As soon as the girls mentioned entering a Kyoudo competition themselves as a three-person team, I got very excited. Tsurune is a fairly rare Sports anime in that not only are there female characters with talking parts who aren’t managers and/or potential love interests but actual competitors with their own arcs.
Nevertheless, the girls’ characterization up until now had been fairly light and the possibility of giving them a bit more screentime and something tangible to do for their own sake seemed like a big step in the right direction. If I’m perfectly honest, I thought Tsurune might actually skip their competition. Either have it happen off-screen or just show us one or two quick scenes before moving on. But I was hoping we would get more. And boy did I get what I wanted!
Kyoani creates some very cute girls so I have even more screencaps than usual. Sorry about that!
We start off with the girls telling the rest of the team that they have entered a city-wide competition. This is sort of a more freeform event where anyone can enter and it doesn’t really count in the rankings. On the other hand, you get to compete against archers from all over and it adds a lot of excitement to the event. It ends up feeling almost like a festival.
I was happy to see that the boys were earnestly supportive and excited for their teammates. They immediately insisted on going to cheer them on, as fellow club members should! And Kyoudo starved Minato practically set out for the competition right then and there. All in all, it gave the feeling of a healthy and pleasant club and reinforced the idea that the girls are members in their own right, not just an afterthought. Nice, isn’t it?
It is! It’s very nice. Especially when you consider that Rika, Yuna, and Noa are just really great characters to get to know. They’re all very different but they complement each other’s personalities perfectly. That scene of all of them on the morning of the competition was a perfect little piece of exposition-free character-building. I wish we had gotten more of those!
Even though today’s all about the girls, the show did take the time to sneak in some background for the boys as well. We learned that Minato had competed in this same competition when he was younger with Seiya and Shu. Even though they show us almost every week,, I keep forgetting Seiya was also part of the middle school Kyoudo club. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because he always seems sort of indifferent to it. Although he is team captain…
We also got a glimpse of Minato’s mom when she was an archer. If anyone has not watched season 1, Minato’s mom passed away. Minato’s love of Kyoudo and his performance are intertwined with his feelings of loss for his mother. So even though it was just a quick glimpse, seeing her actually practicing Kyoudo is pretty significant for the series.
I’m having trouble breaking up the episode properly. It was a very slice of life-like episode. There was a lot of jumping around between the girls getting ready to compete and the boys being happy for them and gearing up to cheer them on. There were even some nice little quick flashbacks of how the girls joined the club and formed their own team throughout the year.
It’s not really the sort of thing I can describe. Honestly, if you have HiDive, even if you aren’t watching the show and aren’t a fan of the series, I would suggest just watching this one episode randomly. I think it gives you enough context by itself for you to follow along and it was just a sweet little heartfelt half-hour of beautifully illustrated anime.
And we got to see Masaki’s dorky brother again. That’s always good for a giggle!
The thing about competitions is that while you’re in the middle of one, it’s literally endless. Time stops and you get trapped in that one moment forever. But somehow, they’re always over in the blink of an eye. It should be different when you’re watching an anime competition from the comfort of your house but it isn’t. You get all that excitement that just seems to stretch out the seconds making single scenes hang there like little eternal jewels and then you breathe out and it’s all over.
I’m making it seem terribly exciting, aren’t I? At least I hope I am. We actually didn’t see that much of the competition itself. This time, it wasn’t so much about the archery as it was about the team building so the focus was on how these three formed a bond. And it was great. They seem like really good friends. It seems like this time, that made for a really good team as well!
Another of my favorite supporting characters made a cameo this week. Minato’s old Kyoudo teacher, Saionji-san. She even congratulated the girls on their third-place victory. Oh sorry, spoilers. The girls got third place. That’s actually amazing. All of them are novices at Kyoudo. It’s their first year for all three. A lot of the competitors have been practicing for many years now. So 3rd place is nothing to sneeze at.
We also got the “moral” of the episode once again spelled out for us. Even though it may not be obvious at first, Kyoudo is a team sport and the synergy between the members makes a huge difference in individual performances. The boys lost their grove for a minute but they had it before and they can get it again.
We also saw a little cryptic scene about an archer that visited Saionji sensei for help with his form. In the end, she turned him away saying that he had the most beautiful form she had ever seen. If I’m not mistaken, that was Tsujimine’s mysterious telephone coach. The one that’s supposedly sick. We didn’t learn much about him but it got me wondering if he has a sickness like Minato had. Target panic or something of the sort. A mental block that’s stopping him from shooting like he used to. I have a feeling this will become important later.
And so that’s basically it. Things wrap up all nice and happy. The girls have a great victory under their belt. The guys are feeling hopeful and have something to strive for. Minato seems ready to pick up an actual bow again and boy is he eager. And everyone goes to celebrate at Masaki’s temple. What more can you want out of an episode? Oh yeah, Masaki tricking the guys into agreeing to give a ceremonial Kyoudo performance at the dojo dressed up in fancy official garb and everything. I think this might be what the OP references and if so, I’m very much here for it.
I have to say, I think this was my favourite episode of Tsurune so far. Not just of the season. There was a great emotional balance to it and a fun rhythm. As always it was gorgeously animated as well. I really have nothing bad to say except.
I wished for an episode where the girls got to take part in their tournament and I got exactly that. You know what they say, be careful what you wished for. Now I want more!
Season 1
- Tsurune Episodes 1 & 2 – Slings and Arrows
- Tsurune Episode 3 – A Shot in the Arm
- Tsurune Episode 4 – Good Form
- Tsurune Episode 5 – Yawatashi
- Tsurune Episode 6 – The restrained beauty of propriety
- Tsurune Episode 7 – Adding a string to your bow
- Tsurune Episode 8 – Straight as an Arrow
- Tsurune Episode 9 – On A Dark and Stormy Day
- Tsurune Episode 10 – Giving it Another Shot
- Tsurune Episode 11 – Little Earthquakes
- Tsurune Episode 12 – The Importance of Being Ochi
- Tsurune Episode 13 – Bullseye
Ooh, so the girls got an episode of attention? Yay. (Sleepyhead pic may be my favourite.)
I might just watch the episode, though I admit I’m a little worried about the lightshow some of the screenshots suggest. The header pic, for example, is almost too much. I don’t remember having any problems in season one (apart from some brief arrow-flying moments, maybe). Did they up the sparkles on this one? Maybe it’s worse in still/gif form than in the actual animation. That can happen. (It’s rare that my very mild photosensitivity prevents me from watching an anime, but it happens; with Tanya the Evil being the most prominent example.)
The header gif is by far the worse of it. I don’t think it should give you too many issues. But I would feel horrible if it did!
Actually, I’m equally worried about the rainbow filter some screenshots have (most notably the one with boy archers that have actual bubbles). I can’t tell if I get issues from this in motion without actually watching the show, but I’d be bowing out as soon as I notice it’s a problem, so there’s really nothing to worry about. It wouldn’t be the first show, after all.