No question about it, the romantic life of Bonda Natsunosuke-san has been far more center-stage in this second season of Gurazeni. Which is not to say that there’s been any advancement in it – or at least, not much. There has been more direct contact between Natsunosuke and Yuki, which is a good thing – but no evidence that Bonda-san is getting any closer to actually mustering the courage to ask Yuki out.
What we have seen are some close calls with potential rivals – though in both cases, that’s been played up in the previews more than it’s actually impacted the reality. This time around the MacGuffin is Fan Appreciation Day at Jingu Stadium, and I can say with certainty that fan appreciation days are apparently much different in Japan than they are in the States. It’s actually the salaryman trio who invite Yuki-chan out this time – though it’s actually a skate date, and the idea of going to the ballpark comes (from Yuki) only in the aftermath. But one gets the sense those guys aren’t a real threat – they don’t have the balls to approach Yuki one-on-one. Without the cover the group dynamic provides, they’re just as scares as Bonda is.
The real threat seems to come from Natsunosuke’s teammate Akira, the starting pitching who had the snakebit run of deGrom-like starts to open the season. One of the staples of NPB Fan Appreciation Day (at least for the Spiders) is a kakurenbo match between players from East and West Japan (the eternal divide) – some players from the West (including Hiroshima native Bonda) hide in the stands, while four members of the Eastern team try and find them. It so happens that Natsunosuke and Akira are given the dubious honor of cosplaying as King Tut and Cleopatra, and they end up hiding in the seats right next to Yuki and the Salaryman trio.
I gotta say, even if I’m starting to get a bit tired of the stagnation the dynamic between Bonda and Yuki is pretty darn cute (and she’s adorable in her own right). She’s actually sort of a Bonda fan now, as he was the one who gave her Tempters their only run in the final game of the Climax Series – though the trio is horrified when she blurts this out to him in the stands. He’s still over the moon when she shakes his hand, but Akira – who’s far more suave than Bonda, and makes twice as much (for now) decides to make a move. We never do find out just what he whispered to Yuki – he eventually tells Natsunosuke it was just “gossip” – but it doesn’t seem as if he was making a serious play (though he did find out where she works, ominously).
