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Doublea said: Bayrock said: This series has taken me by surprise personally because I don't naturally enjoy sports series but this one is different. My favorite element has been Eiichiro's methodical notes and mental abilities which for me adds some level of psyche and intrigue. Before seeing this anime I didn't realize tennis could be such a game of mentality. Watching him grow from the average kid with smarts to beginning to envelop a real passion for the sport is enjoyable so far. As of episode 8 and those before it he seems to continue getting better at a believable pace. And, the fact they waited for episode 8 for him to even think of calling Natsu Nat-chan shows the modesty of the romance in this series. It's a breathe of fresh air to get the spotlight off of relationships and really focus on something else for once. The subtle relationship that does exist and continue to grow is only another upside to this series thus far. Yup, Tennis is like 75% mental, 25% physical. Slightly irrelevant to Baby Steps but I found that to be the case when I went snowboarding for the first time this past Winter as well. It's interesting for me to watch Eiichiro because his initial developments in tennis are similar with mine in snowboarding as I adapted to snow. I had been used to skateboarding and found snowboarding to be much more a mental sport than I expected, but once I realized that I was able to adjust my abilities to progress more quickly. Now it's nearly Summer and I still find myself dreaming of the few days I was able to go snowboarding. I can't wait until next Winter and have already purchased gear as well. Like Eiichiro I also tend to enjoy watching others to take mental notes so I've also been watching videos from time to time. Though I try not to because it makes me anxious for Winter to come and we have quite some time before then, lol. |
BayrockMay 29, 2014 5:41 AM
| Nat-chan and Ei-chan. Okay |
| Is the art getting worse or this episode just a fluke? I know it's plot driven rather than all the flashing graphics, but damn this episode was downright horrid at times. |
superman89 said: Is the art getting worse or this episode just a fluke? I know it's plot driven rather than all the flashing graphics, but damn this episode was downright horrid at times. Maybe I wasn't paying attention but I didn't see any inconsistencies with the art in this episode compared to those before it. As you've mentioned it's never been the pinnacle of great art and animation, but if you could provide an example comparison of the discrepancy you mentioned maybe your point will be more clear. Doublea said: Totally the case with me too! I play tennis and when I started all I did was watch videos of the pros and the right fundamentals. That's why this show is so good! I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one that can relate to this series and the main character. It must make this series that much more enjoyable for you to watch considering you have a passion and familiarity with tennis. I tried tennis some when I was younger, but at the time I had no intentions of taking it seriously. After seeing this series though and the mental side of tennis it kind of makes me wish I did pick it up. |
| Araya looked like a son of the coach It was nice to see Eiichiro progress in his relationship with Nat chan and tennis A years worth and 20 notebooks is sure impressive along with his tenacious spirit It's quite logical to see he's not at the top of his studies anymore with most of his focus on the sport now |
Oh god when he first callled her Nat-chan I was like |
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| This show is surprisingly really fucking good. I thought his first match vs the seeded guy a few episodes back dragged on for way too long, though. I like how they focus on his training and improvement rather than the matches. |
| One of the few shows that I don't mind the repetitive scenes of him hitting on the wall, could even say I love the progressive training he does everyday even giving priority to tennis over studying. |
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| Good episode, glad to see Eiichiro make such good progress as well as getting closer to Natsu :) Also noticed that the second seed player really looks similar to Roger Federer imo |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| So I guess there was a page in the manga that said "One year later", and they managed to work an entire episode around that. Tbh, it felt rushed. Especially the "he's training everything so he won't have any weaknesses." Duh, then you have no strong points either... Milky_way1886 said: Also noticed that the second seed player really looks similar to Roger Federer imo I don't see it. Moreover, Federer is definitely not a player relying on strength. If anything, he looks more like Ferrer. |
HapHazrDJul 29, 2015 5:23 AM
| Ei-kun sure is managing to get by in school. 6th place in rankings, but will he continue to drop. He sure is improving, 3rd round exits thus far. Not bad since he's a beginner. Plus he's training very hard, he's bound to make it farther. If anything he'll give a much better fight at the KJC. |
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| You know.. getting top ten in school with that schedule. Ei-chan is inhuman.. a cliche plot would have him breaking down already. The power of love is pushing his back I guess... LOL. |
| A bit filler-ish but it's fine. The realism of dropping in ranks was nice. |
| I adored this episode. I hadn't realized the way Takuma urged Maruo to join the tournament at the end of last episode, and in the recap this time, but it shows how much Takuma has warmed up to Maruo. If you recall he absolutely hated him at the start. And there's some real development going on with Maruo as an individual becoming a lot more decisive and clear on what he wants, as well as how social he is, and his relationship with Natsu. I love how you can tell she likes him back, mostly with her subtle but happy and embarrassed face she made when he first called her Nat-chan, and the way she forced him to call her one name or the other. The point being that even apart from the sport related content, Baby Steps does character writing really well. In fact, for a best friend character I haven't seen one which was a better friend than Kageyama is. He constantly pushes for Maruo's best. :) And despite the fast pacing being a bit questionable, it's for a strong purpose. If we had a slower paced anime where the character improved faster in a shorter amount of time stretched out in a long manner for us it would feel a lot less satisfying. Baby Steps, to me, has been about the road of improvement, and a slow paced anime would defeat that purpose! Absolutely loving this so far. |
| This episode was an honest mixed bag for me. I loved the development of Maruo's relationships with Takasaki (even calling her by her first name know in nickname form) and being closer with Takuma too at the same time, despite Takuma still having a slightly cocky attitude still. The festival stuff was nice as well, and I liked seeing how much Maruo really had to work to get to a respectable level against his potential opponents when it comes to winning tournaments. The constant amount of losses in early rounds from the first to third range shows that he can't become a champion when he's that raw and new to tennis and only started training for a year while others may have played for more than a decade to get to where they are. He's still progressing though which is nice. However, what this episode struggled with was pacing and visuals. The episode while showcasing Maruo learning and developing, did feel a bit filler-ish and not too important beyond a few parts. And the progression of time felt awkward and really fast too despite how laid back the episode was being for the most part. Studio Pierrot didn't do a great job with the visuals either, having some sequences feel like cheap Powerpoint presentations made in 5 minutes and some off-model drawings too constantly. This was clearly rushed production wise without much polish whatsoever. This era of Pierrot was not a great one, that's for sure. |
| Damn from the past episodes we've been getting more Eiichirou's hard working moment, they better prove others wrong from now. |
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