Ace of the Diamond Act II: Episodes 10-12 FULL LENGTH Reaction!
Added 2022-04-06 13:01:03 +0000 UTC**WOLF BOY HEADPHONE WARNING**
This season is doing ALL the things for me so far, and we're only 12 episodes in (though, 12 ALREADY) -- I had to do these thumbnails back to back with Koshu and Sawamura because now, IT'S ON! SUNSHINE POWERS ACTIVATE!
Sawamura grows closer to his underclassmen and shows the true spirit of lifting others up in teamwork (though begrudgingly with "Wolf Boy" Koshu), as Furuya seems to be growing more and more selfish and splitting from the team...leaving our Captain Miyuki stuck playing 3D chess around these diva pitchers...not that he's not up to the challenge!
And MEANWHILE, it's almost the semifinals and Masashi, Kosei, and Mukai (among others) are making names for themselves...this series has gotten SO GOOD and I'm so hyped for what's to come!
LINK: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/6dy52p4X5i1w4BEnpDUFvD?
Thanks for watching with me and for the support!
Comments
I can definitely see what you mean about Furuya wanting to gain more "power" to compete with Hongo -- the funny thing is, that we've seen how power isn't "enough," aka with Raichi -- control is SO important, and it's sad to see Furuya sacrificing that control to try and get more power. The sad thing is that Hongo has BOTH...I do feel for Furuya, though. I want him to get better, but him dissing Yui was definitely not "ace" behavior, and I felt for our first year. You hit it on the head so well -- he's not at Mei and Hongo's level and he's trying to quickly get to their level, when they have a whole other year's experience. Furuya's definitely feeling the pressure, I agree! I DEFINITELY see the parallels with Mei (we'll talk about that this coming week) -- thank you so much for the comment and kind words!! I can't wait for this coming week!! :D
Romaniablack
2022-04-11 22:26:30 +0000 UTCHahaha, I love how Miyuki’s trolling nature is natural for him to be a person someone “vents” to, because he can take it all in really well. And I do like that it shows how Miyuki has matured over the last year. Yeah, lots of leaps and bounds – he’s learned how to keep his pitchers in check…or at least one of them. 😉 Masashi: Can induce fear, but whimsy instantly deflates fear. Hahaha! That sums it up! :P And seriously, Miyuki and Sanada can get it. MOVING ON…. Kosei is just really obsessed with baseball and kind of a weirdo about it – like Raichi. Except Raichi’s social awkwardness is really sweet and cutesy; Kosei’s is just….odd. But I still love him for it! He’s that kid that collected leaves in a binder and took to the county fair for a project. :P And poor Sawamura hitting people…at least his pitches aren’t lethal (yet). And seriously, these Yuki boys! What are they feeding them!? Ooohhhhh, so that’s the sign of “walking him” – that’s interesting! And seriously, this audience really is fickle! It’s a nice commentary on the “media” and “mob” mentality. Frustrating, but realistic. And hahaha, I didn’t notice that moment with Ochiai, but seriously, calling our Sunshine boy “the relief.” Not a fan. HE HAS A NAME! >:D And HAHAHAHA “How Toxic” – Koshu likes people angry, apparently. Too bad this is the living embodiment of the sun we’re talking about…maybe with these upcoming episodes, he can vent to Koshu, who will be VERY into it, bwahahaha! I do like, too, that we’re seeing Sawamura being so proactive in regards to his pitching…it’s SUCH growth and I love it, too. Yes, Furuya’s actions towards Yui were NOT cool. He’s the ACE, so whether he has experience or not, that’s part of it…and he’s a 2nd year, so he’s had a year with a team so far. It’s a very ugly look on Furuya, I agree, and he’s definitely wrong for his actions against our cinnamon roll, especially when we find out about his own insecurities and how despite his prodigy attitude, he’s still down on himself. I do like how Miyuki sees potential in Koshu, and wants to actively take him under his wing (despite giving him grief all the while). And MAN, Sawamura using that line on Koshu from Miyuki?! OMG….I can’t love it enough!! Even if Koshu saw through it, hahahaha!! Yeah, I get WHY Miyuki did it, but it wasn’t nice and I think I disliked his comment about Sawamura coming for Furuya’s spot more than his initial diss of Sawamura – using players like that instead of a healthy rivalry forming is…again, not cool. I do get why he did it, but yeah, I can see why people are mad about it, too. That IS a good point about Miyuki’s banter with Sawamura – they’re teasy and bratty; he knows Sawamura can take it and isn’t “delicate,” and he only really becomes “overly” nice is like you said, when he’s messed up bad. I at least think that Yui has picked up on how the Miyuki/Sawamura dynamic works, or at least he picks up on their casual nature around each other. I AGREE that he shouldn’t have taken Sawamura aside – that would have worked up the situation more and made it into more than what it needed to be. I agree, I don’t think he was wrong in that case. BUT YEAH, THAT TENSION. WOOF. It’s going to be interesting this season, isn’t it? And ooooh, the #TaurusEnergy is unleashed this week, hahaha! So ready! Thank you for the comment!!
Romaniablack
2022-04-11 21:29:10 +0000 UTCI think Furuya wants to be the best pitcher in Japan to help his team as well. I think in his mind, being the best pitcher in Japan means that they'll be the best team in Japan too. Remember he just lost to Masamune, who's like the best pitcher (apart from Mei cause they're like 1A and 1B, I can't decide who's better) in the series we've seen so far. He saw how Masamune overpowered them so he's trying to do the same in trying to overpower his opponents. Hence his control is getting sloppy and he doesn't throw where Miyuki wants him to because he's just trying to overpower every batter he faces. They were shut out and never scored against Komadai, so I think he's going for the same results as that. He wants to shut out the opponents as well because if he does that then they're winning the game. Even if you score only 1 point after all if you shutout the opponent and not let them score, you'll win. This is shown when Furuya said "But we lost because I gave up runs" to Miyuki in episode 12. So in Furuya's head, being the best pitcher in Japan is pitching the whole game and never giving up runs like what Masamune did to them. I think he feels very strongly about their defeat because like he said, if he was the best, then so what if the team struggles to score, if the opponents can't score as well they won't lose. But what he fails to realize is that he's not yet at Masamune or Mei's level where he can shut out an entire game and that he still needs to improve and that he can't just try to overpower everyone because even though Hongo has fast fastballs like Furuya, Hongo has better control and breaking balls as well and is a more complete pitcher overall. I guess you could say he's feeling the pressure of being the ace and doing the ace's job to lead the team to victory. In thinking this, however, he's forgetting about the team and is just trying to play by himself like he was before so it's bad because even though Mei and Masamune are selfish and stuff, they still try to function in the team after all. Furuya right now is just trying to solo play almost like how Mei was last season where he's like thinking all the responsibility falls to him when in fact, it's not because he's on a team of good players too so they can carry the load with him, instead of him just trying to carry the load by himself and not trusting his team. But well that's what Koshien does I guess, it changes people's perspectives and views. Anyway, great reaction! Looking forward to next week :D
Vongola Flame
2022-04-08 10:59:39 +0000 UTCMan you said in the beginning of this reaction "imagine if Koushu trash talked Sawamura to Miyuki" and it made my head ROLL ahahaha. Miyuki would really give him the Chris defender treatment. Seeing Miyuki up in that room while Sawamura vents about Koushu really showcased how Miyuki has matured over his time at Seidou. He did tease Sawamura a fair bit but he didn't shut him or his feelings about it down. He let him vent, he listened to everything, told Sawamura he'd deal with him and got Sawamura to get his head on straight. It's honestly leaps and bounds from the troll in season 1 who loved seeing Sawamura get worked up and angry. Masashis swing is genuinely so terrifying lol but his sideways helmet really negates any fear I could have 😂 TJ has way too much fun drawing Miyuki as a damn model lol. I get it. He's hot. Let's move on. Kosei is such an odd bean and I really love how differently he views other people. The way he experiences baseball really is so unlike anyone else in this series and I appreciate it everytime he's on screen. Just listening to what he says in his head in the middle of a game or watching other games is amazing. He's so judgy too but it tends to come from a place of just loving certain parts of baseball and when he sees other people not appreciating those same parts he gets offended lol. I know it's bad to hit players with pitches but I've gotten to the point where I just kind of laugh every time Sawamura hits someone lol. Its so sudden and it sounds so hollow (I'm only a little sadistic 🤣) I honestly love the fact that Rei brings up how Masashi and Tetsu both hit homeruns in their debut games but Masashi did it 4 months earlier. These Yuki boys just built different lol The catcher hanging his glove that far out by the way was a really common sign that says "we're walking him". There's no confusion about if they're just going for an outside ball or not so they just go really obviously far out. Even if Miyuki sees that it's that far out he won't swing. He'd rather just take a free walk. Also the audience in daiya is VERY fickle. They don't care about a pitcher who's throwing crazy breaking balls when you have a pitcher that throws 150+ km/hr lol. They definitely don't care if his control sucks they're just amazed by the speed lol. I know Ochiai hasn't done anything particularly bad this season yet but him saying "the relief" in reference to Sawamura really annoyed me lol. He has a name you toad. The conversation between Seto and Okumura in the stairwell is actually quite interesting to me. He said he was disappointed because it seemed like Sawamura had something to say. It's like he wanted Sawamura to keep fighting him lol. How toxic 🤣 Its nice to see Sawamuras approach to pitching change so much too. Him actually sitting down and watching his tapes to figure out what he was doing wrong or if he was tensing up in certain spots. It's so night and day to Sawamura in the past seasons. Like he's really learned the value of a single pitch. That moment with Furuya and Yui... lol so bad. There's only a few moments in this series that I have beef with Furuya and that's one of them. You can argue that he doesn't know how to deal with being on a team but its not like he's a first year still lol. He's been here over a year at this point and he's shown that he's learned how to handle teams and team relationships. He just reverted so much that he doesn't care anymore and it's so ugly of him. He would've been crushed had Miyuki done that to him in season 1 yet he doesn't even consider Yui to be worth the effort. Nah. He's wrong for that plain and simple. Seeing Yui standing behind that wall while those recruiters talked about him was so heartbreaking. It's not like Yui is an average player. He was the captain and catcher of the Japan Little League team. His skills should've absolutely overpowered any doubt these recruiters had about him. Its nice seeing Miyuki slow down and try to mentor Koushu a bit. The way he talks to him, he knows he's talented and he wants him to be good for the team and the pitchers but his attitude needs adjusting. I think they're so similar lol so having him really mentor him is super cute. Sawamura really pulled the switcheroo and tried to romance Okumura with Miyukis words that romanced himself back in season 1 ahahaha. I said this in the discord but I REEEEEEALLY hate the way Miyuki used Sawamura as some weird bait to get Furuya riled up. To me that was the most disrespectful thing he did in this entire scenario. Sawamuras working hard to prove himself and you just dangle him infront of Furuya like a dog sled panting over a steak to make them run. No thanks sir. Now the big controversy of this episode. Miyuki brushing Sawamura off. I said most of my piece in the discord but I think people are pretty harsh on Miyuki. Miyuki isn't just the main catcher, he's also the captain and if there's a player, even if he wasn't a pitcher, that's going to be a detriment to the team, he needs to deal with it. Miyuki has only ever been overly nice to Sawamura when Sawamura has fucked up in a game. In general their relationship is very teasy and fun and bratty. That's just how they communicate. Personally i think people treat Sawamura like too much of a delicate flower. I think he was more upset by Miyuki calling him "the great ace" than he was about Miyuki needing to work with Furuys first. He told him he'd catch for him later. I'll agree with people that he maybe shouldn't have done it infront of the first year's but like I said I think its important to acknowledge how this is how Sawamura and Miyuki are all the time. And I think a massive part of it was that Miyuki didn't want to worry anyone else on the team. If Miyuki took Sawamura to the side and carefully told him "just let me check on Furuya and then I'll catch for you" it indicates that something is wrong and it could work Sawamura up more. I dunno. People aren't gonna always agree but I don't think Miyuki was wrong in that situation. The tension by the end of these is so thick lol. So many unrisen tensions just hanging out in the same place. Beyond excited for next week :P
Kelsey
2022-04-07 01:43:51 +0000 UTC
