English Dub Review: Tribe Nine: “The Destroyer”

Overview: Shun (Jacob Hopkins), Saori (Brittany Karbowski), Manami (Brendan Blaber) and Santaro (Kevin Thelwell) show Taiga (Phillip Sacramento) and Haru (Casey Mongillo) the ropes of XB while a new threat begins to emerge in that of Ojiro (Corpse Husband) from the Chiyoda tribe. 

Our Take: What puts the ‘Extreme’ in Extreme Baseball?, you may ask. As it turns out, it is those differences from the regular variety that make XB an interesting sport to learn about and take center stage as the main source of battle. With one-on-one battles to first base and an entire city as a field, it’s much more action-oriented, making games exciting to watch unfold along with performance tools that will be used that will give teams an advantage over the competition.  

The game that Shun, Saori and the others put on for the new recruits, Taiga and Haru, puts these rules into practice, introducing the sport and it’s regulations while acting as a fun and lighthearted diversion as well. The dynamic amongst the fast friends stands out with Taiga’s exuberant and overconfident personality and demeanor regarding XB rules being ridiculed by Shun, Manami and Santaro and tolerated by Haru. Saori is also a delight to watch on screen going from cheery and kind for Haru’s studying to an unforgiving strict hammer on Taiga’s nonchalant attitude. 

Saori also serves to show just how far afield Shun’s prowess as a XB player is from Haru and Taiga in explaining his amazing batting strength that allowed him so much time to get the bases he was able to go to the bathroom first and avoid Taiga with ease when he guarded first base. This fact is driven home even more so with Shun’s necessary use of handicaps like low reserves of strength and explanation of the direction he will strike the ball to give them a fighting shot at hitting the ball he pitches. Saori also gives droplets of Shun’s past as a notorious reputation as “The Destroyer” and how overboard he would go in dealing with rival tribes, gradually developing the cool smooth talker and showing his great change. While enjoyable, Saori does dump a lot of exposition and it does stand out like a sore thumb so hopefully the series gets better at spreading that to different avenues better in the future. 

Although it’s a hit that isn’t strong and doesn’t count in a game, Haru continues to show his potential for great skill for the sport, being the only one to hit Shun’s pitch, not to mention attempting to fight Shun. Attempt being the operative word after being tagged effortlessly by Shun. The animation is also decent with some good flexible movement from Shun and the others playing ball. 

The ending dinner between the friend group is full of their great camaraderie with some more playful teasing of Taiga and Shun’s coffee addiction. Haru’s appreciation of Shun, Taiga and the gang is a sweet heartwarmingly, told poignantly clear and concise, in how he’s been abused and scammed by other gangs. There are some cheesy jokes thrown in there and yet they have a wholesome charm that is not completely overbearing and, even nostalgic, harkening back to that of certain Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh! episode endings. 

Throughout the episode a new threat is teased in that of the Chiyoda tribe. Overall, their leader comes off as your run-of-the-mill menacing bad guy who believes himself above all gangs of Tokyo with not much substance initially. However, his underling in that of Ojiro sets himself apart as a much more menacing foe, due in part to his heavy metal look with his skull mask, but very sinister in how effortlessly and brutally he murders rival gangs. He is voiced amazingly by YouTuber, Corpse Husband, who lends an eerie and haunting tone to the villain. His presence sets the stage for a momentous confrontation as he comes face to face with Shun and the Minato tribe.