Been so happy to see a series return off hiatus.

Spring 2020 is still in the ballgame (pun intended) to be the first anime season where I don’t end up finishing a single series – sequels included.  Honesty compels me to call Great Pretender a spring show, Nihon Chinbotsu 2020 is gripping but full of (spectacular) flame-out potential, and Deca-Dence will have to prove more interesting than it was in its premiere if I’m going to cover it for its entire run.  It’s a harrowing picture, and especially with Kingdom stuck in purgatory the return of Major 2nd couldn’t possibly be more welcome.  Now – let’s just hope it has no more damn hiatuses.

This is not to say Major 2nd isn’t frustrating at times, but it’s the right sort of frustration – plot-driven and in-character.  Sports manga (especially legends like Major) always play the long game, and development takes time.  There are things that don’t sit well at the moment, but Mitsuda has his reasons for them.  And as much as Daigo has matured into a measured and insightful coach, he’s still a 13 year-old boy and it’s not realistic to expect all of his decisions to instantly pay dividends.

We begin with the squad getting ready for the Seiwa game.  Daigo is running late – giving the slacker advisor false hope of a forfeit – but in fact, he’s running early.  Scouting the first game may seem a trifle ambitious given the odds, but Daigo is nothing if not meticulous.  It’s obvious that Seiwa is going to present a huge challenge because of the way they play.  Their coach (who I don’t recognize as any returning character) is absolutely right – for middle-schoolers, it’s almost impossible to deal with the kind of multi-tasking necessary to contain a skilled baserunning team.

Daigo is not naive in baseball terms, and he’s certainly seen this coming.  His advice to Anita and Sakura is spot-on – don’t show your cards early by giving Seiwa your best pickoff move (which is a problem because Anita is asking Sakura to be too fine before she’s found her groove, causing a leadoff walk).  But Seiwa responds in textbook fashion – a one-way lead.  Simply put, this is a huge lead the runner takes with the sole purpose of enticing the pitcher to try and pick them off.  And Sakura bites on it, despite Daigo’s warnings.

The top of the first is pretty much a disaster all-around.  Never having gotten into rhythm in the first place thanks to Anita, Sakura is discombobulated at trying to deal with Seiwa’s running game, and she ends up walking the bases loaded.  This is how a running game can cause damage even without any stolen bases.  What’s worse, Anita switches off on Andy’s sac fly to right, and despite Akira’s laser throw (he’s a pitcher, remember) the runner is safe due to Anita’s poor positioning and slow tag.  She then gets drawn into throwing to second, allowing a second runner to score.

Fundamentally, this is the problem with Major 2nd and Fuurin at the moment – Daigo really needs to be the catcher.  Anita has a good arm but she’s not ready for this, and it’s not practical (as witness his attempt to call time) for him to control the game from left field.  So why isn’t he the catcher – why has he ceded the position (for now) to Anita?  Learning experiences are fine, but tournaments are win or go home – and Fuurin is a team that desperately needs as much match experience as it can get.  We all know Daigo is eventually going to be the catcher again – so how and when is that going to happen?  Frankly, from my perspective it can’t come too soon.

For the nonce, Seiwa presents a sizable obstacle and above and beyond their small ball offense.  Urabe was always a pretty good pitcher, but he’s added a nasty Uncle Charlie to his repertoire, a pitch it’s asking a lot of middle-schoolers to hit.  Yayoi – clearly the most advanced of the Fuurin hitters – does manage a single to center, but it seems unlikely Fuurin are going to string together a lot of hits off Urabe.  It’s going to take all of Daigo’s wiles and imagination (and maybe a position change) to give Fuurin a real chance in this matchup.