Simply great episode! I kind of feel sorry for Aoba. I hate the way Coach Daimon treat her. He's a real jerk and he knows nothing about gentlemanly behavior and sportsmanship! Aoba is a very strong willed girl and I really admire her passion for baseball despite knowing that she will not get any chance to play competitive baseball in high school as she's a girl.As for Kou, I simply love his sense of humor. So far, he's still acting as 'secret weapon' and so he does not get much chance to show off his great pitching. However, his jokes, actions and words always put a smile on my face. This episode reveals that he has the talent of impersonating voices of other people. Not only can he impersonate the voices of vegetable stall ojiisan and fish stall Gen-san, he can also impersonate the voice of Senda and make good fun out of him.
Mini SummaryCoach Daimon recruits Aoba from the Junior High team as a 'disposable' practice pitcher. He intends to use her up and then throw her away. However, he's surprised when she almost strikes Yuuhei out even after pitching too much. In the end, Yuuhei manages to get a good workout out of Aoba's pitching, but as for Aoba, she's completely exhausted. After training, on the way home, when Kou asks her to stop listening to Coach Daimon, Aoba tells Kou that it's his job to beat Yuuhei and she'll continue to pitch for the first-team players to learn their batting weaknesses. When Kou asks her why she's doing so, she says that she wants to believe in Akaishi and Waka-chan's words. According to Aoba, Waka-chan once said, 'If he gets serious, he can become Japan's best...' Aoba stops there and Kou is curious about what 'Japan's best' means but Aoba refuses to say more.
PicturesCoach Daimon - a jerk!
Poor Aoba is feeling exhausted after pitching too much.
Nakanishi, Kou and Akaishi are watching from the side.
Despite being tired, Aoba manages to strike the player out.
Yuuhei gets pumped up by Aoba's pitching and decides that it's his turn to bat.
Aoba is cool about that but she requests for the catcher to be changed.
Her reason is she's particular about looks. (LOL! Akaishi is indeed slightly better-looking.)
Her pitching is good and when Yuuhei misses, Coach Daimon is shocked.
Kou impersonates Senda's voice to insult her. LOL
Initially, Yuuhei deliberately uses the top half of the bat to hit the ball to foul. After seeing how exhausted Aoba is, he stops doing that and finally hits the ball.
No matter how much Aoba 'hates' Kou, she believes that Waka-chan's words will come true.