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Why is it that baseball manga seem to come up with the most ridiculous versions of American names? You’d think as baseball fans the mangaka would have a better idea of what names are more common in the U.S. than the average Japanese, but for some reason – Major was especially good at it – they seem to come up with the most ridiculous abstractions. I can honestly say I never knew anyone named “George Animal” – the only Animal I knew was a Muppet. But at least this gives us the lowdown on Chris’ background.
Major wasn’t the only baseball series Daiya no A put me in mind of today. I also thought of Ookiku Furikabutte, which is superficially about as different from this one as any baseball series could be (yesterday’s haiku is relevant here). Oofuri did an outstanding job of depicting what it was like for a team of first-year high-school boys to try and compete with clubs consisting mostly of third-years. As I’ve said before that’s an age where two years difference is like a millennium – to the point where it probably wasn’t realistic that the peachfuzz brigade of Oofuri managed to do as well as they did. Still, it didn’t gloss over the challenges involved in being a boy trying to compete with almost-men – even getting down to the simple struggle to maintain weight when playing a sport in the sweltering Japanese summer heat.
Flash forward to Ace of Diamond, and if the moral of last week’s episode was that much can be learned by watching, I think this week’s is that much more separates first-years and third-years than simply pages on the calendar. Sawamura and Furuya both are testament to this. Eijun continues his struggle to try and win any concession from Chris, whose father is trying to keep him away from the team altogether to avoid risking further injury to his shoulder. Chris and Miyuki have a very interesting conversation about Eijun, to the effect that things will never be as easy for him as they are for Furuya, because he doesn’t have the one overwhelming weapon in his arsenal to rely on. Chris also opines that he doesn’t have the skills and knowledge to get the most out of Eijun – which I take both as a stipulation of how long the journey is going to be, and a passing of the torch to the catcher who’s going to have to finish the job.
There’s another part of that conversation that’s interesting – Miyuki’s observation that pitchers like that are the most interesting kind for catchers to work with – but for now, Furuya is Miyuki’s main concern. And with Furuya, the problem seems to be pretty much the opposite of that with Eijun – things are coming too easily to him. He does one thing exceptionally well – throw hard – so well, in fact, that it’s generally enough to get him through all by itself. But Furuya is every bit as immature as Eijun is, even if it manifests itself differently. He still has no conception of team, and seemingly no awareness of the responsibilities that being an Ace entails. He just wants to throw, hard – but there’s more to baseball and to life than that. My sense is that Furuya has a major problem on his hands in that he has no support system in place, either as a pitcher or a person. If his fastball isn’t getting outs he has no Plan B, and he’s made no connections off the diamond to help him cope with struggles down the road. He seems to be trying, tentatively, to forge one with Eijun – but he’s so bad at it that he isn’t making a whole lot of progress.
There’s a third player in this drama – Tanba, the embattled third-year who surrendered his Ace role to Furuya temporarily. He’s ready to step in when Furuya has to leave the mound after splitting a nail – which nets him a two-week ban on throwing as punishment for failing to take care of himself – but I worry whenever a coach sends a kid in to pitch two days in a row (regrettably, this is very common in Japanese high-school baseball). Tanba is at the very opposite end of the spectrum from Furuya and Sawamura – for him, as a kid who’s probably not good enough to play professionally, this year is everything – if Seidou doesn’t make the Koshien, his career probably ends in disappointment. He’s a minor player in the larger story, but the rugrats would do well to observe the way he carries himself, and he may just find himself the man on the mound when the most crucial pitches of the season are being delivered.
In the end Eijun finally does get Chris to agree to catch him – for all of one pitch, which he declares Hideki Matsui hit for a grand-slam. His challenge to Eijun is to figure out what makes him so special when he doesn’t have a great fastball or even throw a breaking pitch. It certainly isn’t control, as Eijun gets positively hammered in his first live-game (albeit with the B Squad) after misinterpreting Chris’ signals and focusing only on hitting the catcher’s mitt. His frustration is obviously building, especially as there’s a newfound sense of urgency – Horiuchi has informed him that there are two spots being help open for the Tokyo summer tournament, just waiting for second-stringers to impress and claim them. Stealing pudding and not giving up foul balls aren’t much to go on, but he’ll get there – and at least he has Furuya to share the ignominy of dragging tires around instead of throwing baseballs. I suspect sharing the experience will be good for both of them in the long run.
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Ronbb
December 1, 2013 at 10:49 pmI find this episode funnier than the previous — the way Eijin tried to get Chris to train him again and the way Furuya tried to break the ice and have a conversation with Eijin cracked me up. I like this arc when Chris was introduced. The first arc was nice, but it's simply to lay the groundwork, but this arc is really getting into the story when Eijin and Furuya start their journeys of playing serious baseball. Eijin and Furuya are very different, but I like that they share the same dream and strive to overcome their own shortcomings.
Some random thoughts…
– The way how Miyuki told Furuya to hide his bleeding finger totally showed his edge — he's smart as hell knowing the business and he can totally be the leader or strategist of something, if not the Seidou team one day.
– Chris' pupil-less eyes give me the feeling that he's lost his soul, but I am guessing that his pupils will come back and eyes will sparkle when he sees something phenomenal from Eijin — Eijin, the eternal fire, will sure ignite Chris' spirit again.
elianthos80
December 3, 2013 at 5:13 pm'- Chris' pupil-less eyes give me the feeling that he's lost his soul, but I am guessing that his pupils will come back and eyes will sparkle when he sees something phenomenal from Eijin — Eijin, the eternal fire, will sure ignite Chris' spirit again. Frst Enzo's haikus, now this. Poetry. Ronbb-sister, she gives us poetry :,).
Also seconded. Vive la poetry. But we did get a glimpse of pupil and light this week as well while he was talking with The Kazuya about catchers-pitchers maieutics (sorta) 8D.
That said my ears were drooling during that part. Speak moar. HNNNG.
—
Jorge Animal. ANIMAL! <— Rule of Cool? Anyway I ROFLed.
Also Furuya's conversation. 'When in doubt talk about the weather' isn't it?. He managed to botch that. I'm in fear and awe. And laughter. Aw they really need to work on the basics each in their own way. Run boys, run!
So far they're juggling characters moments quite well, we got to see more of the two ginger bros and appreciate Tanba's sense of discipline and dignity. Also pudding! (Pudding is precious. I feel ya mustache-kun) .
And Wakana was mentioned! DING DING! YowaPeda may stray from the holy osanajimi path – the Onoda factor vincit omnia. Aw Onoda :,) – but if DnA goes the traditional way I'm on board. No ED can shake my faith yet 8D.
*cue 1979 music hit* Reeelight my fiiiiire…
Ronbb
December 7, 2013 at 4:47 pm@elianthos80: hey sunshine, how are you? I don't think I can be in any stretch of imagination to do poetry like Enzo can easily can, but you're very kind. Sorry that I didn't come back for a while — I was completely under the weather. Yes, there was a glimpse of sparkle in Chris' eyes, but isn't it interesting that animators — in general — can play so much with the eyes to depict the different emotional states or personalities of a character? Like Furuya, I'm also not good at initiating a conversation and will usually start with weather, but Furuya was just so random, and Eijin was so literal and direct — the polar difference of these two can be quite funny to watch.
elianthos80
December 7, 2013 at 7:25 pm@Ronbb: Enzo's poetic brain juice is delicious(sssssssssssssss) but so is the word elixir of thy gentle soul fragrance. *This sunshine specializes in corny purple EngRish and lame puns*
Glad to have you back. Feels a bit like the return of Palace Maiden in Kingdom this week *silk confetti* .
Also fell free to talk about the weather in prose or verse all you want as we sip o-cha and sake in this figurative Enzo-land patio bathed in moonlight and starlight (and lots o'corn).
—
Well that's the beauty of relatively big eyes character design put to good use. Crank up the power of those windows of the soul, yo! *grin*
Those two are quite complementary in personality and akwardness I'm more than ready and willing to savour the funny of whetever bond they're going to develop.
Toast!
elianthos80
December 7, 2013 at 7:27 pmP.S.: ah, typos in my teapot.
Ronbb
December 8, 2013 at 2:19 amLove reading your post…love your sense of humour and creativity.
elianthos80
December 8, 2013 at 4:14 amYou honour me too much *blushing behind the sensou* .
Now just let us enjoy one last moment of sismance before Enzo tells us to get a room again ;p…
(Just remember Enzo we're in your patio. That has implications on the candidate room in question. And if we are to form a beautiful Enzo groupies live-in sisterhood we ladies can provide food, cheerleading and miracle back/foot/neck massages in exchange for haikus&live roasting of java beans clad in that yet unseen green yukata of yours :p ) . <– well that excalated quickly ;3
Ronbb
December 8, 2013 at 8:14 ambwahahahaha… Yes, one last time before Enzo tells us to get a room…lol. Love the idea…and perhaps I can be your sous-chef and help prepare some authentic Italian pizza.
elianthos80
December 8, 2013 at 2:26 pm*sisfist with a garland of garlic* We'd batter start our Eijun-level of kneading that pizza dough training then. Our gracious host has high pizza standards. *lightbulb* Enzo in pizza-sensei mode and crowned with a wreath of basil!
Alright hopping to DnA #10 now XD.
sablejet
December 3, 2013 at 6:56 amI enjoy the relationships between all of them. Eijun's relationship with Chris is for me one of the highlights of the manga 🙂 Love Coach Kataoka too. It's nice seeing them all brought to life 🙂 Looking forward to the next episode!
Rita
December 3, 2013 at 8:58 amI remember being so embarrassed for Eijun during the chapters in the manga when he decided that control was the way to go and promptly fell flat on his face. Just as embarrassing in anime form XD;
sablejet
December 3, 2013 at 10:38 amI'll admit to fast-forwarding through that bit ;p He embarasses himself a lot doesn't he? lol