Anime like Major – well, Major specifically – are such a part of my anime DNA that it’s hard to know where I stop and they start.  I love baseball and anime at the molecular level, I love coming-of-age stories, and the first go-around with Major was a seminal event in my anime life – I loved all the seasons but the first was a signature statement about how good pure sports anime could be.  Anime like Major for me are like what Jerry Seinfeld said about reading the sports section (that would be of a newspaper, like a papery blog) – “I could read it if my hair was on fire.”

In that sense, I suppose, Major 2nd had a pretty lofty standard to live up to.  But I wasn’t worried, having read the 27 chapters of the manga that are translated – I knew this series was a gem.  And I really believe Mitsuda Tetsuda is at his best writing about kids this age, so Major 2nd has the good fortune of putting him in his sweet spot as a writer – a fat 89 MPH fastball right down the middle.  I’m sure we’ll get time skips in this series just as we did the first one, and I’m equally sure Mitsuda will handle those with aplomb.  But I’m really going to treasure this part of the story while we have it, because there’s a good chance it will be the pinnacle of the series.

What makes this all go, of course, is Daigo – just as it was Goro that made the original Major tick.  And it’s part of Mitsuda-sensei’s genius as a writer of child characters that these two little boys are so different despite being father and son, and both equally compelling despite the more abrasive side of their personality.  With Goro it was his brash confidence and single-minded obsession with winning, and with Daigo it’s his morose and sullen retreat from the world.  But Goro was a valiant and fearless soul who knew what was right and never hesitated to fight for it.

As for Daigo, in some ways he’s actually the more poignant character for a number of reasons.  His father is absent too – but in his case, it’s the father’s choice.  And all Daigo really wants is to be accepted for who he is, but he’s forever being compared to a father (and even a sister) he feels he can never live up to.  As his classmate Sakura (Hanazawa Kana) notes, the withdrawn and brittle Daigo the world sees is not the real Daigo, but that boy is buried under such a thick layer of defensive scar tissue that he never sees the light of day.  And she finds out the hard way (her “Give me back my first love, you idiot!” may be the funniest moment of this season so far) he won’t be peeking his head out any time soon.

Satou Hikaru-kun is certainly a candidate for the irritant-oyster-pearl cycle when it comes to Daigo – at the very least, he’s pushing Daigo out of the uncomfortable comfort zone he’s been safely bunkered in.  A further nudge comes when Kaoru-san agrees to the Dolphins’ coach’s request to have Daigo-kun fill in when three of his players are out with the flu (it wasn’t as clear in the anime, but she had to bribe him with a deal to replace his handheld game console – which Izumi really should replace, since she broke it).  A surprise is waiting when they arrive – Hikaru is in the van, having just signed on as the newest Dolphin, though he’s not supposed to play yet.

Really, this entire game is exquisitely painful to watch – because Watanabe-sensei does such a beautiful job of showing us just how painful it is for Daigo.  This is one of the real tragedies of his life – he actually loves baseball, but can only associate it with pain – embarrassment, humiliation and regret.  He knows he should take a few pitches with the bases loaded and a pitcher who can’t find the plate, but the “Do it like your dad!” shouts of his teammates goad him into being overanxious.  He knows enough to back up first base when almost no little leaguers (even in Japan) would, but lacks the arm strength to finish off what should have been a brilliant play.  When it comes to baseball, Daigo can see the picture and just can’t connect the dots – and that’s surely even more painful than being just plain bad (which he’s convinced himself he is, for that very reason).

Daigo is prepared for even more humiliation when an injury forces Satou-kun to enter the game (fantastic and gorgeous, together on the field at last), convinced another “second” will put him to shame. But he gets quite a surprise when Satou whiffs on a pop fly hit directly to him in center field, then uncorks a wild (but blistering) throw into the dugout.  All bets are off when Hikaru reveals he’s actually never played baseball before – which is certainly even stranger than Daigo’s story, given their backgrounds.  I would say more, but as always Major is highly adept at leaving you wanting more – and next Saturday is only seven days away.

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