As you most likely know for those who’re studying this put up, I had sure reservations about this season Wow! Tonbo. And getting an episode recap to start out the season (with a cut up cour? That is a shank) did not enhance my temper. However – whereas I nonetheless have some reservations primarily based on the sheer quantity of unknowns with this modification of location – the precise premiere confirmed that this collection has misplaced none of its appreciable allure. This was glorious on all fronts and irresistible in the identical manner the primary season nearly at all times was.
First issues first: the brand new setting is certainly Kumamoto. And Udou is the identify of the household that Tonbo goes to stick with. It occurs to be on a driving vary, which is actually handy. And naturally how Igaiga is aware of them. Tonbo is all excited in regards to the ‘massive metropolis’ of Kumamoto, her solely earlier go to being a shy journey to the dentist as just a little woman. The household consists of {the golfing} patriarch and his sharp-tongued spouse. However the actual golf skilled is the son Hajime (Hanawa Eiji), the academic skilled on the vary. He’s the one to whom Igaiga entrusts Tonbo’s coaching as a golfer.
I will admit, greater than most sports activities anime I believe Ewe Tonbo actually works higher if you are interested within the sport (though the feedback part for the primary season suggests in any other case). I actually benefit from the wave particulars right here. Tonbo begins her golf journey as somebody who has by no means owned a set of golf equipment, by no means set foot on a driving vary or a golf course and by no means even hit a driver. And when Udou-san palms her a contemporary one (too lengthy and with an enormous head), she finds that she can’t make the ball do what she needs. Igaiga sees by the explanations, and so does Hajime, however they let her attempt to get by it on her personal.
Tonbo is a self-taught artist, a freak of nature. She realized to play on a windy island in the midst of the Pacific Ocean with one bat (and one of many hardest to hit). She is 100% what we’d name a ‘feeling participant’. She makes use of her stance, her palms and manipulation of the clubface at influence to make the ball dance in all instructions. It’s a outstanding expertise. In all probability the closest factor on this planet {of professional} golf is Seve Ballesteros, whose origin story bears some similarity to Tonbo’s. However that is not how children be taught to play golf. How those that educate will adapt to her idiosyncrasies – and the way she’s going to adapt to traditional schooling and actual golf equipment – are very open questions at this level.
That is not the one query. How will Igaiga match into this new world? He tells Hajime that he is going again to Hinoshima in two days (he has a job, in any case). It appears his parting reward (the title of the following episode) will probably be a set of bats for Tonbo to make use of – a necessity, as a lot as she likes enjoying with 4 (for?). However “farewell reward” clearly implies that we can’t see a lot of Igaiga, and that is a bit worrying. His relationship with Tonbo was the spine of the primary season, and as encouraging as this premiere was, it is nonetheless unsure how the collection will fare with out it.
When Hajime invitations Tonbo to play 9 holes together with his group of teenage college students, she goes to an actual golf course for the primary time. And he or she’s like nothing these children have seen earlier than. With the wind up, she tees off together with her 3-iron, with out a tee. After which she intentionally mashes the ball into the turf so she will hit a flyer (no backspin as a result of grass will get between the clubface and the ball at influence). A triple whammy of strangeness! And the kids are amazed. She then intentionally hits a hitch over a cherry tree to keep away from interference from the acorn resting towards her ball. Creativeness is likely one of the most useful instruments a golfer can have, however it is just when it’s mixed with the expertise to deliver it to fruition that it turns into actually particular.
Regardless that Igaiga is dropped from the primary storyline, there’s one other S1 character who thinks he has a much bigger function to play: Tsubura-san, who aspires to grow to be the perfect junior golfer within the prefecture. However right here we meet the woman who at present holds that title – Otoha Hinoki (Yui Ishikawa). She’s the lead canine in Hajime’s group of scholars, and he or she appears good sufficient – she lends Tonbo a cap (and a visor if that ends badly) after they attain the observe (I had no concept you needed to put on a hat if you’re in Japan waves). However even she is baffled by Tonbo’s unique shotmaking. I’ve a sense that beneath that politeness there may be an edgier facet, and that Hinoki goes to be an necessary participant this season. Regardless of all of the unknowns that stay, it is nice to see Ewe Tonbo hitting the bottom working once more.
