Media Journal: Ookiku Furikabutte Vol.28-33

I did not expect to be writing another one of these so soon. Yesterday I sat down to read and before I knew it I was reading for four hours GHDFK. Well I'm just that invested.

Staying Grounded

What I love about Oofuri is how grounded it is. A weaker story would just make the make the next opponent bigger and better, and eventually we'll meet teams and characters with supernatural strengths or unattainble ability. Instead Higuchi uses advantages and disadvantages from several different factors to keep the games both interesting and plausible for high school baseball!

I felt this during the second Sakitama vs Nishihura match. Nishihura has faced a lot of strong teams, and they absolutely steamrolled Sakitama back in the summer tournament. It's easy to assume they'd do it again, but it didn't end up that way.

In the beginning of Volume 28 Momoe gets a sports psychology major to train the team. Having this new mentor revealed their weakness in mental ability. The members have varying mental strength, but they all have a weakness in picturing themselves winning. A lot of these members have never set a goal so high for themselves. This is one of the factors in their loss. They were too focused on facing Arc they didn't properly prepare for Sakitama. This is a weakness that wasn't present in previous games.

On the opposing side we were revealed to Sakitama's great strengths this time around! They planned specifically to beat Nishihura. They had strategies they hid unil they played against them. It reminded me of Nishihura vs Tousei. Every inch of advantage adds up. It also showed that every team is growing and improving. It's not just Nishihura that has great potential for growth! It's exciting to see how Nishihura will be challenged next.

Lunch!

Tajima wants to invite Sakitama for lunch because he wants to learn how Ishinami can bat so well while being short. He teaches him that being short has a lot of strengths, like being able to control the bat better than guys with long limbs. Tajima's so touched by the conversation. its v cute lol

It's also very sweet that Sakitama invited Nishihura to have a part time job with them at the post office. Hanai jumps at the opportunity of earning money for the club, because he knows Momoe pays for so much out of her own wallet. What a good captain.

PowerPoints

I love it when Higuchi finds an excuse to get into very intimate detail about something for several pages. GENIUNELY. I love the charts of the different curves of different pitches, and outfield positions. It shows she truly loves what she writes lol. In this set of volumes I loved that she had a detailed sports psychology profile drawn up for each member. I also loved the techincal chat during the Sakitama lunch about what area the umpire considers the strike zone.

Chapter 160: ROMANCE

Higuchi is up to something.... this chapter is just crazy with subtext

Tajima losing sleep over Hanai's crush on Momoe

Tajima almost wants to ask him but he has a crisis over being the person to make him realize he likes her. He can't decide whether he'd support them or not. He's losing sleep over the possiblity. but he gets SOOO relieved when Hamada tells him it probably won't happen because that requires Momoe to reciprocate, and she probably wouldn't. It's the classic "Am I upset he's dating someone or am I upset he's not dating me?"

HAMADA INTERLUDE

Someone needs to do something why is this kid all alone having a part time job while at school and was held back because he was taken advantage of by an older woman. He seems much more mature than the team despite only being a year older and that's probably because he's gone through too much :( I'm miserable. He should be playing baseball with the other kids :(

Intimacy

So Tajima asking for advice about Hanai is what sparks this conversation about romance within the team. Izumi says it could be a problem and outlines everything that could go wrong. Hamada says in some cases love can be a source of power and make you play better in games. and then Abe calls Mihashi right after this conversation. Higuchi can you answer my emails please.

I can't believe how close I can to catching up. I wanna know what everyone else knows!!!! Also I miss Kanou. I want to see him again. When will I see him again. Thank you for reading and as always you can leave a response through any of the links below!!