Episode 8 – “A Blood-Soaked Ballgame: The Kyun of Victory Shines on You”
Hmm.
If you thought that Akiba Maid War would take one week off without a body count, you haven’t been watching the first seven weeks! It was the lowest number of murders because the killing implements were limited to one dagger. But the location and situation made the usual bloodshed a novelty. A friendly game of maids playing baseball! Of course, the Akiba Maids will not cutely play baseball. Recently, we saw BIRDIE WING: Golf Girls’ Story take a gloriously dark view of underground golfing. Gangs were involved in the first half of that story before the main character moved to the more cutthroat world of Japanese golf academies! Look for the return of BIRDIE WING in April 2023.
The girls-do-sports genre in anime can give us tons of fanservice too! I liked how Iwakakeru! Sport Climbing Girls used natural angles of looking up or down at a fit, toned girl hanging on a wall to show us cleavage and butt shots. Made-up sports tied to video games are another fun type of sexy girls sweating together. Check out Kandagawa Jet Girls for wet, ecchi racing fun.
But Akiba Maid War showed us baseball, the most popular sport in Japan. Are there anime of cute girls playing baseball cutely? Yes! Tamayomi applied the club sport formula to high school girls aiming to win a regional championship. There wasn’t much fanservice in the show, but if you like thicc thighs, Tamayomi had you covered. A fluffier slice-of-life baseball anime appeared in Cinderella Nine. Baseball fans could relax as they watched adorable teenagers learn the finer points and rules of the game. Take a look at Taisho Baseball Girls for historical flavor with egalitarian spices. A rebellious girl in 1920s Japan sets out to prove that boys aren’t the only ones who can play baseball. All of those anime have one thing in common. No one gets stabbed to death on the pitcher’s mound!
Akiba Maid War shared an odd coincidence with another show. Alien even, you might say. Urusei Yatsura, the reboot of a show about an extraterrestrial ogre, airs on the same day as the gangster maids. Its episode featured an odd demon living at the bottom of a pool, an axolotl salamander! The Maid Aliens chose the most alien-looking creature on the planet for their animal theme. Uupaaruupaa (albino axolotl) sounds funnier. If anyone knows how axolotls entered the Japanese lexicon that way, please let me know.
Heh.
Random. The Akiba Maid War prologue teases café maids playing baseball! Surprise! It’s an excuse for more violence. How did we get here? Let’s find out.
Ah. Gangster funeral for Manami. Did they find her body? The maids have black funeral uniforms. The Maid Alien boss formed a new animal maid affiliate. Axolotls are alien-looking salamanders from Mexico. Close enough to extraterrestrials. Har. Otaku Enforcer also has a black version of his nerd outfit. Oof. He made Tenchou come to the funeral too. The Creatureland Group wants Oinky Doink and Maid Aliens to bury the hatchet, but in whose skull? Otaku Enforcer never misses an opportunity to tell Tenchou how poor Oinky Doink does at revenues. Ooh. Even Nagi, the Creatureland Group’s boss, made the funeral. Aha. Instead of burying the hatchet, Oinky Doink and the new Axolotls will bury the bat! Play ball!
Nagomi is all for this idea. All maids should be sisters and not fight each other. Solve differences with sweat! Akiba Maid War doesn’t intend the double entendre, but I’ll take it. Oh, right. Oinky Doink Café only has seven people in it. They need nine for a complete baseball team. Huh? Who are those guys? Those are cute baseball uniforms, though. Uh oh. Tensions are still high between the salamanders and piglets. Will Nagomi’s spirit of nonviolence win them over? I see you out there, Axolotl mascot. What is your plan? Well. Both the Axolotl Boss and Tenchou declare Akiba Baseball War! Do your best, Nagomi!
That’s new to me. The Japanese have ウーパールーパー (uupaaruupaa) as their word for albino axolotls. It sounds like Oompa Loompas! I would have thought the phonetic spelling アホロートル (axolotl) covered the foreign amphibian. Har. Hola! The three outfielders are Venezuelan study-abroad students. What a memory to make in Akihabara! Batter up, Kasumi! Manami’s bat broke on the first pitch. That’ll set the tone for the game. The Oinky Doinks can play baseball! They’re always good at things that don’t make money.
Here we go! Akiba Maid War turns into Baseball Maid War! Wait, not yet. The Axolotl manager doesn’t want a dirty game. Ranko says she learned how to play baseball in prison. Line drive! Two runs in! Of course. Nagomi has team spirit, but she’s terrible at batting. Next question: can the Venezuelans play baseball? Uh, no. Venezuelan nerds from 1999 do not play baseball. Doh. The Axolotl Boss had enough of fair play. Just win, baby!
Cracking heads now in Akiba Maid War. This is the wrong move because the small number of piglets has shown they punch above their weight in violence. Bench-clearing brawl, let’s go! Nagomi continues to play peacemaker. Ooh, some of the Axolotls are impressed. Nice tag-out, Yumechi! Oh, now we’re in it! How will Nagomi calm this down? Har. Nagomi was playing baseball, but the others were playing Akiba Maids! There goes any semblance of sportsmanship. At least the violence is still inside baseball. The Axolotls had a monster inning when they started playing dirty. And we’re caught up to the prologue. The Axolotls smacked Nagomi in the head with a bat and now a fastball. How long will her friends tolerate her sacrifice?
Heart-warming. Three of the Axolotls don’t want to hurt Nagomi anymore. They want to go back to playing baseball, not Akiba maid wars. The Oinky Doinks think that giving as good as you get is playing fair and square. Aw. Everyone is on board with Nagomi’s plan. What about Tenchou? Ouch. Zoya split her thumbnail. Ranko will sub in. Oh. What is Nagi doing here? Hoping to see the Axolotls violently pay back the Oinky Doinks? Ranko is a side-arm pitcher. And a lefty!
The Axolotl Boss had enough. Time to bash some heads in. Funny how she wasn’t so gung-ho about that when Manami took over operations. Whoa! The Axolotls stopped the brawl! Nagomi won the battle for minds and hearts! And there it is! The Axolotl mascot was waiting to stab Ugaki in the back. Who’s in there? Miyabi took her revenge! Was it worth it? Miyabi’s satisfaction was short-lived. Now what? Akiba Maid War can’t go one episode without a body count. The Maid Alien dissident purge is complete.
Hahaha! Nobody died! They’re just quiet now. Finish the game as we watch Weekend at Akiba Maid War. Can Ranko get the save for Zoya? Strike out! Oinky Doinks win! Fair play and sportsmanship, or “sportsmaidship,” won too!
Ah. Ranko and Nagi finally met again. Ranko knew her as Uzuko back then. Is the name change relevant? Uh oh. Nagi wants Ranko to act as her enforcer. Will that betray Nagomi’s ethic of nonviolence? Ouch. Nagi said that Ranko is too old for “moe, moe kyun.” Aw. Nerula’s regulars came to visit Nagomi. We’ve seen Black Turtleneck Guy make eyes at Ranko. Was he a regular of hers in the past?
Next time, the Akiba maids put on a Maid Festival.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Please don't comment on posts more than 4 years old. They will be deleted.