English Dub Review: Ahiru no Sora Episodes 31~33

Overview:

Surprisingly, the team loses.

Our Take:

To be fair, that they lose at all isn’t a surprise. Chiaki walked out in the middle of a game, and they have only been training hard for a month. At the same time, I really thought they just might win. They were doing so well in the first part, but their mistakes kept adding up in the final few minutes of the game. Honestly, it really shows me that with some effort and training, they can pull off a win. Unfortunately, they’re not at that point right now.

This is only proven when an opposing coach comes and scouts Natsume. Natsume really did a lot in the game, and that effort showed to the audience. Being scouted means that he has other choices, other opportunities that he could cash in on. At the same time, the coach deemed his team aside from him worthless, and that doesn’t sit well with Natsume. He’s cast his lot, and he’s going to follow through.

The hardest part is at the very last episode, when it’s revealed that Sora’s mom has passed. While she was able to make it to the game, . That it wasn’t even a game that Sora won makes it all the more tragic, and puts a lot of her positivity into perspective. She is more focused on Sora’s potential, that he is working hard and succeeding at what he’s trying to do (even if the overall result isn’t a good one re: the team), because she knows that she doesn’t have much time left. She doesn’t care as much that he won as much as seeing that he’s trying hard.

The team, which is generally a ragtag bunch who focus on themselves, all feel a massive loss for Sora. It’s honestly pretty nice to see everyone put their own issues aside for once and extend sympathy to Sora. Everyone has their own moments of ‘what am I doing in comparison, especially regarding Sora, who’s been cheerful up until now. They had no idea that his mother’s condition was that bad, some of them didn’t even know overall, so it’s a shock. I do like how it shows that they do genuinely care for Sora’s well-being, because all of these moments don’t happen when Sora’s nearby. It’s not performative, they are really feeling that impact overall, and it bodes well for the future.