Okay, so this as an episode that set up the next baseball match, but boy was it an exciting one. The nature of the upcoming match is going to be much more than the first one: the fate of both teams are at stake, one of the coaches is going to get fired afterwards, if the Farm Team loses it’s going to be disbanded, Aoba has offered to become the Farm Team’s Right Center and at the same time Azuma isn’t going to be playing. With this, it can really be anyone’s game.
It’s a shame that the character pages of Myanimelist are evil and full of spoilers (seriously, a bit of spoiler warnings would have been preferable!), I already received enough hints to know how that match is going to end when I tried to look up the names of a few of the characters a couple of weeks ago, and besides I also don’t think that it’s going to be that hard to predict how the match is going to end anyway. As long as the creator keep the length of that match a bit under control (and not like last time stretch a simple match for more than three full episodes…), it’s going to be very interesting to see how it’s going to play out.
And in any case, this was an excellent episode for the character. It really allowed us to see some different sides of theirs. I loved those little touches of the old guy, noticing that it’s the task of the manager to do a team’s laundry. That guy turn out to be the Farm manager’s grandfather, by the way. At this point, I have no idea what the point of this guy in the story is going to be, especially since there have been plenty of hints that this guy is obsessively hiding something.
KouxAoba also continued in this episode. It’s always small things that show them how much Wakaba is still affecting them. This time, it’s the remark that Kou made at a certain point, quoting how she would say that she’d rather die than give up, which has him worried. The chemistry between the two of them really revolves a lot around Kou taking light sayings like that seriously. Since Wakaba died in such a simple accident, it’s indeed no wonder that they’re like that.
I also like Miki a lot. I at first thought that he was just going to be another one of those stereotypical evil teammates that needs to be overcome, but the past few episodes have shown that he definitely has his heart in the right place. Despite his rather serious look, he’s one who wants to play baseball for the fun and teamwork.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
The introduction of the next baseball match and lots of potential character-development
I rare occasion i watched subbed episode before you blogged it 🙂 Still i’m glad i’ve read the manga, as they subbed 5 wins/5 loses which actually should be 5 games/5 loses according to manga (and makes much more sense to plot). But i guess that’s the price for speed.
As for the next game – at least in the manga it’s 4 chapters vs 13 (the first one). So probably it will be shorter. Still i enjoy the games too (well, at least in manga) – they are full of wit and fun to watch (read).
Ah, okay. I kept wondering why it was one time ten games five losses, and the next one six games six losses.
The games indeed were fun, but those 13 chapters… they just were too long. 4 sounds much more manageable and exciting. 🙂
There was definately a descrepancy in the reporting of the games. Either way, I think the point is the farm team wasn’t doing well. At least that was the impression the manager wanted to give. I think that ties in nicely with the plot.
As for Kou & Aoba, it’s a bit of a slow dance. I guess with such a long anime, it’s something that can’t be rushed. I did get the impression that Kou was a little upset with Aoba and said “I would rather die than fall down before you”. Not sure if the subbers got that right. Seemed like Kou was saying “get off your butt and stop feeling sorry for yourself”.
I guess those of you that are reading source might be able to clarify that scene better. It’s one of the few scenes they had together this week.
Manga had practically the same lines for that scene (i hope manga was translated correctly 😛 ). I think it just demonstrated how well Kou knows Aoba. Kou just said what Aoba had in her mind (âI would rather die than fall down before youâ�), including the angry tone.
I wouldn’t complain about the lenght of the matches in Cross Game. 3 episodes are really nothing compared to Ookiku Furikabutte, where the first game lasted for 5 episodes and the second one for 11 (!) if I remember correctly 😛
Surprisingly, it didin’t stop me from enjoying that series greatly – on the contrary, I found myself longing for a second season, which, sadly, never came. Hopefully, Cross Game will have more luck and get a season 2, since it’s a really great series (one of the best currently airing, in my opinion, next to Guin Saga and Shangri-La) and there’s enough material from the manga for more than 26 episodes listed on ANN…
Unless we have an open ending, I can’t see how they can’t have a second season. I haven’t read the manga completely but based on the last issue, they would need to bypass alot of development to reach Kōshien. It would be a real shame to waste all the character development.