Another argument for the 5 episode rule…

Given its late start, it’s not that surprising that Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudoubu is the last real bubble series of the season.  It’s been a bit of a see-saw with this show – which means that the second episode was the only one that was really “up” so far.  The premiere was fine, but the third ep was a big step down for me.  Frankly I was learning towards dropping Tsurune after last week, but the see-saw is still in motion – this one was definitely better (though not as compelling as the second ep).  In short, right now I just don’t know.

Masa-san is certainly the main thing keeping me interested at the moment – mostly in terms of his mentor relationship with Minato-kun.  As I feared this week did devolve into something of a catfight between Onogi and Minato over Masa’s attention (though mostly a one-sided one), but not so much as to be a deal-breaker.  Another concern I have is that we’re going to see some sort of romance angle between Masa and Minato, which would – I’m sorry – be seriously creepy unless it’s portrayed as a one-sided crush from Minato and handled with extreme delicacy.  Hopefully what we saw this week was simple audience pandering – which while something I never celebrate, is better than the alternative in this case.

Kacchan is a big problem for me in and of himself.  It’s fine for characters not to be likeable, but damn, this kid is a pill.  I’d really like to see someone smack him down for the belligerent way he interacts, especially with Minato (and no, Nanao’s playful jibes don’t really count).  I’m still waiting for someone from the second tier to emerge as a really engaging character, but it hasn’t happened yet.  It’s probably too much to ask that it be one of the girls, given the realities of this series, but it would be nice if one of the guys (Seiya is the most logical candidate but he rubs me the wrong way so far) makes the jump.

The kyuudou side is definitely better – that’s mostly working for me.  In that sense it’s a good thing Tsurune is a KyoAni series, because this is a sport that’s so ritualized and elegant that it really demands to be portrayed with visuals like these.  I’m liking the whole vibe with Masa and Tommy-sensei – the adults are definitely the most interesting characters here, along with Minato.  Perhaps the most important thing is that I do genuinely like Minato as a protagonist and I do genuinely care about his struggles with target panic – that’s a good base to build on.  That doesn’t mean we’re going to see a masterpiece erected here or anything, but there’s enough reason to be hopeful of something worthwhile that I’ll be sticking around for at least another week.