Tsurune Episode 6 Review
Welcome to the world of Tsurune where even the coach with the potentially angsty backstory is calm, collected, and feels that being a better and more understanding teacher than his grandfather was is a way of getting revenge. It mightn’t be the most exciting thing to watch, but these are characters I can get behind and their emotions are real.
Minato and Seiya having an actual conversation… not one strained with tears, shouting, or dramatic stances, but simply a sit down in the park with the dog and an actual conversation where they asked the questions they needed to and contemplated answers. Not everything is answered by the way. These characters are too complex for a simple conversation to solve all their problems. But they are acknowledging the challenges and the uncertainty and again, they are doing it in a calm manner where they try not to let their personal dramas inconvenience others or get in their way but they are acknowledging that the personal drama exists.
It is a balance so very rarely found in stories and while I’m not huge on comparing things, I’m finding the boys in Tsurune almost as nuanced as the girls over in Bloom Into You, only without the romance aspect. And the romance really isn’t needed here as we have friendship, ambition, regret and a whole host of other emotions and ideas to explore.
On that note, we spend a bit of time this episode at the school that Seiya and Minato probably should have gone to with the characters who are most definitely going to shake up the calm of this anime. This week we meet Shuu, a former friend and fellow competitor, as well as two twins who were fun enough this week being a little bit blunter than most characters in this anime but I’m hoping they aren’t going to end up being nasty because that could definitely damage the calm of the show.
Tsurune is in no hurry to get where it is going but we are steadily making progress both with the characters and the plot. While I’d love the female characters to get more of a look in and while I’d love Nanao and Ryouhei to get fleshed out a bit, I’m very much loving this show.
- Episode 1 – On Target
- Episode 2 – Finding Your Target
- Episode 3 – It Isn’t Easy To Overcome Trauma
- Episode 4 – What Happens When Individuals Become A Team
- Episode 5 – How To Build Strong Camaraderie By Facing Adversity
- Episode 6 – The Best Revenge; Go Forth and Succeed Your Own Way
- Episode 7 – Why Strong Competition Caused the Need For Contemplation
- Episode 8 – Reaching the Target With Some Help From Your Friends
- Episode 9 – Shots Fired: Seiya Being Jealous and Lashing Out
- Episode 10 – Emotions Run High This Week and Are Handled Beautifully
- Episode 11 – You Have One Shot: Seize the Moment
- Episode 12 – Is It Time For The Team to Get It Together?
- Episode 13 – The Final Draw of The Match But Not The End
- Episode 14 – More of the same but different
- Images from: Tsurune. Dir. T Yamamura. Kyoto Animation. 2019.
I can’t wait for the next episode (and review)!
I wonder how Kirisaki will react when they see Minato at the tournaments, especially the ones who still remember him.
I’m really looking forward to it. I’m kind of hoping this anime plays it the way they have everything else so far. Address the drama but in a low key manner.
Yeah, not over too exaggerating. Otherwise it could get too cheesy.
I’m an episode behind but I’m looking forward to catching up.
Glad I picked this one up as it is really relaxing so far and yet I’m enjoying how the characters are being presented.