That was a much-needed tap of the angst brakes…

One thing about sports series, especially featuring kids – the cliffhangers can be really stressful.  You get so invested that when the time for competition rolls around, the tension ramps up pretty high.  Of course we’ve been experiencing a different sort of tension with Hoshiai no Sora as often as not, so it was the right time to step back from that with something more straightforward.  In purely practical terms the stakes for the sofuteni club couldn’t be any higher, but at least no little boys were slapped down a flight of stairs or robbed at bootpoint.

Mind you, I was expecting the worst when Maki’s mom gave him that ¥10000 guilt-abating reward, but daddy dearest never showed his ugly mug and nothing terrible happened.  In fact Maki used the money to buy esa (animal feed), because as usual he had a cunning plan (I’m ashamed I didn’t spot it as soon as I saw the goya) he was cooking up (he’s so good at cooking he doesn’t even need a kitchen).  That plan is hatched as a result of a chance meeting with Ouji-kun at the local shrine.  Also on-hand (I wonder if it was a “pray for good luck in sports” sort of Kami) are the Itsue Brothers – the national champions from the previous year.  They’re so good even Ouji considers himself out-awesomed by them.

All of this is not to say there wasn’t some family drama here, but it was rather sedate compared to what we’ve seen already.  Rintarou’s parents tell him his birth mother has told the adoption agency she wants to meet him, and that timing could hardly be worse.  It doesn’t seem to have thrown him based on his play at the tournament (unless it indirectly led to his leg cramps, which is theoretically possible).  And Ryouma tells Touma that he’s been instructing Maki (at the latter’s initiation) in a slice serve.  I’ve been thinking at some point Touma might start to resent all the attention Maki is getting and the fact that he’s basically usurped the captaincy, and it seems finally to be happening.

Speaking of Touma, there’s no question his confrontation with his mother (long overdue if you ask me) was partly caused by his ill mood.  There’s always been more to this story than what we know, and that’s still true – but her telling him “I never wanted to be your mother” and “if only Ryouma had stayed out of it” certainly has a momentous ring to it.  As I extrapolate a few possibilities from this, they’re all pretty bad.  Eventually we’ll learn what’s really going on there but it’s a relationship that seems pretty much beyond repair.

Compared to the others, Taiyou’s parents – who we finally meet – seem innocuous enough.  They clearly love Taiyou and believe they’re being supporting, but thr truth is (and this is sadly very real) they’re applying a sort of negative reinforcement that’s clearly led to Taiyou being such a beaten dog (ironically).  All this talk about how if he (inevitably) fails it’s not his fault, and how they love him even if he (inevitably) fails.  Well, the impact of that on a kid is obvious.  By Hoshiai standards they’re practically model parents but the health of their son’s psyche kind of puts that to the lie.

That leads, finally, to the tournament.  And because three teams must play, Nao and Taiyou have to step in for Shingo and Tsubasa.  The seitoukaichou has made it clear that the club is finished if they don’t win a match at the tournament – a move designed specifically to amp up the pressure on them (yes, you are being a bully).  First out of the gate it’s Rintarou and Itsuki against a no-name pair of middling reputation, and things start out swimmingly.  But the aforementioned leg cramps kick in before the pair can close out the win, and eventually they fall in a final game.

That, of course, leaves things in the hands of the meek – two boys beaten down by parents in totally opposite ways.  Maki’s animal feed has paid off in a scouting report from Ouji (Okinawan noodles trump loyalty) and the chibis offer up a spirited resistance using a string of unorthodox stratagems against their by-the-book third year opponents from Misaki.  Honestly I really would have liked to see Taiyou and Nao (who seems miraculously recovered from his breakdown last week) be the ones to save the club, the it obviously couldn’t come down to that.  The twin terriers only have so much running in them, and eventually experience and skill trumps trickery and gumption (again in a final game).

That leaves it all up – of course – to Maki and Touma, the latter of whom still seems very salty.  Their opponent is Chekov’s Gaijin, the 178 cm Joy (and whoever he’s playing with) from Hatanooka.  And logic says they really should win this match – it doesn’t seem likely that the club could be wiped out against this opponent, and Chekov’s Twins are still out there.  But one thing about Hoshiai no Sora as opposed to most sports anime is that is isn’t really a sports anime, and that gives you the impression that it could defy prediction and go off in any old direction.  In any case I’ll be worrying like crazy about those precious grasshoppers for the next seven days.