Mizuki's settling into life in the area but it's causing a bit of trouble for Aoba and others.
What They Say
There is a rumor going around that Aoba and Mizuki are dating. But Mizuki is jealous of Ko's relationship with Aoba. Meanwhile, Seishu's baseball team raises the intensity with their new members.
The Review!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The introduction of Mizuki has left me less than thrilled, though it's easy to see that he's a character that will be pushing Aoba and Ko closer together eventually. A little conflict and tension tends to move things forward faster, though sometimes in a less than desired state. For Aoba, with the news that people believe that she's dating Mizuki now, she's very frustrated by it because she doesn't want that kind of attention and it's simply not true. Her focus is not on boys, unlike most of the other girls, and with this becoming more and more of a distraction, it's getting under her skin all the more.
With the notes around school, it is slowly getting to Ko though he can't quite put his finger on why. There's a really good exchange he has with Ichiyo at the restaurant later on where she relates some of how Aoba was feeling when she mentioned that Ko got introduced to another girl at school. Ko continues to play it all rather cool and disinterested, which he is to some extent, but it is getting under his skin and he's starting to realize a bit about what his feelings are like. What makes it really interesting is that Ichiyo is straightforward with him about the fact he hasn't dated at all since Wakaba died, not that the kids really dated of course, but that part of his life is seemingly on hold. Ko's able to slide that right back at her though when it comes to Azuma's older brother that clearly has an interest in her, while she serves as the mother for the family because of the problems there. Saying she's doing much the same for a different reason is an expected push back to be sure.
When it comes to the game of baseball, it goes pretty well when it's played here and Aoba is really standing out strongly. Unfortunately, she's doing so well that it's frustrating Ko since he doesn't get a chance to play and ends up being center fielder for most of it, which makes it even more difficult for him to watch. She has the amusing method of praising him with criticism which confounds him to no end. The two of them are definitely like stated in the show, two plus signs that resist each other heavily in most way. It's interesting to watch how Mizuki and Aoba re together since they're not like that. It feels more relaxed, especially as they're getting to know each other again after awhile, but it really feels like there's no spark there at all. They're cute enough together but it lacks that something special.
In Summary:
Cross Game nudges things forward lightly and to good effect across the board. The relationship side of the series gets a nice workout from a few different directions, where we see how Ko is reacting to the rumors that Mizuki and Aoba are dating to Ichiyo prodding Ko about how he's living his life since Wakaba passed away. Aoba herself doesn't take kindly to all the rumors as it distracts her from what she considers important, which is not what most of the girls are focused on at this age. In the end though, watching how Ko and Aoba interact with each other, there's such a straightforward way about it where they speak clearly in a lot of ways that it surprises Mizuki when he sees it, giving him a true clue that those two have something very deep there that they may not even realize.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English Subtitles
Review Equipment
Sony KDS-R70XBR2 70" LCoS 1080P HDTV, Dell 10.1 Netbook via HDMI set to 1080p, Onkyo TX-SR605 Receiver and Panasonic SB-TP20S Multi-Channel Speaker System With 100-Watt Subwoofer.
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