There’s other good anime out there, but nothing quite like Mix.

OP: “VS” by Porno Graffitti

Somehow or the other, an Adachi Mitsuru series scratches an itch no other can.  There are plenty of sports and even baseball series I love, and shounen romances too.  But Adachi has an ineffable quality to his writing that can’t be duplicated (by anyone except him of course, and he’s the unquestioned master of that).  No other writer in manga uses familiarity as positively and powerfully as Adachi does.  And no other writer’s anime give me the same feeling – partly the comfort of your favorite recliner, partly the excitement of your favorite sport, partly the bittersweet tang of remembered emotions from your own life.

After a two-week wait that felt much longer, Mix returns with an episode that hews close to a couple of Adachi’s core values – surreptitiously tense and intense baseball and self-referential humor.  The first dose of the latter comes when Otomi calls Natsuno for an update (from the pool changing rooms – the poor lad almost goes on tilt).  When he tries to claim he’s home sick and she makes note of what a noisy and crowded home he has, Natsuno protests that a “famous mangaka” has just walked by the house, and a curious crowd of people were following.

That phone call proves to be auspicious in a mystical Adachi sort of way, as Touma somehow manages to hear Otomi’chan yelling into Natsuno’s phone and is inspired to hit a homer of Kenjyou’s crafty southpaw, Kita-kun.  How that reflects on Touma’s comment that “only obnoxious guys can hit Kita’s pitches” I don’t know, but it does give Meisei a short-lived 1-0 lead.  Short-lived, because in his next at bat Akai-nii hits a two-run dinger following a passed ball wild pitch dropped third strike.  Akai himself proclaims he “got lucky”, and if someone as cocky as him says so it must be true.  But that doesn’t change the number on the scoreboard.

We get our next bit of Adachi-ism in the classroom, where Akai-otouto proves to be just as distracted by events at Meiji Jingu Second Stadium as Otomi.  He’s completely missed the teacher’s lecture on the significance of “Adachi Mitsuru”, and is unable to repeat it on command.  It’s worth nothing that in the manga the teacher wrote “Ichihara Takenori”, who’s the Editor-in-Chief of Shounen Sunday, and Akai-kun made a comment about him being so fat he broke a scale. But I’m assuming the anime staff figured not many viewers would get that reference…

The real drama on the field is actually not so much the home runs, but what happens after.  Touma leads off in the bottom of the sixth, and Kita – who does a very poor job of hiding his intentions, as his coach points out – promptly plunks him in the (left, fortunately – the advantages of not being a switch-hitting pitcher) arm.  This is a BS, dirtbag move, plain and simple – the merits of ever throwing at a hitter can be debated, but doing so for hitting a homer off you is gutless and childish.  Touma comments to Akai at first base that he should in theory target him now, to  which Akai replies “Go ahead.  If that’s the sort of baseball you want to play.”

Now, my personal view is that Touma would never have thrown at Akai anyway.  And despite Kita’s provoking him, he doesn’t throw at him either – he merely mows him down on three blazing fastballs, which is exactly the right response.  Touma – like all Adachi protagonists – is an amiable sort, but not the kind of boy you want to piss off.  And judging by Akai’s reaction to all this, Touma wasn’t the only one Kita’s bush league move pissed off (well – and the benches almost cleared, too).  But again – that doesn’t change the number on the scoreboard…

It’s a very interesting move to conclude the episode with such a radical tonal change, as we shift to Sou and Otomi’s mother arriving home from shopping carrying a “Baseball For Dummies” type book in the shopping.  After the machismo-driven martial spirit in the ballpark, this is an introspective and wistful moment – a way of bringing Sawai-san back into the mix (and for Adachi to slip in more fourth wall-breaking, as Okaa-san scolds Punch for making noise “because he hasn’t appeared as often lately”) and reminding us that Mayumi-san knew nothing of her first husband’s short-lived but eventful baseball career.  This is the special element that Mix brings to the table, the link to the past – and in case you were inclined to forget, Adachi is making sure you don’t.

ED:  “Kimi ni Tsutaeta Story” by Qyoto