Eiichiro’s almost in the zone…
What They Say:
Baby Steps centers on an honor student named Eiichiro Maruo who becomes frustrated with his life and decides to join the tennis club. Despite lacking experience and physical strength, he utilizes his studious nature to develop a strategic approach to playing tennis. Taking notes of his opponents’ habits and tendencies, he is able to predict their next move before they even react. He also meets Natsu Takasaki, a beautiful girl with a passion for tennis. With her help, he aims to become a professional tennis player.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Baby Steps is getting frighteningly close to the end of the second season, leaving me hopeful that with the manga sales doing well because of it that we’ll get a third season. We’ve had some very fun material as of late with some of Eiichiro’s opponents and now that we’re getting towards the end of this part of the tournament, the new challenge is one that’s definitely exciting since it’s the semifinals. Having him going up against Nabae here, who has been given just enough of a taste of a backstory to work with after the last few episode and previous opponent, it sets the stage well. Particularly since Eiichiro has learned and grown a lot in the tournament so far with those that he’s been facing off against as there’s a sense that a lot has changed for him in terms of his ability. He’s close to truly being in the zone.
Nabae’s realization of this is certainly interesting as he understands quickly that Eiichiro is playing at his most optimal at the moment and going with shots that he hasn’t before. That has Eiichiro doing his best to not overdo it and become overconfident, but he’s completely feeling it at this point and the inner dialogue we get from both plays as they go against each other is really engaging to watch. Eiichiro has grown immeasurably since beginning not that long ago overall and Nabae’s understanding of just how impressive he’s become says a whole lot. The push goes on so strong that you get others really surprised by it as it progresses and even as Eiichiro takes a loss he’s still very much feeling in the zone and confident about himself and his ability. But like any strong play that goes on, there are cracks in it and we begin to see how Eiichiro’s all up in his own head too much and things begin to fall apart for him along the way.
The back and forth of the match is one that’s certainly spread out overall and not something that happens over and over. With Eiichiro breaking first and then Nabae doing that with his counterattack over the course of the games that are played, it becomes more and more intense as it progresses. We’ve seen Eiichiro challenged before and there is plenty familiar with that here, but with his confidence having grown at the start here, what we get instead is more frustration in that things are not going as they should be for him, causing him to play more intensely, take more risks with shots that he never would before, and to put a lot more of himself into it than ever before. There are some scarily close moments as it goes on and it really raises the tension with the animation and choreography of the shots and their reactions to them through their expressions. It’s no surprise that things don’t conclude here as the games tighten with Nabae’s continued pressure on him, but what we get is really intense in a way that’s different than previous intense games, which has been a strength of the show for a while.
In Summary:
Baby Steps makes some really good progress here with tis installment of the match between Eiichiro and Nabae. It can’t be stretched out too far since we’re almost at the end of the season so we end up getting several games played within the space of this one episode, which shows some really great intensity between the two of them. The final minute alone is just hugely engaging to watch with what it does here in shaking up Eiichiro after he feels like he’s at his best ever. And he is, which is what makes it so much fun since he’s now being pushed even harder without getting time in his comfort zone that he’s just discovering. This series continues to delight and what it presents really makes me excited for the remainder of this season and strong hopes for a third outing.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDL70R550A 70″ LED 1080P HDTV, Apple TV via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
