It occurs to me that we still don’t know whether Mix will return next season, incredibly enough – there’s certainly been no official announcement. But it occupies the time slot that will be taken over by Boku no Hero Academia S4 in the fall, and it seems unlikely we’d get a one-cour show in between (which would be extremely rare for NTV). Mix is also drawing increasingly stellar TV ratings (basically running dead-even with One Piece at this point, and tops among all the non-kids franchises). Also, there’s been mention of an OP2 (by Porno Graffiti) so all in all it would be a major surprise if Mix ended after next week.
I sure as hell hope not, and not just because we’re staring into the maw of potentially the leanest anime season in six years in terms of quality. Mix was good from the get-go, but it’s just now getting great. It’s fitting that the most self-referential mangaka in the business (this week featured Kitamura Kou’s Seishuu being mentioned as a Koushien favorite) had a character deliver a line that sums up Adachi’s stories so well – “this is getting complicated”. Cross Game was the outlier here, the unicorn of a series that grabbed you by the throat in Episode 1 and never let go – most of his series are slow builds, like Mix.
Indeed, no mangaka (in my opinion) can accomplish more with less fuss and apparent effort than Adachi. Despite the being a low-key ep focused on setup, it was genuinely exciting and even tense. It seemed to be over in about 10 minutes, Also, it was a marvelous demonstration of Adachi’s ability (and full credit to Watanabe Toshinori and the OLM staff, too) to convey so much through silence and gesture – a glance of the eyes, a quiet shutting of the door as a sister prepares to talk to a brother about their late father, a middle-aged man wistfully staring at a reminder of his youth.
While Mix is a Touch sequel, thus far it’s a character who never appeared in Touch who’s forcefully reached out from the past to impact the story. Sawai Keiichi clearly made a big impression in a short life, not least on Ooyama-kantoku (and the mother of Otomi’s friend). We do finally get a mention of Touma’s mother, apparently an ace softball pitcher, and the fact that Eisuke-san was cut off in giving more detail about her (even her name) suggests that the information could be important. But it’s Sawai-san and his injury-shortened career as Meisei’s ace that hovers over the story much more than the actual events depicted in Touch.
We’ve already had connections made to potential rivals for the East Tokyo tournament, but Kenjyou High (the former Sumi Tech) is one that’s increasingly in focus. They fell on hard times after their Koushien near-miss, but have a new coach and a fearsome bunch of first-year players – the most fearsome being Akai Ryou’s older brother Tomohito (Suzuki Tatsuhisa). It’s been implied that the Akai brothers don’t get along, and it’s easy to see why – Tomohito has all the charm of a groin pull, and he’s extremely rude to Arisa when she comes to check on the ill Ryou. But on the diamond Akai looks formidable, and he has Adachi’s “left-handed cleanup face” so it’s clear he’s going to be a force to be reckoned with (not least as he’ll be around for the Tachibanas’ entire high school career).
Among all these currents, though, the one which seems to have the most pull is the issue of Souichirou and pitching. Ooyama clearly has unfinished emotional business with Sawai – it’s one reason he keeps pushing Sou to pitch, and you have to wonder if Ooyama would play favorites and give him the ace number over Touma even if he didn’t deserve it, out of a sense of loyalty to a dead friend and a desire to symbolically get Sawai back on the mound in the #1 jersey. But Souichirou continues to resist, insisting that Touma would never lose anyway. Among the main cast Sou has been the most opaque by far, so it’s hard to confidently guess at his true feelings on the matter. But with a first-round date with Kenjyou (the former Sumi Tech) looming, that issue is going to simmer on the back burner for the moment.
leongsh
June 22, 2019 at 10:36 pmThe beauty of it all in Mix is that Adachi is seamlessly weaving in a few stories into one. Juggling an imcreasing number of balls and doing it adroitly. Unfortunately he is so underappreciated outside Japan and mainly because of his art style.
Kudos to the anime adaptation picking up on the many moments of ‘show-not-tell’ littered throughout the manga and making them come to live in animation.
At best, I can see only 2 cours for now. The manga is on-going and has only reached Chapter 86. This episode of the anime comes up to Chapter 29. Considering the manga chapters are being released monthly, it would take another couple of years before sufficient chapters are available for another 2 cours to be adapted.
karma
June 23, 2019 at 1:04 amI feel that the club has nothing to gain from Ooyama’s meddling, and everything to lose. He can’t use both boys as pitchers without a catcher of Sou’s caliber (and I’m not sure if even Nishimura’s club could find such player). Trying to use any of them as a pitcher AND a catcher would probably ruin that boy’s arm. Just switching their positions would at best even out (with Sou being better as a pitcher, but Touma being worse as a catcher), at worst it would break their battery.
Am I missing something?
leongsh
June 23, 2019 at 7:08 amIt’s very much what Souichiro has said so far:
1. There’s no catcher now of Souichiro’s calibre in Meisei now that would be able to make effective use of the two Tachibana brothers pitching. Getting Souichiro to do pitching would also require him to start practicing as a pitcher and that would eat into his time practicing as a catcher and supporting Touma as the catcher. It is not about the Tachibanas switching roles because getting Touma up to speed as a catcher (mind you, a normal catcher and not one of Souichirocs calibre) would take a longer time as he has not played that position before and would definitely joepardise his pitching.
2. Souichiro recognises that (REDACTED).
*rereads post a few times to check for any spoilers before posting*
Guardian Enzo
June 23, 2019 at 8:50 amBut you need multiple good pitchers in high school baseball. And if Sou is even the 2nd-best pitcher on the team, he should be used as a pitcher part-time even if it means the captain or somebody else (probably not Tou-chan, who you wouldn’t risk injury to) catching him.
Stöt
June 23, 2019 at 7:29 pmYeah, this episode was really good. I’m fully on-board now! but If it ends next week I’d feel thoroughly cheated.
Guardian Enzo
June 23, 2019 at 8:49 pmSo would Porno Graffiti.
Stöt
June 24, 2019 at 7:19 amI mean, googling “Mix Porno Graffitti” was a mixed bag, but it yielded some nuggets:
https://sp.pornograffitti.jp/info/?fbclid=IwAR3s19nncozkYXHuTk9qx8515fYuhpVpUUJv1R0P-PrgfNkPH_O96y52K_I
Guardian Enzo
June 24, 2019 at 7:34 am“Opening theme of July period” seems pretty unambiguous to me.
Nadavu
June 23, 2019 at 8:38 pm‘he has Adachi’s “left-handed cleanup face”’
As soon as I saw that vacant stare I realized who’s been sending those balls into the river..
Alex
June 29, 2019 at 2:30 pmThank you for these reviews! I love Adachi’s work and it’s great to see others enjoy it too. Shame that Cross Game isn’t available legally streaming in English anymore- Hulu had it but no more.
Guardian Enzo
June 29, 2019 at 2:47 pmYou’re welcome and yeah, that really is too bad. One of the all-time greats.