Impression
Nothing much happened this episode given that they were skimming through an entire year as Ei-Chan strives to become a stronger player. After being crushed by Takuma last week, instead of losing all hope, Ei-Chan drive to reach Takuma’s level only grew stronger. He revised his schedule by quitting cram school and put practicing Tennis as his top priority. As result he loses his position of being first in the grades, but given that he never particularly cared too much about the top student, he doesn’t bother him that he had dropped a few ranks. I actually love this comparison to tennis because Ei-Chan is frustrated with the results of not being able to pursue further into the tournaments even though over the course of the year, Ei-Chan managed to improve by making it to the third round. Ei-Chan is incredibly fortunate however to be able to practice with a strong player like Takuma because that is the best way to get stronger. As the year flew by, Ei-Chan quickly became known as the “Kid with the notebook” at the tournaments he would attend, and surely enough, he is now starting his 20th notebook and along with that he had
Admittedly, it was a bit of a disappointment of having Ei-Chan’s matches at the tournaments be skimmed through. While I without a doubt feel proud and see how much Ei-Chan has improved and how passionate he is about playing tennis, it was sad to not to see him play the match where he won his first game. But I must say, while we weren’t able to see him play his matches, we were able to see just how much his confidence has grown. He has gained this courage he didn’t seem to have before as well as a stronger presence. Of course I think the best part of all this is seeing Ei-Chan living the life again.
Despite the fact they were skimming through the entire year of progress, they paced the episode pretty darn well since it didn’t feel rush or anything of the sort. Maybe it was a tad boring, but the cuteness of Ei-Chan interacting with Natsu and having become friends with Takuma along with his growth of confidence made it bearable.
I am looking forward to how things will go for Ei-Chan for the Kanagawa Junior Circuit this time round. I think we will definitely see the improvements as he faces off the top seeds.
