All Out!!

Episode 8

This week, All Out!! delivered a well-crafted episode that, after an excellent dramatic build-up, culminated in Jinko's second "friendly" game.

The first confrontation came before the actual game, with Komori approaching Yoshida, the rugby team's chronically absent adviser. He has earned Komori's lecture for belittling the team's efforts and failing at his job as an educator responsible for nurturing young peoples' dreams and ambitions. Under dramatic lighting, Komori did not have to raise his voice or leave his chair to own the conversation. His speech was simple, honest, and poignant instead of dripping with sentimentality. The sentimentality is instead provided by the gentle piano culminating in a melancholic crescendo. Apparently, Komori and Yasuharu Takanashi struck a chord, as Yoshida does show up for the game, even if it's just to gloat over Jinko's defeat, a real class act of mentorship.

Komori and Yoshida's quiet but dramatic exchange is followed by the introduction of Todo-dai Sagami, an elite school placing second in last year's prefecturals. Tension builds when amicable greetings offer both teams the chance to sniff each other out in moments of curious awkwardness, leaving Sagami surprised at how grateful and serious Jinko approaches what should be a trivial encounter. All Out!! is very much aware of the situation's comedic potential, and when Sekizan's determination becomes tangible enough to shake the camera's virtual tripod, the tongue-in-cheekiness prevents things from getting too dramatic without falling victim to ridiculing the character's honest purposefulness, making it easy as ever to root for him. I find this playful self-awareness to be superior to the exaggerated sound design of earlier episodes. I was also somewhat relieved to learn that Sekizan's hairstyle looks just as crazy to characters within the show as it does to the audience.

The episode's second half features the most exciting rugby game All Out!! has served up yet. In part, this is because we've spent enough time with these guys to get to know their struggles and ambitions, but there's also so much more at stake than before. The narrative purpose of the game against Keijo lay in introductions and exposition. Now that we're past the first act turn, the game against Sagami has a lot more meat to it: Jinko's players have to prove to themselves that their ambition is grounded in reality, to Komori that he was right to stick up for them, and to Yoshida that he was wrong. Most of all, they need to experience their growth as a team for the efforts of training camp not to have been in vain. So when Sagami's dirty and ungentlemanly plays cause Jinko to implode as a team, the extent of their fall is so much more painful than simply losing to a superior team.

It's always easy to root for the underdogs, even more so when they're facing an unlikable elite opponent devoid of any respect. But it's far more interesting to watch such a game turn into several different psychological battles. All of a sudden, it's not about Sagami vs. Jinko anymore, but instead about Jinko's players against themselves. After being targeted for personal grudges, Iwashimizu and Ōharano fall victim to Sagami's psychological warfare strategy. Provoked so hard that even gentle Iwashimizu comes close to inflicting physical violence on his enemy (possibly followed by breaking down crying), both end up committing crucial mistakes that wouldn't have happened in a fair game. Iwashimizu might have overcome his crippling fear of hurting others, but his sensitivity still marks him an easy target, especially whenever Miyuki is concerned. Ōharano seems to suffer from an equally easy-to-trigger trauma involving guilt and a little brother. Lashing out at his teammates for his own failures in a complete loss of control, it's obvious that he's far from being part of their shared dream and has some serious issues to work through if he ever wants to use his talents for a common goal.

With several dramatic threads at play, this is also the first time the visuals grew above serviceable, providing some nice close-ups of feet sliding towards defeat, shaking knees, and panicked faces, adding visual tension to the maul. Even if Jinko got crippled, I want to see them wipe the smug grin of Yoshida's face and prove to him that there's more to this "ball game" than he gives it credit for. And if it takes a stray ball to the mug to do that, I can't say I'd be opposed to the idea.

Rating: B

All Out!! is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.