There was never any question what the meat of this episode was going to be.  There probably wasn’t a lot of question as to the result either, although with Ushio-kun being a first year the outcome wasn’t totally a foregone conclusion.  Hinomaru Zumou has done a very good job making the intricacies of a sumo bout interesting, though they inherently don’t lend themselves to in-depth analysis the way the character stuff does.  What you saw here was pretty much what you got.

If anything told me that in spite of a narrative case that could be made for the alternative Ushio would win, it’s this: he takes sumo more seriously, and always has.  Sada is obviously immensely talented but he pretty much blows off practice and team duties.  And as it turns out, he’s a multi-sport jock who took up sumo for the challenge of trying to make wearing a mawashi belt look cool (and admittedly, that’s a stretch goal if ever I heard one).  He hasn’t paid his dues for this the way Ushio has – which is not to say Sada hasn’t worked hard, just not as hard.

This bout was always going to be a long one by sumo standards – the moment demanded it – and it didn’t disappoint.  Just by managing to grab Sada’s pristine belt Ushio won a victory of sorts, as apparently no one else in high school had been able to do that.  But the two rikishi are pretty evenly matched, despite the size difference.  What makes the difference to me is that Sada seems content to always be reacting to what Ushio does.  I suppose that reflects a supreme confidence on his part, but it allows Ushio to dictate the terms of the fight.  And he’s truly indefatigable – he might lose, but it won’t be due to exhaustion or quitting mentally.

Neither guy walks away from this unscathed – both manage to injure the other’s arm, Sada’s seemingly the more serious (it’s not clear whether this causes him to skip the individual competition, or he was always planning to anyway).  But Ushio does eventually prevail, managing to unveil the triple move he’s been working on.  In the aftermath it’s interesting to see Yuuma cast himself in the role of comforting Kei – he’s being kind in referring to the two of them in equal terms, even if the term is “dead weight”.

Now the focus turns to the individual meet, where I assume Ushio would be a heavy favorite if his arm isn’t a factor.  Indeed, Chihiro may be emerging as the biggest threat to him – his improvement as a sumo has been meteoric, though his background as a wrestler obviously helped with that.  Ultimately sumo is an individual sport, even if meets are contested in teams – in that way it reminds me very much of karuta as depicted in Chihayafuru.  Ultimately your teammate may become your enemy, and you have to face them with the same ferocity with which you would face anyone else.  If Chihiro and Ushio meet (and it would be a major upset if they didn’t) I suspect that’s not going to be a problem for either of them.