Prince of Stride: Alternative – 02
At least he tried.
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You would think that training for Stride would include some sort of hurdle jumps or teaching the right technique for leaping off of buildings, but I guess they’re just working on relay for now. …I’m a little disappointed. Give me the parkour!! |
Ah, yes. Watching arrows touch is extremely exciting.
It’s nice that Nana’s job actually has an impact on running instead of just being moral support. As shown this episode, there was justification for her being there since if she gets the timing wrong, the runners might run into each other. …Never mind that normally people are looking where they’re going and probably wouldn’t do that. These characters are probably just too busy trying to run as fast as they can. Oh! And Nana also seems to be keeping track of the team’s stats and stuff, so she’s doing two jobs as a Relationer and also a manager of sorts. …It doesn’t look like the teacher is really training the team so much as just making sure they’re running smoothly. But he’s doing that part extremely well, so I guess the team will just leave the stat observing to Nana. …Though it’s still such a shame that she doesn’t seem to be able to see the actual runners! How is she supposed to watch her perfect Stride relay when she has to watch a bunch of arrows on a screen?
But I guess the important thing is seeing Takeru pushing everyone’s limits when it comes to trying to pull off the relay. He was really concerned with everyone’s legs in the first episode, and it seems like that analytical personality is helping when it comes to judging everyone’s talents. Hopefully this episode they worked out how to best work as a team with this episode. …Or at least, trust that Takeru is going run in sync with them, so thy just need to push themselves to run as best they can.
Riku also seems to be slowly figuring out where he fits in the club too. His full past still is a bit of mystery, though we know that his older brother was a great Stride runner. At least now though, he doesn’t seem as reluctant about Stride as he was in the previous episode. The reveal of his full past will most likely be important, but at least for now, it doesn’t seem to be keeping him from trying to fit in in the present.
They really wanted the D.
It’s interesting to see Stride in the real world. I don’t think I’ve seen many sports anime that even mention sponsors, but it makes sense since Stride seems pretty big. Someone has to pay for the elaborate set up and shutting down the streets so there’s no danger of running into people. But luckily, getting a sponsor doesn’t seem to be all that hard to do. …Though maybe that had to do with Heath being related to a rather successful businesswoman. If they don’t want to lose D’s, Honen had better win this tournament. …Though it’s not a sports anime without a loss or a tie to make the team angst for a bit only to regather and come back stronger than ever, so we’ll see.
If I didn’t already know this show was based off an otome game I wouldn’t be able to tell. They’re focusing on Stride more than anything and Riku is the only one really showing an interest in Nana. But this is fine? I mean, at least we have a coherent story going on and it looks good. Plus I believe the game was more focused on story than romance in the first place.
I kind of want to see romance in this since it is based off an otoge, but at the same time, things are running smoothly as they are with just the sports aspect. Could they balance both? Nana even disappears for parts of the episodes for the focus to go back to the male characters and running, so I don’t think the anime is all that concerned with her character’s relationship status. Plus the only one I can really see even having some chemistry with Nana is Riku since Takeru is more concerned with Stride itself, and everybody else has had really brief interaction with her. So if they end up just ignoring the romance part, at least the anime has already established itself as a good sports-focused one. I can definitely entertain myself with that.
Honen may be able to compete with Saisei in running, but can the compete with their style??
About Karakuri
University student and the one at Metanorn who's known for wearing glasses. Likes blood, insanity and plot twists, but also plays otome games and adores cute romance anime. It balances out... somehow.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Another good episode. I’m actually so glad that the girl gets more to do than simply being the “manager”, which usually means just moral support and cheerleader. I like it that it’s going to take work and practice for her to be a good relationer, since the runners are depending on her call and her timing. It’s not as flashy as her being a runner, but it is a very important job all the same.
As for our male runners, we meet their coach and sponsor. Also, we see that Takeru is the really skilled one of the team and he is pushing everyone else by refusing to go less than their max speed. It’s not that he doesn’t like working with others, but he’s not going to allow you not to do your best.
We find out what happened to Yagami’s brother and since he’s in America, I don’t think we’ll see him in the series except maybe at the end. Considering how Yagami really doesn’t seem to like to talk about him, I’m guessing something happened between the two. The group meets the competition on accident and it looks like they impressed them to the point that they needled their way into going against them in their first match.
I wonder how long it will take for Kyo to join the group. They will probably need an alternate at some time in case someone gets sick or injured.