The Days of Diamond - Ch. 78

[MangaDex]

 

[Kendama]

You can tell from his beaming at the end that he's feeling a great relief, as if a burden has been lifted off his shoulders.

It's just kinda sad that he's feeling that from curb stomping Yamato. I really don't get why Jiro reached the conclusion that he'll be more comfortable if he stops being nice to weak players. Like, right now everyone is "weak" relative to him, so does this mean he'll become a ruthless pitcher who wins without a regard for what anyone else thinks, friend or foe? What's the message here, that competitive sports are such a toxic environment that even the nicest boy will grow thick-skinned to preserve his sanity?

If so… seems legit. I just think his anger is misguided. His first target was one of his best friends, after all. Among all the people around him, Yamato was the only one who truly admired and respected him without judgement or prejudice, and even made an effort to understand what was distressing him. Not even Igarashi managed that.

But is he gonna even disregard the feelings of his own team mates? Like, this chapter was incredible because Jiro, in one coup, raised Ariga's confidence, showed everyone that he can think strategically to a level nobody knew he was even capable of, shoved humble pie down the throat of the Hirakata batter he'd walked (poor kid was just a pawn in Jiro's scheme), wiped the smile off Akechi's face, dealt a crushing blow to Yamato's idealism, released all his own pent-up stress and even made Igarashi a co-star by having him catch the final pitch.

The price, though, is growing even more distant from everyone else. Like, how's Yamato going to take this crushing defeat not just in the game, but of his own dearest aspiration to show a good performance to his own coach, with his mother watching to boot? And what's Tokio gonna think of having his limelight stolen so spectacularly?

I don't know, now I just hope that Yamato's spirit won't be broken, and that his single batting attempt will have been enough for the coach to consider giving him a place in the team. Like Akechi said, he did attempt to swing, something their cleanup, Daisuke, failed to do.

Seems it's the beginning of Jiro's "villain" arc, in quotes because nobody can blame this boy for taking this route. This tournament is gonna be traumatic for all the kids in Jiro's way, cause the boy is a bulldozer now and all the brakes are broken.

 

[fight2live]

all that build ups for Hayato getting either a strike out or a hit, only to end with Aya making a pickoff and that laugh at the end? perfect villain laugh

 

[Srikrish]

That was a curveball no one expected