ダイヤのＡ Informal Reading Club ⚾ (EBW's 大積読崩し)

[enbyboiwonder]

EBW’s 大積読崩し Informal Read-Along Home

ダイヤのＡ(エース) a.k.a. Ace of Diamond is a shounen manga series about high school baseball by 寺嶋裕二 which consists of a main series split into act 1 (47 volumes) and act 2 (34 volumes) and a couple spin-offs, ダイヤのＢ(ブラス)!! act 1 (3 volumes) and act 2 (2 volumes) and ダイヤのＣ(キャット)!! (3 volumes). The main series has also been adapted into an anime. I heard something around the time of its ending about act 2 being wrapped up sooner than planned due to Terajima having health issues, and it’s possible we may get an act 3 somewhere down the line.

Anyone is welcome to join in at any time, with any part of the series! Even the anime, audio dramas (I know the character song albums at least have some), etc., even if this is “officially” for the manga. I myself am just starting act 1 vol 16 upon creating this thread, and I currently plan on reading both DnA and DnB in their entirety, though I don’t own act 2 of either yet and likely won’t for a while.

General spoiler courtesy applies.

[enbyboiwonder]

I don’t remember what I thought of Raichi when I watched the anime, but I finished the Yakushi chapters yesterday, and… I kind of adore him. No idea where he falls in my favorite character rankings since I’m terrible at that, but yeah, he’s up there.

I also didn’t remember until about halfway through that he was voiced by Ono Kenshou. Though the only of his voices I can accurately remember is the one he used for Kuroko Tetsuya, which I’m assuming is his normal voice since it’s also his singing voice. I should see if Raichi has a character song album and see about getting it if he does… (I love Kenshou’s voice and have been wanting to get more of his music, especially since I’ve been listening to the 黒バス character and theme songs that I have on repeat for the past, like, week or something.)

Miyuki was without a doubt my #1 fave when I watched the anime (even had a bit of a crush on him the first time around, when I was only a couple years older than him; although sometimes I’ll come across art of him as an adult and I realize I still have a crush, just not when he’s a teenager lmao), but so far reading the manga I think it’s Eijun. He’s such a freaking dumbass (affectionate), I love him. They both 100% fit into my two main fave character categories though.

Another thing that’s different from my anime-watching experience (aside from recognizing the Kansaiben) is realizing that Harucchi and Wakana have the same character design now. No longer do they have pink and light brown hair respectively, but light grey. There’s a panel with Wakana at the bottom of the first page of ch 60, and when I first turned the page to it, before I’d taken in anything else, I thought she was Harucchi with his eyes showing, and now I can’t unsee it, especially after vol 15 where Wakana-tachi come to watch the Seidou-Sensen game and they both frequently show up. Aside from Wakana’s bangs showing her eyes and Harucchi’s hiding his, and Wakana being drawn with eyelashes and Harucchi not, their faces are the same.

I knew Terajima had a little bit of same-face syndrome going on, since some of the side/background characters look passably like each other and/or some of the main supporting characters, but I didn’t realize it extended to these two too lol

[enbyboiwonder]

Okay yeah I don’t remember the Seidou-Sensen game at all, even though it’s the first time Eijun threw a crossfire (if accidentally, and completely unawares as usual lol). Or, like, Sensen in general.

But I definitely recognize Sakurazawa’s kantoku, and I think their ace too (if not his knuckleball), though that could just be that he has a similar-ish design to Furuya lol. I have a feeling I’m only going to remember characters and some major events, not games themselves.

I want a manga about Sakurazawa tbh. I like them. 判官贔屓, or what have you. (I wonder if there’s fic.) I guess Seidou is in the underdog position, but they don’t feel like it. They’re still a large, strong school, just not the strongest. They’re no dark horse. They’re not a school who always gets knocked out in the first round, who started from practically 0 two years ago and this year has fought through to the semis to face the reigning champions, who are the sole municipal school in West Tōkyō’s Top 4. I love DnA as it is (I’ve been consistently giving it 5★), but, yeah.

I wonder when it was that Eijun gets the yips though. I think it was sometime in act 1 and Ochiai was act 2…? (oogh, hate that man) I totally don’t remember, or what led up to it, just that it happened, but I feel like we’ve gotta be getting close.

[enbyboiwonder]

I’m waaay out of practice, and also I’ve never drawn any sort of baseball mitt before, but I had to try drawing Akira bc I love him and Sakurazawa. (ft. my semi-scribbly handwriting)

[enbyboiwonder]

Tetsu taking photos of everyone with Eijun’s phone ♡ He’s adorable. (I love this ultra-serious ultra-dork)

I don’t remember if I thought about it the first time I watched the anime, but definitely the second time, I read Eijun as ADHD. I later saw someone saying something about him being autistic/AuDHD, and yeah this time through I can definitely see it.

Also, I think I’m cursed to just always use the voice of that female announcer from the Oofuri anime with baseball. Oofuri was formative for me, apparently. I see “◯回表”/“◯回裏”/“◯番[position]、◯◯君” and just automatically, without even having to think, it’s her voice, clear as if it were coming over the speaker. I know it happened reading あの空はキミの中, if any of those announcements made it onto the page in さいとう高校野球部 (with Yuusaku’s ADHD ass narrating, that’s not exactly a guarantee) then it was definitely her voice, any baseball novel or manga I read after this is gonna be her. Doesn’t even matter that the Daiya announcer/commentator is more fired up than I remember the Oofuri one being. She is the voice of baseball.

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I had semi planned on trying to draw Miyuki today since it’s his bday, but yeah that didn’t happen lol

[enbyboiwonder]

lol Eijun’s dorky smile when Miyuki actually praises him

I love this idiot

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(ch 181) So when he tries to hit, he swings and misses, but when he tries to swing and miss, he actually makes contact?? asdfghjkl this kid

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“お調子者” definitely seems like it would apply to Eijun, especially this first definition:

A big part of why he’s so easily readable as ADHD

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I think this volume (21) might be the first time we see Inajitsu’s kantoku and he’s not staring down his nose imperiously at you (panels where he’s in profile aside). Though his expression’s still the same, so without his chin being tilted up, he merely looks slightly less imperious. (Don’t like that guy.) It’s a good game, but I’ll be glad when this 対-Inajitsu match is over tbh. That, and less focus on Mei again, too. I still don’t like him all that much.

Hmm since Inajitsu’s kantoku takes up half the cover, this coulda counted as my “wanted to read despite the cover” book for next year’s bingo, but oh well. There’s no way I was pausing this for a month and a half or more, especially in the middle of a match lmao

Anyway, I dunno if it’s just the higher percentage of large panels/panels with little to no text due to being in the middle of a game or not, but I feel like I’ve finished the last few volumes somewhat quicker. I could definitely finish multiple on days I don’t need to do anything, if I didn’t spend that time reading other stuff, working on fic (not Daiya), etc. instead.

[enbyboiwonder]

Oh no. Ochiai is act 1 too, isn’t he.

Ochiai and the yips are at the same time. I think I remember now why he was brought in. The principal and vice weren’t happy with Kataoka’s results, they wanted more, faster, so they brought Ochiai in with the intent to replace Kataoka, and then Ochiai considers Eijun as useless and doesn’t even bother to try to help him recover while he sets his sights on Furuya instead, almost destroying him because he only cares about the team being the strongest this year, doesn’t care about anything beyond that, and certainly doesn’t care about the kids. Yeah, he should not be allowed to work with kids. Or athletes in general. Or, like, literally anyone whose life would then be in his hands. He should not be in this field of work.

Update:

I was mostly right, so far.

The principals have insinuated before to Kataoka that he’ll be fired if he doesn’t produce (the right) results (Seidou’s the strongest they’ve been in years, but that all means squat if they don’t make it to Koushien, apparently), and they kind of did again after the match, saying it was “a waste” that they lost. So Kataoka put in his notice himself before they could fire him (which it seems they weren’t going to do just yet—probably at the end of the school year, maybe hold out for next year, but I don’t see them giving him any more chances than that—but he took their wishes/insinuations to heart and apparently feels like he doesn’t deserve to be kantoku if he can’t take them to Koushien, or something, which is stupid. I hate those principals, too), and they found Ochiai after that. He’s not showing up until next volume.

Also, the light’s returned to Eijun’s eyes (man, it was painful seeing them gone dark/dead), but I’m pretty sure he hasn’t recovered that quickly and this is definitely setting up for the yips. I wanna give him a hug… (I wonder if I could get Miyuki to do it, if awkwardly. Actually, I’m not sure who seems like a hugger. Harucchi, maybe, or at least he’d probably be able to initiate most easily even if he usually isn’t much of one. Of course, Eijun most seems like a hugger, and a big one at that, but he can’t exactly give himself a hug…)

Well, it’s mostly returned. Of course now I can’t remember how much they usually get shaded, but at least they don’t look dead anymore. (For now…)

asdfghjkl “お兄さんの弟,” whatever happened to calling him 春っち, ya dork

[enbyboiwonder]

Pfft, look at that stupid face

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Well, we’ll see how much else I (think I) remember about Ochiai is right, but Kataoka really does care about those kids. I mean, I definitely question some of his coaching methods (the hellish training camps??), but he watches them and doesn’t push them beyond what they can actually handle (Furuya would definitely be stupid and get himself hurt, he overestimates his stamina, he’d push himself too hard trying to get there immediately instead of taking it slow and steady) and helps them find their own way when he can. Ochiai did comment on the pointlessness of long practices when we first met him, and on the one hand I agree that they’re awfully long—

but on the other hand…

I’m pretty sure that comes from a place of “well you’re not gonna win anyway so there’s no point in you wasting your (and my) time and effort if you’re not gonna have any results (that I deem good enough) to show for it” than out of any real concern, because the one thing I am absolutely certain that I’m remembering correctly about him is that he nearly broke Furuya completely and ruined him for any future chance at a career as an athlete, all so that they could make it to the next Koushien, because I remember seething about it and posting on tumblr. Not that I’ve found the post. But yeah, he definitely doesn’t care, and luckily he was stopped before he could do any lasting damage to Furuya.

Oh, and then, this volume, when Kataoka’s trying to help Eijun overcome the yips, he wonders, “片岡監督はどうしてここまでこだわってるのか……使い物にならないこの投手に……” Anyone who doesn’t produce immediate results he tosses aside as worthless.

They probably don’t need to spend so many hours a day practicing, and the kids probably would enjoy more practice games over regular practice, but regular practice isn’t meritless, and anyway I definitely don’t trust him to have that concern coming from a good place. Even ignoring what I may or may not remember from later on. He gives me so many bad vibes. And yeah Eijun’s the MC, we’re supposed to get mad at Ochiai for how he looks down on him, but even if this were a side character he treated like this, I’d still hate him for it.

Update: I haven’t found the post I was looking for yet (I’m not even sure I tagged it actually), but I did stumble upon this one. Although the way I remember the anime being was a lot gayer than the manga is. I’ve been putting each volume on my “It’s queer to me” list as I finish them solely because of the anime, but, hm… (That could possibly also have just been because I like shipping, though, and like latched onto them or whatever. Looks like I may need to rewatch again soon lol)

Update numero dos: I had tagged it after all, just with the series only! Anyway, spoilers for, uhhh, sometime past vol 26, idk. link

(Also, wow, I really fell in love with umenao last time I watched, apparently. I guess they’ll be later in act i)

[enbyboiwonder]

Argh, idk if it’s just that 心中’s main definition is “lovers’ suicide,” but it’s bothering me that I can’t figure out what it means here. I’m glad I already noted the other definitions since Shirabe only has the lovers’ and group suicide ones and it’s definitely not either of those, and Goo has three others, but yeah.

ch 223

Since the buchou and Kataoka mentioned sacrificing the fall tournament and the rest of the team for the sake of Furuya’s growth alone, I know it has something to do with that, with focusing on him to the detriment of all else. I just don’t know what he’s actually saying in that line.

Since the grammar in the example is the same, I’m guessing it’s the third of these definitions?

Plus it’s definitely not 1, 2, or 5, and it doesn’t seem like 4 either, so it would have to be 3 anyway by process of elimination. But I have no idea what it’s saying, even though I feel like I should.

[enbyboiwonder]

Ooh I remember seeing UmeNao’s school name in those posts I scrolled through yesterday, and iirc it was Ugumori, which should be 鵜久森 which means they should be showing up this arc!! I saw that school name in the lineup for the fall tournament. Not next volume, but soon, hopefully. I’m excited to meet them

[enbyboiwonder]

ch 239

I totally forgot about Eijun’s stint as a side-throw pitcher, oh my god. Not even three full pages into the chapter and I have died laughing, he’s such a freaking dork. What is with the weird face and the weird yell? (And while it’s hilarious how everyone just stares… how are none of them laughing??) And then he’s so proud of himself, omg. Oh, man, my stomach hurts

(Of course, it was Ochiai not caring if he sabotages him, which definitely puts something of a damper on it, but pg 2~3 especially are still freaking hilarious. I love this doof.)

I definitely remember his dumb-ass relaxed face though lmao

[enbyboiwonder]

Eijun’s reading 君に届け⑩ in vol 30. I have that volume. I should get back to that series, really… Maybe I’ll figure out what scene Eijun’s cry-laughing at lol

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I guess those are lyrics from some baseball-related song. That’s also the title of a Suga Shinobu baseball novel I picked up recently.

[pm215]

@enbyboiwonder

I guess those are lyrics from some baseball-related song.

栄冠は君に輝く – effectively the Koushien theme song.

♫ 栄冠は君に輝く 全国 高校野球 テーマソング

I think they get a different famous singer in to do it every year – here’s how 2023’s went:

栄冠は君に輝く 山崎育三郎さん 独唱 第105回全国高校野球選手権記念大会　開会式

[enbyboiwonder]

That makes sense, especially since the Suga novel is also HS baseball

Thanks! I was way too tired to go looking anything up last night

[enbyboiwonder]

lol

That sort of ateji stuff with Sei-chan sorta threw me for a loop at first, but at least it’s all easy stuff, or else I could tell from context, like with 凰 being おお (although with that one I’m still not entirely sure if it’s Sei-chan or the Ugumori cheering section). I guess it’s because he’s a yankee? Still, wasn’t expecting that.

I started calling him Sei-chan before getting far enough to (re-)learn that he gets called Ume-chan, but I’m not exactly inclined to stop.