Ace of the Diamond Season 2: Episodes 10-12 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2021-12-08 14:01:03 +0000 UTC**Headphone Warning For Sure**
So....yeah....I had things to say about these episodes. A LOT of things. Is this an episode of Attack on Titan, or is it Ace of the Diamond?! I mean, Kaji's voicing characters in both, so...
These episodes may be my favorite in the series so far. The parallels, character development, themes being discussed, and our sunshine boy hitting his highest high (as is my shipper heart) and our diva gremlin reaching his lowest low...it's the making of EPIC storytelling for sports anime...or just anime in general.
LINK: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/7TTKz1czMG14S9Rp3mqTby?
Thank you for watching with me and for the support!
Comments
Seriously, I was surprised too with how much I had to say, but these episodes…so much happening! And reaching character highs and lows – they’re definitely some of my favorites! I was SO HAPPY that Sawamura hitting another batter didn’t take him out of the game mentally – he was able to move forward! It was SUCH a great moment! And the fact that Sawamura and Miyuki were on the same page (and seeing that flipped with Mei and Itsuki later on) was soooo satisfying! I love the idea of Sawamura as a “sunflower” and that he has the potential as an “ace!” The great thing is, too, I think that even if Sawamura becomes an ace, he won’t get an “ego” about it – he just wants to be the ace to be the best for his team, which is in contrast to why we see Mei wanting to be the ace (to lead to victory himself…which causes the self-destruction) later on. In the next set of episodes, I’ll talk about it – I can’t find myself hating on Furuya too much; obviously, I LOVE Sawamura and am at Rei-levels of fangirl for him, but story-wise, Furuya’s just…simpler in his mindset. I definitely get frustrated that he’s the current ace, but I can see right “now” why he is, but with these episodes, it’s opening the doors for Sawamura to rise up, which I really like. I definitely prefer Furuya having a good game than the last set of episodes when he was moping/failing…because of how it affected the team as a whole. It’s a strange conundrum, haha! I think my favorite part of Umemiya is that he’s not just a blunt/hyper energy person like Raichi (even though he HAS that energy), but that he plays mind games with the other players. It’s a neat angle to take a character like his and makes those moments like with Itsuki and him that much more compelling and interesting. Yeah, I definitely get Sanada vibes from him as well…except maybe Sanada is more…classy? Hahaha, maybe not so manipulative? Hm. It’s hard to word. And yes, Ugumori reminds me of Seidou, too, so it’ll be neat to see how this next game goes down with them! I do agree that Inashiro lost the game more than Ugumori won it. If Inashiro had been on its game like they were with Seidou and had Harada…I don’t think the outcome would have been the same, but here we are. And yessss, Mei’s arrogance spread to others; I like the idea that the Ace’s mindset is contagious with the team – we saw that when Sawamura was down mentally, and how it affected the team (and he wasn’t even technically the “ace” in that moment). That line by Kunitomo and his monologue was chill-inducing and probably one of my favorites in the series so far. Mei was finally put in his place and was told what he needed to be told to get him back in gear. Yeah, it’s going to be interesting to see how they pull themselves together! Thank you for the insight into how the invitational words! So…teams that are “out” could technically still get an invite – while that maybe doesn’t make the tournament seem as “prestigious” as the summer one, I think it’s exciting because that means that anyone could “technically” still show up! 😊 Thanks for the comment!
Romaniablack
2021-12-14 16:02:26 +0000 UTC@zero I'm fine to move on lol you're the one who brought it back up 😂
Kelsey
2021-12-13 03:51:04 +0000 UTC@kelsey I disagree with you about the yips from a clinical and story perspective, so I disagree with you about how they're used in this story. I think it was cheap and you don't. Neither of us is going to change our opinions on this matter, let's move on from here.
zeroantizero
2021-12-13 03:47:06 +0000 UTC@Zero the yips subplot was a massive plot point for Sawamura. It gave him the need to improve one thing at a time instead of just improving all around. It wasn't a way to nerf him for Furuyas development (because let's be real Sawamura was not improving particularly quickly and they were quite on the same level and there was no need for a nerf) it was a way to recenter him. It was a way to show how inexperienced he was as a player of a high caliber team. He had always thought of going to nationals but he had never experienced the actual pressures or desire from a team of high level. Sawamura had no control and needed it badly. The yips gave him a way to figure himself out mentally. To figure out his goals, how strong his convictions were, his passion, his concentration. All of it. And it also gave him a reason to slow down and focus on his control. He did not recover quickly and even during the Nanamori game when he threw inside, he's not over the yips. He threw 1 inside in a game. Thats not over them. The yips arc is one of the most heartbreaking and compelling arcs in sports anime. And one of the most unexpected. The yips have no pattern so it's weird to me that you're trying to use something that even in the real world has no pattern and criticize a fictional story for not following a pattern you think it should to make sense. You can think what you want but if Sawamura has the yips or not isn't a debatable topic. It's a fact that the author wrote into his story. Plot points like the yips give reason for characters to mature and grow up. Sawamura needed to mature and grow up. Wasn't cheap at all.
Kelsey
2021-12-13 03:04:51 +0000 UTCWow, I can't believe the discussion part was almost as long as the reaction part! But so much happens in these episodes! From perhaps Sawamura's highest point since the match with Sensen (the match after Yakushi 1 and before Inashiro) to one of Mei's lowest points. And effectively two matches in three episodes! I really can't put into words the feelings of relief and excitement of seeing Sawamura pitch to the inside again. Especially after the "oh, ****" of him hitting another batter. I was ready for another breakdown, but it thankfully never came. Yes, there was frustration, but he wasn't devastated. Like you, my favorite part of that scene was Sawamura turning down Miyuki's call for an outside pitch and pushing for an inside. That took courage and faith in himself, and Miyuki responded by having faith in him. It's all the more exceptional that he finishes his first start pitching a shut-out game that's called after 5 innings (it helped that Seido's batters were very good this game; they went through their entire rotation in the first inning on top of scoring 5! runs - certainly because of their anticipation for the expected game with Inashiro). As Miyuki said, Sawamura can finally be in contention to be the ace; and I fully expect him to grow into one of those sunflowers that's as big as a person's head! Not wanting to repeat the arguments about its nature (although I thought maybe you and/or @kelsey would be interested in an article I had read on the yips that did the most to establish my opinion: "http://treadathletics.com/yips/"), I do have some final thoughts on the yips sub-plot, which reduce to "I could have done without it". Because Sawamura recovers so quickly, I feel that the author decided that Sawamura was improving too fast and nerfed him for a while to give Furuya a chance to catch up to (and move past) him and build up a true rivalry. It feels cheap instead of compelling. As good as those Sawamura moments were, the most shocking moments were between Inashiro and Ugumori. Ugumori in particular is impressive, especially with a captain and ace like Umemiya, who is good at both defense and offense, so unlike pitchers normally. Add that onto that the cunning and skill to play psychological games on Inashiro. I really like him (and like you, I support Umemiya/manager-kun). I still get Sanada vibes off of him more than anyone else in terms of personality, but his combination of slow and fast curveballs - and the speed difference between them - seems to be all his own, to the best of my recollection. (The finger dexterity thing is similar to Sawamura, who on multiple occasions has been described as having flexible joints; however, I disagree that dexterity isn't a trait that can't be developed with practice). But Ugumori's fielding as a team does remind me of Seido's. Still, to be honest, I think that Inashiro lost this game more than Ugumori won it, starting and ending with Mei. Being the leader, and without someone like Harada to counter him, Mei's arrogance has spurred the others to be arrogant as well. Ironically, the only player even trying to counter him is Tadano (although I thought Hirano managed Mei masterfully), but Mei still ends up steamrolling him (cf. Miyuki and Sawamura; if Miyuki had been insistent on an outside pitch, I have no doubt that Sawamura would have followed, even unhappily - he's already learned that lesson). Led by Mei, the rest fully embraced the play-for-the-team-but-not-as-a-team and "results are more than methods" mentalities that infuriated Kunitomo and gave us the most memorable smackdown of this series so far: "It's my fault we lost, for putting you on the mound". That was simultaneously awesome and chilling. (Also, by the way, it's hilarious that during the reaction, I wrote down "truth bomb after truth bomb" verbatim, and you said something similar during the discussion, LOL). Inashiro will have a long off-season to re-evaluate themselves. Lastly, to answer your question about the Spring Invitational/Spring Nationals, invitation is purely at the will of the Japan High School Baseball Federation. However, the winners of the Fall Regional Tournaments (each prefecture is assigned to one of ten regions; but Tokyo and Hokkaido are made into regions unto themselves) are all but guaranteed an invitation. Another eighteen are also invited based on the results of the regional tournaments, and an extra invitation is given to the home region of the winner of the Meiji Jingu Tournament (a tournament of all the Fall Regional winners that takes place in November). Finally, three teams are invited that impress the JHSBF, limited to the Top 16 teams that did not move on to the quarterfinals of their regional tournaments, for a grand total of 32 teams. See you next week!
zeroantizero
2021-12-13 01:26:02 +0000 UTCYeah, I couldn’t believe how long I talked, but these have been my favorite episodes so far, so I guess that’s why! ^^ Kanemaru and Tojo’s friendship (or ship; it can go either way to me) is just so wonderful – they’re so supportive and I love it! And they clearly can make each other stronger, in a different way than Sawamura and Furuya, since they’ve known each other since childhood. I love that too – how Sawamura’s antics were once seen as annoying but now they’re endearing and it gets the team fired up! They clearly saw what it was like WITHOUT his motivation, and thought, “Nah, we need this sunshine boy!” And seeing the team get excited and be supportive of Sawamura was such a relief! 😊 The Sawamura x Miyuki wavelength synch up was all I needed! Yeah, Furuya doesn’t seem like the “strategist” – he’s just a strong pitcher and relies on Miyuki’s calls, but Sawamura was thinking it through and knew what Miyuki was as well – it’s SO GOOD! I think it definitely is another sign Sawamura has the “spirit of the ace” as well, to be able to make a play like that. Yessss a dangerous battery with big balls, hahaha, but I like we get this glimpse of what could be to come in later games! 😊 And I am PSYCHED for the lines and speeches to come – the ones in this episode were so good! I could honestly see Miyuki being into poetry in a weird way…he’s an intellectual in his own way, so I could see it. Now, SAWAMURA being into poetry? Nah, he’s too into manga. :P Ahhh, I wasn’t sure if Hirano was a 2nd year or not! I feel awful for Itsuki, though. Mei does NOT trust him in these episodes, and I feel Sawamura has an upper hand to Mei in this, because Sawamura becomes so trusting of ALL his teammates, from Miyuki, to Chris, to Kariba – he doesn’t care, he just wants to do his best. But Mei…Mei has pride and up until now has clearly only seen Harada as his equal. But poor Itsuki has been trying to help him, as their coach pointed out…Mei was just too proud to acknowledge it. And Mei staring with those dead eyes at Itsuki after that hit…yeah….you can just FEEL how much that hurt. Yeah, the eyes of these characters are the indicator when things are about to get bad, and it is anxiety-inducing!! It’s weird – I felt bad for Inashiro, but I still felt like Ugumori was the “dark horse” and underdog in this, even though they’re not an “underdog” school – definite Yakushi vibes! Ga-Chan is so creepy because you can’t read him at all, and the manager…so mysterious! I missed all the parallels you pointed out specifically, but this game definitely had a “rematch” vibe, so to speak, as if Seidou was re-matching Inashiro…and won this time. It’s good to note that Inashiro didn’t have a lot of time to “reforge” the team, too, so the lack of trust is understandable. Oooh, that’s a neat note about the different gloves! I love that this show has the little details like that included. And yeah, I CANNOT picture Sawamura trying to squeeze Miyuki’s cheeks, or Mei squeezing Harada’s…yeah, no. XD The umpire error is one of my favorite parts of these episodes! It’s realistic and leads to the mind game that Umemiya creates…so good! I think you’re right about Chris and Rei’s comments with Sawamura – I couldn’t quite remember, though. The similarities between Sawamura and Umemiya as pitchers, though, is noticeable! The ending with Mei and Konitomo’s speech is so darn epic, but yeah, Mei just isn’t ready to be captain…yet. Oooh, these episodes were SO good, but I’m honestly HYPED for Seidou vs. Ugumori…and terrified! @_@ Thank you for the kind words and comment!!
Romaniablack
2021-12-10 15:07:15 +0000 UTCSeriously, Episode 12 BLEW ME AWAY with how good it was, especially the conclusion of the game -- I was floored. And Mei receiving such a critical hit -- it's definitely to make him stronger and realize Itsuki's importance, but it was so hard to watch! And then, alongside, it, we get the fruits of our Sunshine Boy's labors! I was sooooo happy with this set of episodes! :)
Romaniablack
2021-12-09 22:10:48 +0000 UTCYou weren't lying when you said you talked a lot in reaction to these episodes 😂😂 I love Kanemaru and Toujous friendship lol. Unsure if I ship them but I absolutely adore how supportive they are to eachother. Keeping a good friend from middle school into high school would be so reassuring when you both can make the first string as first year's. I'm never going to be over Sawamuras speeches before his innings lol. The team used to get so annoyed and embarrassed by him doing it but now it's such a motivator and ultimately it's also a great tell of Sawamuras condition. The 1 game he didn't do it was the Yakushi practice game and we all know how that went lol. I really love how supportive the players on Seidou are of everyone. Brings in that teamwork aspect but in general I love how supportive especially Zono and Mochi were with Sawamura throwing inside and improving. Mochi absolutely sees Sawamuras as a younger brother so it's not surprising he'd be supportive it's just so cute to see. He gets so worried when he thinks Sawamura is gonna break down but is so visibly excited when he's doing well and he's making big moves. Ugh such a good rooming choice with those 2. Thank you dormroom offices at Seidou 😂 Finally the Sawamura/Miyuki battery is on the same wavelength. They've gotten into the place where they can read eachothers mind and they agree completely on moves to make. It's so nice lol. I think Miyukis been waiting for him to get there for so long it must feel so good to finally have your pitcher be on your same level thought wise. I doubt Furuya gives a lot mentally when he's pitching. Just does what Miyuki says but for Sawamura to shake Miyuki off shows how confident and determined Sawamura was in that moment. It was such a low threat game but to him that moment was make or break, do or die and he knew he needed to take it. Him knowing that Miyuki was unsure if he could handle it probably made him so much more determined. He wants Miyuki to openly trust him to throw his best and throw what he needs him to throw. It was a great moment to shake off Miyukis calls. Sawamura/Miyuki as a battery is dangerous. The balls between them are massive lmao Hirano I believe is a second year like Mei they just didn't focus on pitchers other than Narumiya and Iguchi last year but I'm like 99% sure he's he's a second year. Inashiro definitely favors using Mei as a whole but they still do need some back ups. Also I believe they didn't start Mei because Kunitomo has still been letting him rest from Nationals. He played every game at Nationals and was out of steam by the end. He worked his arm really hard so I think while Kunitomo wanted to give Hirano some game time it was also to benefit Narumiyas arm. Also Hirano didn't actually give any runs up as he was playing so there wasn't a need to switch him anyway. Inashiro got 1 run in the first inning but no one scored until Mei came in so not really a drastic need for your ace to come in. The line from Miyuki about Sawamura growing into a flower is so cute and poetic it's hard to believe it comes from Miyuki lol. As an English teacher, you're gonna love some of the lines and speeches and notes and comments that are in this series. Some of them give me chills and some of them I still remember so vividly as quotes. I feel so bad for Itsuki honestly. This kid got moved to main catcher and has like Titan sized shoes to fill (if titans wore shoes 😅). It must be so stressful but you can tell even from first seeing Itsuki in season 2 that Mei doesn't trust him. He got so comfortable with Harada, which isn't a bad thing, that any other catcher must seem like such a novice in comparison for Mei but Itsuki keeps trying to learn and better himself. I'm sure he doesn't want to overstep his boundaries or be seen as disrespectful at all but he's got so many thoughts and ideas that just get flooded over because Mei wants to take control. His confidence is so low right now and he must feel completely responsible for their loss even though it really wasn't his fault. These set of episodes really made Ugumori feel like villains lol. Especially the stringed music kicking in during all these crazy scenes. Something so small but so important to me is the details of Mei coming in from left field and the replacement for left field coming to the mound to bring Narumiya his pitching glove. He seems to play left field decently often because he has a glove for fielding and a glove for pitching lol. Just a small thing I enjoyed watching. Ran out, gave Mei his glove, Mei gave his fielding glove to Hirano, New left fielder ran to left, Mei stayed to talk to Itsuki, and Hirano took his fielding glove back to the dugout. The ugumori players are such characters honestly lol. They're a riot to me. Ga-chan, I don't remember his full name at all, looks like a fish to me lol. But they're so funny. It's like a team of misfits that somehow fit together. The visual of Sawamura squishing Miyukis cheeks mid game is cracking me up lmao. Miyuki would have him subbed out so fast if he did that 😂 even if Mei tried it with Harada, Harada would kick his ass off the field lmao. Sawamura would never but the visual is hilarious. This series does something that I love but also hate. It does amazingly with indicating a players mental state through their eyes. Not just the eye bags but also the dead eyes. Chris had them obviously when we first meet him, Sawamura had them after the deadball and through his yips until he started learning his outside pitch, and Narumiya had them right after Umemiya hit and when he asked Itsuki for the ball. It's so haunting but so good. There's so many parallels in these episodes and my favourite is the Ugumori/Seidou parallel. They're similar teams but the best is realizing that the end of this game against Inashiro is almost identical to the finals with Inashiro and Seidou. 2 outs, 1 run down, runner on base who just happened to be Carlos, and the clean up is at bat. Yet it flipped the other way this time. The clean up didn't get it done this time and Carlos wasn't the tying run this go around. I also think it's interesting the comradery that Ugumori has with eachother. It reminds me of if Sawamura had stayed with his middle school team and they had actually been good. Like they all call Umemiya "Ume chan" because they're so close and Sawamuras friends used to call him "Ei chan". If they had been good at baseball and had stayed together I think they would've been similar like that. Something that I think is important with these teams is to remember that Inashiro actually had less time to bond the new team. They were at Nationals most of the summer where other teams had a head start on bonding and getting sorted out with new dynamics Inashiro didn't get that. They had their old team still together for quite a while so I think even Mei and Itsuki didn't get to properly bond as a battery before the fall tournament started. Might be why they still have so little trust. Also Nori was and still is #10. Furuya was #18 immediately after getting put on the team but when Haruichi and Sawamura joined the first string he was moved to #11. They never actually tell us who Ugumoris captain is I don't think but I'm pretty sure it must be Umemiya. It can't be the manager but I can't imagine anyone else on that team with the captain role so i think you're right. Daiya does something I love that I don't think other sports anime do much if at all and that's they show Umpire error. Obviously Itsuki didn't touch Umemiya for the tag at home but angles in baseball are a real issue sometimes. Umpires make bad calls all the time because their eyes are either just too slow or they can't see fully or sometimes they get led into making off calls. Shunshin showed that too when he forced the umpire to call a ball a strike because he led the umpire into thinking he was always throwing exactly into the catchers glove. I love that they did that. Gives it that much more realism for the sport. I believe Chris made a comment about Sawamura having long fingers and strong hands and Rei commented about flexible wrists but I don't think they said anything about his finger dexterity. I may be wrong though. Something I always think of in this game is the Inashiro/Seidou final when Mei, during a mound meeting, told his team "I can't picture us losing". It always pops into my head because honestly I can't picture Mei in this game saying that. Not because he thought they'd lose but I think him telling them "I can't picture us losing" was such a vote of confidence for the whole team. Their ace believed in them during that game and couldn't imagine anything but victory. In this game he probably would've changed it to "I can't picture me losing". Such a small change between 2 games that are only a few months apart but honestly makes such a difference. He really does affect and influence the team even if he doesn't mean to. I think if Mei had been more mature and responsible after Nationals, he would've been captain instead of Fuku but he wasn't ready. And still wouldn't be lol. Also yeah Spring Nationals is an Invitational so other teams that didn't win could be invited with them but I believe they have to make it to a certain round to be in contention. Like maybe at least best of 8 or best of 16 or something. I believe that's how they do it but I don't know for sure. These episodes are so good, I loved watching the reaction this week and I can't wait for you to see next week 👏🏼
Kelsey
2021-12-09 01:03:26 +0000 UTCI agree that 12 is one if not the best episode of this anime. I was so shocked when I realized Inashiro was going to lose & Seido wasn’t getting their revenge. That NEVER happens in sports anime! Especially after they built it up so much with bringing Jun & Ryo wanting to sneak into the field and the other Seido players talking about it sm. BUT I LOVED IT! It was perfect writing and I should have seen it coming from the moment Mei doubted throwing the change up after a past screw up and their complete lack of communication. IMO, this loss was crucial for Mei’s final transformation as the “perfect ace”. His only problem has always been his ego and communication skills which Harada kept in check, but now he has been force to the reality that there will not always be someone there to keep you in line. I JUST LOVE IT SM! And, plus, we get Sawamura getting over the yips!!! Such a good trio of episodes
Melanie Marie
2021-12-09 00:30:16 +0000 UTC
