English Dub Review: Tribe Nine: “Chiyoda Tribe Showdown”

Overview: The Minato Tribe faces off against Kamiki (Amber Lee Connors) and her team to gauge their worthiness of taking on Ojori (Corpse Husband). 

Our Take: Serving as the precursor to Ojori’s match with Haru and the gang, Kamiki puts Minato to the test. Beforehand, there is a nice curveball thrown in Haru coming clean about his crush on Saoru, much to everyone’s surprise. Haru’s coming of age in him slowly but surely gaining more confidence has been a refreshing turning point for him. It is also cool to see how Taiga has meaningfully developed in boosting the team’s morale when they need it most in being scared out of their minds by Chiyoda. 

With Chiyoda blatantly playing dirty against that of Minato, Taiga and the rest of team’s chances soon become dire very fast. And then we get appearances from various XB teams Minato has fought against, coming to their aid, since the rules are thrown to hell. It is fun to see returning characters like Minami and Yutaka from Shinagawa and even revealing the fate of Ota’s leader with Fucho lending a hand as well along with Enoki and Kiyoshiro. However, it quickly devolves into what feels like a glorified brawl with the rules and formality of an XB game feeling unnecessary, begging the question: What was the point in the first place? 

Hanafuda’s eventual appearance makes it all worth it, however, in finally seeing what he’s made of in him being coined a player that not even Shun could take down. His insane batting strength makes for a cool moment when he goes toe-to-toe with Kamiki and her immense strength and agility. Although with Chiyoda being who they are, they also have an underhanded tactic up their sleeve with Kamiki putting a bullet through Hanafuda and wounding him. She is stopped by Ojori before finishing him off. With how much pride Ojori takes in how he plays the game and him being one of the strongest opponents Minato has faced thus far, his match is set up to be the more exciting and true Chiyoda Tribe showdown.