“Just Trade With Us”

It’s interesting to speculate on just how the pacing of Mix might compare to Adachi Mitsuru’s previous epic baseball works, including the series it’s based on, Touch.  A monthly manga tries the patience in a way a weekly doesn’t, but as of right now the master seems content to spin his tale at his usual deliberate clip.

The prospect of Touma on the mound is still a tease for now, as he remains at third base while scrub Yasuno-kun continues to fill in for missing “ace” Nikaidou-kun.  Somehow Yasuno manages to keep the Mizukami attack at bay – a good thing, as their own ace is a legit one. Nishimura-kun is presumably the son of the Seinan ace from Touch (I somehow didn’t pick up on that last chapter) and worthy of the title.

The headline of this chapter might just be Souichirou actually losing his temper when Nikadou shows up after all – one of the first times we’ve seen real emotion from him.  As for Nikadou, I continue to suspect there’s more happening here than meets the eye – those absences aren’t simply arrogance or laziness.  An illness is the most obvious candidate (and would fit the Adachi mold) but that’s still just a guess.