Mix is, by my count, the eighth Mitsuru Adachi work to be adapted to animation. I’ve only seen one of the other seven, so it may not be my place to say this, but Mix probably ranks around the middle of those eight. Its main cast is complex, but the non-baseball players among them slip from the series’ focus near the end. Its visual presentation is drab, only springing to life during isolated scenes. Depending on which source you use to watch the show, you may experience a crippling audio issue that buries the dialogue beneath a string-heavy soundtrack (I recommend Commie’s version, which fixed this problem). And yet, for all its shortcomings, Mix retains that signature Adachi atmosphere of emotional realism, mixed with an unpredictability on the baseball diamond that keeps things fresh. The characters may not have completed their arcs in this truncated adaptation, but they’re still the lifeblood of the show.
