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The scenes with the whole team loving around in the most recent episode (of Haikyuu) were my favorite parts so I hope there's a lot more of that now that they're all together finally.
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May 6, 2014 23:30
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Like many people apparently I've gotten totally addicted to the Baby Steps manga. I think Eiichirō loses more than any sports manga protagonist I've ever seen.
Sindai fucked around with this message at 00:55 on May 7, 2014 |
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May 7, 2014 00:53
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KoB posted:I think my favorite part about Haikyuu is that it looks like the standard duo of hotblooded protagonist and the cool, collected, smart, perfect guy but then you find out that they're both silly idiots. Yowapeda does that same great idea and it's great there too. 
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May 7, 2014 02:20
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XboxPants posted:Yowapeda does that same great idea and it's great there too. I think I'll need to check that out then. I love silly dorks, though they're especially great in Haikyuu because they all make excellent faces, no exceptions.  Tanaka is still number one though. 
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May 7, 2014 03:19
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XboxPants posted:Yowapeda does that same great idea and it's great there too. One thing I really like about that show is you have the hotblooded guy and the calm, collected guy and...they're rivals with each other, instead of the protagonist. Sure, they yell at each other all the time but they both genuinely like Onoda. It's a neat twist on the usual rival types.
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May 7, 2014 03:27
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Srice posted:One thing I really like about that show is you have the hotblooded guy and the calm, collected guy and...they're rivals with each other, instead of the protagonist. Sure, they yell at each other all the time but they both genuinely like Onoda. It's a neat twist on the usual rival types. It's basically a romantic triangle.
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May 7, 2014 03:30
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Haha, yeah it definitely comes across as pretty gay. Which I guess means it comes across like 95% of sports anime 
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May 7, 2014 03:33
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Strange Quark posted:I think I'll need to check that out then. I love silly dorks, though they're especially great in Haikyuu because they all make excellent faces, no exceptions. Yowapeda has a lot of really great dorky post-credit scenes so make sure not to miss those.
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May 7, 2014 07:04
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Haikyuu 6 left me hoarse from laughing out loud too much. 
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May 11, 2014 14:25
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Weekly Tennis Blog: So, since they didn't talk about deuces even though one obviously happend (and a ridiculously long one at that), I might as well. A deuce is when both players are tied at 40-40, or 3 points each. In a deuce, you must get a net gain of 2 points over your opponent to win. When a player wins a point on deuce, their score is changed to Advantage, and the score is called out as "Advantage, [player]." If that player wins the next point, they win the game. If not, the score goes back to duece. This can happen indefinitely, so you can have some stupid long games if both sides are evenly matched. As Kanzaki already said, Pushing is:  Also, pushing will make everyone hate your guts. It's generally seen as a lazy, half-assed tactic for people without any actual skill. Of course, Ei was David fighting Goliath so really it's all he could do.  I think they're way overstating the effectiveness here. If you're drastically changing the spin of every shot you hit, it's gonna be noticeable in the way you swing even if you don't have Ei's eyes, and that means the opponent might eventually be able to predict what's coming. But, having to flexibly cater to every shot could trip a person up, so there is an advantage. Usually, when it comes to good control, you also vary height, depth, and speed if you really want to make an advantage out of variety. More importantly, those are much easier to mask than changes in spin, although topspin/flat (low topspin) shots are also easy mask as well. Since there really wasn't much to talk about today, and this show refuses to name-drop any pro players, I guess I'll mention some of the pros the seeded players reminded me of.   John Isner (USA) is a 6 foot 10 lanky giant. He's currently the figurehead of US mens tennis because, unfortunately everyone else sucks rear end. That said, he's still a really good player because he utilizes his extreme proportions well. His highest rank was 9, but he's currently sitting at 10.   Look at 'em big beefy arms. Rafael Nadal (SPA), aka Rafa, is a freaking monster. Current world #1 after trailing Roger Federer for years, he puts all of that muscle into 1 thing: racket speed. Not power. The core of his game is all about generating so much spin that even if the opponent knows what's coming they'd still be overwhelmed. This effect is compounded on clay courts where the uneven nature of the court together with that absurd spin can make the ball bounce in really weird ways. In fact, it was so effective that although Federer was undoubtedly the reigning champion, it took him years to finally win a French Open, the only Grand Slam played on clay, and only because Rafa had unfortunately been knocked out by a newcomer. But what makes him really untouchable is that he can use the absurd amounts of spin he generates to hit stupefyingly impossible shots, even when he's on the run.  Holy poo poo, he's Isner with a 2-handed forehand?  There are only 2 players I know of from recent years that used a 2-handed forehand: Marion Bartoli (FRA) and Fabrice Santoro (FRA).   Santoro retired a few years ago, and Bartoli retired last year (I didn't know that. I thought she was still going strong, but apparently there's something wrong with her body that she can't overcome). ViggyNash fucked around with this message at 16:08 on May 11, 2014 |
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May 11, 2014 16:04
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Oh, that reminded me that I wanted to ask about what tennis courts are usually made out of. When it occurred to me to wonder about it, I realized that I couldn't come up with a definite answer at all. You mention clay but implied that's abnormal - what's the standard? Something hard like asphalt? How different is it to play on an indoor court that I'm assuming is some kinda plasticky rubbery surface? I feel like I've seen or heard of playing on grass or grass-like surfaces, but that seems like it'd be super weird; is that done?
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May 11, 2014 19:07
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XboxPants posted:Oh, that reminded me that I wanted to ask about what tennis courts are usually made out of. When it occurred to me to wonder about it, I realized that I couldn't come up with a definite answer at all. You mention clay but implied that's abnormal - what's the standard? Something hard like asphalt? How different is it to play on an indoor court that I'm assuming is some kinda plasticky rubbery surface? I feel like I've seen or heard of playing on grass or grass-like surfaces, but that seems like it'd be super weird; is that done? Clay is certainly not abnormal, but it really depends where in the world you're talking about. I suppose I should clarify what I said about the French Open as the only clay Grand Slam. There are 4 Grand Slam tournaments every year, and they are the highest tier of tennis tournament in the world. Of those 4, the Australian Open in Melbourne and the US Open near NYC are both hard court, the French Open in Rolland Garros is clay, and Wimbeldon in the UK is grass. Tennis began on grass courts in the UK, which is why Wimbeldon, obsessed with tradition as it is, is a grass court tournament, and in fact grass used to be the most common surface but it's expensive to maintain and is now only common in the UK. However, Continental Europe and much of Latin America prefer clay courts, though they do also have hard and maybe a grass here and there. They're easier and cheaper to make, but require quite a bit of work to maintain. The US and Canada mostly prefer hard courts, though you do see clay courts here and there at clubs. There's a club near where I live that has a bunch of green clay courts out front. That place also built a tennis court in a barn for some reason.  As far as what they're made of, there's a lot of variations. For clay, red clay uses crushed brick, green uses basalt, other courts might use minor variations. Apart from that, the water content of the clay and how compactly its pressed can also affect the court. For hard court surfaces, the standard is a synthetic/acrylic with an asphalt or concrete base underneath. As far as grass courts being weird... well I wouldn't know having never seen one in real life, let alone played on it. The soil is generally heavily compacted and the grass is cut like a golf putting green, so the balls still bounce but they tend to slide off the grass. That means that spin is relatively ineffective, the exact opposite of a clay court. It also means the ball retains a lot more speed off a bounce, and so grass courts are considered the "fastest" type of court of the 3.
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May 11, 2014 19:47
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XboxPants posted:Yowapeda has a lot of really great dorky post-credit scenes so make sure not to miss those. Oh, so they're like the blooper scenes in Kuroko? Cause those were really great, and it's too bad they were only included in the Blu-rays, even though most of those did show up in the tankoban manga chapters too.
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May 11, 2014 21:27
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They're generally called Omake and they've been in tons of anime and manga. What's cool about Yowapedia is that they have one at the end of every episode (in the place of "next time" bumpers), they're showing them on TV instead of saving them for the disks, and that they're actually kinda good instead of just a cheap time waster. It also fits well with the series. Most episodes are these super dramatic race sequences, so there's no time for slice of life mucking around. Omake keep the show more well rounded. Yowapedia is a deeply stupid show but it is a little bit genius.
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May 11, 2014 22:12
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The Devil Tesla posted:They're generally called Omake and they've been in tons of anime and manga. What's cool about Yowapedia is that they have one at the end of every episode (in the place of "next time" bumpers), they're showing them on TV instead of saving them for the disks, and that they're actually kinda good instead of just a cheap time waster. Oh, I know what they're called, I was just more asking on their particular flavor.  I've only seen the first episode so far, but the scenes do seem to be going more in line with the ones in Kuroko.
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May 11, 2014 23:05
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ViggyNash posted:Weekly Tennis Blog: Are you sure he doesn't have bionic arms because holy gently caress he looks like he could tear a car in half with those things.  The series and your posts are making me want to watch actual Pro Tennis now.
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May 13, 2014 03:01
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Mo_Steel posted:Are you sure he doesn't have bionic arms because holy gently caress he looks like he could tear a car in half with those things. Here's Roger Federer for comparison:  He looks like the Hulk by comparison. In the US, ESPN or NBC will generally have grand slams live, and ESPN sometimes shows other lower tier tournaments, but if you have a sports package then you might also have the Tennis channel. e: Dude who wanted to know what a grass court looked like, there you go. ViggyNash fucked around with this message at 05:19 on May 13, 2014 |
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May 13, 2014 05:17
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New chapters of Baby Steps just arent long enough. 
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May 15, 2014 04:45
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DurosKlav posted:New chapters of Baby Steps just arent long enough. Yeah, when you blow through it, the 10 or so chapters that make up a match are nothing. When you're reading 19 pages each week it's painful.
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May 15, 2014 05:04
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Haikyu continues to be the most gif-worthy show this season. e: VV Exactly. Tennis talk: I was going to comment on how Ei's precise control would not make him invincible, but the second half of the episode said that for me. Even if you know exactly what you need to do, getting it done is far easier said. Also, mind-gaming your opponent, like Takuma did a couple times (stopping short, switching directions), can be a very useful tactic to put an opponent mentally off balance.  This is truth, though not the whole story. The moment the ball falls below the net, you immediately lose a whole bunch of potential options. If you try to hit it deep, you have to hit a slow, looping ball that the opponent will have no trouble with even if it's a difficult angle. However, trying to hit it short or at a sharp angle is very difficult and requires great control and touch, otherwise you'll be handing over a free point.  I figured out what kind of racket he has. It's a Prince, or at least based on it. See those holes in the frame? That's a feature Prince introduced last decade and has since become their gimmick, per se. For the most part, it reduced drag while swinging thus allowing you to swing faster. There's a whole host of other benefits that Prince touts; there's some silly ones, but not all.  This has nothing to do with tennis. It was just too hilarious not to post.
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May 18, 2014 22:11
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May 18, 2014 22:13
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ViggyNash posted:Haikyu continues to be the most gif-worthy show this season. e: VV Exactly. Was Maruo's whole "I gotta aim for the back if I wanna hit the front and vice versa" a common tennis idea, or was it just an instance where that's what works for him, and different people have to adjust in different ways? I completely missed Baldy's catch there and that's awesome.
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May 18, 2014 23:38
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XboxPants posted:Was Maruo's whole "I gotta aim for the back if I wanna hit the front and vice versa" a common tennis idea, or was it just an instance where that's what works for him, and different people have to adjust in different ways? It's all about feel, and that's different for everyone. For some people, like Ei, they control the ball through minor adjustments in their swing. Others might do it though timing, and yet others through positioning. Another thing to consider is that direction control is really all Ei does. As far as we know, he doesn't mess around with spin, power, or height, so the extent of his thoughts while swinging is 1)what's the opponent's status, 2)where should I hit the ball, and 3)how should I adjust my swing to hit the ball there. e: New Episode: Well, that year went fast. ViggyNash fucked around with this message at 15:56 on May 25, 2014 |
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May 19, 2014 00:36
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Thread needs more Haikyuu gifs       I love when it goes all sketchy like that
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May 26, 2014 05:51
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Everything Burrito posted:Thread needs more Haikyuu gifs This really is the most gif-worthy show this season. Someone asked earlier about watching pro tennis. The French Open will be going on for the next 2 weeks, and I know for a fact that ESPN has streaming rights. ViggyNash fucked around with this message at 19:05 on May 26, 2014 |
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May 26, 2014 17:04
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Jun 1, 2014 15:49
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Tennis Talk: What Kanzaki tells Eichiro at the beginning is very true; you always need to warm up before a match, but overdoing it will definitely hurt you. Usually, you get 5-10 minutes of warm up time with your opponent before the match starts. Start of with a ground stroke rally, then one person goes to the net for a while to hit volleys and overheads, then the other, and finally both players hit some serves until they feel ready.  So very true as well. Once you start feeling the pressure, any number of things can go wrong. It all depends on how strong you are mentally, but I doubt anyone is immune to it.  They are really hurting for budget, aren't they? No, nets do not work like that. The top of the net is always very taut, but the webbing is meant only to stop the ball's momentum, so it's nothing more than a loose web of fibers. Fun fact: it is possible to get a ball stuck in the holes, like they tend to do in fences. It's really unlikely and impossible to replicate if you do, but I personally have managed it a few times out of sheer luck while playing.
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Jun 1, 2014 20:12
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ViggyNash posted:Tennis Talk: Any comments on Maruo's next opponent?
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Jun 1, 2014 20:46
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AVeryLargeRadish posted:Any comments on Maruo's next opponent? Hmm... I already mentioned that a 2-handed forehand is extremely rare, and I only know of two (former) pro players that used it. This episode, bro mentions that he doesn't have "soft touch, depth perception, or what they call natural ball sense." What this amounts to is that he's not very good at net (volleys and general net play), but there's more to it. He can't hit anything creative or that requires a lot of finesse, which ultimately means that he's actually very predictable because of those restrictions. His opponent can rule out him pulling some crazy trick shot out of his rear end and expect something more generic and therefore easier to counter. This could serve as a huge advantage to Eichiro who's very good at controlling a point with good directional control. He can try to force Miyagawa to come to the net where a bad volley could give Ei an easy point, and if Miyagawa tries to back up to the base line it leaves a lot of openings and puts him off balance. That said, he did say that he'd figured out Ei's weakness. I wonder he's thinking... e: What does "finesse" look like? Federer being normal. ViggyNash fucked around with this message at 00:36 on Jun 2, 2014 |
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Jun 2, 2014 00:32
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Ahaha, Federer is like :swag: incarnate. He must have made some people break their rackets at some of the stuff he pulled on them.
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Jun 2, 2014 01:24
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AVeryLargeRadish posted:Ahaha, Federer is like :swag: incarnate. He must have made some people break their rackets at some of the stuff he pulled on them. Not :swag:, really. he's just the chillest, most aloof player ever, and pretty much everyone like the guy, or at the very least respect him. He also holds every other record there is to own, such as winning the most grand slams at 17, a record previously held by American Pete Sampras in the 90's - early 00's who was also the coolest dude around in his time.
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Jun 2, 2014 05:04
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French Open women's final starting right now. Men's final is tomorrow.
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Jun 7, 2014 14:04
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Jun 8, 2014 15:56
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Eichiro vs. Miyagawa: I thought there might be a lot to talk about, and I was right.  For a first thought, this is the right idea. Miyagawa's strength is that his powerful and variable groundstrokes allow him to effectively dominate a point in a baseline battle. If Ei can keep him off balance, he might be able to win points. That's easier said than done.  So that's what they've been talking about. It's also very true. Ei is a very solid player, a jack of all trades, but he doesn't have a single ace in the hole. What's worse, his general play style plays right into Miyagawa's strenghts; because Ei needs to be patient and methodical, tactically constructing each point, he needs longer points, but that gives Miyagawa more time to wrest control away. Without an ace in the hole, Ei has no way to get that control back or outright win the point.  He is referring to the serve timer. After each point, the server has 20 seconds to serve the next point. Fail to do that, and you get a warning and lose the point. Fail again and you lose the game. However, that's all up to the umpire's discretion. In the French Open final yesterday, Maria Sharapova received a pre-warning of sorts in the third set, even though she had been intentionally delaying points the whole match. That tactic is something that she's rather infamous for, and she's lucky that the umpire was as forgiving as he was. Halep could easily have won the match if given the chance. Btw, that was an amazing final and if you have any interest in watching tennis you should watch that match. There's no good screenshot of this, but Bro mentions, and Eichiro finds out, that Miyagawa has been experimenting during Ei's service games in order to figure out what works best against Ei. This is a pretty common practice between high level players that have never met before, and to a lesser extend during any match. Since a match usually consists of a best out of 3 or 5, most players tend to use that first set to test the waters; they poke and prod at their opponents to get a sense of their style of play and to see what tactics work best against them. You can only learn so much from scouting, but in the end nothing beats the experience of actually playing the person.   That is exactly how you make a comeback. Though Ei is putting himself at a disadvantage by playing with a style he's not used to, he's also voiding Miyagawa's groundstroke advantage. If Ei continues to keep Miyagawa on his toes like this, he has a real chance. But don't start cheering for Ei yet. Miyagawa still has another chance at 5-4 assuming he wins his service game, and another at 6-5.  This isn't that important to the match itself, but is something I found odd. In that screencap, and throughout what we were shown of the match, the umpire has been making the out calls. In the absence of linesmen/women, out calls are up to the player, and the umpire has the authority to overrule a player call. That means they can call outs, but an umpire shouldn't need to since it's the players' job.
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Jun 8, 2014 20:31
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This cliffhanger broke me and I too have joined the "now reading the Baby Steps manga" bandwagon. Is it really possible for somebody to play tennis the way Iwasa does, with having such precise control as to land the ball anywhere with any kind of swing?
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Jun 8, 2014 22:49
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Emalde posted:This cliffhanger broke me and I too have joined the "now reading the Baby Steps manga" bandwagon. If you mean "Is it possible to play like Nadal/Federer/Djokovic?" then the answer is maybe, because it depends on whether you one of them or not. But who knows, maybe someone else will end up being better than them in the future. I'm not following the manga, and we haven't seen him play yet, so I don't know exactly what you're talking about, but the best players can always find a way to surprise you.
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Jun 9, 2014 01:44
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ViggyNash posted:If you mean "Is it possible to play like Nadal/Federer/Djokovic?" then the answer is maybe, because it depends on whether you one of them or not. But who knows, maybe someone else will end up being better than them in the future. He's a really weird and eccentric player, we will see him later in this tournament.
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Jun 9, 2014 02:42
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Has there been an episode yet were nobody has been hit in the face with a ball?
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Jun 9, 2014 03:50
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Eeevil posted:Has there been an episode yet were nobody has been hit in the face with a ball? If an episode like that happens, I am going to stop watching 
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Jun 9, 2014 05:41
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ViggyNash, I love your tennis posts about Baby Steps. I think the latest episode's cliffhanger is the toughest one so far. I'm not sure I'll be able to stop myself reading the manga to find out what happened before next week's episode. I find the characters in this series very refreshing, because for the most part they're not total idiots.
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Jun 9, 2014 09:20
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