From the outside looking in to a string of digest partners, all fallen by the wayside, and now its own post.  Shakunetsu Kabaddi is a survivor, the tortoise amongst the hares this season, and it’s still here.  Like so many other spring series it’s a “yes, but…” – there is one major niggle that holds it back for me at least potentially.  But on balance this series has turned out to be a solidly entertaining and genuinely interesting sports anime, and I’ve never had an easy time saying no to those.

That niggle is Oujou, the captain of the Noukin squad.  I still find his “ability” veering uncomfortably close to the supernatural.  And a sports series aiming for realism is like a house of cards in this respect – just one removed, and down it tumbles.  I can just about accept that Oujou is just really, really good at kabaddi – so far.  That’s what I kept telling myself watching this episode, because apart from that irritation I was really enjoying it.  I find myself far more interested in this exotic sport with its nesting doll of complicated rules than I ever expected to be at this point.

Bonus points for explaining the bandage on Azemichi’s noggin – I would have been irritated if that had just been a cosmetic affectation, but the explanation makes perfect sense.  Of all the new stuff introduced this week I think the “Lona” (an unfortunately timed introduction in Japanese pronunciation) is the most important.  In short, if all your players get taken out by the opponent, you can bring them all back but only at the expense of two points for the opponent.  And as we saw this week with the right raider, than kind of thing can definitely happen.  Not only that, I can see scenarios where an attacking team would rather allow the opponent to limp on with one player than accept the two points and let them all back on the court.

For a while the captains have little input on what’s happening in this match.  Rokugen is content to let Takaya Ren do most of the raiding, and it’s easy to see why as Takaya decimates Noukin on raid after raid.  He also winds Tatsuya up with his relentless taunting, proving that the protagonist still has a long way to go to be a serious force in this sport.  Rokugen concentrates on defense, though he does finally take a turn raiding – which leads to Azemichi reopening the cut on his pate and being forced to the sidelines.

This is the payoff, of course, as the magic man finally enters the fray. In fact getting Oujou one on one is what Rakugen has wanted from the beginning, and he effectively aborts a raid in order to make that happen.  This is a minefield for Burning Kabaddi, as Oujou quickly eats through most of Souwa’s huge lead a little too easily, but it is fun to watch play out.  Having already driven himself into traction through overwork, just how much stamina Oujou really is an open question.  But the second half promises to be interesting, as Oujou and Tatsuya have each found a natural rival on the other side.