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| THIS IS AN ANIME ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS THE MANGA BEYOND THIS EPISODE. ---------------------------------------- I thought the episode was okay still but the match was not very exciting. It was nice to see more bonding between Natsu and Eiichirou though. |
Stark700Jul 6, 2014 2:42 AM
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| Eiichirou finally beat Iwasa and his next opponent is Araya. I'm not too sure that he will win though, Araya looks pretty tough to beat. |
| So Ei-chan won because Iwasa's body couldn't take it and his leg cramped after dashing around so much. Araya is Ei-chan's next opponent huh, seems like it's going to be really hard for him to win. So Natsu will tell Ei-chan why she wants to go pro if he beats Araya, now you have some extra motivation, right Ei-chan? |
| "Let justice be done, though the heavens fall." |
| Next episode should be good, finally he's going to facing a good player in a tournament who is actually really strong with no obvious weaknesses. I mean, the other seeded players he faced had glaring issues in their game, next guy looks like a real monster. |
| the official MAL hall of fame/cursed comments is now open for business - you are welcome to PM me any potential quotes to include |
| Nice episode and more shipping with Natsu x Ei-chan. Can't wait for the match against Araya,this will be very good and hope it will goes for 2 full episodes |
| Maruo had a great match against Iwasa. Too bad Iwasa had stamina problems but it was a fair match. Natsu giving him something to look forward to after his next match! Araya kind of looks too old for his age group, maybe it is just his eyebrow and his hairstyle. The next match filled with speed and power! It looked like a shady deal at the end. |
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| Nice, Eiichiro won. Looking forward to Eiichiro's next match against Araya. |
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| Baby step is now so much fun to watch! :D |
| ughh this show makes playing seeded players look so easy, I just wanna see marou lose easily |
| lol |
| I didn't expect Eichiro to win this tbh. Nice to see him in the top4 :D Also I wonder if he'll win? The part with Natsu was cute :3 Interesting answer Takuma gives Eichiro in the pv XD |
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| Araya looks like hes 40. |
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epicm14 said: ughh this show makes playing seeded players look so easy, I just wanna see marou lose easily Because they have glaring weaknesses that Ei-chan managed to exploit. Araya will NOT be an easy match. Ei-chan will probably lose. (Or get super lucky and Araya has to forfeit for some reason.) He's just really tenacious. Goes to show that ranking is only ranking... there can be gaps (huge difference in ability) between them. The top 2 obviously are much stronger than the other seeded players. Why'd it end there? I really wanted to see the confrontation. :/ |
| Blushing Nat-chan is so damn cute. |
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| Wait. Araya is only 16?.... How? Anyway I look forward to Ei-chan's next match! |
| My signature is lame... |
| It kind of makes since he'd win, but imho it's still a crappy way to move the plot. Anyhow, it seems like Ei-chan is going to have a hell of a time. Based on what I saw though I'm guessing if Araya doesn't beat both him and takuma then he'll most likely quit. It also seems that Ei-chan strikes first or at the very least catches Araya off guard. |
| "A cruel world is not without it's beauty, and many times a select few find it by mistake. Only then do those select few see the world for what it is... A disastrous masterpiece." ~ 7thVoid "Hates a river that only flows down." ~ 7thVoid |
| Araya looks like he can be Ei-chan's dad XD! This is going to be one tough fight. I don't expect Ei-chan to win but I'm sure he's going to learn something from his match and "level up" his skills. |
"May those who accept their fate be granted happiness." "May those who defy their fate be granted glory." |
| What the... Araya is only 16?! O.o Definitely did not think that was his age. Well, Maruo is now in the semis and the matches are 3 sets! And that Takuma and Araya confrontation. I wonder what that's about? |
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| I was expecting that eiichiro would win this match and lose the next. I still think he'll lose against araya that guy looks intimidating. Cute part with natsu btw they're really cute (but i'm still thinking about the other girl that also likes eiichiro) |
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| Bathroom chat |
| I love how Ei-chan and the other players can talk so leisurely like good friends with each other, especially his previous opponents. Talking with Miyagawa before the match with Araya is definitely good since Miyagawa showed Ei-chan a different pov on the going for the weakness strategy. Fight hard against Araya, Ei-chan! You're gonna need all the luck you can get :D |
| Can I be honest here? Actual matches are least fun for me. They are just...well, how do I express myself here. They are just not as interesting as his thought process leading to games. His usual life, cold and calculated attitude, calmness and awkwardness are what made me like the show. When games start all of that goes out of the window. I mean, I understand why that happens and I certainly agree it is only logical he's not gonna act the same in school and on tennis field but still... I hope he losses next game so I can see more of his trainings and more of his usual life. |
| The talk about becoming pro. This is where it gets serious. |
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| Yeah, his next two opponents seem to be more intense and both focused on becoming pros. But Ei-chan has come a long way, as his coach said he's putting the pieces of the puzzle together. However I don't think he's developed a true winning stroke yet. He doesn't really have a kill shot that he can try and set up through the play. |
Please don't feed the trolls! In my next life I want to collide at the corner with the cute transfer student carrying a piece of toast in her mouth...rodac |
rodac said: He doesn't really have a kill shot that he can try and set up through the play. I'm pretty sure his kill shot is his smash attack he made against Iwasa. |
| it's becoming more interesting now :> becoming a pro, huh? i hope ei-chan will aim to be a pro too. he got the skills. it's already best 4 now. i thought natchan were competing in the match but she didn't. maybe the matches are for male only? meh i don't really understand about tennis match. ei-chan is going to have araya as his opponent, this will be very interesting. well i hope for the best for ei-chan. but if he lose, then natchan will not tell him the reason why she want to be a pro. well, let's just wait for the next episode. |
| ♪ Do re mi fa pupupu, waa~~ ♪ |
| Ei chan caugfht Araya and Takuma at the toilet rehanded, those dirty pair :3 I liked the puzzle syle that was presented when the coach as explaining things during the match against Iwasa Getting the cramps in his legs was lucky, but also something Ei chan worked at by draagging the match that long The talks after the match was very good as well with some good advice coming from Iwasa Next match is looking like a boxing match against Araya |
| What has always bothered me in a sports anime, is when a person is explaining/talking about what is happening, the person sitting right behind them doesn't bat an eye. Is he/she blind or just solely paying attention to the game in front of them??? O NOES!!! Ei-chan caught them in a drug dealing. |
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| Good episode, nothing really special tbh. Fun to see Eiichiro advance and win more games. Still this episode felt like a buildup between Arya's and Eiichiro's big game |
| Signature removed. Please follow the signature rules, as defined in the Site & Forum Guidelines. |
| It's still a bit early for Maruo to win the tournament. At best I can see him giving Araya a hard time but he's the #2 seed and he wants to go pro. Maruo has come a long way so if he loses to Araya it's not so bad. Poor #3 seed, leg cramps up and couldn't do a thing after, just watch Maruo score his final points. |
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| Ei-chan really have the goddess of luck with him. You can't see any chances of him winning with that muscle. Awww.. Nat-chan blushing was sooo cute. |
| i just remembered another thing i like about this anime a lot. it's the fact that the characters react normally when they lose and the opponents are usually not hostile and actually quite friendly. in other sports anime the characters will usually break down in tears or something else over-dramatic when they lose and have the usual intense rival stare-down or something else equally corny. it just feels much more normal in this anime |
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| What a fantastic episode as always. I take it that the moral is 'to fight random is to be ready for what they're going to do, not to force anything, and to take every opportunity you see to limit those random options'. Even if ultimately this match turned into an anti-climatic match about accepting wins based off of your opponents faults alone, which was very unexpected. The analogy of learning tennis being like putting a puzzle together was the most accurate thing I've seen. Learning is like piecing a puzzle together, the more you understand all around the easier it is to accelerate and finish piecing it together. I can't wait to watch Maruo vs Araya. Araya seems hilariously disrespectful with his shouting. I wonder and expect a part of this match to be learning how to deal with that kind of behavior and not letting it get to him. Sasaki remarking that Maruo at school is like a different Maruo than the one playing tennis, and Takuya telling Maruo to win the tournament for his sake were two incredibly relatable lines. Especially the Sasaki observation. Can playing for fun not beat playing to be pro(aka to win)? I suppose if it means in the sense that when you're playing for fun you aren't focused on the experience at hand and winning the match... but I think Maruo does play to win, a lot. Even if winning doesn't mean going pro. I'm curious what this meant and I guess I'll see as we go along. Oh, and something I think this anime has yet to reflect which owlette reminded me of is the fact that people are way too friendly after they lose! I hope we see someone being salty and sad and hostile after losing, at least someone! Not everyone has such good control of their emotions that they can accept losing to an unseeded player as a top 4 player like it's nothing.. It's more likely that this is not normal to have everyone be nice perfect little pals after losing, but maybe we'll see this happen. |
gfsdfgsdgsdfgsJan 6, 2018 9:01 AM
| What an episode! I did not expect Ei-chan to win the match against a seeded player as Iwasa or "the artist", but I am glad he did. Baby Steps turns out to be very observant at times and I love how it elaborates on the psychological aspect of sports performance. Can't wait for Ei-chan's next match against Araya-kun... Think this will be a difficult one for him for sure. |
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| Decent episode. The match with Maruo and Izawa was a bit flat as a whole, mainly cause of Izawa's lack of interest when it came to actual tennis. Atleast his little arc was resolved nicely as he looks to focus more on painting on a canvas instead of being on the court as often. Maruo's done really well and definitely overachieved to reach the final 4 of the tournament but he's at the same time, completely out of place in comparison to the others. The others, especially 2nd seed Araya are aiming to go pro and have been training a very long time mentally and physically to reach to the top of the tennis world, something Maruo hasn't really thought about at all - hell, he joined tennis only a year back with intentions for exercise at best. Sure he's grown from that perspective, but to compare that to training to be a pro with passion and grit are completely different levels. Can't wait for their match though, that should be a lot more exciting than this one given Araya's status and ambitions. |
| As of right now I’m rewatching this via my luck finding a huge video on YouTube of all episodes of s1, and I just now reached this episode. This match wasn’t 100% a sleepfest (though perhaps it’s because I loaded up a bit more on caffeine previously specifically for this rewatch), but man it was underwhelming as shit. Not anything of an improvement from the 1st time’s visit. (Not gonna bother updating it as a rewatch count on this site, anyways, though.) Baby Steps as a whole, in my god honest opinion, while definitely not necessarily bad, I feel like it’s “overpraised” (overrated is a term I need to be careful with nowadays). While I get the meaning of “baby steps” and the sense of realistic progression and development, the amount of immersiveness and weight the story and characters have for me is milktoast at best. Maruo has his highs and lows for sure, especially highlighted due to his lack of experience and long term foresighting, but it’s not enough to make me feel impressed or inspired. At least the little romance story going on has its entertaining merits considering its slow steady progression. |
RyuseishunNov 22, 2020 11:12 AM
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| Ei-Chan won! the match was very entertaining in this one. |
"......If I told you that I was a real witch, would you believe it?"  |
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