Volume 3 of Cross Game was focused on the rematch between the Seishu Gakuen varsity team and the "portables" squad, led by Ko and Akaishi. Unsurprisingly then, volume 2 is mostly about the first game between the two teams. It ends in a loss, which sets up the portables' intense training in preparation for the rematch.
Adachi sets a few things in motion here. This is Ko's first time pitching in a real game, so it gives him a sense of what he's up against if he's going to bring Wakaba's dream to fruition. At the same time, Yuhei's perceptions of Ko change over the course of the game. Ko challenges Yuhei each time he comes to bat, rather than pitch around him, and gets burned the first three times. But as he tells Yuhei, each time he really didn't think Yuhei would be able to hit a home run off him.
Adachi's also working hard to show that, even if Yuhei's social skills are non-existent, he takes this seriously. He's one of the only members of his team who recognizes the portables have been scouting their weaknesses, or who understands that varsity is winning because Ko keeps challenging Yuhei, rather than just walking him and attacking the rest of the lineup. Coach Daimon continues to be an overconfident, smirking jerk, who insists the game wouldn't be close if he was actually doing any coaching. Which makes it sound like he's not doing his job, but his argument is this will help them realize how much they need to listen to him.
Yeah, but if you lose to the "small fry", then you just look like a jackass.
Beyond that, Adachi has Aoba watching in the stands with an old man who becomes plot-relevant in volume 3. It shows not only her knowledge of the varsity team, from the time Daimon made her pitch batting practice until she collapsed, but her (maybe unconscious) confidence in Ko. Which is strange, given her statement later on that she doesn't trust him at all, but she has a grasp on what he's thinking throughout the game. When he settles down after allowing some runs, she correctly notes he probably blew up in the dugout.
This is also when Adachi adds Senda, the comic relief character, to the cast, as he gets demoted from the varsity to the portables in the middle of the game. Daimon had him pitch so the defense could show off, but when he gave up some runs, he got the boot. So Coach Meneo, who seems where Senda's gifts actually lie, turns him into a shortstop.
And Adachi even manages a little character arc for some of the seniors on the portables. They spend most of the game hot-dogging and playing selfishly in the belief they can wow Coach Daimon and get back on the varsity squad. Over the course of the game, at least a couple of them change their perspective on this being their last chance, and try to make sacrifices to help the team win. Fortunate, or Robert DeNiro probably would have shown up to smash their heads in with a bat.
Adachi continues to do a good job of figuring out how to depict the action on the field. Showing the baseball as a indistinct white blur. Using a full-page splash of Yuhei finishing his swing, then following that with a smaller panel of the ball going over the fence, shown from a long distance (probably Ko's perspective on the mound.) When there's lots of action happening simultaneously, a ball in play and runners moving, Adachi will switch to a bunch of small triangular panels all at the same level on the page. Then he'll move back to larger panels as the different parts of the play converge, say when a runner gets thrown out at the plate.
No comments:
Post a Comment