(CR) Baby Steps Season 2

[Mubyoshi]

Time for the mid boss battle! You can do it Maruo! I'm glad they actually had a clear result from Maruo's and Natsu's match instread of cutting it half way or something. I hope we also get to see some of Natsu's mid boss battle too.

[Haak]

As expected, the animation took a complete nosedive back to substandard.

Good episode tho.

[HandofFate]

Ouch.
Unseeded Man vs. 2nd rank Girl in the region(? or similar iirc)

6-1 victory

[SuitUp]

Unseeded man (who's leagues in skill above most of the region, maybe 4rd or 5th overall)*
Also, yeah, that's about the distance between male and female physiques...

[Moroboshi-kun]

Originally Posted by HandofFate

Ouch.
Unseeded Man vs. 2nd rank Girl in the region(? or similar iirc)

6-1 victory

I think it is quite feasible. From the real life:

"During the 1998 Australian Open, sisters Serena and Venus Williams boasted that they could beat any man ranked outside the world's top 200. The challenge was accepted by Karsten Braasch, a German player ranked No 203 (his highest ranking was No 38). Before the matches, Braasch played a round of golf in the morning, drank a couple of beers, smoked a few cigarettes, and then played the Williams sisters for a set each, one after the other. He defeated Serena, 6-1, and Venus, 6-2. Serena said afterwards "I didn't know it would be that hard. I hit shots that would have been winners on the women's tour and he got to them easily.""

[Guardian Enzo]

Yes, that was a very realistic outcome, and I think Natchan realized that after a couple of games, which is why she was cool with it. If the players are of roughly the same age, fitness level and skill level, the difference in power and speed is simply going to make the match one-sided. That's not sexism, it's realism. And Ei-chan and Natchan definitely meet the requirements - his lack of seeding is only a result of a lack of accumulated rankings points, not skill level.

[janipani]

Very realistic actually. There are also other factors too. Usually the material in female sports is much narrower than in male sports, meaning that there is smaller chance to get the very best women in any field of sports. That is why it is more common in female sports to see complete dominance and see one person to over take many fields of sports, because the level in average is not as perfect than with male sports.

[FlareKnight]

Yeah, as much as it'd be nice to just have a purely even match...that's not realistic and the show does tend to try to walk that line when it can. Both of them are athletes who have spent a long time pushing themselves to peak physical condition so just the pure physical differences will decide it.

The good thing is that both characters here got something from this practice match and no one had hard feelings. Maruo has learned how effective it can be against someone like himself to face the unexpected and how sometimes relying on instinct can be beneficial. And for Natsu she gets to face a really tough opponent which she's needed. There just aren't enough women in that area that can test her in the lower tournaments.

[Guardian Enzo]

I believe this is the first time Baby Steps has ever ranked for three straight weeks on the manga chart. Good to see.

[Sky Field]

Weren't Baby Steps volumes selling around 40k before the anime hit? Volume 35 breaking 100k is quite impressive. Fingers crossed for an S3.

[Guardian Enzo]

I believe it was running a little higher than that, but this volume is at 123K, which is around double what it used to do at least.

[Stark700]

The match lived up to my expectations for this week's episode. Araya might need to chill out a bit though but it managed to capture the momentum that I was hoping and expecting.

[Haak]

Dat racket twirl.

[~Yami~]

whoa... Maruo!! now I'm starting to worry about his stamina.. Can he go against Araya for 3-sets with this pace?
I hope he can make the second set become easier

[Guardian Enzo]

Dear Maruo:

I feel your pain.

Love,
Roger

[~Yami~]

Originally Posted by Guardian Enzo

Dear Maruo:

I feel your pain.

Love,
Roger

I laughed

Indeed... a leftie is a very tough player in real world (Rafael Nadal) and in anime realm (Echizen Ryoma and Kunimitsu Tezuka)

[Sky Field]

Another excellent episode. It's neat how the Baby Steps releases on a Sunday in Spring/Summer, allowing for the occasional day when there's also a men's final (and sometimes a women's final).

[Stark700]

Episode 11:

I wish they showed more of Natsu's match but I think the other one between Maruo and Araya was quite interesting. Both competitors are playing with their guts and taking risks. I think there's also a bit of mind games on the court with each other trying to gain an advantage.

Both players earned my respect though up to this point of the match.

[FlareKnight]

Wow props to Baby Steps, I think they hit their biggest "whoops" moment in this episode. I mean the point where Yukichi and Kageyama's VAs said the other character's lines (around 4:10) was pretty hilarious. Apparently those two are good at throwing their voices .

A fun match to watch though. Just seeing those points where Maruo was figuring things out and improving as he went. He really is a guy who can evolve as the game goes on.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by FlareKnight

Wow props to Baby Steps, I think they hit their biggest "whoops" moment in this episode. I mean the point where Yukichi and Kageyama's VAs said the other character's lines (around 4:10) was pretty hilarious. Apparently those two are good at throwing their voices .

The VAs got the right lines, but they animated the wrong mouths. (Kageyama's the one calling Maruo "Ei-chan".)