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Baby Steps (TV).


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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2015 5:38 am Reply with quote
I must say, Takagi has to be one of the biggest jerks I've seen in recent sports anime. The guy is doing literally anything to win the game and the ending implies that he is trying to hit Maruo in the face with his mind games.

Well, the match itself is a mind game considering the way he used almost every rule against Maruo.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2015 7:24 am Reply with quote
Episode 20

Ok, I can accept a healthy amount of psyching people out, but trying to actually hit the other player is not cool.

I was starting to feel a bit that the game was ripe for Midousuji to join in.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Aug 16, 2015 5:26 pm Reply with quote
I don't see anything wrong with hitting the ball directly at your opponent. They have a racquet to defend themselves with after all, and Maruo actually won a game off just such a ball, albeit accidentally. Now hitting the ball at him when he's not ready and has called time is very different, and I think that should've gotten a harsher reprimand.

If I were playing this guy (with Maruo's skills at my command!), I'd just laugh at him glaring at me, but Maruo's too nice a guy, so it's unnerving him.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 23, 2015 9:37 am Reply with quote
Season 2, episode 21:

Mm, I'm glad to see Maruo taking the win and beating Takagi FAIR and square. This was more of a mental game for him imo so he has to be prepared for anything of similar nature in the future.

Nice episode overall.

Excited for the upcoming matches as well and I hope they can keep this level of interest.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Mon Aug 24, 2015 12:32 am Reply with quote
So this is the second time Maruo has scored from someone hitting a ball directly at him. He should welcome such shots!

And I liked that even Nabae acknowledged that psyching out your opponent isn't a bad thing. Pro tennis isn't for the faint of heart or mind.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Aug 30, 2015 5:30 am Reply with quote
Season 2, episode 22:

Ooh nice buildup episode overall and some cute chemistry between Maruo and Natsu <3

Feels like love is making Maruo's skills stronger? Anime hyper
Anyways, looking forward to the rest of the match between him and Nabae.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Fri Sep 04, 2015 9:11 pm Reply with quote
Season 2, Episode 22

Yo dawg, Maruo is so in the zone that *insert witty pun of the word "zone" here*.

The hard work really seems to be paying off.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Sep 06, 2015 1:24 pm Reply with quote
Season 2, episode 23:

Good match so far. Marou seems to be struggling and imo isn't a surprise. Nabae is no pushover. Hope he can think a bit outside of the box soon.

2 more episodes left so we'll reaching the climax son.
Can't wait for next week!
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Tue Sep 08, 2015 7:09 am Reply with quote
And Maruo got pushed out of the zone.

Reminds me of particular exercises Maruo did ages back about recalling mindsets from previous games, putting himself into how he felt when he played his best to return to that. He should totally try to do what he did just before while taking note of how he lost it.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 5:30 am Reply with quote
Season 2, episode 25 (Finale):

And....finished! No Season 3 announcement but the match for this finale definitely lived up to my expectations! Too bad for Marou though....I mean he did give it his all but it just wasn't enough against Nabae.

Still, I thought he did a fairly good job and improved quite a bit this season. Both players deserves a standing ovation.

Rating this as very good.
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15433
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 7:40 am Reply with quote
Season 2, Episode 25 (finale)

That makes a total of 50 episodes. We may have reached the end of this show, but Maruo's journey is not over, he was not able to win but even within the match he was getting stronger, new ideas. I had really been hoping for some time that Maruo would develop a strength to pretty much channel a lot of what he came up against, and it looks like he was actually starting to do it and think strategically.

In general I think that it is safe to say that this season was better than the first, it still had some of its animation problems, but there seemed to be fewer problems. Best of all we really have got to Maruo evolve this season as he has pushed past a lot of struggling to approaching a powerhouse in areas. Which is helped by the fact for example that the season actually started with him being on a losing streak, and that getting past that was something he needed to accomplish. And he and Natsu actually started dating.

I rate it as Good, it is a step up from what I gave the first, but I am not going to say that it was exactly amazing. Okay, did have some really good suspense in places too.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11306
PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 6:23 pm Reply with quote
That was fun through all 50 episodes. I'm a weeeeee bit disappointed we didn't get a little more of Nat-chan toward the end, but this was never a romance, and they handled what they did with them brilliantly, so it's all good.

Hopefully, they'll decide to do another season or some OVAs down the line. I really want to see his parents watch him play. Apparently they have no idea just what their son has achieved.

At least we know he goes pro and becomes a hit from the OP:


I never noticed this until this episode, but it cracked me up when I finally did. Makes me wonder who the autograph was for. Wink
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ShiroYo



Joined: 16 Sep 2015
Posts: 45
PostPosted: Tue Sep 22, 2015 7:25 am Reply with quote
Man I will miss this opening (also I wish some of the cuts with fluid animation from the opening would make their way into some decisive points but I may be asking too much for a 50 episodes show).

Season 2 was pretty entertaining but for me it wasn't as good as the first one, despite the fact that we had more development in S2.

What piqued my interest in Baby Steps was how different MC's situation was. Maruo isn't a natural born tennis player, neither he passed his entire life training hard to overcome others natural talent like in most of the sports animes.

In the first season we saw Maruo develop a tennis style that would allow him to compete with more skilled and well trained players without making use of any OP perks. It was pure planning, execution of a strategy and great adaptability during matches thanks to his calm analysis.

The second season is more about Maruo getting cornered and playing either by instincts (please don't bring "THE ZONE" to Haikyuu next season, I'm only asking for this, please please please...) or by coming up with new ideas as the match goes on. I miss the strategy aspect of the series since most of Maruo's plans are crushed before the end on the second game (also the notebooks lost most of their relevance by now)

For me it feels that as more as this series progresses less unique it is (manga confirms that) as Maruo's initial style is replaced by something else. So I will go with Good for the second season and Very Good for the first one.

PS: Romance in this series is confusing. If you show me a couple of teenagers engaged in a romantic relationship that barely keep any kind of physical contact with each other I will go bald the next day. Hormones are even a thing in Baby Steps?
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