- AVeryLargeRadish
- Aug 19, 2011
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I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO NOT BE A WEIRD SEXUAL CREEP ABOUT PREPUBESCENT ANIME GIRLS, READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE!!!
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For sports manga, I recommend Giant Killing. It is a more realistic look at the sport and also talks about fans, players, coaches, and the backroom staff. It is probably the best football/soccer manga out there.
Is it readable if your soccer knowledge consists of "Bunch of guys that kick ball in goal." ?
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Apr 19, 2014 18:28
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May 15, 2024 13:40
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- AVeryLargeRadish
- Aug 19, 2011
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I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO NOT BE A WEIRD SEXUAL CREEP ABOUT PREPUBESCENT ANIME GIRLS, READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE!!!
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I'm p sure that's literally all there is to know about soccer.
I'm p sure that there are famous teams, organizations and events associated with the sport and some works are going to make the assumption that you know this sort of stuff so I figured I'd ask before diving in.
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Apr 19, 2014 18:40
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- AVeryLargeRadish
- Aug 19, 2011
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I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO NOT BE A WEIRD SEXUAL CREEP ABOUT PREPUBESCENT ANIME GIRLS, READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE!!!
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This being the first match of the show, get ready for a GIGANTIC post about tennis.
Kanzaki mentions when Ei wins the next point that he won a break, which is when you win a game off the opponent's serve. But this point, where Ei will win the game if he wins the next point, is called a break point - this specifically is called a triple break point since Ei has 3 chances to win the game before his opponent catches up - and is a very important statistic. Put simply, the number of break points you get, regardless of whether or not you win them, represents how much pressure you are putting on your opponent.
When you serve, you generally start with an advantage since you control how the point begins, so losing points on your serve will add pressure. But if you're giving an opponent a break point, it means your advantage has been completely meaningless, so it does a lot of mental damage even if your opponent doesn't win the point.
I'm rather surprised they didn't say anything about deuces, though maybe that will come up later at a critical moment for ~drama~. I supposed I'll leave that alone for now then, just in case. Unless people want to know about it right now, in which case I'll edit in an explanation.
This is the tennis version of the coin toss. It isn't always used - higher level tournaments will generally use an actual coin since spinning the racket on the ground like that will scratch the grommet (the plastic/rubber coverin around the outer edge of the racket). Here's why:
  
This is the buttcap for a Head/Prince/Wilson racket (all three are well-known racket manufacturers). As you can see, it's pretty easy to distinguish when it's pointing up or down. For the Wilson and Prince rackets, you might say "W"/"M" or "P"/"d" instead of "Up"/"Down". It's a handy alternative to the coint toss.
Serve and Volley is a specific style of play centered around... well, that should be obvious. Serve and Volley is an aggressively tactical offence where you begin with a tricky serve and immediately move in to take the ball early, hopefully catching your opponent off guard. A serve and volley player will generally try to win points quickly and decisively. Obviously, this only really works when you are serving, so when returning, a player whose game hinges on serve and volley tactics will be at a big disadvantage.
With the power and speed that modern players have, the serve and volley has become a rather outdated style of play. It might be used occasionally to catch an opponent off guard, but very few people use it as their primary style of play.
Is that so... well gently caress YOU JAPAN. I hate collared shirts. Vehemently.
This is not a rule in the US. T-shirts are perfectly normal attire at a tournament.
e: I forgot to mention, but the Wimbledon Open, one of the 4 prestigious Grand Slam tournaments, still has a dress code for no particular reason: "No solid mass of colouring; little or no dark or bold colours; no fluorescent colours; preference towards pastel colours...and all other items of clothing including hats, socks and shoes to be almost entirely white." (why white?  ). The tournament as a whole is pretty strict and obsessive over tradition. For example, all spectators are offered strawberries and cream as the typical stand food.
Though they're probably just being lazy and cutting down on animation, I kind of like that they did this because now I can talk about HawkEye.
HawkEye is a ball tracking system consisting of 6-7 1000fps cameras that's been implemented in a lot of high-end stadiums and is accurate to about 5mm. It is most often used in the challenge system, where a player can challenge any call made by a line-ref, or a call overturn by the umpire, and watch as HawkEye animates the exact path of the ball and showing exactly where the ball bounced. It looks like:
Look familiar?
The challenge system is pretty simple: Each player starts each set with 3 challenges. If you win a challenge, no challenges are used, but if you lose then you lose a challenge point. Run out of challenges, and you can no longer challenge for that set. An extra challenge is given to each player if the set reaches a tie-breaker, or 6-6 (6 all, as it would be called) in the game count.
Normally, a player would take a serve from a couple feet behind the base line (the line at the back of the court). But here we see the #5 seed standing several feet inside the line. This is perfectly valid, and in fact you could stand right next to the service line if you really wanted to. And with Ei serving like a little girl it's not like he's gonna get hurt if the ball hit him.
Normally I would call him a hipster for bringing such a big bag as a beginner player, but this being Ei - who carries 10 pounds of notes everywhere - it's a different story. A beginner player isn't going to need anything but a racket, some water, a towel, and maybe a small snack. There's no need for that big a bag. But at the higher levels, it's pretty much standard to bring a couple rackets, a couple bottles of water (or one giant bottle), a couple towels, and maybe even a change of shirt or two, so a big bag would be pretty useful. The pros normally bring a bunch of rackets, some strung at slightly different tensions in case they need to tweak their style on the fly.
This is actually very important, because at the professional level it would be neigh impossible to hit most balls without doing this. At higher levels, tennis can sometimes become a game of chicken. You have to guess where the opponent is going to hit the ball next and make a move early, but if you move too early then you'll give yourself away and the opponent might change their shot. But if you move too late, you might not make it in time.
I love these posts, thanks for doing them!
I really wish Baby Steps was getting a better adaptation than it is. I've binged through the manga in the last couple of weeks and it's really, really good stuff. But the sub-par animation and general low production values of the anime really bring it down. 
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May 4, 2014 21:27
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- AVeryLargeRadish
- Aug 19, 2011
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I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO NOT BE A WEIRD SEXUAL CREEP ABOUT PREPUBESCENT ANIME GIRLS, READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE!!!
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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.
Any comments on Maruo's next opponent?
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Jun 1, 2014 20:46
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- AVeryLargeRadish
- Aug 19, 2011
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I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO NOT BE A WEIRD SEXUAL CREEP ABOUT PREPUBESCENT ANIME GIRLS, READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE!!!
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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.
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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- AVeryLargeRadish
- Aug 19, 2011
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I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO NOT BE A WEIRD SEXUAL CREEP ABOUT PREPUBESCENT ANIME GIRLS, READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE!!!
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No more tennis education posts Viggy? Or have you not had the chance to watch the latest Baby Steps?
Anyway I liked the latest episode. Maruo may have won by a fluke but a win is a win. At least he managed to get his racket up in time, otherwise he would have lost. I liked Takuya's expression when Maruo won, just disgusted at him winning in such an awkward way.
I'm really looking forward to the next few episodes, we will be seeing one of Ei-chan's most interesting and eccentric opponents, it should be fun.
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Jun 17, 2014 10:34
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- AVeryLargeRadish
- Aug 19, 2011
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I LITERALLY DON'T KNOW HOW TO NOT BE A WEIRD SEXUAL CREEP ABOUT PREPUBESCENT ANIME GIRLS, READ ALL ABOUT IT HERE!!!
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Sorry, had a small crisis and didn't have a chance to watch the latest episode, until now.
Ahh, sorry about asking, I just really look forward to you analysis each week. 
 What the gently caress is that? It sure as hell isn't how you hit a lob.
In general, there are two ways to hit a lob:
1) Offensive lob: Where you hit the ball in a high, arcing loop over your opponent's head, but with enough top spin to make it land near the baseline.
2) Deffensive lob: Where you just kinda throw your racket out and it happens to hit the ball upwards because you were sprinting for the ball and hope it lands somewhere in the court.
What's Miyagawa doing? Trying to hit someone's car in the parking lot nearby.
Maybe his form is crap because he always uses full power swings? I imagine something like a lob is pretty hard for a player like him. 
This is shameful. Just shameful.
First of all, this is Miyagawa's first serve. You don't take chances on a first serve. That's what second serves are for. In general, a player's first serve is their biggest weapon because it gives them control of the whole point right off the bat. It's often very difficult for a returner to win points off a first serve. Secondly, hitting an inside-out forehand (running around a ball when it should be a backhand) takes a lot of time to set up and for that very reason is a really stupid idea unless you have the agility, speed, and technique to pull it off. You don't even see pros doing it very often. That was ENTIRELY your fault Ei.
I loved the crowd reaction here. Ahhh well, I suppose new players, especially ones as new as Ei-chan make blunders like this pretty often. I guess the upside is that he is trying new things and taking risks when what he is already doing does not work out.
Miyagawa is a relatively experienced player, so this should have that much of an effect on him. However, he's had an extremely stressful set that really hasn't gone the way he'd planned and they're at the butt end of a tight tiebreak; maybe he just wasn't thinking straight or was just really tired. So it did affect him and he did gently caress up. Oh well. Guess Ei's stupidity paid off.
Ehhh, I've seen top level pros get thrown off their game by various things happening during a match. I think I remember one time where one of the Williams sisters made a whole mess of errors after her opponent suffered an injury, so I can see things going awry for a junior level player pretty easily, especially given the situation.
HOWEVER, if the ball had hit Ei, it would automatically have been Miyagawa's point. This Q&A will clear up any questions more thoroughly than I could.
Yeah, that was what I was referring to when I said that it was good that he got his racket up in time. :p
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Jun 19, 2014 01:28
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Apr 19, 2014 18:28
at Maruo dropping bombs on his parents at dinner.
