nitpicking cross game’s strike zone
Categories: anime, fanservice
Tagged: cross game, k-on:mio, moe:topless
21 Comments »
I’m enjoying Cross Game— I don’t think it’s a 5 out of 5 show– but it’s entertaining and definitely something that should be marathoned. I do have a few issues with the anime…
1. Most manga is action-packed with stuff happening in every panel and tons of dialogue. Adachi is not one of these mangaka. All of his manga have deliberate pauses– pages that reflect on life, the previous story, or just to slow the pace down. He and Kousoke Fujishima are masters of the pause, and it’s something that makes their work a bit more special.
The anime completely forgets about this fact and plows ahead full steam. It almost feels weird seeing plot point after plot point since, if you’ve read any Adachi manga, this isn’t necessary what he wanted or intended. The original old school H2 anime adaptation actually had some of these pauses, but Cross Game right now feels more like any other anime with the pacing.
2. The anime condensed the entire 200 page volume 1 into one episode. Even JC Staff’s crew for Toradora is surprised. I think they cut out way too much of Wakaba’s story, and, more importantly, why Aoba hates Kitamura. They’re trying to compensate in the anime by doing relying on flashbacks, but it’s weird seeing Aoba hate on Kitamura so much without it being explained first. Again, this is against the flow and direction of what Adachi had originally. It’s like imaging Clannad where Nagisa dies in episode one and then trying to explain it afterwards.
Volume 2 was divided into 4 episodes, which I feel is a better pace. But seeing how there’s something like 15+ volumes, I wonder how many episodes is Cross Game supposed to be? Or are they going to cut out all the “boring” baseball scenes to speed things up? Or are they going to cut out all the “boring” romance scenes to speed things up?
3. Complete and utter lack of Adachi’s self-referential jokes and fanservice. I can understand the cutting of fanservice for the timeslot, but the self-referential jokes getting cut… sigh. I miss seeing various people reading manga starting from “H1” to “H5” and how he makes fun of stuff that happens in Touch. Then again, probably not a lot of people who are watching Cross Game were alive during Touch…
One other thought…
Aoba is either anime’s greatest bitch or anime’s greatest tsundere. I just don’t know which one. She’s like if you combined all the tsuntsun from Nagi, Louise, Shana, Naru, Ibuki, Lulu, and Yuuhi without a hint of deredere. Aoba’s the complete and utter opposite of Mio, which gives me a flimsy excuse to include topless Mio in this post. Though watching Aoba and Kitamura reminds me of Jessie Spano and AC Slater.
(Of course, I still subscribe to Maria’s “score all the heroines” strategy. Kitamura should hit for the cycle, which would be all four sisters. I also think Mugi should adopt the same strategy as well. And Arwan. And Welkin.)
… and one last thought…
In H2, Hiro was the Strike Freedom of high school baseball players. He was literally unhittable and more than a capable batter. Basically, flawless. They even tried Shinn’s “let’s exhaust Freedom’s energy” plan with Hiro, but he didn’t break or bend. So that’s why he’s Strike Freedom– after Kira got Strike Freedom, was any outcome ever in doubt?
For Cross Game, Kitamura is more like 00: strong, powerful, and very similar to Strike Freedom, just you know Kitamura is still feeling his way through the battles whereas Kira is thinking of his next night out with Athrun. Senda, of course, would be Marina Ismail.
21 Responses to “nitpicking cross game’s strike zone”
Leave a Reply
I’ve been really enjoying this series but I guess I’ll have to read the manga instead, or just drool over my keyboard looking at Aoba.
They cut the self-references? That’s too bad, I really enjoy the way he pokes at himself, such as his ‘habit’ of re-using the very same character designs. A character that shows up later is a good example of that.
Hey, a great Mio fanservice shot with an optional post about some baseball anime.
Mio’s her own moe mode all in one.
Baseball, baseball, interesting summary, baseball, topless mio, wait. Did you say topless mio? Headdesk.
Hmm, hiding Mio pics in other entries now I see… will have to read everything from here on out I guess.
moe Mio is moe! <3
I haven’t been following this one; I only came for the topless Mio. (As many others did, apparently, by the look of the comments.)
what are this strange words doing in you’re blog entries… Oh wait there’s MIO … HhhhhNNNNNNNGgggg …
Mio.
*snaps out of finals homework, and Mikuru induced trance* Holy crap I’d like to play with her strings! I want to go on a twenty minute bassist solo! Moto Mio!
Wait, this isn’t a K-on post?
Is it just me or does Mio have a mark on her boob from the guitar strap? At least that’s what it looks like to me.
A great tsundere HAS to have dere, otherwise you end up with, like you said, a bitch. Tsundere’s have a nice side, which is the only reason why people who like them tolerate them.
The manga is up to chapter 148. I don’t think Aoba’s dere dere side has appeared yet.
Here I was, enjoying a post about a series that I wasn’t currently following, then BAM! I get topless bass paizuri by our goddess. I found myself unable to read for several minutes.
We should start a betting pool on how long until this becomes a full fledged Mio H site.
(3/4 of the comments are about a single non-sequitur image inside another show’s post? I, for one, welcome our new Mio overlords and am honored to call you my fellow readers.)
<multiple paragraphs excised for being incoherent, nitpicky about the nitpicking, and trying to sound insightful without being familiar with the original work.>
The home of the “Broken” seem to be go for various forms of fanservice. Mio may be an attempt to mend the “Broken” but the damage done by Mako-cakes, Touma, Hosaka, Chiaki-hime, Kana, and Haruka is Amazing runs deep. Only the coming of Haruhi, Yuki, and Mikuru can possibly save the “Broken” now.
This post of Jason now has a proper fanservice of Mio. Relevantly awesome!!!
Yey. Thanks Jason! You win at life…haha…^^
Baseball? Unless no earth-shattering battle of the bands of K-On versus Enoz (with Haruhi and Yuki) happens or even against Krauser then Cross Game won’t cut it for me…^^
ciao!
If you dismiss Cross Game because of baseball, you are seriously missing something good. Baseball is just the backdrop this story is told upon. This is some good stuff, don’t miss it.
i myself cant find anything wrong with the pacing of the anime. i havent read the manga of cross game, but i’ve read h2, and i know how the mangaka likes to paint the scenery sometimes. you can still see it in this anime, if you look close enough. so far, great stuff and really fun to watch :D