Ah, it’s just as I hoped: the arrival of Akane brought the spark back to this series. It’s once again a delight to watch the slice of life in this series. This episode was stuffed with tons and tons of subtle jabs towards all of the different characters. Now this is what Cross Game is best at!
Now this is subtlety! No longer do we just see Kou and Aoba fighting, but now that Akane has joined the mix, the two of them also start acting completely different towards each other, and yet they haven’t forgotten to sneak subtle jabs at each other in the middle of their conversations. A bit weird were the parts in which Kou stopped that naked dude who terrorized Akane’s school and Aoba, who protected Akane from those very stupid (yet somewhat endearing) high school punks, but they were nevertheless a lot of fun.
I’d still be here tomorrow evening if I were to mention every clever bit about this episode, so let´s just say that I laughed a lot. There were so many fun details in it. I probably liked the part in which the father saw the image of his dead daughter. It´s like he said, he heard the rumours, but his face was nevertheless priceless. I even didn’t mind the scene in which Kou ran into Akane changing. It´s a staple of all teen-aged romance series, but the way that the creators carried this one out was just too adorable.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
I don’t know why this series isn’t more popular. With few exceptions, I’ve enjoyed the whole thing as much as any series this year, excepting maybe Bakemonogatari and Tokyo 8, and now that Akane has arrived, I agree the series has been revitalized. I’m torn between hoping Kou sticks with Aoba and wanting him to get ‘Wakaba’. I suspect somewhere along the line Akane is going to have to make it clear she’s not Wakaba come back to life. They still have Wakaba’s dream the get to as well, which is where I figure the series will end.
I love the part where Kou asked Aoba for her blood type. Shows his growing interest in her. Subtly romantic.