What They Say:
“Miracle Akikawa”
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)
Furuya walked a few batters, but he’s warmed up now and he’s throwing strikes straight down the middle. The batters practiced against a pitching machine that shot balls at 150 km/h, but that’s not a real pitcher. In the first, the fifth batter for Akikawa is up: the pitcher and wonder boy from Taiwan, Yeung.
Yeung swings the bat for the first time for Akikawa. The ball’s high and Yeung swung at a high ball. The problem being that he’s already used to Furuya’s speed. He swung at the right time, just inside the strike zone instead of where the high ball went. Furuya’s tightening up again, no thanks to Yeung’s overwhelming pressue. Kazuya calls for another forkball to loosen him up. The real thing that’s spurring him on is the team behind him, the team he knows will field for him if need be.
Yeung hits a high fly to left and he doesn’t get the catch. Akikawa scored two runs on a double from the pitcher. Furuya is lost. The next batter strikes out, but it’s too little, too late.
For Seidou, it’s up to the first two batters. They have to get on base and put pressure on Yeung. Kuramochi tries a bunt on the first pitch, but Yeung gets to the ball too quickly. Kominato is the second batter and he keeps hitting fouls to raise the pitch count. But Yeung’s good. He makes extremely slightly changes in the catcher’s position and it’s pressure on the batter instead of the pitcher.
Through the next few innings, everything goes Akikawa’s way. The same play Seidou missing in the first inning turns into a miracle play for Akikawa. On top of that, Furuya’s been pitching for a while now and it’s not getting cooler as the day goes on. His stamina won’t hold up.
In Summary:
The game is not going Seidou’s way, and this is really the first game it’s not. There were those practice games, sure, but first years Furuya and Eijun were tired from the training camp then. It hardly counts, especially since this is the tournament. If they lose here, that’s it. No more Koushien for Chris-senpai and that just can’t happen. I believe we’re going into the fourth inning now and I don’t even know if Seidou’s going to be able to get out of this pinch.
Grade: A
Streamed By: Crunchyroll
Equipment: Radeon 7850, 24” Dell UltraSharp U2410 set at 1920 x 1200, Creative GigaWorks T20 Series II
