I originally picked to cover Ace of the Diamond because I was immediately reminded of Adachi’s Cross Game , a moving coming of age centered around baseball. That comparison is pretty superficial though, in that well, both shows are about baseball at this point. Cross Game this one is not…
Eijun is school kid in the country who loves to play baseball. We’re dropped into a fairly dramatic opening (perhaps overly so), where Eijun is moved to tears over his and his team’s lackluster performance. Despite not being anywhere near the best though, it’s quickly established that the team serves as a solid support system for one another. Things quickly change though with Eijun is scouted by a major baseball school and ventures off to the big city of Tokyo.
At first I thought the story would follow Eijun and his scrappy team of pals trying to climb their way to the top, but Eijun is quickly scouted out and the story starts there. While he’s initially off-put by the idea of going to the big city, Eijun eventually decides to venture to Tokyo at his family’s encouragement. There he finds updated facilities, top tier players and a tension unlike what he’s known at home with his familiar stomping grounds. Eijun isn’t exactly shy though, and quickly gets into it with some of the other players, failing to endear himself much. Still, by end of the episode it looks like Eijun is going to give things a a-go at his new school; his potential definitely hasn’t gone unnoticed.
Overall I’m left with the feeling that Ace of the Diamond could either be something really compelling or your basic run of the mill shounen. If I were to go with my gut though, I would say this one will fall into the latter category. This first episode just wasn’t particularly memorable or stood out at all. Eijun is a high-energy, scrappy shounen lead who takes his team’s performance to heart, but he’s pretty much the only character I actually remember. Art wise the series looks good but again, nothing standout, and I barely recall the music. This would be one of the shows I would marathon after it’s done if it suddenly blew up in the blogosphere, but otherwise I won’t be following this one this season.
This series is streaming on Crunchyroll.
