In my experience, you can really divide sports series into three categories. The first is the typical shounen, and usually the most boring: a band of underdog kids trains hard and wins in an over the top fashion against all odds. Then there’s the realistic type, like what Ookiku Furikabutte is currently doing: really analyzing and pudding down an as believable representation as possible. Touch also belongs to this category. The third category doesn’t necessarily aim for realism, but tries to explore the borders of the sport it’s discussing, with wild and reckless tactics, tailoring games based on unique characters: it’s an exploration of the extremes in a sport. This is the category of Giant Killing, along with shows as One Outs.
I was really certain that this episode would feature some sort of come-back after last episode’s cliff-hanger. You know, an entire episode dedicated to them, making up for that nasty goal that was scored against them. And they lose. Miserably with 0-4. They then proceed to lose the next two matches again. The whole euphoria of the end of the previous episode, it wasn’t just meant to build up for one measly match, it was meant to build up for the entire series!
It’s still a mystery what Tatsumi has in mind, letting the players play football tennis matches during the training. It’s in any case obvious that he’s not a Deus ex Miracle coach, and this episode really stresses that even though he won in England, it doesn’t mean that he’s automatically going to win every match here.
Central to this episode was also the buzz-cut guy whose name I can’t seem to find: his patience was bound to run out sometime, but this episode made him more than a random hothead. He’s outspoken and often gets angry, but also a perfectionist and a passionate player. But I also love how each player reacts to Tatsumi’s practices in a different way: some of them also start wondering what the hell Tatsumi is up to, while others don’t really care, others think that Tatsumi might have something in mind, and others in turn are sure of it. The cast here is HUGE, but there are so many different nuances between them.
I’ve been thinking, but this show is actually quite refreshing to watch after watching a ton of different high-school baseball series. This isn’t because they’re inferior or something, because Cross Game, Ookiku Furikabutte and Touch definitely rock in their own ways. But the way that high school baseball is set up is very limited: lose once, and you’re out. Instead, the adult teams in contrast can afford to lose. You’re not immediately out if you lose once. It perhaps leads to less drama, but it allows the creators to play much more with their matches.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
Well the reason they lose is because one side doesn’t trust other and they are running all over the place. And Tatsumi doesn’t help because he wants to push them to limit and see who drops out. He sets up those competitions to also see who wants to win and build up trust between players.
I thought this was the best episode yet. We can see some new sides of the characters, and its interesting that some characters are starting to see that Tatsumi has a method to his madness. Kuroda finally snapping was interesting, because he’s been brooding since the first episode. I really can’t say enough about how great this show is.