Ace of the Diamond Season 2: Episodes 13-15 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2021-12-15 14:01:03 +0000 UTC**Headphone Warning Possibly**
No, I did not have long winded ramblings for this set of episodes, but does that mean they were any less enjoyable?! HECK NO! These episodes were GREAT!
We're starting on the Ugumori vs. Seidou game and there's already a mind game battle with our aces, and Miyuki is being tested as a captain, catcher, and cleanup already! There's a lot going on in these episodes, and while the discussion wasn't an hour long like last week, there's still a LOT set up in this set of episodes that I'm curious to see how it will play out in the episodes to come.
Also, here here for Zono and Miyuki high-fiving that drama away early! Yay! And Nao x Umemiya is a ship and I will hear nothing else about it! ;)
LINK: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/1DKDzBCovXMjWz3ozoaWbT?
Thanks for watching with me and for the support!
Comments
RIGHT!? I really love Ugumori and they definitely remind me of Yakushi, but with that calculated edge to them! And the chemistry between Nao and Umemiya, at least at this point in the story, is definitely stronger than Miyuki and Sawamura’s to me. Not to say our boys won’t “get there,” but for right now, you can tell Nao and Umemiya are sharing brain waves, haha! I can see Ugumori and Umemiya being a combination of so many schools and players we’ve seen so far, so it’s harder to “pin down” exactly who or what team they remind me of; I definitely get a Kuramochi/Miyuki vibe from Umemiya (with him being a delinquent – as we find out later on) and with Raichi’s intensity. Those are all good comparisons. I agree that they probably didn’t underestimate them as much as Mei and Inashiro as a whole, but Ugumor is such a surprise team for these episodes. That’s good to note about the top 16 spot for Ugumori, though! I love that Nabe is so onto things in these episodes – he’s becoming one of my favorites! And yeah, I can’t blame Furuya either; I really liked him in this set of episodes. It doesn’t stop me from wanting Sawamura to become the ace, but I can’t be mad at him for persevering at this point, growing, and doing the best he can! Our “missile man!” 😊 And yesss, of course Miyuki is going to be the most analyzed, hahaha! Our gremlin. There’s definitely communication issues – Maybe Nabe was afraid of Miyuki’s response; the guy is pretty intimidating, but I’m glad that Zono is there to point out Miyuki’s mistakes or flaws, and I’m glad that Kuramochi (for now) retains that “middle ground” to keep the team from entering a civil war, haha! I’m just happy that Zono and Miyuki (for now) put their differences aside! Ooohhh, and that’s really cool about the exercise they teach Sawamura being an actual thing! I love that! 😊 Thank you for the comment – yessss, this next set of episodes; fun times ahead, right?!
Romaniablack
2021-12-20 17:19:47 +0000 UTCI've got to say, I'd forgotten how good this game was! Ugumori has all the Yakushi vibes that made them my favorite opponent of Season 1, but without being a carbon copy. Even more than that, I kind of want them to win as much as I want Seido to win. Their team personality is that attractive. And the chemistry between Nao and Umemiya in particular is out of this world; it might even be stronger than the chemistry between Miyuki and Sawamura. The way I see it, Ugumori - and especially Umemiya - seems to be a synthesis of a lot of the teams and characters we've seen so far in the series. For example, Umemiya has a past that is similar to Miyuki, where he refuses to respect his seniors just for the sake of getting along; and to Sawamura, where he gets into a fight that threatens his future. But he chose to give up rather than continue with baseball (at least until Nao came along). He also has Raichi's intensity and ability to intimidate pitchers; but whereas Raichi's is uncontrolled - and almost a force of nature - Umemiya has tempered that intensity and uses it at will. As for Seido, "fissure" aside, I think that - led by Miyuki (who is definitely angry about losing the opportunity for revenge) - they /do/ go into the game underestimating Ugumori, although maybe not to the extent that Mei and Inashiro did. It seems to be a serial problem for Seido, although it actually makes sense; we forget sometimes that Seido is the ranked team and not the underdogs. And underdogs win when they're not taken seriously. Nabe even warned them, but everyone just follows along with Miyuki's "Mei just self-destructed". (That being said, as a correction, Ugumori only made the Top 16 in the qualifiers for nationals; not the tournament itself. Teito was the East Tokyo team in that made it to nationals). You kind of pre-emptively defended him when we discussed last week, but funnily enough, this might be the most I've liked Furuya in a while. And I don't really lay much blame on Furuya for Umemiya's home run. Actually, having mentioned Yakushi several times, that entire situation reminded me less of Mei ignoring Tadano and more Sawamura ignoring Miyuki the first time he pitched against Raichi. And Furuya simply got his turn facing an absolutely furious Miyuki, even if it was verbal rather than a violently thrown ball. I'll be very happy if he learned the lesson Sawamura learned. Of course, I won't stop wanting Sawamura to become the ace at some point. Regarding the fissure between Miyuki - I feel like Miyuki is going to be the most analyzed character by the end of this series - and Maezono, Maezono is absolutely correct, and Miyuki is absolutely wrong; not because of his world view, but because he failed as captain in the first step: he did not fully listen to Nabe. He listened just enough to create an assumption about what Nabe actually wanted and made up his mind based on that assumption. The only leniency I'll give Miyuki about it is that when he relayed that assumption, Nabe didn't say anything to refute it. Having been a teenage boy once, I don't understand how Nabe didn't vocalize his internal refutation; I certainly would have had no trouble. Regardless, we (and they) are lucky that it wasn't allowed to affect the game. Finally, for this week's facts, the exercise that those two (as yet unnamed?) guys teach Sawamura is real. And it's really performed by Kenta Maeda, "MaeKen", who is still playing. The other is that the ending song is again a composition of the voice actors; in this case all the first-year first-stringers. I'm really looking forward to Wednesday!
zeroantizero
2021-12-19 06:08:51 +0000 UTCUgumori is just SUCH a fun team! :) OH WOW! I didn't catch that he called him Narumiya! Oh wow, he was PEEVED! That's a great point to note! @.@ Holy cow, yeah...hmm.... Yeah, they were harsh words, but you could tell by the end of these episodes that he didn't necessarily "mean" it -- he was just on the defense and projecting his own frustrations. He shouldn't have said them, and I'm glad someone called him out, but I'm even more glad that they made up. Yeah, Kuramochi is a godsend at this point, because Zono and Miyuki can be very emotional characters (though Miyuki's "emotional" is a little different than Zono's) but Kuramochi seems to be the one that can stay grounded between the three -- I like that the OVA on him kind of foreshadows this with how he reacts to his friends not supporting him and him just being sort of quietly angry/sad about it. But yeah, teenage drama...that high five of them making up made me so relieved! And Itsuki trying to learn from Miyuki is PRECIOUS. I really hope that he takes what he learns back to Inashiro! :) I just want to see him call out Mei once; that'd be great! Awww, and that is great that he apologized to Nabe! I am still hoping we'll get some post-game stuff between them, but Miyuki spending these episodes proving he's a competent captain and mending fences is a good thing to move forward with! And yessss, I love Umemiya! His VA sounded familiar (it's been a loooooong time since I've watched any Naruto); I love his character, though! I can't wait for the next set of episodes to come out! :)
Romaniablack
2021-12-16 20:43:56 +0000 UTC@Isa, I was wondering that, too!!!
Romaniablack
2021-12-16 03:51:28 +0000 UTCI always thought that the sign miyuki gave nabe was to ask/tell them to cheer loudly (to make the mood better) because everyone went quiet after the home run. But thats my assumption 😂
Isa
2021-12-16 01:47:02 +0000 UTCI love Ugumori so much lol. I love seeing them play. Something I noticed this time around was when Miyuki was mad about Inashiro losing and was talking about Mei shaking off Itsuki, he actually called him "Narumiya" instead of "Mei" like he always does lol. Seems someone was pretty mad 😂 I'm glad you didn't write Miyuki off in that argument as being a complete asshole. Obviously he was really harsh in saying that they aren't there to play house and hold hands and make friends but it absolutely was him being defensive. He clearly felt cornered by Zono and wanted to fight back about it so he said some really harsh shit that he doesn't even really believe. As a captain he'd never say those things and mean them but clearly he shouldn't have said them in general. I've seen too many people write him off completely and not understand that he got defensive and said things he didn't mean. On the other hand, Zono as vice captain also shouldn't be screaming at the captain like that infront of everyone else, nor should he be putting his hands on Miyuki. While Miyuki has a duty as the captain, Zono has duties as vice captain and it got too out of hand. If Zono disagreed with how Miyuki was doing things he should've asked to speak to him privately and not done it infront of everyone. I really do think Miyuki is a great captain but he does lack some empathy as you said. On the field he's great. He leads the team really well with his plays and doesn't show his fear or his panic. Just gets it done. He just needs some help with the personable aspect of it but that's why he has vice captains lol. I love seeing Itsuki trying to learn from Miyuki. Not to be a Miyuki clone but just to learn the important things that a catcher should know as half of the battery. Miyuki deals with difficult pitchers so Itsuki trying to see what it is that helps him work with them to apply to his own problem child at home is a great idea lol. Also that sign that Miyuki gave Nabe was him apologizing. In Japan a common apology is the hands together praying sign, he just didn't have 2 hands free since he was holding his glove so it was a one handed sign but it was an apology to Nabe directly. Umemiyas voice actor has been in a lot of things actually. I know him best as Shikamaru from Naruto but he's been in tooooons of shows so you likely do recognize him from somewhere lol
Kelsey
2021-12-15 23:05:11 +0000 UTCOooh, I could see that! I would say they're scarier than Johzenji in HQ, because of how "calculated" they are! It'd be like if Oikawa or Akaashi was the setter for Johzenji, hahaha! But yes, Nao is adorable and they are a lot of fun; I really like them in his match! I'm SO glad Miyuki and Zono ditched the drama by the end of this; at least for now. And yesss, Furuya can take someone being stern to him; he and Mei can be "high maintenance," but Mei is a very DIFFERENT high maintenance than Furuyua. That's true about Miyuki honing in his communication skills to non-pitchers; I am glad that Itsuki is able to see this with Miyuki and I'm eager to see what he takes from this game back to Inashiro...and dealing with Mei. :)
Romaniablack
2021-12-15 20:03:28 +0000 UTCThis team reminds me of the party team in Haikyuu. They just love playing and nothing gets them down! And they make reckless plays! Such a fun team! ✨ And Nao is just so cute! Love him!!! When Seido was talking about how Inashiro lost despite having better players because of their lack of team work and making it seem like our own team work would fall apart. I was STRESSED! 😖😭😭 Thankfully, Miyuki & Zono put their differences aside for the sake of the team😮💨🙌🏻 In that first inning when you see clearly the difference between an experienced catcher like Miyuki and a newbie like Itsuki. Miyuki immediately realized Furuya was pitching selfishly & put a stop to it, while Itsuki let Mei push him around. And I loved how when Miyuki put Furuya in his place, Zono noticed how he himself would have done the exact opposite & try to placate Furuya instead of reprimand him which would have been the wrong choice. And that makes him realize that Miyuki does have good leadership qualities. He just has to hone them when it comes to other players that are not the pitchers 😅 And of course I loved when Miyuki apologized to Nabe! ❤️❤️ In the end, both Miyuki & Zono accept, at least a little, that they were somewhat wrong.
Melanie Marie
2021-12-15 16:52:41 +0000 UTC
