Tsurune Episode 4 Review
I guess Tsurune really does want us to wonder how this group of individuals will come together as a team. Anime really has a fascination with team culture, though I guess that really is a direct result of the Japanese culture behind most anime. However, as Onogi points out, generally speaking Archery is a solo effort. Even when you shoot with a team it isn’t as though you can directly assist your team-mates during their shoot. All you can do is your best and hope that you’ve all helped each other enough during training that you are all at your best come competition.
The problem facing the boys in this episode is that there are two distinct groups in this ‘team’ and they aren’t meshing well at all (wow, I really wish I didn’t have to use the word ‘mesh’ but it is the perfect fit here so I’ll banish the Hand Shakers trauma and move on). I’m assuming this training camp deal we’re about to start is either going to bring them closer together or tear them apart so they can be rebuilt as a team, but either way it is following fairly standard sport anime protocol at this point.
One thing that did really bother me in this episode was the treatment of the females in the archery club. Masaki introduces himself, all the boys get an introduction or introduce themselves, and then Masaki swiftly declares it is time to get started. Seriously, are the three girls just standing there to fill in the frame?
And while they get to compete later and I get they are trying to get the boys to form something resembling a team, it seems a little bit like a dig at them that they are joined by the coach and the teacher in order to beat the boys (one of the boys already sufficiently suffering from target panic that he was never going to get a hit, so technically it was five against four in favour of the clearly stronger teacher team with the back-up support of the three girls who didn’t even get to name themselves this episode).
Alright, sexism in anime isn’t exactly new and this wasn’t really an overt attack on females or their ability at archery, but it all just kind of bugged me as a totally unnecessary element at all. How hard would it have been to have actually given the girls an introduction?
However, because I do not want to end on a sour note, mostly because this show is pretty great even if it is losing a little of the beautiful edge it started with, I would like to applaud the sound effects and just the ambient sound in this anime. Seriously amazing work and realistically you could just close your eyes during the shooting, hear the creak of the bow and release of the arrow, the whoosh of the arrow through the air and the thunk as it strikes (the target or otherwise). Absolutely amazing and something I can’t get enough of.
- 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.
And, Onogi’s jelly! That Masa-san isn’t paying attention to him the whole time!
If you want to think positive, this anime is about the boys, since the MC is a boy.
Well, the main group in this anime is abou the boys after all, if you want to think positive.
We don’t get many female/male groups in sports anime and like you I hope they will have a bit more of a role.
Otherwise the question will be, why are they there at all?
Pretty wallpaper :/
I was also thinking that the girls don’t have much to do. A shame since you don’t see many co-ed sports anime.
I was actually kind of excited when the girls initially showed up in this anime and seemed to be involved but clearly the story is focusing on the boy’s team and the girls, while there, are very much in the background. It would be nice if they got to step up but at this point I’m not expecting it.