's help, and the coach is dumbfounded.

At the back of a Pizzanimals, a pizza shop, the coach is getting beaten. A gang boss explains no one would bet on a weak team like the bears so they have to keep losing to keep the audience content and profits high. The coach promises to lose the next game. Outside, Shirou asks what the coach was doing inside. The coach refuses to testify and says this is the only path a beastman can take to make a living out of baseball.

Next game, the coach orders Michiru to stay on the right field and for someone else to be the pitcher. The team protest that Michiru is their ace pitcher. The coach is stubborn and stands firm. Michiru promises to protect and aid the pitcher. In the office of the team, Shirou picks up a baseball and examines it. He lives through the past of the coach, Dante, who used to play for the Odaibo team on the mainland. He faces discrimination everywhere. Eventually, he explodes during a match, and in a fury, attacks everyone.

Arai Rascal is the pitcher, who is nervous and using an oven mitt to catch. The opposing team today is The Tigers. The Tigers hit the ball out of the field, but Michiru is able to catch it thanks to her powers. The Bears eventually win the match and celebrate. Shirou is displeased. At home, Shirou reprimands Michiru for using her powers among strangers. If anyone catches wind, it's over for the town and she won't be able to find the cure. She acknowledges him, but says that playing baseball was the first time she's had fun since turning into a beastman.

At the shipping port, the gang boss is torturing the Bears coach for defying him. If the coach doesn't lose the next game, he will die. The boss leaves and the coach reflects on his situation. He concludes that he'll die either way eventually.

It's the finals for the Anima City Baseball League. The Bears are against The Killer Animals. The game begins with Michiru pitching and a mad dog beastman batting with a spiky, cracked bat. The batter swings and the bat explodes, sending shrapnel at Michiru. She ducks in time, but the pieces impale her teammate behind her. The opposing team continues to score points with violence, up to the 6th inning. Michiru is frustrated, the coach is gone, and the teammates are not concerned. The teammates fess up that they were bribed by the coach and gang boss to fix the match. Michiru judges them, and Jackie asks why is it wrong for the team in poverty to earn some money.

At the pizza shop, the coach sneaks in and steals the money. The boss finds out and complains out loud. The rest of the audience finds out, protest, and the game crawls to a halt. Michiru throws the ball at the wall with her gorilla arm and shouts the game isn't over yet. The audience is silent and in shock. Michiru continues to pitch at the wall and yells at the players to fight with all their might. Jackie catches one of her pitches and begins chanting the Bear's song. The rest of the bears join in, and the game resumes.

A rat with a spinning bat taunts her. At the same time, Shirou catches up to the coach. Shirou plays a live radio broadcast of the match, and the coach begins crying remembering the time he watched a baseball game in his childhood. The match has a 1-point difference left, and people from all over are on the edge of their seats. Michiru is at the bat. The coach is back and signs to give it all she can. He finally speaks up and yells at Michiru to get the win.

Shirou returns the bribe money to the gang boss. He threatens to turn it in as evidence to the police, but walks away instead. In the boxes, Alan observes Michiru and is fascinated by her powers. The game ends and the Killer Animals win. Jackie cries. The Bears receive a welcoming applause. Back at the pizza shop, the gang boss hands over some of the money as a reward to the coach. The coach refuses it and says he wants to play baseball instead of gambling.

Shirou returns to Rose with no evidence of baseball gambling. Michiru practices pitching outside and are interrupted by the Bears team. Jackie announces proudly they spent all the money on a gimmick to help practice baseball. Michiru yells at them, and Shirou smiles, watching from afar.

Characters

 * Michiru Kagemori
 * Shirou Ogami
 * Melissa Horner
 * Marie Itami
 * Bears Baseball Team (debut)
 * Jackie (debut)
 * Arai Rascal (debut)
 * Dante (debut)
 * Saotome (debut)
 * The Pink Flamingos (debut)
 * The Buffalos (debut)
 * The Tigers (debut)
 * The Killer Animals (debut)
 * Alan Sylvasta

Trivia

 * The premise of the episode is a direct reference to the 1976 sports comedy film The Bad News Bears. Both baseball teams in each work share the same team name, the same team colors, and similar uniforms. Both plots tell an underdog story of an unlikely team making it to the finals of their respective leagues.
 * The pitcher of the bears named Winnie the Pooh is a reference to A. A. Milne's Winnie the Pooh stories.
 * The polar bear baseball player resembles Yamada from Shinji Mizushima's Dokaben Baseball series.
 * Ashcozy's birds are seen perched near the scoreboard at the start of the championship game.
 * When Tanuki changes into the Bears uniform during the game, as her clothes pop off an octopus pops off as well.
 * Dante is likely a reference to Danpei Tange from Osamu Dezaki's Ashita no Joe.
 * Dante, the coach, drinks a few real-world beer brands throughout the episode. He drinks Miller Lite during the first game against the Pink Flamingos, Heineken the second game against the Buffaloes, and Kirin Lager the third game against the Tigers.
 * When the flamingo taunts Michiru, she references the Kachi Kachi Yama story in Japanese mythology where a tanuki competes with a rabbit to build mud boats and cross a river to prove who's better.
 * The panda player uses a bamboo pole as crutches after he is injured.
 * When the team celebrate the first win, Jackie and Arai Rascal blush seeing Michiru do a split and roses and sparkles come out of Michiru for one frame.
 * The prize money for the underground gambling uses Japanese 10,000 yen notes in real life.