Cross Game – 20
Can this anime get any more charming? Episode 20 was a goldmine of litte moments of humour and fun between the characters. Everyone in this story has such great chemistry with each other, all of their interactions no matter how small remain captivating. Some of the moments between Kou and Aoba were very endearing, I especially loved the way they recognized how the other was hiding injuries. The shot of them stomping off together arguing was hilarious. The other duo with a particularly likeable chemistry is Kou and Azuma. The anime has done a great job revealing Azuma’s more playful side as they share a house, and the way he not-so-subtly drops hints about Kou and Aoba reminds me very much of Harada’s prodding of Tatsuya in Touch, though in a more light-hearted way.
They mentioned again in this episode the fact that Aoba, who is the most talented freshman on the team, can’t play in official games. I really am curious at how this will play out in the anime, will we get the heartwarming result where somehow the rules are bent and Aoba plays a significant role after all? Or will the anime keep to reality and give her another platform to make a difference to the baseball element of the story? It would be disappointing if the anime delegated her to the sidelines, because one of the interesting differences with Touch is that Cross Game has the female lead also have a strong baseball ability. This wasn’t really considered in Touch, which was written back in the 80s, where Minami was involved with the more feminine sport of gymnastics, and the only position which was even considered for women was the manager position.
One response so far
I really do hope they find a way of making her a bigger part of the baseball story, so long as it isn’t some kind of half-baked dress her up as a boy 80’s style movie plan. I feel like there’s a lot more that could be developed between her, Kou, Azuma, et al that hasn’t been touched on yet.
Although a kind of dark twist involving Aoba dropping out of school and becoming some kind of degenerate thug because she couldn’t play baseball would be hilarious.
Also, this whole Aoba’s blonde haired stud-cousin thing is a little weird, but that’s okay. I like how things are turning out.