Here’s the windup…and the pitch…
What They Say:
“You’re in the First String”
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: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Zaizen Naoyuki, Chris’s old rival from junior high, is back at the plate and only Eijun and Chris stand between him and glory. But recall that Chris is struggling. He’s not 100 percent and his right shoulder is hurting by now. And, like usual, it’s Eijun that pumps everyone up. They’ve got runners on first and third and only one out and Chris is worried about all sorts of things. But Eijun just says, “Focus on the batter” and we’re back in the game.
Zaizen tries a squeeze bunt to bring the third base runner home. Eijun saw the run and instinctively threw the ball to the ground, just like against Azuma. And hats off to the catcher for making sure that wild pitch didn’t actually go wild. Chris got the ball and jumped up to pick off the third base runner. After that, though, Zaizen can only get foul balls. Several in a row. But the time in the batter’s box reveals something similar to Chris: he’s got an injury too. A ligament in his right knee tore and he’s just not the guy he used to be. Just like Chris. His right leg and Chris’s right arm are twitching and it’s Eijun’s game to lose now.
After what has to be about five or six pitches, Eijun returns to his old pitching form. He’s going to play hardball like true baseball players play hardball: straight down the middle. After six walks and no runs allowed, Eijun got the strikeout. This is where we truly learn to love sports anime, folks. The moment that is 12 episodes in the making now of Eijun winning then losing then learning and finally reaching the finale where he pitches the perfect pitch down the middle by combining his old form and the new one. Because, just like Touch, it’s not trying to do what Kazuya did for Tatsuya. It’s about doing it his own way, which ended up as four balls in a row near the final episode.
Eijun and Haruichi are, of course, chosen for the first string. But the coach spends some time after they’re chosen to talk with the about dozen other third years who no longer have a chance to play in the first string. It is perhaps the scene of the show thus far as the coach knows how hard these guys worked and actually bows to them. Eijun’s watching from outside though and he wonders why he was chosen over Chris, and over the other third years. This was their last chance and, with two more chances himself, why him and not them? Why not Chris?
In Summary:
I wonder why I get so wrapped up in sports anime, because a lot of it follows the same or similar formulas. But I think back to Touch and Tatsuya reaching the Koushien (the Japanese Nationals for high school baseball). I think back to Chihaya and Mizusawa beating the top team in the karuta nationals or Taichi finally making A-class. I think back to even moments like Tama screaming down her foe in Bamboo Blade and I realize that sports anime is completely dependent on how well you’ve built up this moment and Ace of the Diamond does it rather well. It’s certainly no Touch or Chihayafuru, but we’ve grown to love Chris through Eijun’s love for him and we feel when he wasn’t chosen for the first string.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24 in. Vizio 1080p HDTV, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II