For all its anonymity, Gurazeni is good, really good.  And I don’t think there’s any question that it’s better than ever right now, as the story has become more cohesive and the stakes have become higher.  Any sports series is more about the people playing it than the sport itself – that’s the secret the best of them all understand.  Of course loving baseball doesn’t hurt one bit with Gurazeni, but as usual it’s the characters that really make this series stand out.

Speaking of characters, I finally realized this week what’s been nagging at me about Bonda Natsunosuke for a while.  He reminds me a bit of Mutta Nanba, the protagonist and best thing about Uchuu Kyoudai.  That makes Bonda a pretty rare character in anime, and that he is – a working adult trying to get by as a plodder in a field full of glamor boys, just like Mutta.  And of course Watanabe Ayumu should be very comfortable with this sort of character after Space Brothers.  I know that’s high praise, and I’m not saying this series is the equal of that one (though not having Racist Gorilla Theater is a big feather in its cap) but there’s something of the same self-doubting but determined everyman in both main characters.

There are those who say hitting a professionally pitched baseball is the hardest thing to do in sports, and I don’t think there’s any doubt that the mental aspect of it is crucial.  For Izuki, the secret seems to have been his decision to move into a Tokyo hotel after his dressing-down by Natsunosuke, rather than commute to Saitama (about 90 minutes).  But of course that leaves him on the horns of a dilemma – he’s homesick and his wife is about to give birth to a breech baby, but he’s red hot – if he goes home will his batting success evaporate?

Bonda is there once more with good advice, but Izuki does start to struggle at the plate anyway.  The difference in experience between Bonda and Roppa is obvious here, but so is the difference in self-awareness.  Bonda is proving to be a great friend to Roppa, keeping him grounded – focusing on his approach at the plate as the reason for his success, not the hotel, and on the opposition making adjustments as the reason it ended rather than a return home.  Scouting really does move that fast in pro baseball these days, and making adjustments is everything.

Meanwhile Natsunosuke himself is pitching lights-out ball, emerging as the manager’s most trusted reliever with a string of 11 scoreless innings in the midst of the pennant race.  The Mops fall by the wayside, leaving the Spiders and the Tempters fighting for the pennant with the last game of the season approaching.  A win and the Spiders are in, a loss and they must go to Osaka for a one-game playoff – a prospect that must seem almost like a sure loss.  And just at this moment Itsuki calls home and finds out that his wife has given birth, and that the baby is in intensive care.

This last game is a really interesting one to watch play out.  Bonda, frankly, buckles under the pressure of the moment – giving up the go-ahead home run in the 8th inning.  But Itsuki saves him with a pinch home-run in the bottom of the ninth, taking the game to extra innings.  And that Japan tie rule comes into play again here, because a tie is what clinches the pennant for the Spiders – and spares Natsunosuke from being the goat.  And happily, the baby seems to be OK too.  Itsuki for once gets the situation right – it was his distraction that allowed him to be free of the nerves impacting everyone else – and Bonda is right that in the end, it really doesn’t matter.  It’s nice to see Bonda develop such a strong relationship with a peer, and now both of them are going to be uncharacteristically in the spotlight as the postseason begins.  Every journeyman dreams of glory – but when the moment comes and everyone’s eyes are on you, is it everything you dreamed it would be?