Vol 29 (Zengoku Kaimaku) is mainly on Tezuka's return to Seigaku and the start of the Nationals. Some of the members from the rival teams are shown during the drawing of lots for the first round and frankly speaking, there aren't many characters who caught my eye at first glance. In fact, some of them look downright evil especially those from Higa Chuu. Currently, some of those whom left a rather strong impression on me would be Shiraishi Kuranosuke and Oshitari's cousin, Kenya. Chitose looks cool too. Anyway, nothing beats seeing Tezuka again as well as my darling Gen-chan and Atobe-sama! Where is Yukimura though? I think he's still trying to regain his fitness after the operation so that's why Renji came with Genichirou for the drawing of lots.
Since Seigaku doesn't need to play in the first round, we get to see Rokkaku play Higa from Okinawa. However, those scumbags really got on my nerves so much that I really wanted to tear them apart. I think they must be the most disliked team in my list now and this title originally belonged to Jousei Shonan. Well, regardless of the outcome, Higa and Rokkaku have to play all 5 matches because this is the first round. It was quite unexpected to see Rokkaku lose so miserably which simply says that Higa is too good for them. Otherwise, there's no reason why Rokkaku would be beaten so easily given that Seigaku had a tough fight with them during the Kantou semi-finals. By the way, the format of the matches are different now. The singles and doubles matches are played one after another instead of the doubles matches first which is apparently a rule at the Nationals.
Results of the first round (Higa Vs Rokkaku)
Singles 3 Chinen Hiroshi Vs Aoi Kentarou (6-0)
Doubles 2 (6 - 2)
Singles 2 (6 - 0)
Doubles 1 (6 - 0)
Singles 1 Kai Yuujirou Vs Saeki Kojiro (6-4)
In Singles 1, Saeki noticed that Kai was covering so much ground within a short time and misunderstood that he seems to be able to shorten the court area. However, Oji pointed out that Higa's players were just able to play tricks on their eyes due to the use of gravity in the "Shukuchihou" (meaning "Reducing the area" and ended up being hit with a ball by Kai on purpose. As the rest of the team had followed Oji to the hospital, Seigaku members decided to be Saeki's cheering team which spoke volumes of the friendship between the two teams. Although Rokkaku had no chance of making it to Round 2 to face Seigaku, Saeki fought on bravely to finish the match.
Given that Seigaku saw how despicable Higa could get, the tension mounted as Echizen prepared for his Singles 3 match against the big-built Tanishi Kei. Although Echizen managed to grab a game using Twist Serve and Drive C. (Frankly speaking, I'm not too sure how Drive A, Drive C and Cool Drive work but I do remember Drive B as it's commonly used and seems very realistic to be used in real life.) However, Tanishi kept his service game with his huge serve, Big Bun which became more powerful because of his build. Vol 29 ended at 2 games a piece so we will see the conclusion in Vol 30.
In Vol 30 (Goya Kirai), the focus is on the Singles 3 and Doubles 2 matches. Echizen and Tanishi are locked in a service game battle where they keep their service games and have to settle the match through a tiebreaker. As the Higa team and even Tanishi himself believes that Echizen has no strength to withstand Big Bun, they fail to realise that Echizen has been aiming for the perfect timing to get a return ace when the power of Big Bun drops after repeated use. Earlier on in the match, Echizen had already said that he will win the match once he gets the return ace and Higa takes him too lightly. As such, he wins the tie-break at 9-7 which results in a final score of 7-6 in Seigaku's favour.
Doubles 2 begins with Fuji and Kawamura going against Hiragoba Rin and Chinen Hiroshi. Hiragoba looks kind of cool but I don't like his character. He had the cheek to attack Ryuuzaki-sensei with a tennis ball but Taka-san managed to block the shot for her. In retalliation, Momo and Echizen hit balls at Higa's coach who really looks like a strict coach and a scumbag rolled into one. I doubt his players like him anyway. Anyway, Hiragoba's action makes Fuji angry and we all know Fuji cannot antagonised. Remember Mizuki and Kirihara when they got on Fuji's nerves? Well, this Hiragoba is not a simple guy as he manages to stop Fuji and Taka-san from using their famous moves, "Higuma Otoshi" and "Hadokyuu" with just two moves. That is why Fuji knows that he has to do something different in order to win the match. Hiragoba then launches his attack with his Habu (literal meaning, spoon) which makes it hard for the Seigaku duo to react since the ball's revolution/spin is more complicated than ever seen. When Hiragoba decides to deliver the fatal blow to the Seigaku team with a Oo Habu (Big Spoon), Fuji retalliates with his new fourth counter, "Kagerou Zutsumi" (Trapping the fly) which absorbs the complicated spin and returns it in the form of a no-spin shot (similar to Sinker which Itsuki used before). As what Tezuka said, Hiragoba could have won the match with his Habu but he underestimated Fuji who can always come up with surprises to outsmart the opponent. Fuji is a deep guy who devises increasingly complicated moves. Initially, it was Tsubame Gaeshi, then Higuma Otoshi, Hakugei and the cut serve. Now there's another animal to remember, Kagerou Tsutsumi. What a name but it definitely sounds better than Big Bun or Habu! ^__^
In Vol 30, there are two major announcements where I had mentioned before that there is going to be an OVA and a real-life movie. There aren't further details on the movie but with regards to the OVA, it seems like it's not going to be shown on TV but will be sold on DVD. I'm definitely going to get it when it is expected to be released in Mar 06. I wonder if I can get it before my birthday at the end of March.
As for 30.5, it's going to be an illustration book instead of the data-intensive versions for 10.5 and 20.5. I guess that's probably because of the Nationals being at the early stage so there isn't much to add on for the rival teams yet. Anyway, it seems like it will be released on the same day as Vol 31 which is 2 Dec so I have to keep a lookout for it soon.
As mentioned previously, here are the three free snapshots from the anime given away in the first press edition of Vol 44. The first photo here is the scene when Fuji happened to be outside the hospital where Tezuka was receiving treatment for his arm and they were walking home at that time. I remember that this happened during their second year in winter so that explains the coats they were wearing. I might have to watch the episode again to recall what they chatted about during this journey home. Among the three photos, this is my No.1 favourite.
And this photo shows Echizen and Kevin together when they are in US where Echizen is preparing to take part in the US Open. I think this scene happens to be when Kevin is bringing Echizen around to see the court he will be playing on. I don't dislike them at all but the fact remains that I like the older guys better. These two feel more like younger brothers to me so my passion for them is not as strong as my top favourites. Kevin was quite irritating initially when he kept saying that he wants to take revenge on Echizen before the US-Japan match arc but after that, he became more likeable, at least to me.
Last but not least, the Year 1 version of Fuji Shuusuke in a very kawaii form. He's always smiling so much that his eyes cannot be seen. When you see his eyes, that's usually when he gets angry. If I'm not wrong, this should be the scene when Tezuka was being bullied by the seniors to clean up the courts after practice and Fuji came to help him along with the other regulars like Oishi, Inui and Taka-san. I can't remember whether Eiji had joined the tennis club at that time though. Tezuka did try to reject Fuji's help because he didn't want them to be implicated but Fuji's persuasion ruled in the end.
