It’s hard not to walk emotional roads where Mix is concerned.  Adachi’s writing lends itself to that anyway, and endings are always emotionally charged with long-running series.  There are other factors playing into this for me, as well.  There’s the fact that Meiji Jingu Stadium is on the cusp of demolition, the subject (along with Jingu Gaien and its magnificent gingko trees) of a fierce confrontation over the metropolitan government’s plan to pave over all of it for a massive office park.  And that we’re in a time where the titans of baseball manga are fading from the scene, whether we like it or not.

That part makes me especially melancholy.  The Mix manga continues of course, as does – for now – Major 2nd.  But Adachi Mitsuru is over 70, and while only 58 himself, Mitsuda Takuya has battled health issues which have caused extended hiatuses in recent years.  There’s no way to know if either series will finish as their mangaka intended, or whether either will see a continuation in anime form.  The public still loves these series, they still sell by the six-figure opening weeks and their anime draw big ratings.  But they represent the end of an era, and a golden age for baseball manga and anime.  More will surely follow (I think Diamond no Kouzai has a lot of potential), but we may never see their like again.

Adachi has a particular style with emotional moments, and Mix is no exception.  Indeed this episode was about as expansive as he gets, and it was very understated.  In fact he gave the biggest emotional payoff to Shouhei, who “accidentally” went back to the Tachibana house instead of his family home.  For whatever reason this was the scene that really got to me in this finale – this gruff, somewhat absurd titan of a man expressing his grief for Eisuke and concern for his children in his awkward way.  It’s an odd sort of bond that developed between this family and Harada-san, but it says something about both of them that it developed at all.

As for Otomi and Touma, there was no “Cross Game Episode 1” moment – and maybe that makes sense, given the difference in circumstance.  Touma and Otomi certainly opened up to each other, shared a lot of truth.  Maybe there wasn’t a catharsis but there was a sense of acceptance and comfort.  These two edge closer and closer to acknowledging the truth – like it or not – and they mean more to each other than anyone else.  “I didn’t need another Souichirou” Otomi tells him (who would?).  She was “indispensable” to Touma, and everyone should have the feeling of being indispensable to someone.

As for baseball, well – the fall tournament is out there, and while it pales in significance next to summer Koushien, it is the coming out party for the new builds of every high school baseball team in the land.  Natsuno starts the first game, and struggles a bit – giving Touma a chance to show his own acumen where the art of pitching is concerned.   In a year he’ll hand the ace number to Ichiban, but for now he still wears it on his back.  He comes in and puts out the fire, and Ooyama-san notes that he’s moved past the loss and returned to himself (though Haruka corrects him as to the nature of that transition).

As for the future, Arisa transferring her crush to the elder Akai brother seems to leave the younger out in the cold (as he has no chance with Otomi, though of course neither does Ichiban).  You can’t “get over” the shock of something like what happened to the Tachibana family, but Touma seems to have accepted that he remains a part of that family, and that gives him the foundation to start rebuilding his life.  You don’t forget, but you do move on, and the three siblings walking to school together (Sou waiting for his brother is a rare thing indeed) is a good indication that they’re doing just that.

Mix is one of those series where the cumulative impact is greater than the sum of the individual ones, and the absence is felt more keenly than one expects.  I  will indeed miss it a lot.  It’s not a masterpiece on the level of Cross Game or even Touch, but it is very much true to the character of it author – one that’s unique in manga and anime.  The only constant in life is change, and it’s no less true with anime than anything else.  And for those of us that wish the era of Adachi and Mitsuda could last forever, accepting that it won’t doesn’t mean getting over it – but it does mean moving on, with fond memories in our hearts.