Things are certainly hotting up with Mix (a trend that will continue next week, if the previews are to be believed).  There are basically three parallel tracks running here – the usual two for an Adachi series (getting a baseball team together and a romantic subplot), plus the Touch angle.  That’s an unusual add-on for Adachi, who generally doesn’t do sequels (Short Program could be counted as an exception I guess, if you loosen the definition enough).  As such, there’s an awful lot of unfinished business with this story, and this is not a writer who normally does breakneck pacing (or until Mix, monthly serializations).

At this point it’s that first track that’s in the ascendancy, which makes sense as it acts as a sort of precursor to the others.  We got the Nishiki angle sorted last week, and he’s a fully-fledged member of the team now.  The early reckoning?  A defensive whiz, not much of a hitter.  He does freak out at seeing his old punching victim, Coach Kuroyanagi, which the others dismiss as impossible as he’s supposed to be in Hokkaido (this is an artful bit of foreshadowing, though we won’t know that until later –  that’s why it’s foreshadowing I suppose).  There are also some literal hit and miss sluggers among the new recruits, though they don’t even merit a name at this stage.

Nikaidou continues to be a mysterious figure at the edge of the narrative.  The captain goes to visit his homeroom three straight days to borrow money (obviously a regular occurrence), only to find him absent.  This leads to some speculation on his part – and rumor-mongering too – which turns out to be off-base (no pun intended).  Nikaidou is in fact fine, but his father has been in the hospital, eventually passing away.  Perhaps this was all about relaying his supposed last wish for Meisei to return to Koushien, but I wonder if there’s more to it than that.  As in, is that enough of a reason to add a new subplot for Nikaidou, or is he destined to return to (or join, since he was never on the high school version) the baseball team?

The main new addition, as he was always fated to be, is Akai Ryou.  He’s also the third corner (sorry, Natsuno) in the love triangle, so you know he’s going to be important.  We finally get the backstory on the feud between Ryou and his stepbrother Tomohito, courtesy Tomohito relaying it to Touma.  It involved Ryou’s dog, which Tomohito carelessly let get run over (albeit while trying to do a good deed), and then fell asleep before he could apologize.  This seems to be pretty heavy stuff – an attack with a bat is involved – but at this point Tomohito just wants his brother to face him on the field.  He’s tired of being responsible for Ryou’s boycott of baseball more than anything.

If Ryou is really his equal in talent as Tomohito says, he’s destined to be the most important non-Tachhibana on the team.  Also the main rival for the protag’s love interest.  So, in a sense, the Azuma Yuuhei of the story.  There are certainly more pieces to this puzzle, with Ichiban also being after Otomi, Arisa being after Ryou, and Haruka after Touma (and Souichirou after her, though he’s enough of a player that it’s hard to know if he’s serious).  Haruka, by the way, has quit the rhythmic gymnastics team to go full-time as the baseball club manager – which has caused it to fold.

As to that third track, the Touch connections have been very slow to reveal themselves.  They may get a little push next week with an episode focused on the “scary stranger” who doesn’t remember who he is but certainly has an active interest in the baseball club.  He was rather a fixture in the second cour of S1 but this will be his first appearance of the season.