neko's thinkbox

Nyaaa. (By the way, that cat has a pretty retarded voice. On the other hand, it could be Maa shachou's great-grandfather or something.)

Nyaaa. (By the way, that cat has a pretty retarded voice. On the other hand, it could be Maa shachou’s great-grandfather or something.)

Long overdue review, but I had the feeling that episode 11 would end the current arc so I wouldn’t need to conjecture about the end of that game. But heck, I love this series.

As I have said in my late season preview series, I have never seen an entire game on TV; usually, I’d only see the highlights of a game, such as home runs, in the news. And until recently, I thought it was a rather boring sport, because I’m used to fast-paced and action-laden rugby, handball, tennis, soccer, where points are just gathering in the scoreboard. As such, I never thought I’d actually manage to enjoy baseball. Until I watched Cross Game, that is.

The first episode mainly did the trick. As I mentioned back then, it did not flood me with baseball action, but it immediately made me like the main characters. I became sensible to Ko’s state of mind after that tragedy with Wakaba Tsukishima, and I became interested in how things would eventually turn out with her sister Aoba. And as the episodes went on, I also grew fond of all the characters in this anime, because most (if not all) have such a natural feel to them. But that is also to relate to the entire atmosphere of Cross Game, which is very down-to-earth. It’s slice-of-life-ish, but definitely more shounen than anything.

Quit yawning, because this anime is far from boring.

Quit yawning, because this anime is far from boring.

The story itself so far is very interesting, although in retrospective, not much has effectively happened. But where other anime would just storm through flashy events and loud, overdriven action, Cross Game has a very mellow pacing with light humor and romance. Some may perceive it as being close to boring, but I believe these proportions to be about perfect. I was a little worried about it at first because I thought it would be a 12 episode seasonal, and so it wouldn’t go beyond this match, but apparently it is going to span 51 episodes.^[1] Nothing to worry about!
It may not make me hit the ceiling in epicness like Basquash! does, but it does enthrall me in a fashion akin to ARIA a year ago. I can genuinely laugh and smile at all the endearing personalities and jokes within the anime without feeling embarrassed. Especially when Ko teases Aoba, it looks so refreshingly sweet, I can’t help but smile. Like when Senda misunderstands Aoba’s presence at Ko’s home, and Ko daringly puts around the arm around herThat’s calling for trouble, especially with Aoba in HyperTsun mode. to underline his suspicions.
There are also moments of suspense, like in the latest episode when Ko pitched against Azuma. I got all fired up, and I was truly happy when he managed to out him. I mean, he could have miraculously pitched a perfect game, but it was all kept real, and he made mistakes against him. So this major achievement was no matter of course, which made me doubly happy.

The baseball element is, of course, prominent in this anime. I am pretty nescient about baseball; in a few PE classes, I was taught the very basic rules of baseball, but it was very liberal^[2]. But Cross Game is a nice introduction to the general rules and terms of the game, even though nothing is really explained in the game. For some reason, I feel like I understand some of it. Fouls, strikes, balls, balks, bunts, and stuff. Of course, it probably isn’t enough to enable me to fully understand the game, but it starts getting familiar. Looking at wikipedia makes me gawk, though. So many definitions and rules, gah…
The merit of this anime is that it makes the game look a lot more difficult and challenging than I thought it was, which also makes it more enjoyable to watch. Although, I wonder if this is also the case for complete baseball neophytes who don’t know anything at all about it.
(Right now, I am watching live baseball coverage on Japanese TV (Yomiuri Giants vs Chiba Lotte Marines) as I am writing. Might probably be over soon, but it’s 4-7 for the Marines in the 9th inning so far. — Safe? Okay, 4-9 now.)

I'm kind of getting the hang of seeing that scoreboard.

I’m kind of getting the hang of seeing that scoreboard. Though I don’t know what the “1x” means. Winning point? I’m too lazy to look up.

The character I like the best so far, is Aoba, the die-hard tsundereHow many episodes until she realizes she likes him?. Quite obviously though, because there is no other main character, and because there is nobody else that raises so many mysteries and questions in my mind yet. Not saying she’s entirely my type, because I’d end up yelling at her for being so stupidly tsun, but her looks are relevant to my interests.^[3] She probably has always been a tomboy and pretty cold against boys, but what is the reason she always claimed to hate Ko, despite his excellent relationship with her family? Is it because she cannot admit to herself that she likes him, but does not want take the place of her deceased sister, or benefit from her death to approach Ko? Or is it because he always garnered Wakaba’s attention, taking her away from Aoba? It is hard, and too soon to tell. She is still too tsun at the moment, though the recent developments probably must have gotten Ko a little more on her good side now.

Speaking of which, the match was very interesting. Ko’s team might not have won the match, but they showed everyone that even a low-tier team can play well. Effectively, they could very well have won it, had Ko walked Azuma instead of giving up three runs. But Ko didn’t care about the result, he just wanted to strike Azuma out.
Nevertheless, his team has gone a long way, and I’m sure they will make it far. From being a motley crew full of individual personalities to becoming a soliary, cohesive team, that old coach as well as that chubby girl sure have done some impressive (lying) work. Those two must have a secret. As well as the old man who was sitting next to Aoba, I’m sure he’s involved in baseball somehow.

Team cohesion is capital.

Team cohesion is capital. I’m sure these guys eventually enjoyed the game, despite their hopes of getting into the top tier team being shattered.

Now that the match and the arc is over, I’m not really sure what to expect next. Preview to episode 12 shows that Aoba is getting a female rival, who might approach Ko and probably might trigger some jealousy from Aoba, but hmm… I suppose there will be another showdown between Ko and Azuma soon. Or something will happen that will force that elitist Daimon coach out with that acting principal, and eventually Ko, Azuma, Miki and all of their teammates from both teams will join forces, and end up at Koushien.^[4]

In the meantime, I hope I won’t spoil myself on the manga while waiting. Which is why I should quickly start catching up to other anime as well. Guess Eden is next.

(Oh and I love the OP song. After half a dozen eps, I finally started listening closer to the voices (because I want to sing as good as the original keke) and they sounded strangely familiar. Of course, it was Kobukuro! I seriously didn’t think it was them at first, mostly because of the rythmic music. I already loved their Toki no Ashioto single, but this song is equally great! Looping it~~)

1. Of course, there are 150 manga chapters… [↩]
2. ie. fouls, balls, and strikes were often omitted to allow the weaker players to run as well [↩]
3. Plus she can’t cook… reminds you of a certain someone? Right. [↩]
4. There was a Detective Conan special that took place during the high school baseball finals at Koushien, where some guy kept hiding cellphones all across the stadium and threatening to blow himself up if Conan and Heiji wouldn’t find those… Ah well. Baseball, srs bsns, eh. [↩]