Category: Finished Series: Sports

I think this was the calm before the storm. After this episode, it’s just going to be gasshuku and tournament. I’ve said this many times before, but I think that it’s after this that this series is going to get less interesting again, simply because the baseball in this series has always been inferior to its slice of life.

In a way this episode felt different from the previous ones. It seemed much more… focused. It picked out various couples of characters, and pushed their relationships a bit further, rather than the more random pacing of the usual Cross Game episodes. We have Kou and Akaishi, Aoba and that female baseball player who made her return, et cetera. It all was about preparing for the upcoming tournament, and getting mentally ready, while the second years kept fantasizing about what would happen as soon as the third years would leave.

Overall it was a very enjoyable episode despite its slightly different style. At this point, there are nine episodes left. At this point I’m not expecting anything of this series anymore: it has already showed off its best for me. For the baseball part, I’m just looking to be entertained. I know that if I’m going to take the baseball games too seriously, I’ll just end up comparing them endlessly to Touch, whose matches granted were much more superior than what we’ve seen here. For me, this show has already been a success. And if it does manage to get the baseball matches right, then that’s just a nice extra.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

This episode was full of just about everything that makes Cross Game awesome. These few episodes right before the tournament starts are pure gold, because the creators are subtly trying to get the final few developments in before the matches start for real.

Speaking of which… how about the manga? Has it actually ended already, or does it continue? I mean, the characters are about to hit the final tournament of their high school careers. I can’t imagine this series continuing afterwards.

In any case, this episode was full of these small and subtle jokes as well: right after a point when a character is doing something seemingly cliched, there always turns out to be some ulterior motive. I found it strangely assertive of Aoba to just offer her ladder to Kou when he needed it it. And indeed it turns out that her father once borrowed it from Kou’s father and forgot to return it. Or when Azuma reacted emotionless when Kou brought up his birthday… only for it to turn out that Kou got the date wrong. Or take Aoba’s very subtle birthday present: a piece of cake, right after Kou just gobbled up a cake made by Akane.

Speaking of which, Kou’s eighteen now! He’s an actual adult right now, and so would Wakaba have been if she were alive at this point. That means like, what? Around eight years have passed since the start of the series? I personally love those kinds of series that show multiple flash-forwards, and don’t just stick with one or two versions of the same character.

In this episode I also realized that Kou and Aoba’s father can relate to each other very much: both lost the one they were in love with, and thought to spend the rest of their lives with. That became especially apparent as both of them stood near the graves of Wakaba and her mother.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Well, like expected in this episode we get the first hints of the upcoming baseball tournament and the quest for Koshien. My guess is that the games will take place in the final eight episodes of this series, so my predictions are that this series will remain a gem to watch at least for the rest of this month. After that though, I have no idea what’s going to happen. For one thing, I do hope that Aoba will give in, and compete with the girls’ tournament. At least that will give a bit of an extra dimension to the various matches.

This episode was mostly about Aoba, and her, trying to figure out what to give her priorities to: Akane, or her own chances to accept the coaches’ very rare invitation. On top of that, there was this weird stalker of Akane who uses a cat to draw suspicion from him, and I learned that Senda’s voice actor has experience with voicing animals, because he’s really good at it.

I also loved Azuma’s brother in this episode. He’s much more involved with the team this year, and it shows as his passion to get them to Koshien burned heavier than even the coach’s.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Yeah, at this point it’s pretty clear that Cross Game’s final quarter is going to focus at the baseball again. Now that the third quarter has ended, I really label it as the best quarter of Cross Game so far, but my fear also is that it will remain this way: I don’t see this show surpass itself anymore at this rate.

Nevertheless, it’s a good thing to see that the creators don’t want to abandon the girls’ baseball storyline that easily. In fact, it’s going to make the upcoming matches a lot more interesting, to actually see Aoba play. What I really like about her is that she really is a balanced pitcher: she’s talented, she works hard and she knows what she’s talking about, and yet her powers aren’t exaggerated or just too incredible, like with Kou. It was the same with Tatsuya in Touch, in a way.

But, that’s really for later. This episode really was as fun and charming as ever. I loved how the new club members mistook Aoba as the manager. It’s nice to see her gradually recover from her injury throughout this episode. Akane took a part-time job at the Clover-Bar, Kou bought a really ugly shirt for Aoba which she just accepted and Kou had his own moment of embarrassment when he ended up posing for Akane’s sketch. This really was an episode for tons of characters to be able to show off their quirks and charms. It was kindof adorable.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

This is a question for my Japanese readers, but it’s something I’ve been wondering for ages: is it customary for Japanese High Schools to plant at least one sakura tree near the entrance or something? Or is this just one really big stereotype that you only see in anime? Seriously though, I can hardly recall any high school in anime that doesn’t have those pink petals flying around when spring hits..

Setting that aside though, the past episodes of Cross Game have been nothing but goodness. This episode yet again had a wonderful slice of life feeling to it, as the new school year starts and Kou has finally moved into his final year of high school. Oh, I wish that the upcoming baseball tournament would never come.

This episode was all about Kou dating Akane, and Azuma hanging out with Aoba. It’s quite charming in the way that this series develops its love triangles: it’s done with the same subtlety as ever. And I’m someone who usually hates love triangles with passion. In Cross Game, they’re nowhere near as whiny nor do they have any intention to take over the series and destroy its real focuses. In this series, it’s very refreshing to see that potential couples don’t immediately get incredibly angsty once their loved ones are hanging out with another member of the opposite sex.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Oh god, I should have known that the creators would update Momiji’s little bit at the start of every episode a Christmas theme. One thing that bothers me though is why she’s still portrayed as a six-year old. I mean, saving budget is one thing, but if you’re going to bother to give her a Christmas outfit, then why not redraw her entirely?

In any case, this episode really was as good as ever. Aoba’s accidents brought forth so many subtle developments in so many different characters, and on top of that some of the other relationships that didn’t have anything to do with her also developed. To think that Akaishi finally tried to make a move on Akane. It’s a shame that he chickened out later, though: I guess that he still doesn’t want to betray Kou in this way. Oh, but we do have ourselves a proposal with a ‘certain’ other couple.

Also, if the girls’ baseball tryouts really were anime-original, then I really have to congratulate the creators of the anime: I didn’t notice a thing until people pointed it out. It’s great to see that the creators know how to adapt a story, but also to add a bit here and there, where they see a chance for improvement, and to actually integrate this seamlessly with the main storyline. I loved the way how this episode blended the new scenes of Aoba, failing to make the selection due to her illness, together with the Azuma, who feels guilty about what he did (especially considering his brother), and Kou, at whom the creators still throwing hints that he’s really caring for Aoba.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

This episode: the try-out for the girls’ team that Aoba has finally decided to get into. Even though it had it coming, it was still fun to see Aoba pwn that arrogant female batter. I know that such a trick should get old pretty fast, but I still loved it. It was also very refreshing to see Aoba among other girls again. You can see that she’s a totally different person when she’s not amongst Kou and the others, . This was a well directed episode overall.

But yeah, Aoba’s talent has been well built up. Azuma played a big role in this: after trying to get past his brilliant hits, there’s hardly anything anymore that can surprise her. And yet, the creators made sure to hint that there are other talented players around.

But yeah: then there was that thing at the end of the episode… with Aoba collapsing and all. While it looks to me that it’s a simple sports injury that she’ll probably get over after a few months’ rest, let’s not forget that this is Adachi. He’s been known to kill off people before, and I don’t think that I remember any time in either Cross Game or Touch in which an injury did not have a major lasting effect. At this point, I’m very worried about Aoba because of this, especially because it happened so sudden: it was nothing like Adachi to pull such a thing so directly, so I have absolutely no idea what he’s aiming for.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Ah, the valentine episode. Thankfully, the creators use it well with a pretty romantic episode with quite a few new developments. It’s episodes like this that really show the chemistry of the entire cast of characters of this series, and not just the main ones.

This episode shed quite a bit of light of how Kou and Aoba genuinely feel about each other. Aoba is clearly into Kou, but lacks confidence because of the arrival of Akane. Kou on the other hand is just clueless. Unfortunately, he falls into a staple that many other anime leads fall into, but his relationship with Akane makes up for it. You can see that she finally makes him think about his own love-life.

But yeah, the great thing about Akane isn’t just that she sparks up tensions between Kou and Aoba, but because everyone in the series aside from Azuma knew Wakaba well, she also has this effect on just about everyone in the series, and even Azuma is indirectly influenced by her. Speaking of which, he was surprisingly direct when he claimed that that the only girl he’d want to date is Aoba. For a usually subtle series, this really came out of nowhere, but I think that the reason he was able to say it was because he believes that he doesn’t stand a chance against Kou. Give this a few episodes, and let’s see how this affects Aoba.

Also, Aoba finally tried out for the girls’ team. Again, this brings us back to the baseball. I really wonder what the final quarter of this series is going to be like (assuming that there are going to be 52 episodes). The baseball is obviously going to return there, but I really hope that the creators will put away enough time for the slice of life.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Japan: the only country in which elementary schoolers can become masters of aikido. After watching anime for quite a while, I still haven’t figured out how they manage to pull off their notorious work ethic.

In any case, another very nice episode for this show. There’s lots of slice of life, as this episode shows the start of the new year. Although I don’t think that you should be watching this series for its plot, there were quite a few new developments in this episode: Momiji has herself a boyfriend (interestingly enough, she denied it in front of Kou, and yet she called him her boyfriend (in third person, strangely enough) during her silly little “Cross Game Quiz” at the beginning of the episode.

Also, this episode returned to Aoba’s own ambitions: she’s never going to be able to participate in Koushien, and instead of joining a female baseball team, she just stubbornly hangs around with Kou’s team. Kou in the meantime also keeps hanging around Akane (helping her with delivering). It just shows how the two of them, even six years after Wakaba’s death, still are very much influenced by her memories. After all, if Akane would have looked differently, I doubt that he would have given her as much attention as he is now.

Overall though, this was a very fun episode. Seeing everyone hang out and spend the first day of the new year in their own way was very enjoyable to watch. Screw the baseball matches, this is what makes Cross Game awesome.
Rating: ** (Excellent)

Now that Akane has been introduced, Kou and Aoba have started their usual bickering again. nevertheless, the addition of Akane really gave an extra dimension to it, especially since they’re also starting to bicker around her. This really was the episode in which Akane got to know the two of them. Along with the fact that she looks just like Wakaba thanks to the blabbermouth of Senda.

This episode also ended with a baseball match, but unfortunately Akane didn’t manage to give that one an extra spark. As usual, everything around the match was awesome: Aoba getting angry, the way the creators made it seem at first that Aoba poisoned Azuma, it all rocked. But the match itself… it gave me deja vus. I’m not exactly sure where, but I could have sworn that the creators have ended a match in the EXACT SAME WAY once before.

In any case, with this Akane also demonstrates how she’s a very keen observer: she has a great eye for detail in her sketches, but she also critically looks at her environment (in the way she asked who the “Wakaba” on Aoba’s door was. This episode never showed how she reacted when she found out that she looked like Wakaba, but I suspect that there’s a whole lot going on inside her head that the creators haven’t shown us yet.
Rating: ** (Good)