The matches continue and more eliminations are brought to the fore.
What They Say:
Echizen is in danger of being disqualified for leaving the court and not participating in the challenge matches. While the team members search for him, Echizen and Toyama continue their match against Oni and Tokugawa slowly realizing the gap in their skills.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
With the first couple of episodes largely focusing on the new characters for the series and some of the Seigaku players, this one starts to turn its focus back to Ryoma for a bit as he plays against Tokugawa. Ryoma’s reputation definitely precedes him though a lot of people aren’t aware of it, so they get easily suckered in by his age and height more than anything else. But those that know him are intent on taking him down a peg to show him that there are older, stronger and better players out there that he can’t defeat yet. This match is run in parallel to the other one going on at the moment that has Toyama playing against Oni and it’s the more annoying of the matches so far as Toyama is just so comical and flippant with his style that you want to duct tape his mouth and slap him around.
Ryoma’s match against Tokugawa is definitely fun to watch since it’s the kind of thing that does show some of the differences between their play, though in some ways it feels like it marginalizes what Ryoma has accomplished so far because of the struggle that he faces. Similar to what Toyama is going through, they’re doing well in holding their own but they’re definitely sweating a lot and breathing heavily while their older opponents are more measured and pacing themselves better. And as we see with Ryoma, Tokugawa is still bringing in new moves to show him that there’s a lot more to learn and that he’s facing someone with real skill and talent. Running these kinds of elements while bringing in scenes of other players being eliminated and the concerned look of his fellow Seigaku players helps to reinforce the intensity of it all.
Because of the back and forth, the episode doesn’t quite maintain any real intensity across the whole thing, especially as it deals with some of the less interesting new characters that are going through their own elimination matches before becoming contenders later on in the series. They’re showing us what they’re capable of, but it’s in such short bursts and interspersed with other matches that it’s hard to really latch onto any of them with any meaning. It’s just more superficial than it should be. Which, of course, is what makes it harder for new people to jump onto the series since even the Seigaku guys likely come off the same, but long time viewers have more knowledge about them so it’s easier to be drawn into it all.
In Summary:
At this stage, I simply want more Ryoma and more of the Seigaku guys in general, but also to get past this overall round of elimination. It’s one thing in regular matches in competitions, but here it just feels too forced with what it’s trying to do, especially with the acting director of the camp and his silly evil vibe he gives off. Things are moving forward here though as we see from a few of the scenes, but it’s going to have to start working harder to really get me excited by using the characters that I want to see. I like the overall idea here and what they’re trying to do, but it’s gotten bogged down quickly in things that feel more like it’s just spinning its wheels rather than getting to what it really wants to do.
Grade: B
Readers Rating: [ratings]
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Review Equipment:
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70″ LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
