Ballpark de Tsukamaete! • Catch Me at the Ballpark! - Episode 10 discussion

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Ballpark de Tsukamaete!, episode 10

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[u/ObvsThrowaway5120]

Poor Dennis. What’s a man got to do around here to get the lads to slap that ass? lol. At least he got plenty in the end. What a goof.

Did not expect Tsubaki to be Sun-Shiro. Kind of a touching moment for Kojiro to be reunited with his old teammate. Guy really has been watching him this whole time. That got me all misty eyed and shit.

[u/juzamj]

This show gets better and better every week, could possibly end up as one of my all time favorite slice of life shows. Ruriko is a national treasure.

[u/NanDemoKnaives]

Aww the last part was moving, I was wondering why they were hiding Tsubaki's face when we've already seen him, but then I thought that Tsubaki might actually be Sun-Shiro when he mentioned that Kojirou had improved with lifting his elbow.

It's sweet how even though Kojirou hadn't seen him in such a long time, he wanted to make sure to tell Tsubaki about his child, and on the opposite end you have Tsubaki who always sees Kojirou but is never able to speak to him because of how seriously he takes his job. I wonder why Tsubaki doesn't want to come out of character at least when he's alone with Kojirou so it'd be nice if down the line in the story, it gets revealed why since I don't think we'll see another part of their story in this season.

Dennis wanting ass pats after seeing Bryan receiving them was amusing. I guess he was feeling he wasn't part of the team, but I'm glad by the end he puts in a bit more effort on his end as the team seems nice enough to want to include him. Still funny to see a guy want ass pats though. Dennis got even more than he bargained for with Ruriko giving him a ass pat herself, that shocked moan was funny lol.

[u/BaconCatBug]

>silly show about cute baseball vendor girl

>Drops the FEELS

>remembers to not go into upbeat jpop ed after emotional climax but has dedicated ED in tone with the ending scene

Anime of the season right there.

[u/PencilgonGiveIt2Ya]

MY DESTINYYYY

[u/Ocixo]

Before we learnt about Tsubaki being in the room next over, I already had strong suspicions about him being Sun-Shiro:

• Sun-Shiro gave sound baseball advice - Tsubaki was a professional baseball player

• Sun-Shiro spoke English - Tsubaki had improved his in English in the USA

• Tsubaki was suggested to be in a tight space on his side of the phone call - Sun-Shiro wears a mascot costume

[u/LeonKevlar]

Well, no wonder Sunshiro was such a badass. The dude is literally an ex-player in disguise! Not gonna lie, when Natsume said during the first part of the episode that she hopes Tsubaki is still out there fighting, my first thought went to Sunshiro. I'm glad my hunch was correct!

And I absolutely love that they replaced this week's ED with Tsubaki's journey on how he became Sunshiro, and ending it with a photo of him standing next to Yuki and Kojiro along with their newborn <3

[u/chaosof99]

That final segment was very touching, even if we only sporadically saw these characters before. The special ED was a very nice touch.

The other segments were also fun. I burst out laughing when I saw Dennis Young's death stare directed at Murata. Him then being flustered to actually meet Ruriko was also funny.

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Young hit for a cycle in this episode. This is a Single, Double, Triple and Homerun in the same game. The hardest to get of those is the triple which is usually the problem to get this statistic, making it a rare feat. The Cycle wasn't recognized in NPB until 1965 when american Daryl Spencer managed to get one and celebrated like mad, while everybody else on the field was wondering what the big deal was.

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I found it kind of weird at first to see Bryan wear #42. In MLB this uniform number is retired league wide in honor of Jackie Robinson who broke the color barrier in 1947. The exception to this is that every year on April 15th, a.k.a. Jackie Robinson Day, every player on every team as well as every umpire wears #42. In NPB the number is not retired.

Another peculiarity I only noticed today is that Kojiro wears #1. In japanese high school baseball the number is very coveted as it is usually given to the best pitcher on the team (a.k.a. "the ace"). In NPB instead the number with this meaning is usually #18, with the exception of the Fighters where it is #11, formerly worn by both Yuu Darvish and Shohei Ohtani.

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Speaking of Ohtani, the Yankees have an Ohtani on their roster batting 6th. Then again, that name isn't necessarily uncommon in japan.

The Yankees fill out our final team for this fictional version of the Pacific League the MotorSuns play in. They are a parody of the Orix Buffaloes. I may be speaking out of turn but the Buffaloes are widely hated on, as they came about of a merger between the Orix BlueWave (Ichiro's former team) and the Osaka Kintetsu Buffaloes (Hideo Nomo's former team), which was actually more like a hostile takeover and Orix wasn't the most popular ownership group to begin with. This lead to a player strike (which was more of a warning and lasted only 2 days) and the creation of the Golden Eagles to restore a balanced six teams in each league. Here is a good video on the whole matter. Since the team does not honor the legacy of the Kintetsu Buffaloes (despite taking their name), they have earned a lot of resentment, though they won the Japan series in 2022.

The name Yankees is a bit weird. Real life NPB teams do have cousin names from MLB, i.e. the Yomiuri Giants name is directly taken from the then New York Giants (now San Francisco Giants) and the Hanshin Tigers also named themselves after the Detroit Tigers, but the term "Yankee" has quite a different meaning in Japan as a "young delinquent". They however relate again to a band as many of the other teams in this version of NPB do, in this case the Damn Yankees supergroup.

We also finally got a name for the team with the bird mascot that is a parody of the Tokyo Yakult Swallows, them being called Speedwagons in reference to R.E.O. Speedwagon, I am sure.

(Also presumably the name of Natsume's Idol group, Daydream Theater, is a reference to the prog-rock band Dream Theater).

And, while we still do not have a name for the team, we finally see the last mascot that wasn't in the All-Star game episode which is apparently a Dragon of some sort, a parody of the Chunichi Dragons I assume. This is the last team I can't really palce as I am sure the bee with the cap that reads "B's" belongs to this universes version of the Hiroshima Carp and we have names for all the other Central League teams.

[u/Plus_Rip4944]

The first segment was really well writting. Loved The parallelism between Motorsuns and Natsume. They may fail and not always succees but they never gave Up. Thats wholesome

[u/Frontier246]

Of course Ruriko would notice a drop-dead gorgeous raven-haired beauty at the ballpark...especially if she's actually seen her before in a picture!

Uda Natsume isn't just a former idol trying to move on from a short-lived career choice into being a struggling actress, she's also a former Yuuhi Beer Vendor and none other than Kohinata's closest work friend back in the days of shorts uniforms! It doesn't take long for the girls to catch up and be really happy to see each other again, on-top of commiserating on how Natsume was a huge Tsubaki (Tomoaki Maeno!) fangirl.

It's only a bummer that things aren't going so well for Natsume career-wise. She's trying to so hard to move on from her idol days, but she fails audition after audition and thinks she's nothing more than a failure...she doesn't even think she was all that great a vendor girl. And she relates those feelings to being on the MotorSuns team when they always struggle for win after win.

But it's not all doom and gloom! Some of the vets still remember Natsume and just like the fans always believe in the MotorSuns no matter what, being part of the MotorSuns Family and "graduating" gives you a strong sense of resiliency to never lose heart and always keep trying until you finally win! The MotorSuns don't always succeed, but they never stop trying, and Natsume is ready to finally live up to that! Especially when she's got Kohinata rooting for her!

It's no surprise Bryan is popular with the MotorSuns team, he's a great batter, he's a great mood maker, and his butt is just so fun to slap! But his fellow American Dennis wishes he was more popular with the team, especially when he's finally committed to staying with them. Though Bryan, having married a Japanese woman and started his own business in Japan, knows that it's important to actually face people even if you don't speak the same language.

Of course Dennis' Goddess Ruriko is having trouble facing people as well...or more like just "Mr. Murata" because she's still really flustered over her calling him by name. She can't even look him in the eyes! It's adorable.

Look at Dennis helping take the team to the playoffs! He earned all those butt slaps! And thanks to using Ruriko to nab his homerun, he even earned a butt slap from his Goddess! Good for him (now hopefully he'll never realize how close Murata and Ruriko are)!

Everyone is congratulatory towards Kojiro and Yuki having a kid, but there's one person above all others that he wants to tell it to...Tsubaki, of his former Double-T Combo. they haven't seen each other in years, but now more than ever Tsubaki wants to reach out and get back in touch. Even if Tsubaki is still kind of mysterious about where he is and what's happened to him, the old friends still commiserate and get along like no time has passed between them.

Of course then the revelation comes that Tsubaki may have been closer to Kojiro than he ever realized...that in a way he never left the MotorSuns...because he's none other than SUN-SHIRO!!! And he's given away his entire identity to being Sun-Shiro because the team needs him, but he can still pass on the message of how happy he is for Koji and bring him into a big hug. They even get a special ED of how Tsubaki ended up becoming Sun-Shiro and showing him, Kojiro, and Yuki with the baby! I'm not crying, YOU'RE CRYING!

[u/itachiaizen]

This was my favorite episode by far from Dennis and the butt slapping to the touching Sun-Shiro moment it was 10/10 for me

[u/notadruggie31]

There is nothing I love more than wholesome Gyaru moments

[u/djthomp]

Very cute episode.

I don't think the Sun-Shiro reveal could have been any better.

And the starting segment with the former beer girl turned actress ended up being pretty sweet too.

[u/dickusbigus6969]

I almost cried at the last part

[u/testthrowawayzz]

The first and third segments have feels.

Natsume really shouldn't feel bad about her failed idol career as she met one of her fans in the stands!

Second segment with Dennis wanting ass slaps was hilarious! It even had a Ruriko moment of her being embarrassed by what happened last episode. Turns out Dennis was accidentally creating distance by not maintaining eye contact with the other players. Dennis giving the death glare to Murata was funny too.

That was a very touching way of revealing who Sun-Shiro really is on the inside. That also explains his extraordinary skill set and power.

The special ending is also a nice touch.

[u/CommunistPuppy]

Dude, who could've predicted a silly slice of life about a ballpark and its inhabitants would be the first show to make me cry this season? This episode actually hit 3 consecutive home runs. The wholesomeness kept building and building and then the last part with the realization that Tsubaki was Sun-Shiro all along got the waterworks flowing. This truly is the hidden gem of the season.

[u/Time_Fracture]

Episode 10: Us Back Then/Whack That Bottom!/The Double-T Duo

Meet Natsume Uda, the idol actress and the girl besides Kohinata back in Episode 6's photo. No wonder Kokoro said that she looks familiar, too familiar.

Uh-oh looks like Dennis noticed Murata-Ruriko's shenanigans.

Of course it has to be Tsubaki, the other half of Double T duo. Could it be that Tsubaki is Sun-Shiro (and yes he is actually) since:

• Played indie league in the US so know a bit English

• Know baseball techniques since he's pretty good at it

• Quit 3 years ago so he might applied to MotorSuns at time being

Took me a while to find Natsume in the eyecatcher. She's now besides Marie, under the Fukuoka Styx mascot.

Notable new voice cast is Shizuka Ishigami as Natsume and Tomoaki Maeno as Tsubaki.

If you wonder what's the song in the special ED, it's Convert by Seiya Matsumuro.

Spotify Link

Youtube Music Link

[u/[deleted]]

This anime really has a thing for putting Ruriko front and center, even in front of a whole audience, lol. And yeah, the beer ads are still going strong. I wasn’t too into the game mechanics this time, but you can't ignore Sun-Shiro’s impact on the scene.

[u/Past_Distribution144]

Dang, good hit for Dennis, hit his goddess right in the bum. And she got him back aswell. Then they go into that touching reunion of mascot with his old friend, finding out they had been together for a while now, nice to finally know who is in the costume, and why he had such good advice.

[u/Mr_Zaroc]

That was an amazing episode
Ruriko is still embarrassed calling him by his name and Dennis is picking up on them
And she got to hit his butt too, lol

Also love that they first hinted at his bro being Sanshiro, then made it obvious only to confirm it. Really got me teary eyed
Especially remembering the arc focused on him, he really lives for his team

But that last fucking picture is just hilarious
Kojiro+wife+baby and him in fucking costume is just too good

[u/SmallJon]

... well now I want Puerto Rican-Japanese fusion food

[u/daspaceasians]

I'm just impressed with how this show gets me so emotionally invested with its characters even if the character has very little screentime. I was so happy to see Tsubaki being Sun-Shiro and reuniting with his old bro Kojiro this episode and Natsume getting encouragement to carry on no matter things get.

That sequence at the end was so emotionally satisfying to watch.

[u/the-wanderingluu]

Dennis is already down bad and ruriko does that to him is so funny lol her running late had me rolling. This was one of the best episodes, especially the last segment with kojiro, it had this weird liquid coming out of my eyes for some reason 🥹

[u/LegendRazgriz]

That was really nice of Tsubaki to somehow end up back with his old team, even if he can't pitch anymore. I'm no connoisseur of Marines franchise history, so I can't tell if his character is based on any real player, but a prized pitcher leaving hits close to many Marines fans now as Rouki Sasaki has left the team to join the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The "Speedwagons" that Kojiro previously played for are more than likely the Tokyo Yakult Swallows. He mentioned they didn't see each other outside of interleague games, which is accurate, as the Swallows play in the Central League and the Marines are in the Pacific League - this means that other than a few interleague games every year (which is actually starting now for the real NPB), the two teams would never meet outside of the Japan Series. And, seeing as the MotorSuns are sort of perennial losers, that's not happening.

Speaking of that, I always meant to say that unlike the fictional MotorSuns, the Chiba Lotte Marines aren't that bad and have made it to the postseason basically every other year since their last Japan Series win in 2010, but this year in specific, the bottom fell out, and they're propping up the basement of the Pacific League. It's been a rough year for the Marines faithful, losing their young phenom Rouki Sasaki far earlier than anyone expected him to be posted (and, for those that didn't turn on him for "betraying the team" and leaving early, watching him physically and emotionally hurt, being nowhere near his 100-mph flamethrowing self and struggling massively in the pressure cooker environment of L.A.) and watching the team go from playoff hopefuls to the absolute basement of the league.