English Dub Review: Ahiru no Sora Episode 28~30

Overview:

Slowly, Kuzuryu starts to turn the tide.

Our Take:

The latter half focuses on Chiaki, namely the fact that he doesn’t have as much confidence in himself. He is less concerned with the sport or the game itself, despite how much work he’s put in, than he is with ‘looking cool’. Whatever ‘looking cool’ means is fairly unclear, but regardless, losing a game isn’t it. Specifically, looking uncool in front of Nao, who he has a crush on, is something he can’t tolerate. If he sees his team losing, which he does, then he finds it much easier to remove himself from the picture entirely. So he leaves the bench, and decides to go to a convenience store. This… isn’t a great move, and it takes Nao having to run off the court to find him in order to get him back. He isn’t motivated by the fact that what he did was wrong, but by the fact that Nao seems to care for him. Him saying that they share love is a little out of left field, but whatever motivates you, Chiaki! It’s a little weird to take in, but then again this series is very focused on more untraditional players coming together on a team.

We also get a glimpse of what goes on the other side, with Shinjo Towa. Kojima, who is one of the hearts of the team and is extremely close to the captain, has suffered an injury with his knee. Luckily, in terms of medical injuries, his is fairly light. However, he is frustrated by the game turning against their favor, and desperately wants to come onto the field. This is probably not a good choice long-term, but he wants to gamble on it anyway. Sports anime tends to do a pretty good job at making both teams likable, and while I think this is not its most powerful, it does a fairly good job.

Naturally, there is also Sora. Sora’s mother is still in the hospital, and the head doctor who is supervising her is on break. She desperately wants to see her son perform, and it would be very validating considering how much she has influenced his practice, even from afar. She luckily does manage to get all the way there, just in the final part of the game. It’s a little sad that she can’t see Sora directly but… I guess we will see how that ends.