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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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 Stretch
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[series:4801#628] | ||||||
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(Four episodes watched): I thought I'd take my chances with a baseball anime and I was pleasantly surprised by what I got. This show has a mystery of sorts behind it and I suspect the main question will not be whether this team wins a championship but whether Kaname recovers from his amnesia. So, it looks like it will be about the characters rather than the game, which is always a good idea. At one point during episode one I wrote in my notes "I'm liking it". The jokes are fairly funny and I wonder where the plot will go. Surely Kaname won't just snap out of his amnesia overnight. In episode two we learn that Taro wasn't the only player who came to Kotesashi to get away from the Battery and baseball in general. Two excellent players turn up, and while for now they refuse to join the team they obviously will eventually. You sort of wonder, if they were so good how did the Battery break their devotion to the game so thoroughly? But whatever. Kaname can be annoying, but maybe that was intended. Word starts to get around to other teams of where the two have wound up. An elite school, which had hoped to recruit Kiyomine and Kaname (and the other two stars) challenges this brand new team to its first game, and they accept. It seems that these four characters plus Taro will be the main cast of this show, and no more major ones will be introduced (except for opponents, that is). That encourages me, because I would always prefer a handful of noteworthy characters to countless unremarkable ones. And this show can be genuinely funny--like the tactics used to persuade the two reluctant aces to sign on. In episode four the practice game takes place and while there are clearly a couple of gems in this team the remainder are embarassingly amateur and inadequate. Kaname especially slips up, and Kiyomine cannot employ his full talent without a decent catcher. I felt that the exact theme of the show was becoming confused and difficult to discern--will it be about rehabilitating Kaname? Or building a respectable team? Or both. or something else? And I don't recall any major laughs in this episode. Last updated Friday, May 17 2024. Created Monday, April 15 2024. | ||||||||
