Tsurune 2 Episode 11 -Round 1 -

Nationals have finally started and all the teams made it to the tournament. Well, probably not ALL the teams but all the teams we care about, right?

I actually had a great week of anime. All the shows I watched had great episodes, Tsurune included. But I noticed that I took way more screencaps of Tsurune. That’s probably mostly due to my love of KyoAni visuals but I like to think that this season of Tsurune is also a little bit inspiring in that way.

The team has really grown. I guess that sentence is confusing. I don’t mean the team has literally grown, as in it has gotten bigger and they recruited new members. It’s been pretty much the same since season 1. I mean that the individual members have come into their own. They were all so relaxed and casual on the morning of such a big tournament. Sure there were still some nerves and excitement. That’s only natural. But generally, Kazemai look like old pros even though they really just started.

There was a scene where Minato sort of stalled and hesitate a minute before reaching out for his door nob to leave the house. It was a great call-back to season 1. I really like bookends like that.

I haven’t watched the Tsurune movie and I think I might have to. I wonder if we learn more about Ryouhei’s sister there. It’s obviously an important story but we don’t really know anything do we? Even without having any background on it, I found the scene where she left him some chocolate really heartwarming. Ryouhei is the best!

Tsujimine are still the same as always. By now I consider them old friends. The season really dedicated itself to developing their background. well, Eisuke’s background to be fair. The rest of the team doesn’t get much attention. I barely know who the captain is. Still, the few flashbacks we get showing just how scrappy they are have gone a long way to making the team feel like they’ve had their own story. And the fact that all their characterization has been so consistent also helps a lot. I know them better than I have known some teams that are supposed to be the stars of the show.

I really like the Seo is beloved by all girls running gag. It’s a thing we often see in anime. A stoic and prince-like girl is always going to be way more popular with other girls than any of the male characters. I don’t want to think too hard about why the trope exists, I just want to enjoy it…

One of the leftovers from season 1 that I don’t like much (and never did) is the weird relationship between Minato and Seiya.

You know how sometimes in sitcoms they cast this perfectly average-looking actress but because the script says so, every single guy that lays eyes on her is instantly smitten? And the audience just kind of accepts it because she’s the lead actress and all. Well, that’s Minato. He seems nice enough and has this devotion to Kyoudo but otherwise, there’s nothing that special about him. He’s not the best at it, he doesn’t seem to be exceptional at anything outside of Kyoudo, and he’s not funny or particularly smart or even that good-looking. Yet his friends get all super protective and borderline obsessive with him. Not Ryouhei, but that’s cause he’s the best. However both Seiya and Shuu just act like he’s this special flower that needs to be nurtured and protected. And Seiya gets especially weird about it.

I have always assumed that this was just so that fans could infer a BL relationship if they wanted to without ever putting any explicit romantic material in the anime (and I assume the manga…light novels…) I have no issue with BL or Yuri I just think leaving it unsaid like that is a cop-out. It also makes Seiya seem kind of unhinged half the time. I wish they would just drop it altogether. He had been doing so much better this season!

Minato hurt his hand. I know he fell on it in the elevator last week but this seems to be something different. He was bleeding from one of his fingers and last week it looked more like he might have sprained his wrist. The boy sure is accident-prone.

I was expecting them to make a huge deal out of this but no, Minato just shook it off like no big deal and Masa didn’t really comment on it either. I though, huh, this is different. Of course, that didn’t last because Seiya started missing his shots. His precious friend is injured and all. But that also was no big deal. Minato just slowed down and brought them back to the rhythm and everyone was ok after that. They didn’t even have a serious post-match conversation or anything. Just got themselves together and moved on.

How cool is that? That’s definitely the show I wanted to see last time around.

And just like that, it was all over.

Instead of showing us a play-by-play of Tsujimine’s performance, they decided to show flashbacks of the team together as the competition went on. And then we just saw the aftermath. The one where they lost. Of course, they would. Aside from the fact that Kazemai are the protagonists and they need to go on, there’s also the fact that they are a rag-tag team with no funding, no equipment, and no coach who are competing for the first time. Most of the team didn’t even know how to shoot a few months ago. There is no way Tsujimine could have won. It would not have made any sense.

But a small part of me still wanted them to. That’s what Sports! anime do to you. They make you root for everybody.

I loved how this was done though. It really brought the emotion of the scene home without cramming it down your throat, you know?

We didn’t really see it, and we didn’t get to hear the cheers. We don’t even know what the guys were thinking or feeling. But Kazemai has made it past the first and second elimination rounds and now they are one step closer to proving their worth. If they can get past Kirisaki that is. Let’s see how far they can go!