Prince of Stride: Alternative – 03-04
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After a crazy couple of weeks with school and work, I finally get a break! |
Saisei seems friendly enough. They even seem to like racing Honan if Reiji’s smile at the end of the race is anything to go by. But seeing how the Saisei team seems to be the top at everything they do, I suppose it was inevitable that Honan lost to them. It was close, but there seem to be a lot of unsolved issues with Honan’s team, so it makes sense that they won’t beat Saisei until they figure themselves out. It seemed like a weird choice that the ED song is highlighting Saisei (I thought they might do multiple endings considering all of the side characters characters with prominent seiyuu behind them), but if they’re going to be Honan’s big rivals in this, then I suppose having them featured makes sense. …Or maybe it’s because they’re idols too and it makes the most sense for them to be singing.
Honan lost unfortunately, but this race helped show the viewer more of the team dynamics and what the characters can all improve on as they get more experience with Stride. Ayumu even worked on improving his jumping skills in the very next episode too, which is nice. Nana had a bit of development too with her anxiety in the first race being eased now. I’m sure all of the characters will get a chance to overcome whatever their worries are (like Riku and his issues with his brother), which is good since the other schools don’t seem to be receiving the same treatment…
It’s nice that the anime is trying to make the other teams interesting by giving them their own drama, butI really wish there had been more time to go into Mihashi’s story. Drama is fine, but shoving it all in to one episode really made it hard to get in to it properly. I guess that’s the constraint of putting a sports anime into a single season, but it’s unfortunate. The races also seem to go by pretty fast, which is probably good since the whole point of Stride seems to be speed.
There were elements of parkour in the race with Saisei, but it seemed more like a crowd pleasing thing than making any sense in the actual race. The only one who really made use of that element was Hozumi (which was also a great moment to watch). I suppose it depends on the track itself, but it would be nice to see the parkour parts incorporated more other than having characters do cool flips every one in a while. Luckily, the race after that used it more strategically as opposed to just making it look like something that would slow the characters down. Like how Ayumu tried to use the tree. …It failed (and was maybe a little too risky considering how he ended up), but if something like that worked, maybe it could lead to an advantage. Kind of like how Hozumi won the race. Though I guess the important thing of the Mihashi race is that Ayumu got over his urges to give up.
It’s interesting to see the different tactics that one can use in Stride though. Like having one Relationer screw with the other psychologically, or just ignoring the course altogether for a short cut. It makes things more interesting than just watching the characters just trying to run fast.
It’s great that they’re getting right into the races, since there doesn’t seem to be a lot of time for a tournament in just 12 episodes. But there’s also a balance between the races and the characters interacting, which is nice. They’re also showing training, which is nice since it would be weird to just have races without showing what the characters do in between. Even Nana seems to be doing things, since they showed her notebook with a sketch of the track, so it’s good to know that she’s working hard behind the scenes still. Now I guess it’s up to the guys to work out their issues so they can Stride better.
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: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
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Nanase Haruka was an odd one, but I don’t think he went as far as feeling up his teammates like Takeru.
But to compare Stride to Free!, I think the main difference is that Stride focuses more on the sport over character development, which is likely why Stride’s characters feel undeveloped. Free! emphasized character development over the sport for its Season 1, although they made up for it with more swimming in Season 2.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Yeah, I feel like so many other sports anime did characters way better. But again, time constraints and such probably get in the way.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
It’s just that both Haruka and Takeru had their specific quirks. Haruka had this insane thing about bodies of water. Takeru’s quirk is muscles. 😛
POWUH: Meta Resident and LN Informant with 1529 comments
Atami’s an actual location, a seaside/hot springs resort town located 50 mins from Tokyo by bullet train.
http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/08/d2/7a/19/atami-castle.jpg
Two landmarks appearing in this episode include the harbourfront;
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6355816
and the local castle. (Actually a modern tourist trap/lookout point built to look like one.)
http://www.panoramio.com/photo/6356233
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
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POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Episode 3 really just gets us more familiar with a real Stride match and even though they lost, it was still cool to see the rivals. Also, I thought was hilarious that everyone was looking for Kyosuke even after the race was over. lol
As for episode 4 however, that was such a great episode, I loved the race and Ayumu was the best. However, I had a feeling they were going to write him out. They’ve been showing since the beginning that Kyosuke was going to come back, and of course they would replace the “least” talented member of the team.
POWUH: Meta Team and Megane-chan with 3214 comments
Ah, yeah now that you mention it, Ayumu is in a precarious position… Maybe they can find a way to keep him and Kyosuke both on the team. Ayumu tried really hard in episode 4, it would be a shame to remove him completely now.