Media Journal:
Ookiku Furikabutte Vol.1-14

    Oofuri is special series to me, I first watched it in the sports anime fandom boom in 2013, along with free!, haikyuu!!, daiya no ace, and kuroko no basuke. But amongst all those, oofuri is the only one I still think about more than a decade later! I recently rewatched it and as an adult, and I realized as a teenager I didn't really understand the depth of it. It's exciting to see it now with a more discerning eye. I think it's pretty funny back then I thought abemiha was just cute fluff but they are actually way more complex than that LOL

    I decided to read the manga because I've been meaning to for a long time! It's usually pretty hard for me to stay focused on a long manga but I've managed to read up to where the anime left off. The thought of 150+ chapters of new content is kinda overwhelming, I thought I'd write down my favorite parts of this series and prepare for the rest of the manga!!

    ░ Quick and effective character writing

    The biggest standout so far is Higuchi's character writing, I think she does an amazing job at putting these characters in situations that show the depth of their character, and when needed to, she does it very quickly and effectively. This is important because oofuri has a giant cast of characters! And this doesn't bog down the narrative at all. So many moving parts and character motivations and different stakes make the baseball games so compelling.

    ░ Kanou and Mihashi

    These characters were the first example of quick and effective character writing. The discrepency in how Mihashi and Kanou see each other is so genius for establishing their relationship! We've only seen Mihashi's perspective at this point and the story was so simple: Mihoshi hated him. He didn't see that Kanou thought Mihashi was the better pitcher, that Kanou was striving to be like him. It shows that Mihashi is prone to only seeing the bad and for Kanou it showed how attentive he was to notice Mihashi's true skill and that he respects him as a pitcher, and as a friend.

    KANOU: Won't you be lonely by yourself?
    MIHASHI: No, I wont!
    KANOU (internal): If you say that, I'm the one who will be lonely

    ░ Haruna and Abe's past

    Oh boy. this is one of my favorite relationships in the series. I just love it when two people don't know how much how important they are to each other. Abe hated Haruna for not listening to his lead and being a sloppy pitcher, but in reality he hated him for not playing With him.

    MIHASHI: Abe-kun wanted Haruna-san to look his way. He wanted to form a proper battery with him. He wanted Haruna-san to play baseball seriously with him then, and not only after becoming a pro.
    idk that just makes me crazy. They really are like exes. And furthermore they were instrumental to each other's growth, they wouldnt be where they are without each other. Abe was the only one who could catch for Haruna, which made him able to be a regular in jr high games and become the skillful catcher he is today. And Haruna was able to play baseball during a difficult time in his life and slowly return to his old self, eventually becoming the pillar of Musashino!
    AKIMARU: The fact that Haruna’s pitching naturally again... It’s all thanks to Takaya

    I really can't emphasize how much I'm obsessed with the fact they don't know how much they changed each other, and they don't know how much they still think about each other!

    ░ Abe is the funniest 15 year old ever.

    Guy who thinks about baseball 24/7 and relates everything in his life to baseball. only tries to understand his inner (gay) feelings through baseball. Him using his injury to manipulate his teammates to win. He's even scheming how to reduce morale in the opposing team's dugout. Who let him be this evil. I love him <3

    ░ Abe and Mihashi

    Watching these two try to communicate is literally my favorite thing about oofuri. Its just.. the space between them is so small but it takes an ocean of effort to cross. They're so incompatible but compatible. One of my favorite moments is when Abe realizes he wants to win For Mihashi instead of using him as tool, and in his excitement he terribly misreads what Mihashi says and makes a promise he can't keep.

    MIHASHI: I’m a bad pitcher if Abe-kun won’t catch for me. I’ll become a useless pitcher again.
    ABE: If I catch, It’ll make you a "good" pitcher?
    MIHASHI: Y-yeah
    ABE (internal): This is the first time, he said something positive about himself!
    ABE: Then I won’t get injured for 3 years! I won’t get sick either! I’ll be the catcher for all the games you pitch!

    Like are you crazy. In what world is "I'm useless if you don't pitch for me" is a positive thing about himself? Another person would say "Mihashi, you're a good pitcher no matter what" but Abe doesn't see Mihashi's reliance on him as a negative thing. He really is a dumb kid ♡

    ░ Mihashi's greatest development occurs
    in the absence of Abe.

    I've always been saying the best thing you can do to your ship is separate them. Mihashi was so scared of pitching without Abe, but when Abe was taken out of the game, Mihashi realized he relied too much on him. He learned to take responsbility as the pitcher and was able to blossom into a strong person who can stand on his own and contribute to the battery!

    It's so sad to see Abe heartbroken. He really loved having Mihashi's trust but he misused it and unintentionally held Mihashi back.

    Another thing I absoutely love: characters switching roles. When Abe's lead was getting predicted, he's the one who felt helpless and needed reassurance, and Mihashi became the one who could be relied upon. ITS SIMPLY SO GOOD!

    ░ Letting the antagonists become protagonists

    really an amazing thing that Higuchi does is let the other team become the protagonists. We're always rooting for Nishihura but when she shows us the stakes on the other side it makes things much more complex. Kawai losing his motivation for baseball after losing to Nishihura is genuinely heartbreaking. A third year unable to play baseball until the end of his highschool career... Losing is bad but, losing your passion is worse.

    KAWAI: I should go back to cram school. Being here on the field... is starting to make me jealous. I'm just going to end up catatonic for days. All over again.

    I also felt so bad for Roka and Takii? Takii got injured in jr high and went to a different high school than Roka because he couldn't watch him play baseball while he couldnt. Then he eventually learned he can still contribute to the team without being on the field. He got the courage to ask Roka to coach with him... but Roka lost in the first round and was going to quit baseball. Why are they so starcrossed? Both of them getting their dreams crushed at different times and running away.. right when the other was waiting for them

    Well. I wanted to do this blog post to clear my head for the rest of the manga, but instead i feel frustrated that I like can't fully convey whats on my mind. I'm trying not to be a perfectionist otherwise I'll never be able to post anything, so I'm uploading it even though I don't love it. But I hope my next one will be better.

    As always if you have a response you can reach me by the links below. Thanks for reading!