In case you hadn’t heard the news, Major 2nd has joined the long list of anime postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.  The announcement came today, and I was pretty much expecting it – there was no real reason to believe the series was especially advanced on production.  Still, I won’t lie – I’m seriously bummed.  Of course all these postponements suck, but this was the one I was really dreading.  Major is such comfort food for me, and when I need it the most.  It’s just one show and it’s just anime, but with so much to feel depressed about already this hit me pretty hard.

As a result, it was hard for me to watch this episode in a positive frame of mind.  Which sucks more than usual because while this series doesn’t have off weeks, this was an especially great episode.  And an especially important one too, in that it answered the questions so many have been asking about Daigo and how he came to be the boy he is.  Those missing years were finally addressed, and in a very believable and compelling manner.  All systems were totally go – and the ep ended on a total cliffhanger to boot.

There was so much good stuff this week, even by Major standards.  Goro and Toshiya Major (though not Minor) were looped back into the story.  Toshiya is a coach for the national team now, apparently, and Goro is still playing – in something called the Shikoku League.  Meanwhile Daigo has gone to seek out the benediction of his former coach at Fuurin – an old man with a cane who isn’t, as far as I can tell, a character we’ve met before (though the fact that we never see his face does make one suspicious).

A couple of takeaways here.  First, it’s clear that Daigo is harboring plenty of insecurities despite not showing them to his team.  This, in fact, ties in to a lesson Goro taught him – as we see when Daigo thinks back on how he’s gotten to this point.  Yes, Goro actually deigned to grace his family with his presence and teach his son something – several things believe it or not, one of them being that a captain should never let his players see worry on his face.  But it almost never came to that.  The bulk of the second-years on the Fuurin team (not Tanba-kun of course) are caught shoplifting.  They’re kicked off the team, and it’s banned from competing (it only has five players anyway) for the rest of the season.

As his last act, the old coach (his resigning was totally realistic for Japan) appoints Daigo as the new captain.  But Daigo, understandably, is less than enthusiastic.  He’s totally unsure of his own talent (actually he’s sure he’s the worst on the team) and the prospect of inheriting this mess is less than appealing.  Mom and Onee-chan make the expected appeals to nobility, but the worm only starts to turn when Kaoru-san suggests Daigo talk to her brother before he decides.

Yes, Taiga (so is he a hairdresser now?) finally makes his long-overdue reappearance.  And as the dude who had to take over for the legend when Goro graduated, he understands Daigo’s reluctance.  But he tells the boy how much he enjoyed being part of a close-knit group.  I’ve missed Taiga – he was always a great character, and I’d love to see him involved with the story even more.  But even if that doesn’t happen, this was an excellent way to bring him back in a meaningful way, and not just as fanservice.

I also – for once – really appreciated Goro’s performance as a father here.  He dispenses with the platitudes and appeals to his son’s logical side – this is a rare chance to build a team in his own fashion, and we know that’s something Goro loved.  He also admits he sucks at teaching, but agrees to Daigo’s pleas to help anyway.  It’s not a coincidence that great players don’t usually make great coaches or managers – you can’t teach a lesser talent how to make a sport come as naturally to them as it does to you.  But he understands the dynamic of a pitcher (who’re mostly fragile egomaniacs) and catcher.  And he doesn’t condescend to Daigo – he talks to him as an equal and trains him the same way.

It’s always been wonderful to see the young man Daigo has grown into, but it’s all the more so now that we’ve seen what he went through to get there.  He’s no freak athlete, and he’s as full of self-doubt as any kid in his position would be.  But he embraces his role as a leader – to shield his team from distraction and always show them the face of someone strong and proud even when  he’s not feeling that way.  I’ve always felt Daigo was a great role model, because he’s not a special athlete and he’s thoroughly humble.  He has nothing to lean on but hard work, integrity and empathy – but he manages to ride those virtues to a success of his own making.

And that, then, is that.  The Kanagawa qualifying tournament is about to start, presenting Daigo with his first big test as captain, and it’s revealed (though I should have figured it out) that Chiasato is Fujii-san’s daughter.  Exciting times are ahead – but not for a while.  It’s a real blow – I’ve never needed anime as a distraction more than now, and nothing this season provided me with as much of a welcome respite as Major 2nd.  In the larger scheme of things losing it isn’t very important, but at the moment I can’t look at it with that kind of emotional detachment.  Shaka, when the walls fell.