The first game point, flurry of strikeouts, Junta’s chuckle attack, sincere “thank you”, just a cousin, Mihashi’s fever, Tajima’s second time at bat, and tattooing your cheers on your arms in…

Ookiku Furikabutte 16 – Don’t Underestimate (Them) 「あなどるな」

In the 2nd inning, with a man on first and third, Abe comes to the plate. The runner on first, Mihashi, takes a rather large lead-off making Kazuki call for a pickoff. Several Tosei players close in on Mihashi as Hanai starts his run to home base. Shingo finally manages to tag out Mihashi as Hanai slides to home. Everyone in the stadium held their breath, awaiting the umpire’s decision. Then, the crowd and Nishiura bench erupts in elation as the umpire awards a run to Nishiura!

A shock-stricken Junta asks himself if he forgot that there was a runner at third because he was too focused on tagging out Mihashi to make it three outs. Kazuki calls on Junta and invites him back to the bench. On the way back, Junta recalls Mihashi’s face and starts to chuckle uncontrollably.

After the announcer called for Nishiura’s manager to check on Mihashi, Junta inquires about the first base coach who was able to read his pitching motion, resulting to Hanai’s steal. Kazuki does not know who it was, though he reckons that seeing Junta’s pickoff twice might have something to do with the steal.

Over at the Nishiura bench, Shiga examines Mihashi for injuries. He signs off that Mihashi is seems to be unharmed. After Shinouka takes Mihashi’s temperature, Momoe agrees to let him take the field. The crowd cheers as soon as they see Mihashi running through the field. From the bench, Momoe decides to keep a close eye on Mihashi, as the thermometer registered that his temperature is a bit high. Abe is also concerned and wants to give Mihashi a break.

The next batter for Tosei is Aoki Takehiko. He was able to go to Koshien stadium (Summer Tournament Championship) as a freshman last year and from third baseman, he has become a shortstop. On the first pitch, a slider, Aoki swings and misses. For the second, he hits it foul. Hamada remarks that Aoki has quite the arm to be able to send Mihashi’s slow pitch outside the ballpark. The previous hit did not faze Mihashi at all. He quickly dispatches Aoki for another strikeout. Mihashi continues to pitch wonderfully, striking out Kazuki, Tosei’s catcher and captain, as well as Motoyama. The score at the end of the second inning is 1-0, in favor of Nishiura.

Junta makes up for his poor performance earlier and quickly does away with Abe, striking him out with three straight pitches. Mihashi unnecessarily delivers Abe’s catcher equipment to him. Feeling as though Mihashi wants to tell him something, Abe demands for Mihashi to just let it out.

Mihashi: A..Abe… You’re… amazing!
Abe: Huh? What’s so amazing about striking out?
Mihashi: You struck out 4 people already! It’s so… amazing!
Abe: Ah… you’re talking about striking out Tosei? Well, that was your doing.
Mihashi: No… No, it wasn’t.
Abe: It wasn’t?
Mihashi: I’ve… I’ve thought about what pitch to throw before, but they always end up getting hit. It’s true… and I know I haven’t changed.
Abe: So?
Mihashi: So… Thank you… Thank you, Abe.

As Mihashi goes to join the others to cheer for Izumi’s base hit. Abe is left at the back. Overcome by emotion, he battles hard to keep the tears from falling. Back on the field, Junta gets Sakaeguchi to pop out, making it two outs. As Suyama takes up bat, he notices that Junta has been throwing a lot straight pitches. Suyama converts on the second pitch with a ground hit.

Kazuki could not believe how well Nishiura is playing, taking into account that this is Nishiura’s first appearance in the Summer Tournament with an all-freshman team. He realizes that it is time to recognize Nishiura’s strength. For Tajima’s second plate appearance, Junta easily strikes out him out, putting Nishiura back on defense.

A girl makes her way to the stadium and is surprised to see that the audience stayed despite the rain. She spots Mihashi’s mom and goes over to sit with her. Mihashi’s mom offers her a towel to dry off. She declines and starts to take off her blouse to reveal her spaghetti strap, exposing her tattooed arms with “Win!” and “Nishiura”. The other mothers ask if she is Mihashi’s girlfriend. Mihashi’s mom introduces her as Ruri, Mihashi’s cousin.

Ruri recalls her conversation with Mihashi last night about the game. She waited for him to stop her from going, as how he would during middle school, but it never came. She thought it was peculiar. She also mentioned that since Mihashi is going up against a strong team that they would be eliminated right away. Mihashi strongly opposed this. Now, seeing how Mihashi is doing well, delivering strikeout after strikeout, she begins to think that he reacted that way because he has become quite the baseball player.

Thoughts

This was another great episode. It opened with Hanai scoring a run and continued to progress to the next two innings. I was surprised that Junta was able to bounce back right after Nishiura scored the first run. I thought he would be brooding over it, but he didn’t. He got his groove back, preventing Nishiura from scoring more runs with his straight pitches. Then, Tajima remained fruitless at his plate appearances, which was surprising. I was really expecting him to be the go-to-guy during this important first round game. It was not the case, which was sad as a big Tajima fan. Though, I really appreciate how this series continues to make things unpredictable.

Ruri: Girlfriend or Cousin? Both?

We were also treated to the introduction of a new character. What important role she plays, I have yet to find out. She was briefly mentioned in the episodes. That scene when she took off her blouse to show off her tattooed arms was pretty amusing and I like her already!

Another scene that was impressed on my mind was how the other moms, three-headed monster, were inquiring, almost in a teasing manner, if Ruri was Mihashi’s girlfriend or not. It was funny watching them repeat what the other was saying.

So, what is Ruri’s deal? Is she just a cousin or will she be vying for Mihashi’s heart? Well, take a number, Ruri. You’d have to get past Abe and the other guys on the team to get to Mihashi :p

Who do you hate?

Don’t you guys think that none of the Oofuri characters are genuinely annoying? Either they are already likable or it just takes a slightly longer time to like them. In the end, you always end up not wanting to gauge their eyes out.

Junta x Mihashi

I thought Junta was someone really stiff. He seemed really serious in the past episodes. It was interesting to see his personality being fleshed out more in this episode. Seeing him letting out bursts of chuckles whenever he remembers Mihashi’s face was fun to watch. I really can’t blame him, I’d laugh too

Abe x Mihashi

That moment when Mihashi thanked Abe set off the fangirl in me ^^;;; The bgm during the scene really matched the mood. Abe’s reaction was really… adorable? <_< Abe’s vulnerability got me to sympathize with him a lot. He really is such a softy inside. One sincere “Thank you” from Mihashi and he just buckled

BL moments

• Junta happily recalling Mihashi’s face
• Abe x Mihashi moment at the bench

Episode 17 – Third Base Runner 「サードランナー」