Mix, like AI no Idenshi, is a show that doesn’t get too much attention in the West.  But it is very, very popular in Japan (always around the top 5 in TV ratings).  And while the following on LiA is never among the site’s biggest, it does at least draw some comments, because Adachi has a core of loyal fans (with grey beards, usually – metaphorically at least).  It would be a stretch to call it a masterpiece like Cross Game, but Mix has definitely found a nice groove for most of this season, including the most recent run of episodes.

It you were looking for surprises (yes, Adachi does occasionally deliver them) this was not your week.  I called this game a fait accompli after the last episode, as it made it pretty clear how things were going to end up.  In the end it was kind of unceremonious for Seinan, which I guess is fitting given the overall Nishimura track record.  It was still an entertaining game to watch play out, though.  And there was no time for even a mention of Shouhei or Eisuke (I’m starting to get a bit worried at this point).  It was all baseball, all the time.

Akai-kun is the key to  what goes down, actually.  First he saves Touma’s perfecto with a diving catch in the top of the seventh.  Then he spoils Takumi’s no-no with a seeing-eye bloop that avoids the defense (he wasn’t out there to catch it, after all).  The first sign that fortune was smiling on Meisei this day.  Ooyama-san makes a very interesting strategic call here – he avoids bunting, reasoning that with first base open Souichirou is just going to be walked anyway.  I like the thinking, but Nishimura-san strikes back by walking him anyway (which pisses Takumi off).  Ooyama then wins the exchange with a double steal, leaving two runners in scoring position for Imakawa.

Whether it was Takumi being discomfited by all this or more luck, Imakawa manages to push a double over the right fielder’s head – or rather, it would have been were he not so slow.  His getting thrown out is really irrelevant, as this is basically game over.  That said, though, what happens in the top of the eighth is still a bit strange.  Touma looks at the clock, notices it’s 12:50, then serves Takumi up a meatball which he takes out of the park – ending the perfect game, no-hitter, and shutout on one swing.  All Touma tells his brother is that he “felt a cool breeze blowing in from center, and my body went totally limp”.   He then throws his next pitch to the backstop, decides everything is fine, and proceeds to mow down the next four hitters and end the game.

So – what the heck was that?  I feel like I’m missing something here (why did the time matter, for example?).  The only thing that comes to mind for me is that maybe Touma thought the whole perfect game/no-hitter thing was a distraction, and intentionally punted it  – but I may be reading too much into what was just an awkwardly staged scene.  In any event the stage is now set for the inevitable fated rematch, three decades later, with Kenjou.  They, by the way, didn’t like the “vibes” of watching all those strikeouts on TV and ditched the game for a practice session.

The other interesting element headed into that match is who will start for Meisei.  I don’t offhand know how the scheduling for the Koushien prelims works, but Ooyama has been alternating his starting pitchers (a concession to reality in modern high school baseball).  If there’s only a day or two between the semis and the final, will he throw Touma out there again in defiance of earlier practice and risk his future?  It’s hard to imagine Touma not starting the climactic match of the entire series thus far, but Adachi has set this up to at least be a consideration.