Baby Steps Episode 24

Impression
Ei-Chan is still not quite over his loss so he is really pushing himself. However thankfully Aoi, a former pro and trainee at the STC was at the scene when Eiichirou finished doing an extra hour of practice and had decided to do a couple of laps around the facility. After calling out about his unnatural running form, warned Eiichirou to take it easy because he is presently has a lower back-strain that could become a serious problem if he doesn’t address it properly. Eiichirou is very stubborn and has a bad habit of becoming obsessed with things when he is dead set determined to ace it. Luckily for him, his good friend Kageyama pointed that out to him, telling him that he had seen him act this way before and told him the result of it. It surprised me however that Eiichirou didn’t understand his point or seem to remember what were the consequences for overdoing things. But like Kageyama, I feel that Aoi is the kind of coach Eiichirou needs right now. Aoi’s personality makes him look like a shady unreliable person to Eiichirou, that’s why he didn’t quite trust him and take his words for granted right away. Instead of perceiving that there has to be a good reason for sending him home to do things that he isn’t able to usually fit into his tennis-world schedule, he interprets it as lazy. I am sure though if he does manage to follow Aoi’s instructions of resting for two full days doing whatever he wants other than physical training or tennis, he will notice his body feeling better. This is another thing Eiichirou has yet to learn: Taking care of his physical form is critical, because if he overexerts himself through training or/which usually results neglecting an injury, his dream will be crushed before it has even begins.
It was nice to finally see Natsu compete in a match, but it was real bummer how little we got to see of it. It’s been something I’ve been wanting to see for a long time, so it is a shame that they cut it so short.
I certainly didn’t anticipate that out of all things, Baby Steps’ final episode would be featuring Eiichirou’s and Natsu’s date. I’m sure there will be some tennis in it, but not much of it since you can’t just swing to the tournament and time skip (that would just tick me off) That being said I certainly hope that there will be announcement of a second season in next week’s finale, so keep your fingers crossed!