Cross Game – 31



What an amazing episode. It’s installments like this that really show why Cross Game is such an excellent slice of life series, it was constantly playing with the set-up of the arrival of Wakaba II (who turns out to be named Akane).

The entire episode was one big tease. To start with, you know how Kou said “Wakaba”? That sequence got repeated about three or four times? Well, it turns out that it was also imprinted on the bag she was carrying. A bit long to get to that punchline, but well worth it. For the rest of the episode, I was really looking forward to the next time she’d show up again, but the creators had other plans, and instead showed some very good slice of life scenes instead, preparing for the upcoming festival and the anniversary of Wakaba’s death (if I understood correctly).

Only in the final quarter of the episode, she appeared again, and the results were amazing. Everyone who ran into her had the same reaction: “what’s a ghost doing here!?” The look on everyone’s face… it was just priceless.

Oh, and as an extra bonus, my favourite minor side-character got some attention again: Momiji. Especially now that she has reached the same age as Wakaba did when she died, she’s hopefully also going to start playing a larger part in this series.

And that’s what I think is the biggest difference between Cross Game and Touch: Touch was far better with its baseball matches, while Cross Game’s baseball is the least interesting part of the series. However, Cross Game is far superior when it comes to slice of life, in which Touch was a bit too long-winded. With the exception of two notable episodes, of course. those who watched Touch will understand which ones I mean.
Rating: *** (Awesome)

11 thoughts on “Cross Game – 31

  1. I disagree. The first half of the episode was another recap of the last 30. I sat through that in episode 30 and thought that I was done. I was hoping for real development. While I agree that the interplay between Akane and the other cast was touchingly composed, there was simply too little of it. I want the series to pick up speed again. I want development to develop.

  2. My favourite for the last 31 weeks 🙂
    Even if the wakabe-chan is getting a little stretched out, the addition of Akane is just nicely placed.
    I am however hoping for more baseball soon,
    but with 20 epis remaining we’ll get to that eventually 😀
    (And i take it, we won’t be going further then koshien :))

  3. Well, since it’s the end of the season, won’t it take a long time before baseball starts again? The way I saw things, there would be lots of character development involving Akane, and then the narrative would jump to the next spring, in order to come back to baseball and start the path to Koshien…

    In any case, there are high expectations on Akane, good that she’s not able to feel the responsibility weighting on her shoulders ^_^)

  4. Wait i watched touch and i dont know what episodes ur talking about…btw i liked the episode i just cant wait to see what happens next

  5. Anyone know the song played during the last couple minutes of the episode? (And no, I’m not talking about the ED song).

  6. the narration (with the display of the black and white photos) depicts the life of the author of ‘No Longer Human’ –
    Osamu Dazai.

    The novel No Longer Human has autobiography elements: the author Osamu Dazai has made several suicide attempts in real life, before he finally succeeded.

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