The Seidou v. Yakushi game has begun and Furuya struck out the side in the first inning, but the offense struggled to get anything going.
What They Say:
“The Ace Title”
I want to pitch to that mitt again… A meeting with catcher Kazuya Miyuki changed the 15-year-old Eijun Sawamura’s life. He said goodbye to all his friends and knocked upon the door of Seidou, a prestigious baseball school, intent on testing his own strength. There, he met many proud baseball players who were betting everything on the sport! A classic tale, yet new and fresh. All the emotion and excitement of the popular baseball manga is at last coming to television in the form of an anime!
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The game skips to the top of the fourth now with Seidou up to bat and a man on first. The batter tries for a bunt, but gets forced into a double play. The score after three and a half innings is still 1-0 on the wild pitch.
Furuya is still dominating, but hasn’t yet faced Raichi twice yet. In fact, he gave up a double t him in the bottom of the second. The good news for Yakushi is that they’re starting to hit the balls, but they’re being forced into ground balls. Now Raichi is up for Yakushi with two outs in the bottom of the fourth, but Raichi flies out to deep center.
We’re blasting through the game right now, a huge contrast to the nine episode marathon of the Inashiro game. As of yet, Furuya shows little signs of fatigue and a lot of resolve. Eijun can’t match Furuya in pitching yet so he’s going to have to depend on Furuya to get tired or make a mistake. He’d get pulled either way when that happens and, as good as Yakushi is at the plate, he will mess up eventually.
The former pitcher and now outfielder, Tojo, seems to have some history with Yakushi players. The Yakushi pitcher throws a low forkball, but Tojo lets his bat go just a little bit and gets a shallow single due to a poor defensive performance from Raichi. Kuramochi bunts and almost makes it to first on his speed, but advances Tojo to second. Haruichi hits a single straight back to the pitcher, who was unable to catch it but manages to block.
Men on first and third, Maezono is up for Seidou and hits a hard foul past first base. Maezono’s struggling at the plate and hits a ball straight to the pitcher. He remembers some words from Isashiki, but can’t manage the same kind of magic.
Top of the sixth with Eijun trying to get into the game, Furuya hits a deep double that brings Kazuya home. No one else could get offense going, but that’s Seidou up 2-0. Bottom of the sixth with Furuya still on the mound, Yakushi shows bunt. Furuya runs up to field, but it’s really just to wear him out. With the first baseman covering a shallow infield single, Furuya can’t manage to get to the base in time for the out. Furuya walks the next batter and now it’s men on first and second with no outs for Yakushi. Furuya knows when to step up when it matters and strikes out the next batter. He’s a man possessed.
In Summary:
The Seidou team is moving clearly in a direction in favor of Furuya and his dependable fastballs. He lacks stamina, but he’s still going strong in the sixth inning. Plus with dependable relief pitchers like Kawakami and Eijun behind him, the coach has almost nothing to worry about. The problem is we’re not getting enough of the game action to really see how Furuya’s doing. It’s like watching a crap ton of highlights from the game. I loved the slow pace of the episodes in the Inashiro game because it was almost like watching a baseball game. You could get into the nitty gritty of analyzing the pitchers and the batters at each step. But baseball anime shouldn’t really imitate real baseball to that extreme all too often.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: PS3, LG 47LB5800 47” 1080p LED TV, LG NB3530A Sound Bar
