Ace of the Diamond Act II: Manga Volume 20 Reaction & Review!
Added 2022-07-13 13:01:04 +0000 UTC**POWER HITTER HEADHPONE WARNINGS, Y'ALL**
I was expecting to love the manga for this series, but this volume already HAS. MY. HEART! My favorite side team, Yakushi, vs. Ichidai Third and this game is WONDERFUL! The tension! The intensity! SANADA AND RAICHI MAKING MY SHIPPER HEART SING!?
There is SO much to love about this volume and Chapters 175-183; of course, we leave off without knowing how the game ends, but one thing is for sure: This was RAICHI'S volume and I absolutely LOVE it!
Link to Reaction: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/6g3HLmbSYMstZJcTY2MH4y?
Thank you for reading with me and the support!
Comments
What’s this? Me ACTUALLY reading a comment within a day of it being posted! :P That’s a really cool point about Hoshida’s role being like that of Harada – they both really keep their pitcher’s in check, eh? Nice observation; I’ll have to remember that…moving forward…*sniffles* “No one is safe from him.” It’s a good thing Kosei isn’t “aggressive.” I don’t know if someone with Kosei’s personality and say, Hongo’s aggression, would last long in the sport. I do agree that Kosei pitching when he’s on fire is REALLY entertaining! And he HAS grown as a character in this series; I think his reactions to Raichi and Sanada and their hits in the volume really emphasized that, too. And he’s a capricorn toooooo; I forgot that. Interesting! Haha! Raichi’s jump is impressive…maybe he can work in the next year on improving its overall accuracy? *is not salty at all* I am glad Raichi was excited despite being struck out – it’s just another new challenge for him! And I love that Raichi has pretty much memorized SO MANY pitches, that Kosei has to be able to change things up in a way that he won’t be able to react to; the two of them had a very impressive duel in this volume. Also, and connecting to next week, there are SO MANY similarities with Raichi and Sawamura; they’re just playing different positions. Sawamura is spoiled for choice, isn’t he? Face Raichi pitcher vs. batter or take on Amahisa pitcher on pitcher? Either way is going to present its own challenge. And speaking of challenges, Koshu really had no mercy throwing him under the bus, haha! Sanada is like the heart of Yakushi – like a big brother and mentor to them all…I….don’t want to think of how everyone on Yakushi will have to step up once he graduates. Todoroki just offers him an assistant coach spot right off the bat, haha! AND YES, Sanada and Raichi…they’re literally a battery without the catcher element. Their relationship and how it’s developed in this series is so heartwarming! That is sad that we don’t have confirmation (yet) of what’s written under that hat, but “overcome” and “conquer” would DEFINITELY fit Sanada, especially as the ace his 3rd year and after his injuries. I am….excited….and…well..next week will be a fun discussion! :P Thank you for the kind words and comment!!
Romaniablack
2022-07-14 19:27:23 +0000 UTCI think something that's really cool is that minus the fact that he's kinda weird by talking to his bat, Hoshidas role in the batting lineup is very similar to Harada. It reminds me a lot of when Harada was still around and they relied on him for all the massive hits. Kosei is a judgemental guy lol it comes across quite aloof and kind of ditzy because he's such a weirdo but he does judge quite quickly and quite heavily. Opponents and teammates lol. No one is safe from him. Raichi the flying marlin returns. This kid has some height to his jumps and I'm glad we got to see it again. It's always quite impressive and I'm sure he fails at it a decent amount of the time but the times he pulls it off I'm sure it seems like the best move in the world. I actually love seeing Amahisa pitch at his best. I think he's one of the most exciting and interesting pitchers to watch in this series. When he's on he's on. He's similar to Furuya in that way but he's also more consistent than Furuya in that regard. Amahisa is on more often than he's not but just his style of pitching and the way his brain works while pitching is super exciting and interesting when he's at his best. Its interesting to see Sawamura so thoughtful about the Ichidai/Yakushi game without demanding to know what's going on. Like he's clearly interested but also a bit disconnected from it. I think he does want to face Amahisa but as a pitcher Raichi is also obviously one of the most exciting batters you can face. Amahisas level of cocky is definitely pretty high but it comes off so much less pompous than Mei in my opinion. For some reason he comes off more confidently cocky than arrogant cocky and it makes it less irritating lol. I love that Amahisa and Raichi have the exact same level of excitement about facing eachother. Raichi doesn't get disappointed by being struck out he just gets more motivated and Amahisa doesn't get upset about Raichi hitting off him, he just moves on and keeps going while giving praise to Raichis ability. Love to see it 👏🏼👏🏼 The fact that Sanada loves their team so much is just so endearing. Sometimes I feel like Sanada doesn't necessarily belong on a team like Yakushi but games like this reminds me that he absolutely not only belongs on it 1000%, but that he's the integral force that keeps the team together. He loves that they're chaotic and he loves that they're the underdogs. Koushu really decided to throw Sawamura up the creek without a paddle when he told Rei and Nabe about his conversations with Amahisa lol. He doesn't realize what he's done I really really love Sanada and Raichis relationship. It's grown so strong so quickly and it's so sweet how quick they are to make gestures together when there are batters out. They have a relationship that reminds me of an actual battery but neither is a catcher. It's very sweet. I genuinely really love that Koushu came along to see this game with Nabe and Rei. His knowledge of baseball is so incredibly deep and he has so much information that's up to date. There come these random times when you really can see why Amahisa is called a "genius pitcher". He's such a smart kid and the way he thinks about the game and how he should pitch and how he expects others to pitch and move and think is genuinely so smart. Sometimes he overthinks it but everything he thinks of is so well thought out and it's easy to understand how he gets to the conclusions he gets to. Raichis just too much of a wildcard to properly predict in advance but his planning was really smart. You just cannot give Raichi pitches he's already seen from you. You need to be switching things up constantly for him because as soon as he sees your pitch once he'll memorize it and hit is next time. I think the fun parts for me is seeing where Raichi and Sawamuras characters overlap. Raichi as a batter is so similar to Sawamura as a pitcher and their roles on their teams. Both don't have a crazy ego nor do they think they're the best at what they do but they both have an intense passion for just helping their teams with what they can do at the time. You don't want either of them to get stressed out but they do both want to be helpful instead of a hindrance. I actually think Amahisa giving praise to Raichi after that hit was such a nice growth moment for him. He didn't get flustered or annoyed that the tension broke he just accepted it, praised Raichi and tried to move on. He was distracted still pitching to Sanada right after but verbally he moved on quicker than we've seen in the past. Amahisa and Narumiya are very much capricorns and you can very much tell lol. Just saying. Now about Sanadas hat. I dont think they ever actually show what's fully written under there, not that I could find, but this is one of those things they didn't really show in the anime annoyingly. A lot of players will write little quotes and sayings and things to remind them of stuff while they're playing and it's actually really cute. My friend did find someone who took the like partially visible symbols on his cap and they seem pretty sure that it says "overcome" or "conquer" which I think fits Sanada really well. What the caps say honestly are super cool for each character. They usually fit really well. Sooooo excited to see your reaction to next week lol 😈
Kelsey
2022-07-14 07:19:10 +0000 UTC
