I said in last week’s post that Mix cares about all its characters, but really, these two episodes made that case most strongly. Just about the only member the show couldn’t find time for here was the owner of the ramen place where Haruka works part time. The opening of episode 19 was so focused on Ryou that I felt he might be the series’ new protagonist, before the pivot to a baseball-heavy episode 20 that gave us some of Koma, Imagawa, and Nango’s finest moments. You probably failed to recognize at least one of those names (I had to look up all three), but Mix didn’t forget them for a second. The main cast wasn’t neglected, either – Touma underwent a surprising development, while Otomi’s place in the background gave us another angle from which to appreciate her candid personality. I couldn’t be more pleased, really.
As it turns out, the younger Akai brother wasn’t the show’s secret main character, but he’s looking mighty important going in to part 3. The title of episode 19, “Do You Envy Them?” is a question posed to him about the Tachibana brothers, and he’s an honest enough kid to tell the truth. Now that he recognizes Otomi’s mixed family situation to be the same as his, I’m sure he feels more strongly about her than ever. In addition to the similar facts of their lives, Touma just became a serious rival (stepsibling romance is not off the table in Adachi series). If he wants to be with her, baseball is the best way to do it, and he knows it. The way the show constructs his intention to try out for the team is stellar, too. It stems from something small, in this case the batting cage date where he surprised Natsuno with his hitting ability. He gently floats the idea of playing baseball, then claims to have been joking. But the determined grin on his face, which Natsuno can’t see from behind, tells the whole story.
The older Akai brother’s story with Arisa is still on hold, but the show teased us with a shot of them engaged in a serious discussion as Otomi walked past. There was a lot of teasing for the last two weeks, now that I think about it. The biggest example would be the running gag involving Eisuke, man of the Tachibana household, and his incognito spectatorship of his sons’ baseball games. The pieces don’t fall into place until his telltale striped hat is revealed to have been a Father’s Day present from Otomi, which had me smiling widely. It’s so cute that he disguises himself with gifts from his kids, even if he’s skipping work to watch high school baseball. That’s Koushien culture for you, I guess – even the prelims attract enough attention for fans to spectate school practice sessions, as they do at Meisei in episode 20. Otomi spies Haruka and Touma chatting at one of these practices, and flees before Punch’s barking can give her away. She may be overestimating Haruka’s interest level, though it’s hard to say for sure. I like that Mix keeps secrets, but this is one question for which I’d like the answer.
Touma’s tired arm is one of the show’s biggest secrets thus far, and both the reveal and the consequences dropped in the same episode. The show spread the wealth pretty evenly here, but if anyone got the short end of the bat, it’d be perennial runner-up Souichiro. In these episodes, though, it’s certainly by design, so that his clubhouse conversation with Coach Goro can have maximum impact. I audibly muttered, “Oh shit,” when it became clear who they were talking about. Ironically, benching his best player forces Goro to coach more actively, and construct a multi-pitcher strategy to clear the quarterfinals. This is classic Adachi, throwing an off-speed pitch and forcing the reader (or in this case, viewer) to adapt. The emphasis is on what’s changed and how that change impacts the characters; the details of the game come in small bursts, rather than blow-by-blow depictions of every inning. This leaves you wondering now only how the game will conclude, but how Touma will react to the outcome, whichever way it goes. Thankfully, after two episodes as strong as these, we can rest assured that either outcome will leave plenty for us to get excited about.
