It’s striking (and progressively more apparent as the series advances) just how different Major 2nd is from Major.  The most obvious difference is that between Goro and Daigo, who could hardly present a bigger father-son contrast apart from their appearance.  But rather than be the extent of the change, the protagonists are symbolic of an approach that’s comprehensively different across the board.  Major was a series about a cocky but ultimately fragile guy blessed with incredible gifts for baseball – a natural in the truest sense of the word.  Major 2nd is about the little things everyone who isn’t a natural has to do in order to succeed at baseball.

When you think about it, it was both ballsy and smart for Mitsuda Takuya to do that, because it makes Major 2nd feel very fresh despite being a sequel.  A parallel might be drawn here between Mitsuda-sensei and Adachi Mitsuru, both of whom were legendary sports mangaka who tried to branch out a little later in their careers, but ended up having to return to their core franchise to regain commercial success.  It worked for both of them, and I’m heartily glad it did because I love both Major 2nd and Adachi’s Mix (which is getting an anime next year).  But as great as Mix is, it feels like a continuation of Touch more so than this series does of its predecessor – it doesn’t change things up in the same way.  I don’t love it any less for that, but it does make Major 2nd that much more intriguing.

Indeed, there is one natural in Major 2nd – but it’s not the protagonist but rather his foil, Hikaru.  I have to confess I was pretty pissed off at Satou for most of this episode, so I was very glad to see Daigo get pissed off too.  Hikaru struggling is nothing to be ashamed of – he is relatively new at baseball, and lacks the ability to understand his own performance and make adjustments the way a more experienced player could.  And his losing composure the way he did (pitching from the windup with a runner on, failing to cover first, a balk) is really a reminder that these are just kids – and kids get flustered and sad when things don’t go their way.

No, what really irked me – and I think Daigo too, though it was Nagai-kun who came closer to saying it outright – is that Hikaru doesn’t know how good he has it.  What would Daigo give to be able to throw one fastball at 120 like Hikaru does, or to be able to take a fastball out over the center field wall?  Hikaru’s effort to remove himself from the game on the grounds that he “lacks a passion for baseball” was really just a weak-ass effort to sound noble, when in truth he was just feeling sorry for himself.  The difference between Hikaru and Honda Goro was that Goro-kun not only had freakish talent (more than Hikaru, to be sure) but he busted his ass like Daigo does to make the most of it.  Hopefully Hikaru learns from this experience of watching others give their all when he was willing to give up.

Of course, the truth is that I find it very strange that the Dolphins didn’t intentionally walk Wataru, and it was his home run that sent Hikaru into a tailspin.  That call wouldn’t come from Daigo, but the bench – meaning it was really a(nother) miss by Tashiro.  The 5th batter homers too, and that’s when the parade of mental mistakes begins.  It’s only an uncharacteristically fierce scolding and then a superb (and fearless) defensive play by Daigo that manage to nurse Hikaru through the third inning so that he can give way to Urabe for the 4th.  That means Andy catching too, with the headline battery moving to the outfield.

Things do uptick from there – it’s Nagai’s dressing down and Andy’s timely gamesmanship on the bases that snaps Hikaru out of it in time to hit a two-run homer, and Urabe cruises through the fourth by striking out the side (including Michiru).  Opportunity knocks again for the Dolphins after another Sakura hit, and while I’m glad to see Daigo take the bold play of bunting with two strikes (and Izumi show up for once) I’m really, really getting to the point where I want to see Daigo do more than the little things for a change.  He deserves a real hero moment, even if he’s not yet the hero type.  I know it’s going to come sooner or later, but it might not be this season.