What They Say:
“Emergency”
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)
Tanba seems to have struggled in the second half before picking up the forkball. Batters could read his fastball and curveball easily, but with the third pitch, it’s harder. The forkball comes to the batter exactly like the fastball, but drops right before the batter’s box. As it is, Tanba is the clear starter with his deep rotation of pitches (compared to Furuya and Eijun) and his experience. The problem with all this is that we’re learning these things basically through exposition. The only other way I can think of immediately is flashback. He’s the team’s ace, but we barely know anything about him from first-hand experience.
Since my predictions are rarely correct, and I was expecting another moment like Uesugi Kazuya, I figured I’d just be wrong. But no. This time, a ball strikes Tanba right in the face, cracking his batting helmet and his chin. He might not be ready for the summer tournament as a result. The team’s morale is deflated and the coach’s decision to not continue the game might have been a bad one.
If you watch both Space Brothers and Ace of the Diamond, recall when Hibito went to Russia. They said they would have sent Hibito out again after his accident. Well, maybe Seidou should have sent Kawakami, Eijun, or Furuya out to the mound after Tanba’s injury. Think what it could have done for morale if one of those pitchers allowed zero runs.
As it is, no one knows what to do. Practice has been ramped up so the team’s ready and Eijun and Furuya are focusing on fundamentals with Chris, but they’re not going to be ready. The team’s going through the motions and working as hard as they can, but you wouldn’t know that from the sidelines. They’re a team that’s lost their ace pitcher (I’d be pretty deflated if Chris Sale went down for the South Side Sox).
Where I was previous really excited to see what the tournament would do for Tanba as an ace, I’m now really excited to see what it’ll do for Seidou as a team, especially for Eijun and Furuya’s growth as ace pitchers. I have a feeling that whoever comes out on top after the tournament will be the ace next year. Let’s hope the anime goes on for that long.
In Summary:
I should always expect tragedy in sports anime. It’s inevitable, and I don’t know why I didn’t see it coming or expect it this time around. But this is why we get so attached to sports and to sports fiction so much. When we see a star player go down with injury, we’re deflated as fans and the team only feels it that much more. Ace of the Diamond captured that feeling perfectly and it’s usually bright color palette changed to more realistic. But when the team gets pumped back up because of a big play, that’s when we as fans get back on our feet and cheer. I’m waiting for the big play.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24 in. Vizio 1080p HDTV, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II
