A break between games…
What They Say:
“My Path”
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)
There’s a brief glimpse at what the other few dozen people on the baseball team look like…and it isn’t great. There are only 20 jerseys to give away on game day and Seidou is much bigger than that. Most of them are aiming to get on the first string, but that isn’t always the case. There are three stragglers that want to quit the team. Baseball isn’t for everyone; perennial benchwarmers in the majors do it for their job and, probably to a lesser extent, for the love of the game. Benchwarmers in high school baseball just…quit… Some still love the game and turn to coaching, and some just stop. For Nabe, it looks like that’s the route he could go. Or perhaps scout, if Miyuki was a better captain.
Miyuki, like Yuki, is very much a captain that leads by example. In truth, Seidou doesn’t really have someone that could be a great captain on the team right now—at least that’s a second year. Perhaps Shirasu, but he’s had about five lines in the entire series. The other options were the previously-not-a-starter Maezono and the sort of cocky Kuramochi. Miyuki has the best baseball sense of the three and already commands the pitchers; he was the obvious choice. The problem is Yuki knew what to say whereas Miyuki just speaks his mind. His words are harsh and can eat at you if he’s not careful, but he’s also saying something that, sometimes, you need to hear. This could spur Nabe onto a different path, but it could also tilt him off the rails that he was about to step off of willingly.
The 20 that do have numbers on the backs of their jerseys? They’re preparing for the next round of the tournament, against Nanamori. If they win this game, they face Inashiro again. It’s a game that all the starters from the fall tournament are looking forward to, especially the pitchers…but that very motivation could be their downfall. Looking forward to Inashiro when they haven’t beaten Nanamori yet is cocky. Some of Seidou are going into Nanamori expecting to win when they should be focused on the game at hand. It’s the exact same as Masuko making an error at third because he was thinking about his next at-bat.
But Seidou is going to have a different man on the mound to start the game. Furuya is being relegated to left field due to his performance in the last game and Sawamura takes the stage.
In Summary:
This next game will be indicative of how Sawamura will do if (but who are we kidding when) Seidou plays Inashiro in the next round. Putting Furuya in the outfield will help him calm down and it’ll give him some good cooling off before he inevitably steps on the mound. Sawamura is always looking to prove himself, but Furuya has redemption on his mind and revenge for Inashiro. If I were the coach, this is Sawamura’s last real chance. You can’t risk the same thing happening against the same team if he fails here, but Seidou manages another W.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: PS3, LG 47LB5800 47” 1080p LED TV, LG NB3530A Sound Bar