We seem to be more or less alternating between sports and salaryman drama.  And that’s just fine with me.  I enjoy both facets of Ryman’s Club, and the series is uniquely positioned to leverage both of them.  It’s refreshing to have a sports series where the change of pace isn’t high school politics and teen romance.  For these guys real life is real life – spouses, kids, presentations, annoying bosses, repetitive stress injuries.  And that’s apparently what it’s like for professionals of non-glamor sports in Japan.

This week is all on-court, and it’s the battle with Unisics that takes the spotlight.  Mitsuhoshi lurks out there as the big dog among big dogs, but Unisics seems to be the clear #2.  In fact the doubles pairing of Kirishima Hayato and Oginome Daiki is apparently the second-ranked team in the world (or Oginome is the second-ranked doubles player – that wasn’t clear).  Mikoto takes point on strategy again, and it involves throwing the first game to get a read on their opponents and lower their guard.  That, and utilize the puff of breeze inside the auditorium, which Mikoto judges will impact play significantly.

It’s not as surprising as it would have been a few episodes ago that the good guys win this match – it’s become very clear that both Mikoto and Tatsu are very strong in the small world of elite badminton.  Still, any time “World #2” is across the net from you beating them is a big deal.  But it doesn’t come without a price, and the hints that Tatsu might be nearing the end of the line become billboards.  Whatever is going on with his leg it clearly isn’t good, and it’s now a mortal cinch that Ususyama is going to step in as Tatsu’s replacement.  That’s going to suck – Tatsu is the best character in the cast for me, but hopefully he’ll remain connected to the plot in some form.

The rest of the tie doesn’t go nearly as well.  The bishounen phenom Misora-kun (he likes to kiss the birdie) makes short work of Souta-san.  I wonder if Mikoto will graduate to singles at some point – it seems pretty clear Souta isn’t an elite talent.  And the B doubles team loses in straight sets as well, despite Kouki imagining everyone in the gym (including his partner, which seems like overkill) is naked.  Mikoto is the most broken up about all this – the others seem pretty happy to have made the quarter-finals.  But the biggest loss here is Tatsu, though the others don’t know that yet.

The big “S/J” league (I’m assuming this is even bigger than the corporate tournament in badminton world) is upcoming in five months, which is not much time for Usuyama to get back into the swing of things after a decade or more of fatherhood and office work.  It’s nice that he’s getting back into the sport – his wife is right, a guy shouldn’t give up on his dream.  I would guess we’re building towards a showdown with Mitsuhoshi (which includes Tatsu’s old partner, Izumo) as the series climax (which gives us time for another ginger ale episode or two mixed in with the badminton).