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Ace of the Diamond: Episodes 60-63 FULL LENGTH Reaction! (Patreon)

Published:
2021-10-20 13:01:02
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2026-06
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Content

Y'all, I am FLOORED. This 13-Episode Game has been possibly the best in sports anime I've seen so far...with a final inning and conclusion that honestly left me speechless. 

The emotions are REAL in this set of episodes as we conclude the match of Seidou vs. Inashiro; themes of redemption, pride, moving forward, and the importance of a victorious mindset...and perhaps having an "indisputable ace" doesn't hurt. Definitely need to take a breather after these episodes! 

LINK: https://share.vidyard.com/watch/Jcmi9uTBG4hjWxnLzoRKUQ?

Thank you so much for watching with me and for the support! 

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Previews only

Ace of the Diamond: Episodes 60-63 Reaction! ONE OF THE BEST GAMES IN SPORTS ANIME ENDS! *sobs*

Link to Reaction (starts at 4:06 ): https://share.vidyard.com/watch/Jcmi9uTBG4hjWxnLzoRKUQ? Y'all, I am FLOORED. This 13-Episode Game has been possibly the best in sports anime I've seen so far...with a final inning and conclusion that honestly left me speechless. The emotions are REAL in this set of episodes as we conclude the match of Seidou vs. Inashiro; themes of redemption, pride, moving forward, and the importance of a victorious mindset...and perhaps having an "indisputable ace" doesn't hurt. Definitely need to take a breather after these episodes! Thank you for watching with me and for all the support! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RomaniaBlack My Anime: https://myanimelist.net/profile/RomaniaBlack Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/RomaniaBlack You can mail me a letter or anything (except food, please) at this address: Romania Black PO Box 768 Harrisburg, IL 62946 USA

Comments

Melanie Marie

That same scene with the girls and the cranes was what broke me. And then seeing stoic Yuki cry 😭😭 I will never get over this loss. It has been years since I watched this episode for the first time, and STILL, at random moments I am reminded that my favorite third years didn’t get to go to nationals and I feel like crying again. Yuki, Jun & Ryo worked SO hard since their first year and they didn’t get to accomplish their dream. And that has permanently broken my heart 😭😭 At the end of the day, experience was the key to which team won. Before this game, Sawamura had never played a 9th inning and his first time was the one that determined if they went to nationals? Feeling that pressure for the first time at such a crucial game would break anybody. Then, Haruichi’s bad pass at Kuramochi that caused them to lose their chance at the last out & Carlos to get that run. And, finally, the Coach. I am pretty sure that if the Coach had replaced Sawamura with Kawakami for the final inning, they would have won. I am not the biggest Kawakami fan and I don’t trust him that much but he was the only pitcher with experience closing games this tournament. Plus, he would have gone into the game with the momentum on his side. Instead, when he finally went in, the momentum was on Inashiro’s side, their fastest runner was on first base AND their best batters were up to bat. He pitched well given the circumstances. Mei helping Harada at the end there was definitively done to parallel the difference in trust between them and Miyuki and his pitchers. Miyuki is an amazing catcher but he didn’t manage to connect with the Ace or any of the other pitchers 100%. Miyuki didn’t only made the mistake of not talking to Sawamura after that deadball but he also didn’t talk to Kawakami after Carlos got that run! I can’t believe he let him pitch so fast to Mei afterwards. It’s his job to help the pitchers give their best pitches and he kind of messed up in that last inning 🙈 There’s certainly a lot of room for growth for not only the first years but also the second years and Coach. The future looks bleak! Miyuki is very right to be afraid. Seido’s weakness has been their lack of an ace pitcher, but they have managed to get far despite that because of their incredible batters. And now, they are gone too. There’s no more Yuki, Jun, Ryo or Masuko to save the day. Their best batter now is Miyuki who rarely manages to hit well if there are no runners on base. So, they are definitively in trouble for the next tournament. 🙈🙈 Also, reminder that this tournament was during the first six months of Sawamura’s first year. So, while the third years can’t play anymore, there’s still 6 more months of Sawamura and co. being first and second years. So, for the next tournament, the team will only have 2nd and first years… no pressure 😅😭

romaniablack
>>70151539

It was SO hard to watch, because once it started going downhill, you knew what was going to happen and it just went out of control…your note about Kawakami is SO neat – it’s crazy to think that If Kataoka had not put in our main character, and started with Kawakami, they could have won…but then, Kawakami had that bad inning episodes past…ahh….hindsight is 20/20, but it might have been the better decision to avoid the Raichi-like pressure that Sawamura had at the end, there. It was SO HEARTBREAKING to watch it all fall apart. T_T Experience was definitely on Inashiro’s side from all angles, though. And Mei with Harada – I was thinking the SAME THING. Yeah, Miyuki is an amazing catcher, but he missed two critical chances to communicate with his pitchers, which Harada and Mei did not miss. I definitely think Miyuki will become captain for the 2nd years (I haven’t watched the episodes yet), but Yuki has left some HUGE shoes to fill, and Yuki was such a solid, reliable communicator…something Miyuki is NOT, so that will be very intriguing to see how he’s going to try and tackle things. @_@ ESPECIALLY because yeah, the future is NOT looking good with them losing their main offensive cannons and having to start from near-scratch. Yikes….I’m definitely worried about that upcoming scrimmage game! At least the 3rd years aren’t TOTALLY gone yet…right?! **nervous chuckle** No pressure, sure.

Melanie Marie
>>70151539

Yeah, both Kawakami and Tanba were not the most reliable pitchers. But at least they had more experience with the pressure of such an important game. Poor Sawamura and Raichi didn’t know what hit them 😭 And Yuki was maybe not the most talkative captain but his reliableness was definitively a source of inspiration & comfort for the team in tough times. The next cap has HUGE shoes to fill. As does the players replacing the other 3th years. And yeah, this might have been a wake up call for Miyuki. I love how while everyone is still moping, he’s already thinking ahead on how they can become stronger. It will be interesting to see how he, Kuramochi , Kawakami & the others handle being the upperclassmen/ leaders of the team. Especially with how great our previous upperclassmen were 😭

romaniablack
>>70151539

That is true - at least they could perform under pressure, although it even seemed to get to Kawakami at the end, here. But yeah, our poor first years! T_T Yeah, Yuki had that reliability and unwavering strength; Miyuki is strong, but I'm not sure everyone on the team is behind him like they were with Yuki (as we see with Kuramochi at the end, here. It's going to be verrrrrry interesting to see what the next move is for them all!

Alien

Ahhh this hurt to watch the second time as well. I’m used to third years going or having another chance at nationals from other sports anime, but the Japanese high school baseball scene is so strict and they really showed us the harsh realities of it. All these kids really do give up on normal high school lives to play baseball, especially at schools like Seidou and Inashiro. It makes seeing the third years, who’ve been practicing day in and day out for two and a half years, crying and processing their loss really hard. That being said, I think it was realistic that Inashiro won. They had Mei, a third year pitcher in reserve, and no first years in the lineup. It’s actually amazing to me how far Seidou has come in this tournament, now having watched more of this series and knowing more about baseball. Sawamura and Furuya both are not only first years, they never played in serious tournaments/matches before this. Most of these power schools’ students played a lot in leagues before high school and pitcher hopefuls come in with more variety and control to their pitches, but Seidou’s fielding two wild inexperienced kids who basically only throw fastballs. I think it goes to show how talented they are and how amazing they have been, but the fact that Seidou has had to rely on them so heavily in their first season is kind of insane. Of course the third years make a very strong offense and Miyuki is known to be one of the best catchers around, but pitcher is such a pivotal role… What Miyuki said is right, Seidou has a LOT of work to do now, after losing their strongest batters. But going forward and witnessing the second and first years improve and form a new team is soooo worth it and something I’ve never seen in sports anime before this series. Looking forward to seeing your reactions!

Prinn

Oh man, seeing how devastated our team is after this loss always breaks my heart! The third years worked sO HARD to reach this point from being known as the “weak” year, and look at how far they’ve come!! They’re so good, so dependable! bUT IT STILL WASNT ENOUGH. I think it’s the fact that they were literally just one out away, so close yet so far, that hurts the most. Even knowing what comes next, I’m not ready to see them go either! But at the same time, I’m also so happy for Mei/inashiro lol. The first time I watched this I was 100% rooting for seidou, but then at the very end when Mei cries with relief?? He acknowledges that he’s been talking big all year, and then literally breaks into tears at being able to finally break free of his shackles/live up to his own expectations of himself, and for his team that’ve been watching over him… MY HEART. I also love the way they animated the build up around harada’s final point. He keeps repeating that he’ll end it here, and all the cheering going around him is silent, he can’t hear it, he’s completely in his head even though kunitomo said that all they needed was a single point. Not two, just one. But then Mei breaks through all of that with his smile and his own cheeky form of reassurance, and you can SEE the way masa-san relaxes his shoulders and lets the tension drain from his body. Their battery and general dynamic with each other is built on so much trust, they know exactly when to pull and when to push the other. It’ll be interesting (and sad because I adore him so much) to see inashiro without masa-san’s presence. And ace aside, our seidou batteries have a lot to work on! The third years have to find their own paths now, and the second years also have big shoes to fill. Transition periods are always rough and change is scary, but I’m hyped for you to see where this series goes from here!

Kelsey

Ah man. Such a chunk of emotion these episodes are lol. Had to keep them together just to get the sadness over with. Random comment but I think Mei got scared by a bird when he was running in that flashback lol. He turned around so fast 😂 Carlos' speech about how hard they've worked and how they've all given up being normal students was so weird to me. Like as if they're the only team that has done that. I'm pretty sure every team they've played thus far other than a couple have also all worked their asses off and have all given up normal student lives to put it all on the line. Seems so snooty to think about it without realizing it's the exact same for Seidou. Sawamuras eyes in that last inning could literally haunt me for the rest of my life. He got the dead eyes that Chris used to have and I hate seeing it. They don't look good on a sunshine boy like Sawamura. But the effect the animators used to show his mounting pressure is still so cool to me. The flashing red light with the heart beat is such a simple but effective way to make us as viewers feel that tension and stress. And it worked lol. This fandom is actually severely traumatized by those eye bags now. Everytime there's even 1 extra line under a players eye everyone flips out lol I know I shouldn't feel like this but I really can't help my anger at Shirakawa over that inning. Even now I don't much like him. He didn't intend to be hit obviously but him being so happy about it at the expense of someone else just sits bad with me. He knew Carlos would come in for him and he knew it would throw Seidou off their game. He didn't need to smile or roar like he did. So petty lol I also love the way Mei calmed Harada down. This game as a whole was such a great showcase to why their battery works so well. Harada always the one to ground Mei when he's being too much and Mei jolts Harada into being more relaxed and less pressured. I think if Mei hadn't said anything there Harada would've also succumb to the pressure and who knows what would've happened in the game from there. Haruichis throw to Kuramochi was such an awful thing to happen. There were multiple chances for Seidou to end that game and none of them worked but that one hurts me. This is why I always argue that if Ryousuke didn't want to tell Kataoka that he was injured, I wish he would've told Haruichi as soon as Kuramochi confronted him. I dont think Haruichi and Kuramochi have practiced a ton together in partnership before all this so they aren't properly gelled yet. Had Ryou told Haruichi, maybe they could have very least gotten in a practice with Kuramochi and Haruichi so they could iron some things out just in case Ryou couldn't play in the finals. That's how i feel at least. Cuz if that play had gone through, the game would've been done. This show is such a tease with the music. It makes me cackle everytime the way the music swells and then just cuts off like it's nothing lol. Its such a troll and its hilarious while also being just the worst. Something that I often think about is the way the reporter at the end slyly blamed Sawamura for their loss. I know he said "you can't blame him" over it but it's honestly all the same excuses they gave Mei at Nationals last year. "He's a first year so you can't blame him". I'm not blaming him really I just think it's interesting that he would pretty much straight up say it was because of Sawamura pitching in the 9th and then immediately after say you can't blame him. The deadball did kill any and all momentum it's just kind of a kick in the gut and if Sawamura had heard him say that.... I dont even wanna think about it. So the third years do leave their dorms now yeah. They're not leaving completely but they have separate dorms set up for the graduating 3rd years to stay in after the summer season so they can study in peace for entrance exams and things. Obviously them still living with first and second years who are active on the team would get pretty noisy and distracting to them so they just shift them. All the third years move out of the dorms, if they were staying in them, and they start rooming with 2 other third years until graduation. It's sad but it's understandable. The first time I saw that last episode I got taken so off guard by Miyuki having blue eyes when he was watching that game footage lol. I thought I hadn't been paying attention to his eye colour the entire season beforehand before I realized it was just the TV reflection 😂 The idea of prodigies is quite interesting to me in this game honestly. Shirakawa calls Mei a prodigy but I've never seen Mei pitching as a child so I wasn't really aware if he could be considered a prodigy because to me a prodigy is someone born with an ability already advanced past their age group and then they can work at making it better with their growth. Like I would consider Furuya a prodigy because he was born with his fastball being so monstrous but I don't know if Mei worked hard to be so good or if he was born like that. I'd also say Miyuki is a prodigy but I dunno. It's something I think about often lol. I think something that is sad to realize with Sawamura in this game is that it's a first for him with a lot of things. He had a team before this but this is his first SERIOUS team that like actually wins. First finals, first 9th inning, first proper coach, first packed stadium with an audience cheering him on. It's no wonder he was hit by so much pressure but it also explains his kind of ignorance to the importance of it all. He was playing baseball for fun in middle school. He loved it and always tried to win but got used to not winning and just enjoying playing with his friends. Now the stakes are sky high and he didn't even realize it until he was in the 9th inning. I think Diamond no Ace as a whole, has some of the most passion and heart when it comes to the players and the sport they love. Like you said, you see the third years retire in other shows and the teams just move on and keep going but you really get to see the devastation this single loss brought and how it affects not only the retiring players, but also the second years, the first years, the audience members, the coaching staff, everyone. Everyone is affected by this loss and you can just feel the pain of all of them. This show does an amazing job with showing such a genuine and real love for a sport. You compared yourself to that reporter with "I don't have any words" but then you talked for half an hour afterwards 😂😂 no but really I love this game and it hurts to see the loss but I'm ready to see the rebuild and hopefully the boys can pick it up and get it together🙏🏻

Kelsey
>>70151539

Miyuki actually did go up to Nori after Carlos came in and Mei came to bat. When it's showing all of their faces after Kataoka yelled you can see Miyuki up at the mound. He did mess up with Sawamura and not going to talk to him but he did talk to Nori before letting him pitch again, we just didn't see what he said.

romaniablack
>>70172232

It's a REALLY hard hit, to know they won't be able to play high school ball anymore and all that time and energy devoted is just...OVER. T-T I was SO sad...I had in the back of my head that Inashiro would win, but I thought, going into this last set of episodes, that Seidou could possibly do it. Seidou, despite being a powerhouse school, had sort of an underdog status going into this tournament in terms of experience with the first years, but NOW....Now they really ARE the underdogs with all the third years gone. @_@ It's going to be so weird and insane seeing what happens now, that we ACTUALLY get to see a new team formed. In so many sports anime, the series ends with that final game...we don't get to see "what happens next year" so we'll be going into uncharted waters, and I'm kind of excited! Thank you for the kind words and comment!

romaniablack
>>70185763

This was simply heartbreaking -- they were SO CLOSE -- and to know it was Tanba, Jun, Yuki, Masuko, CHRIS SENPAI, Ryo -- it was their last game, and Kuramochi won't have his buddy anymore?! Ughhhhh...pain. And yeah, that's the cruelty -- you feel good that Mei finally redeemed himself and that cry of relief? Being able to get over the hill he's had for himself? All the moments you bring up with Mei make you so happy they won...but then you look back at Seidou, and it's pain all over again, hahaa! And YES! The Harada-Mei battery is what I WANT for Miyuki and Sawamura SO BAD since watching that moment! One of the best in the game! But yeah, this transition looks like it's going to be ROUGH, but I'm eager to see what happens with it! Thanks for the comment!

romaniablack
>>70186618

The emotion of these episodes and the HEARTACHE! Also, Mei may have been scared by a bird! That animation was crazy! I get why Carlos said that, and maybe in his mind, he thinks they’ve worked “harder” than other teams, but that’s a bit presumptuous – I mean, Seidou’s kids did the same, just like Sakurazawa and the other schools, too. And UGH, Sawamura broke my heart into a thousand pieces…I hate to see our sunshine boy quiet and sad. The flashing red light was anxiety-inducing, but effective. And HA! Oh, as soon as I started seeing the lines under characters’ eyes, I started panicking! I get that! And okay, YES! Shirakawa – I hated that he got hit; you know that Sawamura and everyone was thinking about Tanba, which only made it worse, and even if Shirakawa didn’t have that insight – the roaring and the SMILE?! That smirk is what really made me dislike his character. Like, if he’d smirked from the dugout afterwards, fine, but in front of them all? Petty, indeed. On the flip side of that, I absolutely loved the ending with Mei and Harada, despite Seidou losing and crushing my soul. They’re the battery that I WANT Sawamura and Miyuki to become, but I guess we’ll have to see, right? And in the end, it wasn’t just Sawamura that caused a failure for the team, though it was the catalyst. All of the tiny errors adding up were just so hard to watch, because you know they’re such tiny errors, but they all added up to irreparable damage. You’re right, though, Haruichi and Kuramochi were not in sync like Ryo and Kuramochi are, so the play just wasn’t gelled – I hope it’s foreshadowing to those two working together to GET to that point…I guess we’ll see, right? I’m sensing a pattern, here. :P The parallels between Mei and Sawamura in this, from their actions, to their sunshine gremlin natures, to the reporter’s comments – they’re so fascinating. It’s obvious Mei and Sawamura have key personality differences, but their paths as pitchers seem…similar in a way. I am hoping that Sawamura gets a redemption moment like Mei got in this final episode. That’s my hope, anyway. It’s SO sad seeing Masuko and the third years shuffle off! ☹ I hated that moment when he left Kuramochi and Sawamura…that was heartbreaking! And yeah! I almost questioned my sanity with the fire in Miyuki’s eyes – I was like, “Wait, what?!” I thought it was an “aura” or fire in them, but it could have been the tv reflection, too. Yeah, we don’t know enough about Mei, but maybe if Shirakawa’s grown up with him, he knows he’s a prodigy. Furuya, I’d consider a prodigy, too. Raichi and Sawamura I don’t consider prodigies, just players who have a raw talent and worked really hard to hone it a specific way, but yeah, poor Sawamura – he had the “Raichi moment” and let the pressure get to him. ☹ And HA! I guess my version of “speechless” is to only ramble for half an hour! Hahahaha! But I seriously am fearful for the next set of episodes, because while I know our boys will somehow find their groove again, usually that “down” arc or moment between a loss and getting back on your feet is the hardest. But I guess we’ll see! Thanks so much for the kind words and comment! :D

Alien
>>70172232

Yesss, I’ve always wanted to see the second/third years of main characters from other sports anime and they just won’t give it to us TT so when I first watched this series I was shocked when I found out the third years were forced to retire at this point and they had to rebuild the team. At the very least, Seidou has a bunch of players unlike some other main teams in anime haha. I only just caught up with your Daiya reactions so I’m looking forward to more discussion in the future! Also have been watching your AoT reactions but I’ve been so afraid of accidentally spoiling things that I can’t bring myself to comment hahaha. Fun fact: Sawamura and Marco share a VA!

romaniablack
>>70172232

Yessss, and it looks like we'll have two seasons of at least them in the next phase of high school -- I love it! Despite the period of "rebuilding despair" that you know is coming, I'm excited to get into seeing how the dynamics shift between all of our characters, now! Ahhhh, and thank you so much for the kind words!! AOT and AOD are so different...but...I find myself with the same energy watching them, if that makes sense! ^^ And aaaahhhh, at least I'll get some sunshine with Marco's VA in THIS series! :D

zeroantizero

My apologies; both for my tardiness with this, but also for the diatribe below. These are some of the hardest episodes to watch. I dreaded experiencing again the pain I felt for Seido, especially with the third-years. That dread started "way" back to just after the Sensen match. Flashbacks almost never portend a good ending, nor does being a protagonist in your first tournament. Some tropes are inescapable. As a technical aside, in the 9th or a subsequent inning, the game ends immediately if the home (bottom of the inning) team leads after the visiting (top of the inning) team's turn - therefore no bottom of the inning is played - or scores during their own turn. There's no point in "rubbing it in" and scoring more than necessary when the game is effectively over. As for this game, as well as depressing, it's also more than a little frustrating. Of course, like you said last week (two weeks ago), "I don't trust Kawakami at all." And we see why. They might as well have kept in Sawamura for all the good he did. But I'm not going to be harsher than that because it was not his fault that the game ended the way that it did (nor was it Sawamura's, but I think both will end up blaming themselves). I kept track of all the mistakes Seido have made in this game; and setting aside all the ones from before they took the lead, I see four fatal mistakes that cost them victory. Most directly, the two errors that allowed Carlos to score - Haruichi's bad throw, yes, but what actually allowed it was Kuramochi sitting on the ground waiting for the call on the runner-to-second. Those were precious seconds that would have won them the game. Secondly, Miyuki not realizing that Sawamura was overwhelmed and not speaking to him to calm him. Those have been recurring issues since at least the game with Yakushi - he may trust his pitchers (or maybe he really only trusts himself), but he doesn't communicate with them well. It nearly cost them before and it has cost them now, so I'm hoping he works on that. But ultimately, while I'm happy that Kataoka trusted Sawamura enough to only leave Kawakami as backup, what killed Seido was pulling Furuya from the game. I think they would have won if Furuya had pitched for that last out. As for Sawamura, it's really hard for me to rationalize both that he was overwhelmed by the situation and that combined with the wild pitch to Shirakawa's head broke him in such a devastating fashion. I get why it's necessary; judging by the amount of backstory we got on Mei, he's being set up as Sawamura's poetic rival. And that requires Sawamura's development into an indisputable ace to reflect his. The problem is that Sawamura's character up to this point isn't the kind of person who would be overwhelmed here. He has plenty of experience losing. It was how he lost that got him into Seido to begin with. And because any loss ends a teams' summer, I don't see anything exceptional about the qualifier final other than its proximity to Koshien; maybe that's enough. I also find it hard to rationalize how he broke after the hit to Shirakawa's head. Again, it just doesn't seem like the character we've seen up to this point, whom has never seemed to be effected before by hitting batters (he even backhandedly threatened Azuma with it in the first episode). As for the aftermath, I just want to say first how much I love Kuramochi. He's feeling his own pain over losing, but he still does his best to cheer-up Sawamura and is upset when he can't. He's definitely in my Top 3 of favorite characters. It's hard to see all the third-years after the game. They're baseball careers are over for now - and for most of them, for forever. We already saw, much earlier, how sad and restless the third-years of Ichidai were after they were knocked out. It's exponentially harder to see Seido's. They didn't want this summer vacation, which is the first they've had in at least three years. Finishing with a final chastisement for Miyuki, I think he's thinking too negatively about the future. It's the case for every team that they're at a disadvantage after the third-years retire, and it's up to this batch of second-years to become the reliable upperclassmen and backbone of the team. They just need to develop and lead the dozens of players in the second and no-strings that haven't yet had their chance to shine.

romaniablack
>>70729433

You’re never too late to join the party! 😊 Thank you so much for the comment! That’s true – a part of me wondered if they would win or not, since it IS the first season and losing would be a catalyst for growth with our underclassmen. That makes a lot of sense about the 9th inning, too – thank you for noting that! It was certainly a frustrating and depressing end of the game… I definitely think Sawamura and Kawakami feel the loss on their shoulders…Sawamura for hitting Shirakawa and killing the momentum effectively and Kawakami for not being able to regain it before the end. I can also see the Haurichi/Kuramochi mistake, but the more I think about it (and after watching this NEXT set of episodes last night), Miyuki not realizing how Sawamura was overwhelmed and calming him down was…huge. I’m glad you call back to Yakushi (and now calling forward? But I’ll talk more about that next week), but Miyuki trusts that he can “Control” the pitchers and the game…so why talk with them? I didn’t realize how frustrating that actually is until this set of episodes, because it’s all “worked out in the end” before. The “what if’s” are so hard to call…maybe they should have left Furuya in…we’ll never know for certain. YES, I definitely see parallels in the journeys with Mei and Sawamura already…I took it as the pressure and the stakes finally getting to him, like it did with Raichi in Yakushi’s game – he’s never looked forward, like he told his friends, before; just living in the moment of the game. The moment he started thinking about nationals and the future…that’s when the stress started to seep in. And with the head hit, after they all struggled with Tanba’s hit and how serious it was; I took it as Sawamura is a kind and considerate person; the last thing he wants to do is hurt an opponent, especially in a big game like this. I would be traumatized too, if I’d been in his shoes! I agree; Kuramochi was so sweet, and I appreciate him trying to cheer Sawamura up! I feel so badly for the third years – I know that feeling of doing something for so long and then having to let it go…it’s rough. And they’ve dedicated their LIVELIHOODS to it for three years…suddenly having the rug swept out from under you. That’s HARD. >.< I will be VERY interested to see how we get development on Miyuki going forward – he’s been this prodigy-can-survive-anything character…now that the team has lost so much…it’s going to be interesting in seeing how he steps up.