Note: As of this week, Eva and Vantage will no longer be covering this series. Instead, I will be writing up all the posts for the rest of the season now that my schedule has freed up.
Since I’m technically new to Baby Steps 2 coverage I’d first like to say that Baby Steps 2, to me, has already surpassed the first season in terms of quality and consistency. Heck, even the production values have improved ever so slightly, with a really wonderfully animated OP sequence (Did you see the fabric creases and swift movements? Great rotoscoping there!), so as a long-time fan of the manga which I consider a classic, I’m going to say that Baby Steps is set to finally get the adaptation that does the source material justice. Alright, on to the episode itself!
This week is, as the post title says, some down-time before the exciting stuff starts next week. Baby Steps doesn’t slack off though, and this episode had a lot to offer in terms of subtle character interactions that show us just how far Ei-chan has come, and how much his life has changed thanks to his ambitions of going pro. A lesser series would probably have a flashback montage of sorts for the audience to reflect on our beloved protagonist’s progress thus far, but Baby Steps instead chooses to give its audience these little moments outside the court to show those giant strides Ei-chan’s taken since he started off in the first season, while introducing a new character (Shimizu Aki), reintroducing old faces, and also bringing something new to old characters – in particular Coach Aoi.
Coach Aoi has been a bit of an enigma, suddenly becoming Ei-chan’s new coach, and his style is very clearly vastly different than Coach Miura’s. This week clearly shows us why Coach Miura decided to let Aoi take over and guide Ei-chan – he’s a retired pro with extenuating circumstances that have shaped his experiences, and the lessons he wants to teach Ei-chan are the ones he needs to learn, particularly about cautiousness, and pacing. Given the short amount of time Ei-chan has before the All-Japan Junior (and also as seen from how Ei-chan’s body had been showing its limits back in Florida), he needed to learn proper body care, not push himself, and have a coach that very clearly understands the consequences of failing to take care of himself. I think the whole revelation of Coach Aoi being someone who had to retire from injury was pulled off very well this week – there was no sad background music, no melodramatic lines – tennis is real, serious business, and sometimes you have to move on the only way you can. It’s just another moment where Baby Steps fleshes out the reality of Ei-chan’s dream – that he has a long, long way to go, and has much more to learn.
The second half of this week’s episode focused more on Ei-chan outside of court – in particular the moment he had with his teacher stood out for me. Before, he had to prove how serious he was about tennis to his parents. It is clear he still has a lot of convincing to do, after all becoming an athlete for a living is that harsh. The point was further proved by how Ei-chan’s….friends (the note grubbers) were also unconvinced that he could ever make it, before being told off by Kageyama. This was a really lovely moment since the audience has seen Kageyama go from being extremely dubious about tennis, to being willing to support and defend Ei-chan’s ambition because he knows how seriously Ei-chan loves and wants to excel at tennis, and it was only through Ei-chan’s hard work and dedication that he has gotten the support of Kageyama.
We also got some really sweet moments with Ei-chan and Natsu this week, as the 2 further confirm their ambition and agree to work towards their dreams together – its refreshing, and really romantic. The 2 are so different from each other, but are a perfect match nonetheless. As for a new face introduced this episode, we are introduced to Shimizu Aki – the first seed for the girls’ tournament who is clearly having a crush on Ei-chan for the most adorably innocent reasons. As a manga fan, I can say she gets her moments later on, and it’ll do you good to keep a good eye out on her (:-D).
This has been another solid week of Baby Steps, and it’ll only get better from here!