Incredible Nothing!: Ookiku Furikabutte 24: Manly Tears

There are some scenes that just don't need subtitles to be understood... :P

Watching OoFuri raw proved to be as difficult for me as expected, but since it's the last episode of the long running Nishiura VS Tousei match and the last I read in Central Anime's forum thefinal 2 subbed episodes would only surface in March (which technically is just a few days away, but still...), I just had to continue watching, subs or no subs. Even with subs the technical aspects of the game fly past my head anyways (I suppose the task should be much easier for those seasoned with the actual game), so I was concentrating more on the rest of the spoken parts, which in this climactic episode consisted a lot of yells of support, monologues of self-doubt, harsh but well-meant berating, and yes, manly tears... So which team exactly wins the match and which team is left in despair, that is what we're here to find out!

*Spoilers start here*

Mihashi being Mihashi XD

The pressure was very much on Mihashi in the final inning of the game. With the already mounting tension and the outcome of the game relying much on his pitching, his confidence wavers terribly as he recalls the bad old days of playing with Mihoshi and thinks that he'll once again bring disappointment to his team. And it turns out Momokan's giddy face from the preview wasn't from the match outcome after all, it was from seeing Mihashi fallen and thinking that the poor guy must've reached his breaking point. Thanks to Impz's episode summary (wasn't able to get to scrumptious for some reason), I was finally able to understand that when Abe saw Mihashi at his lowest and started shouting at him, he was really calling Mihashi's bluff by telling him to either pitch or leave the mound - an instant no-brainer for Mihashi since all he ever wants is to pitch for the team that wants him to pitch (kinda like telling him to believe in the team that believes in him!!).

Abe's bluff manages to get Mihashi's head back in the game, but at the cost of Tousei's runners at 1st and 2nd base (I think). It all comes down to Mihashi's final pitch... And again he second guesses himself! It's all very much infuriating, but leads up to the very strong sequence of scenes where the rest of the team start calling out to bring Mihashi's confidence back.

And so Mihashi pitches... and Tousei's batter swings... and hits! The ball goes far down the centre, and the game once again enters high tension mode. It's up to Izumi and team captain Hanai to strut their stuff - Izumi dives and catches, he passes it to Hanai who throws it back to home... Silence falls as Abe catches the ball just as Tousei's runner slides in...

"OU-TO!!!"

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OH YES, THEY DID IT, THEY EFFING DID IT, THEY WON!!!!!

ROLFMAO XD Nice to see someone as excited as I am with their win =D

*PHEW that was a close one... Okay perhaps my reaction at Nishiura's win wasn't as big as I'm making it out to be since I know the manga's still going on with so despite the anime coming to a close there really was 'no doubt at all' in Nishiura winning after all, teehee* What was immediately apparent after the game ended was despite the whole tension leading up to the final deciding pitch, Nishiura's eventual win didn't come with many extreme scenes of euphoria (aside from Tajima jumping Mihashi XD) and instead came across as a very subdued 'celebration'. There was hardly any loud cheering from the winner's side, instead we get both teams humbly bowing to each other and Nishiura lining up to thank their supporters. Eventually the cheer squad guy starts howling a little and there's smatterings of applause throughout, but the overall level of joy shown wasn't too high and kept to a tasteful level. Still you can't help but feel the silent pride of the supporters (especially if you're like me, a supporter yourself!) and the team sure as hell seemed pleased enough with the win!

Also noticed that the Nishiura moms reactions to their sons' win was hardly significant to how they usually are (especially Tajima's on the far left, though it's probably because she knows well enough how much of a wonderkid Tajima is) lol. I suppose for most of them watching the match was more of a learning experience in baseball and a chance to watch their sons in action... I'm guessing at least some of them were as lost as I was during parts of the game, :P Note too that there isn't a single dad in sight in the supporters, which would be strange if this was a sports match in any other country... Guess it must be the Japanese salaryman stereotype in action here.

True Tears T_T

For Tousei, the loss obviously came as a hard blow to the team, understandably enough, and a lot of the emphasis at the end of the match was on how they had to come to terms with the outcome. As much as my full support goes to Nishiura, it was hard to suppress that pang of sadness that came while watching Tousei's evident despair, especially from Takase and the catcher. It's probably the toughest on the senior students like them who won't be able to play in the Koshien anymore once they graduate.

Perhaps things would've have been different if they had been on their guard against Nishura from the start, but there's no doubt that both teams still played their best against one another. So as an expression of appreciation for their match, Tousei even gives Nishiura the 1000 cranes they folded and wishes them the best in the future. Certainly a nice and fitting gesture there to say no hard feelings.

Heck, Tajima's such a star in the game that he even gets asked for his autograph by that Tousei dude who was always at the bench! Okay, maybe they were just exchanging numbers... Was still pretty funny how the guy couldn't express his questions about Tajima's gameplay properly XD

For Nishiura, there really is no time to celebrate as Momokan goes into full coach mode and instructs everyone to show up for practice the same evening... Ouch, but the announcement doesn't come as a surprise at all since the team knows that Koshien is SRS BSNSS after all. That saga continues on in the manga, but unfortunately stops here for the anime. The final episode looks like a casual ending from the looks of the preview and will no doubt be another challenge altogether for my raw-untrained ears, but after watching Nishiura beating the odds and showing up with that seriously satisfying win, I'm willing to endure any amount of confusion to watch OoFuri's much deserved closure.

What of our ace pitcher Mihashi though? The lad's totally worn himself out and konks out immediately to get some well-deserved rest. I say to him: Good Job Mihashi! Nishiura wouldn't be Nishiura without your ace pitching, and OoFuri certainly wouldn't be OoFuri without your signature flighty antics =P