Diamond no Ace – 24

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Things are really starting to get interesting now.

I have a confession to make: I’m rooting for Furuya to get his clock cleaned next week.  Does that make me a bad person?

Daiya no A finally has something it’s been missing since the beginning – a really interesting opponent.  Compelling opposition is an integral part of good sports manga, almost as much as compelling protagonists (see the forthcoming Baby Steps for a series that delivers amazing opponents, though the main character is even better).  Success can be had with the evil variety, the ones you love to hate, but I tend to prefer it when we’re given complicated antagonists with their own stories to tell – players or teams that are the sort that make you feel sad when they’ve lost, even as you celebrate the hero’s victory.

Segue to the current situation, where things have been a bit stagnant dramatically with the Seidou gang (at least for me).  It’s kind of a double-barrelled reason why I’m rooting for Furuya to get hammered against Akikawa Academy.  Most obviously that would make it that much more likely that Eijun gets into the game – all the more given that Akikawa has seven left-handed hitters in their starting lineup.  But it would be good for Furuya, too – he’s a bit boring, true, but setting that selfish concern aside he’s also getting rather full of himself.  And frankly, I like the idea that a pitcher who feels he has to do nothing to win but throw high fastballs gets taught a lesson that baseball is a lot more than that.

There are definitely signs that Furuya could be riding for a fall.  He’s struggling with the heat, which Miyuki finally deduces is due to the fact that he’s just come down from Hokkaido (the one place in Japan that isn’t miserably mushi atsui in the summertime).  In fact we’ve never seen Miyuki as serious as he is this week – despite winning their second game 10-0, once again in five innings, Miyuki is clearly worried about the team’s future depending on Furuya.  In Koushien it’s one loss and you’re out, and Furuya doesn’t seem to grasp the significance one mistake could make.  Of equal importance, he shows no signs of adjusting the way he pitches.

There’s undeniably a bit of chauvanism in the way Shunshin “Clockwork” Yeung (actually played by Ishikawa Kaitou) is introduced – as a Taiwanese boy so impressed by Japanese pitchers ability to stifle a top Taiwanese hitter (groan) that falls in love with Japanese baseball.  But apart from that he’s quite an interesting addition.  I know in the big picture he’s a speed bump, but he and his team add something interesting to the dynamic.  Yeung doesn’t throw in the bullpen – he gets his work in with 200-pitch batting practice marathons in which he pounds the hitters’ weaknesses and forces them to adjust.  Yeung is a technician – he only throws 130 km/h, but he can paint the corners at will (think Greg Maddux – or Mihashi Ren if he wasn’t a crybaby who hates himself).

Akikawa’s coach, Ogata-san, is interesting too.  He’s quite humble, openly admitting the team usually lost in the first round of qualies before Yeung arrived.  The boy refers to him as “my Japanese father”, and Ogata-san has an interesting verbal tic of inserting “Te iu ka” (one of those Japanese expressions that doesn’t translate well, but means something like “in other words” or “you know”) in front of every sentence.  He has his boys facing 160 km/h pitches from a pitching machine – not because they’ll be able to hit them, but to help their eyes adjust.  He knows that as hard as Furuya throws, he doesn’t throw 160 – and that the key to beating him is going to be to force him to bring the ball down.

Put it all together and you have an interesting matchup – and one where I find myself hoping Shunshin holds down Seidou’s fearsome lineup and Ogata’s strategy teaches Furuya a lesson in humility and forces him to become a pitcher and not just a thrower.  I’d like to see Eijun in there when the game is really on the line, and with Tanba scheduled to return by the quarterfinals of the Tokyo tournament this may be Eijun’s last and best chance to do that.  We haven’t seen Seidou put under pressure in a game that matters yet, and I’m very interested to see how they handle themselves.

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5 comments

  1. R

    Currently my main concern is whether or not the anime will reach my favorite manga arc, given that it's slated for 39(?) episodes and we're only just now getting to the interesting opponents. Because there is only one arc I REALLY love in Diamond no Ace and I'm just over here crossing my fingers and praying.

    That being said, I do admit that I find Furuya a bit of a dry plank in the beginning when he doesn't seem to know the weight of these matches and is still caught up in his only pride of being the pitcher. He gets better though (imo), but for now still waiting on Eijun.

  2. On what basis have you concluded it's slated for 39 eps? I've seen nothing to indicate that as of yet.

  3. j

    I'm liking this Shun guy. Almost too perfect considering how sincere he is with his team. I think the one thing that he won't see coming is Sawamura, who still hasn't grabbed much crowd/media attention so there will be that factor of unpredictability (also considering how calculated Shun's tactics seem to be).

  4. t

    you're absolutely in your first paragraph. that's why I said ever since the beginning that the real competition and sports will come later on. it has started very little a few eps with rivals and the tournament opening. but now, this is the real deal and basic of this kind of sports – moving from one game/battle to another while keep improving since you meet so much strong and interesting adversaries.

    we have a very interesting and strong opponent now – Yang Shunshin known as "the clockwork" (the "precise-machine" in the manga, but that's the same deal). and finally Sediou meets a real opponent that isn't only strong but also smart and has some strong emotions – basic sports here. there is also an interesting glimpse and his motive source. and you know – this isn't a practice or something for Sediou anymore. this is the real deal. either they win or lose. and if they lose it's all over. so there is no room for mistakes and they know that from now on, it will be hard. and we've already known that the pitcher position is in a pinch as Tanba still not regain his true form and Furuya is still inexperience and has serious samina issues (is it really extremely hot in Tokyo in the summer?how much degrees the summer reaches in Tokyo if you remember? either way, I guess playing seriously in the sun during summer is probably very hard no matter which country).

    in the last minute or so in this episode, the reporter stated that "it seems like one-man team" but also stated it isn't like that. I still think somehow it's one-man team. although he bring out everyone potential, it's obvious that he is the main anchor of this team. what's so interesting to me here is that Eijun was somehow like that too. in his Junior high with his friends, he was the main anchor of the team and the one keep playing the best and hardest (although still no-con back then :-P).

  5. R

    "We haven't seen Seidou put under pressure in a game that matters yet, and I'm very interested to see how they handle themselves."

    So true…I would love to see Seidou in a close match where they struggle, learn, adjust, and bring out the best in them as a team. That will make it more exciting to watch and allow the characters/players to grow. I'm happy that Shun is played by Ishikawa Kaitou. Of the younger seiyuus, it's him and Hanae Natsuki that I quite like.

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