Nobody talks about this one. A tiny Flash animation about a baseball player nobody believes in, released in 2004 on a website that doesn't even exist anymore, it should be forgotten. Instead it captures something real about grinding through failure when everyone's already decided you're not worth the effort. The comedy lands because the show never treats Tabuchi as a joke, even when he's completely ridiculous. You're rooting for a guy in a format so small and obscure that finding it feels like discovering something buried. That's the entire experience: something worthwhile hidden in the margins, waiting for someone to actually watch it.

Ganbare!! Tabuchi-kun!! is a set of short comedy episodes centered on the title character, Tabuchi-kun, with a sports angle suggested by its genre. The ten shorts were made in Flash and released online in 2004 through BBit-Japan, a streaming site that has since shut down. Viewers could watch the opening episode at no cost, while each later episode sold for 200 yen.