Anime
A Koushien-esque Cross Game Blogging Ambition Once Forgotten
I once thought of doing an episodic-blogging (or multiple-episode-coverage per post) for Cross Game, because it’d a waste if I don’t. As I’ve noticed, when I’m not writing about what I’m watching (or if I’m not compelled to write about what I am watching), I’m simply, well, watching. Passively. Just like how it was before. In turn, my appreciation for the anime and the luster of my animu-loving Kokoro no Tamago, weakens.
Blogging makes me feel more alive; Simply having the URGE to write is enough proof that I still have that PASSION burning within me, and I find that really comforting. It’s like, wow, I’m still able to nurture the Natural Child ego within me, I’m not as jaded as I thought!
“I want to capture the awesome moments of Cross Game!”, I once told myself, especially after episode 5 — but then where is that dream now? Gone with the wind?
Jiji– I mean Coach Maeno, the coach of the Prefab baseball team (aka the “rejects”) of Seishuu High makes me want to relive that ambition again. He might not seem like it, but he’s one GAR grandpa. Things are heating up in Cross Game, if seeing Coach Maeno all FIRED UP to beat the elite baseball team isn’t enough (I’m totally pretending I still haven’t seen episode 16-17 here). For years, he held onto his love for baseball, and while that allowed him to gain extensive knowledge about the game, his lack of competitiveness made him passive throughout the years — dreaming of Koushien while not really being into winning. Now things are different; with his position and the kids’ Koushien dream at stake, he couldn’t afford to just sit around and do nothing. If there’s any better time to kick the asshole infamous results-obsessed elite coach’s ass, it is NOW.
Thanks to Kou, Akaishi and Nakanishi, together with the rest of the team, he found himself the golden opportunity to not only dream of Koushien, but finally make it come true — on the way to that Road to Glory.
When you’re burning with PASSIONATE LOVE for something, you’d find yourself discontent with being lazy. For anime fans, it’s the “Simply watching is not good enough!” or “I have to watch MOAR” kind of mindset — either we indulge in an amassing behavior or expressive one. You feel as if you want to pimp what you’ve watched to the whole world as you want people to know that THIS IS F*CKING AWESOME!! Someone has to draw the line between Healthy Passion and Delusional Fanaticism, of course. But I digress.
One thing I realize is that when I don’t set my mind into blogging a series, I find myself being a casual and semi-apathetic viewer, and I hate it when I do that, especially for something as awesome as Cross Game. And by “setting my mind into blogging a series” I don’t mean it like “simply watching for the sake of blogging”, but rather wanting to be moved or entertained enough by what I’m watching (and keeping my FOCUS on it) so that I will be compelled to write about its AWESOMENESS later on.
Rewatching the past episodes of Cross Game and rereading this post of mine made me go “I want to write MOAR of this! Not this!” So yeah, right now I really want to WRITE MOAR about Cross Game, and let’s hope I’ll have enough creative juices to produce blog posts. As much as I don’t wanna miss out on the new season’s offerings, I wouldn’t want to spread myself too thinly by watching a lot and ending up just watching them and nothing else. Awesome shows like Cross Game deserve all the attention they can get.
I’d want to look back years after and pride myself on being an anime fan who didn’t just watch anime, but became a Productive Individual in the process even though I sacrifice some work time to slack off and write blog posts like this instead of focusing on my work 
P.S. I really want to watch Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 right now because I’m pretty positive it’s the kind of show that’ll make me chatty and blabber a lot. But man, I can only do so much as to want to GIVE LOVE to them great animus TT__TT
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17 comments for “A Koushien-esque Cross Game Blogging Ambition Once Forgotten”
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Since there are no robot shows next season, I promise to watch this ^_^
I’m trying to episode-blog Cross Game, but sometimes when you finish you just want to sit back and think “damn that was awesome” instead of “damn I want to write a lengthy blog post analyzing that”. Anyhoo, Cross Game is severely under-blogged. But what do you expect.
And Tokyo Magnitude is a pretty damn good show too.
@ghostlightning: w00t!!
@Theowne: severely under-blogged YES! Well I too have been through that “dreading writing a lengthy blog post” feeling when watching a show, and I’ve suffered from burnouts from that. More than writing analysis/episodic posts, I find myself enjoying sharing about what I found awesome in the series, or if scenes strike a chord with me so much it makes me cry or what. “Cross Game diaries” kind of posts, where I put my thoughts and feelings into words, become enlightened in the process — if the series moves me enough to do that, why not?!
That’s why I didn’t exactly say that I’m going to blog Cross Game episodically, I’m just going to watch it and let it compel me to write, it’s more fun that way, no obligations =D
Trying to catch up with Tokyo Magnitude, will be “nurturing” my thoughts for the show as I go along
I’ve always felt that the appeal of Cross Game is more or less the sum of many individual charming scenes, and these are what stick in your mind. The plot itself is straightforward – we can predict that evil coaches will be punished, Kou will probably go to Koushien, KouxAoba will probably happen, etc, we we can guess that just from the way these series usually go. But the audience keeps watching for those individual moments scattered through the series that really strike us emotionally. But its easier to discuss/blog about shows where its all about plot suspense and mystery. It’s harder to do that with shows like Cross Game without sounding like a laundry list of “favourite scenes”.
TBH, I was all pumped up for Cross Game when it first started, and I read all up to ch148 and watched till ep9, then it just petered out. I just downloaded all up to date last night, gonna start watching again! =]
Edit: I ended up reading a stack of other Adachi Mitsuru manga as well, I really wish there was more though. =[
Love live natural child
As for me, I’m waiting for Cross Game to be finished as I tend to enjoy such anime through marathon. I hope Cross Game continues to be awesome, for all our sake.
I guarantee it is good. =] It doesn’t look like they’ll be animating it all though. I’m hoping for a second season =]
@Theowne: Part of me wants to say “who cares if it sounds like a laundry list of favorites!”, but then sounding monotonic isn’t exactly a good thing.
While it is “easier” to blog and especially discuss about action-packed shows because fans can easily relate to what you’re talking about, I love how Cross Game moves viewers on a deeper, emotional level because it makes the whole experience personal. And that’s exactly what I want to do, continue relating to it on a personal level and write about my personal thoughts on it. In the end, I’m doing this for myself.
Just because something is “more of the same” doesn’t mean you won’t be able to say anything noteworthy about it anymore. Sometimes just a question of, “Why do we love Cross Game despite its predictability?” can open up a flood of thoughts and emotions. It’s good to be your own curmudgeon at times too, or see different point of views on what you watch for your own growth as well. I find myself gaining better appreciation for a series when I do that
@KayDat: That’s actually the reason why I’m avoiding the manga like a plague atm, because as much as I want to watch/read MOAR Cross Game, anticipating what happens week after week adds some sort-of magic to my appreciation of this. Probably because then I’d be savoring the moments as if I’m seeing it for the first time, and the episode/s get to linger in my mind a LOT longer too
@gaguri: I believe in Mitsuru Adachi, and I believe Cross Game will be awesome until the end because of that. Not really much of a credential, but we have faith in him and the producers of the anime adaptation
Hey! This is unrelated to your post but do you mind if I add you to my blogroll?
I’ve
stalkedread your blog since you use to blog about the Shugo Chara anime!sure thing, no need to ask permission for that! Makes me happy and honored :3
usagijen: You ever watch Touch?
I did, about 4 years ago, and I’m ashamed to say I never got around finishing it
I got exposed to Mitsuru Adachi’s works in manga form, it seems… Rough, Itsumo Misora, also Miyuki… but that’s not really relevant to the question now isn’t it lol.
Ohh, Touch. It’s interesting looking back on older manga works, the only thing that tells you “hey, this is from the 70’s/80’s” are the hair styles and the technology shown. Touch had turntables and H2 assumes the reader knows mobile phones were expensive, few and far between. I found that anime, on the other hand, is less timeless. Animation quality and music really reveals that 20 or 30 years has past since the show was first made.
As a side note…why are there no H2 fansubs?? =[ H2…Hideo and Hiro, two heroes!!
Personally I really prefer the older series, like Touch and Maison Ikkoku, to most modern romance stories like Bokura ga Ita. I dunno, I find something more sincere/charming about them. I guess that’s why I like Cross Game so much. Even though it’s airing now, it feels like one of those classic romance stories like Maison Ikkoku or Touch. Before this ADD age of text messaging and internet.
KayDat: Yeah, manga is pretty standard, except for some artwork improvement as the mangaka’s style evolves. The “age” of an anime is indeed easy to figure out simply judging by the animation style and music, though it adds a “nostalgia” effect to a series when you watch it years after it first aired. Of course the downside of that is that not all people would welcome ‘ye olde artwork’ =/
I think I’ve seen H2 fansubs, chinese though lol.
@Theowne: Oh I get what you mean, older series tend to have a more down-to-earth feel to it, portrayed naturally too. Do be careful though, sometimes when we hang on to the glorious past we run into the possibility of looking past the charm that newer animes have.
Then again, I can’t really remember any romantic anime in the recent years that I’ve come to love, except maybe Tokyo Marble Chocolate and 5cm/second. And if I were being nitpicky I’d say I would’ve loved to see that ’90s romance magic’ in Tokyo Marble Chocolate, but that might be an unrealistic expectation.
Bokura ga Ita is melodramatic and really angsty, that’s probably why you didn’t like it, not necessarily because of its modern portrayal. Makes me wish more timeless romance stories would show up though, I’m hoping Kimi no Todoke can shape up to be one
Before this comment gets any more off-tangent let me just say Cross Game is love yes~! 
[woot Cross Game]
(I’ve been hearing that Kimi no Todoke is just a little bit awesome. Have high hopes for that in the fall.)
[/woot Cross Game]
@usagijen
Yeah, about the mangaka style improvement: one thing I noticed about Adachi Mitsuru, is that he almost hasn’t changed at all! Some see this as a good thing, while most (the unwashed masses!) see this as a bad. One slight criticism though (and I really wish it wasn’t so), is that many of his character designs are similar, if not identical. I also found that he has many similar plot developments, with death being the most common. I remember reading H2, laughing on one page, and the next, feeling the emotions drain from my smiling face, staring at the black page. That’s one thing I love about Adachi, he takes you on a wonderful ride in his stories.
Haha, I think there are Chinese subs for almost anything. I wish I paid more attention in Chinese school…or maybe I should just learn Japanese instead! =]
Sorry, kinda my fault for going off tangent. =P
Just one more tangent then…
[tangent]
I LOVE 5cm/s. Watched Bokura ga Ita, thought it wasn’t bad. I think I liked LoveCom more though. I’ve heard of Tokyo Marble Chocolate, never really knew/bothered to check what it was though. I’ll have to put it on my Plan to Watch list. Same with Kimi no Todoke. =]
[/tangent]
Ahem. Yes, Cross Game.
@Theowne’s second post
Not to spoil anything, but just let me say this: things mix up quite a bit, relationships don’t turn out as you might have thought they would at the start. Then again, the manga isn’t exactly finished, so I can’t say for certain.