I almost feel like I’m living in a parallel world with Mix.  In Japan it consistently ranks in the TV rankings top ten, and is a consistent presence in bookshops and such.  But it’s as if it doesn’t exist in the West, which I guess is not that surprising given that even Touch has never been licensed in English.  Adachi has a small but devoted fanbase among old-school fans, but even that seems to have largely disappeared in the past decade or so.

I’m fine writing these posts basically for myself, with a few stragglers coming along for the ride.  But it’s kind of a shame in that Mix really seems to be hitting its stride.  I’m getting that Adachi vibe very strongly now – the humor is clicking and the story is coming together.  Adachi plots are both very familiar and quite complicated, which lends a certain satisfaction to those of us with familiarity enough to watch the building come together brick by brick. And if some (well, most) of the bricks are recycled, who the hell cares as long as the roof doesn’t leak?

The twist in the tale is the interest the Kenjou (that’s Akai the elder’s school) coach is taking in Meisei.  He’s a cocky bastard, but he sees them as “unsettling” – obviously he has good sources.  His plan is to challenge them to a practice game and humiliate them before their team has a chance to gel, hopefully destroying their confidence in the process.  Ooyama-san is a buffoon but he’s no fool, and sees through that trap immediately.  Unfortunately he doesn’t see through the other one – the invitation stating “X” to accept and “O” to decline.

The Kenjou match quickly becomes the center of everyone’s attention.  Harada-san clearly recongizes the name “Sumi Tech” (Kenjou’s old name in case you forgot) when the Dragon owner mentions it.  Nishimura-san gets wind of the match and is clearly far more interested in watching that than watching his own team (and son) dismantle another overmatched practice opponent.  And Tachibana-papa comes home early from work (I’m still not sure whether that back thing was fake or not) to check out the game.  I don’t remember enough about Touch to recall whether Harada displayed some sort of massage skills to go along with his lottery luck, but that’s another piece of his puzzle coming together.

The cat and mouse between the two coaches continues when Kenjou arrives only to find Natsuno-kun starting the match and Touma nowhere to be fioud.  It’s unclear to me whether Ooyama somehow staged the whole robbery thing to avoid Kenjou getting a look at Touma, or was just pleased about it.  If it was his idea, it’s a smart one –  holding back his ace from a match he didn’t want and from which Meisei has little to gain would be a very good idea.  But Ichiban is not a pushover – he’s a clever and determined little pitcher and he has Souichirou leading him.  Plus, this is our first chance to see Akai the younger swing a bat when it actually (sort of) matters.