Yeah, I won’t even pretend I knew what Shamen Uchiokoshi was.
And I kind of still don’t. Even by the standards of sports manga and anime kyuudou is a knowledge black hole for me. I find it fascinating in a mysterious and abstract way, as is so often the case with Japanese martial arts. But I certainly don’t understand it to any meaningful degree. So I don’t really mind it when Tsurune goes educational like it did this week, since it’s a learning opportunity for me.
Still, I wonder if that’s part of the reason why Tsurune isn’t a more popular series. It’s a funny sort of show – you don’t think “under the radar” where KyoAni properties are concerned, but outside the Ikebukuro community I really don’t see this one get much attention. It does get pretty geeky about bows and arrows sometimes and maybe that sounds as Greek to most viewers as it does to me, and turns them off. Shamen Uchiokoshi is apparently the “cool” form Nikaidou uses that Minato admires. As best I can tell it has something to do with taking the bow back in an angled rather than straight position. And it’s apparently less common than Shomen Uchiokoshi, though not – obviously – unheard of.
I’m also not sure whether Tsujimine is directly responsible for the “cause and reason” Morioka-sensei and Masa-san are on about for Kazemai’s downfall against them (I’m as clueless about it as the boys are). Tsujimine is certainly all over the map – funky timing, unorthodox draws above and beyond the whole shamen-shomen thing, a senior who seems barely strong enough to draw his bow. But they get results, including in their match against Kazemai – results enough for a 17-13 win and a berth against Kirisaki in the finals. It means a lot more to Kirissaki since Tsujimine – like Kazemai – won their regionals and are already booked for nationals.
Whatever the reason, Kazemai – including Minato – is clearly out of sorts against Tsujimine. Nikaidou doesn’t seem that upset to lose to Kirisaki in the finals, but it’s clear he considers any chance to face his old junior high teammates as something of a grudge match. He seems to be the closest Tsurune will give you to a designated villain this season, so there’s certainly more backstory coming with him. As for the good boys, they’re left to ponder on their struggles – and Masa goes so far as to ban Minato from practicing until he figures out what happened. I know Japanese coaches are big on letting kids figure stuff out for themselves (at least in manga), but would it kill him to at least drop a hint?
SeijiSensei
January 19, 2023 at 10:52 pmEnd of this episode reminded me of Ashito’s being moved into the backfield. In the episode that follows he starts to learn how this perspective widens his understanding of the dynamics of soccer. I don’t really see the same educational value in sitting Minato down.
Does it not matter in this sport which part of the target you hit? There don’t seem to be any more points awarded for hitting a bullseye than hitting the outer ring.
Guardian Enzo
January 19, 2023 at 11:38 pmI think in kyuudou all that matters is a hit or a miss, not where the hit is.
Llinos
January 20, 2023 at 4:43 pmThe ED was really nice this episode. Definitely enhanced the feeling of introspection, but also perhaps bewilderment from Minato.
I think it has two do with a bit of an egoistic and isolated way Minato started to shoot. The themes of the last season (if I recall correctly) were about teamwork, and trusting your teammates.
It became really “I” centered and Minato didn’t even realize the teams score until it was called. Which showed his focus was “elsewhere.” It’s interesting that they frame it on the 3rd round. The anime made it seem like the 2nd round is where Minato’s sound was off that messed up the lead. I like the development of this, since I wasn’t sure what Minato’s development would be along now that he is enjoying Kyudo again, and I could definitely be very far off.
Joshua
January 21, 2023 at 10:50 amNikaido is such a transparent attempt to try to recreate Free’s Rin in being an asshole rival to our main character, it hurts. Given that KyoAni owns both franchises, it doesn’t seem too far-fetched to assume that they’re really trying to recreate that show’s success here, down to doing what’s basically a rehash of Free with this rival, another tournament with a competing school and the like. Maybe we’ll even get a redemption episode too so that the fujos can swoon all over him as well. Not a fan even with this animation.
Guardian Enzo
January 21, 2023 at 2:39 pmI like Tsurune much better than Free. Don’t see many similarities at all beyond the superficial.
Joshua
January 21, 2023 at 11:05 pmFree had the pretense at the very least of being based around relationships and the like (when looking past the fanservice), and because Rin was Haruka’s childhood friend and former teammate in grade school, that gave the series (season 1 at least) stakes because you want to see if he could mend this broken relationship back together at the interschool swim tournament due to Rin coming back and being such an asshole to him (eventually getting to know more about him and he becomes more sympathetic as a result).
Here? s1 had the pretense of the past coming back to haunt Minato figuratively and literally in the form of competing against his former school (which gives him the motivation to overcome his target panic), but here in s2, Nikaido is trying so hard to copy Rin, yet another former teammate from middle school who is an asshole to our main lead, competing with him at a rival school. And I expect to see them roughly follow the same beats as that season, namely the egregious angst, another sympathetic backstory for Nikaido to “redeem” his character, our main team losing confidence after losing more matches, Minato finding passion in the hobby again after losing it once more, etc.