Yeah, the first pitch didn’t decide the game. Adapting a sportsball match to a comic format does require a deal, even a great deal, of compression – but there have to be some limits. If only so that more than one character can have a significant character moment.
Speaking of character, Tanuki Kazuya’s character continues to be rather poor. He seems to be excessively enamored with his ability to get a good read on an unknown batter. That’s actually quite justified, but it still isn’t a good look for a fictional sportsman. For a real-life sportsman it would be realistic, but I have heard you’re not supposed to put that in a comic, so that impressionable youngsters don’t get exposed to reality too early. But, anyway and on the other hand, it is a good look for a fictional Tanuki, so it all evens out.
Plus, Tanuki’s reputation for arrogance helps him communicate with Injun. Injun, once again, completely misinterprets Tanuki’s hand signal, but ends up throwing exactly the pitch requested anyway – if only in order to tell Tanuki to clean up his act.
As for Tanuki’s plan to confuse Snuka by changing up the pattern before a pattern is even established… well, calling somebody a “Napoleon” actually leaves you a lot of leeway. After all, unless you specify it, this could refer to Napoleon on the day of Austerlitz…or to Napoleon on the day of Borodino. I think Tanuki’s newest idea might be more in Borodino territory, but it was obviously still good enough to fool Snuka. Who’s still kind of a beginner, after all, so it probably doesn’t really take a Napleon to trick him.
More on Thursday.