And so the first match that did not have Mihashi at the centre has ended, and even though it’s mostly been used as building and warming up, it still was a fun and interesting game to start off the second season with. Mihashi works surprisingly well as a side-character (which I guess is a trait that a lot of lead characters have: refreshing when they aren’t the ones in the spotlights), as the entire team works hard to get a called game.
Looking back, the opposing team probably has the least amount of depth out of all the teams that the lead characters have faced so far, but they still have their charms, and they’re much, much better than what you’d usually see with those unimportant matches. The one thing that was interesting though was that it did very much break a stereotype that you often see in baseball series: the fact that awesome hitters are solely responsible for victory. This episode showed that even though you have probably one of the best hitters out there, you can still lose without scoring a point on a called game.
It’s interesting: I’m a big fan of baseball series, but before, I never watched them because of their baseball. I loved Cross Game for its slice of life, Touch rocked due to the character-development, One Outs kicked ass because of the mind games and Princess Nine had its atmosphere. Ookiku Furikabutte is really the first that really is awesome because of how much time it puts into its baseball.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Sometimes I wish you put more thoughts and insights about the actual episode instead of some general stuff like this. Oh well. I guess series like this doesn’t usually have much to say about anyway.
About this ep, I really love the way Tajima cares for Mihashi like a big brother. One more plus point to Tajima. That guy has such a great personality!
I think I like Mihashi better as a side character, lol.
Although out of baseball series Cross Game is my favorite I do agree that Oofuri has the best baseball matches. Although I have not seen a lot of other baseball series to compare.
I love opposing teams in Oofuri. They have the warmth and camaraderie comparable to our home team. While the opposing teams get less spotlight, they get enough spotlight for viewers to warm up to them. I actually cried last season when Tousei lost and I know many other people who cried as well.
Unlike many other sports animes that often make the opposing teams antagonistic, opposing teams that viewers can care about are one of the charms of Oofuri, I think.
i agree with u there…i even researched baseball so that i can FULLY understand what the heck theyre talking about…
All of Opposite team in Oofuri was very charming.You will feel sad when see them lost although they’re the opposite team.Mainly because we see many emotion and interaction from them. Ahh.. this is one thing that I really like in Oofuri too.
Look like you guys totally forgot how good that Hanai get his character development.In the first season.I didn’t concern too much when see him as captain position.But with this ep. When he gets some development. I can love him more too.
Yeah, it was really good to see development in other characters like Hanai.
This is an incredibly impressive show, though I wonder, at this pace, what the season’s finale will tackle.
Finally, I completely agree about the baseball really being a compelling part of the show, instead of just a setting.