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Apr 12, 2014 7:58 AM
#1

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Nov 2011
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THIS IS A MANGA ONLY DISCUSSION POST. DO NOT DISCUSS ANYTHING BEYOND THIS CHAPTER.
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He won! Yes, way to go Eiichirou. He definitely earned it after that long battle. Respect.
Apr 12, 2014 8:50 AM
#2

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Apr 2013
11408
Wow...a double fault
Apr 12, 2014 10:52 AM
#3

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Mar 2008
1201
Whew, that was definitely a tough one to get through. In the end though Ei-chan got the win.

I guess this really shows that when you raise the stakes so much and play such a high risk game it's likely to burn you. Okada was playing great but all it took was a little thing to throw off his game and turn the tables.

A grueling match that certainly felt as long as it actually ended up being XD. One step closer now to the goal.

Will be nice if we can get a breather and see how Natsu and some other characters are doing.
Apr 12, 2014 11:37 AM
#4

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Apr 2012
267
He won because Okada had raised the stakes so much but if he hadn't done that Ei-chan would have dominated him long ago a high risk game was his only option. Every high class player from now on will be his opponent once he goes pro its no guarantee he'll win again.

Now I'm waiting to see if he will play Yukichi-cum next match. Judging from the initial line up if he also wins today they will have there first official match.
Apr 12, 2014 2:51 PM
#5

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Jul 2012
397
We are so behind with the scans...I just seen the cover for volume 29 and i'm dying to read it.

I painted my teary face with a disguised smile[COLOR=#ff3333] and pretended it was a cry out of joy.[/COLOR]

Apr 12, 2014 6:20 PM
#6
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Aug 2012
8288
Yes best choice to catch up right now lol. Been waiting for the Ei-chan vs. Okada game to be over so I wouldn't have to suffer through more cliffhangers as I did with the previous matches. Good job Ei-chan! But I like how realistic he is, even though he's happy he won, he also knows that some of that was based on luck/waiting, meaning that he technically didn't win relying fully on his skills. It's okay though, he's still got a lot to learn and improve on :)

Also, lol at Ide telling Okada that it was his doing naming the move "Jumping Okada Bazooka" XD
Apr 12, 2014 11:24 PM
#7

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Feb 2008
5563
Good conclusion to the arc. Especially the part with Okada getting some potential sponsors :)

I wonder if more sponsors will approach Maruo too?

Looking forward to the story stuff between now and the next match. I wonder if he'll breeze through the next one? Can't remember who his potential opponents for it are at the moment.

-Touya said:
We are so behind with the scans...I just seen the cover for volume 29 and i'm dying to read it.
Yeah, sadly, we're not likely to catch up any time soon. Honestly, if they don't get more staff soon, I'm worried about them having to drop the series :(
Apr 13, 2014 10:02 AM
#8

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Apr 2014
963
What an intense battle. :)
"Even villains have standards"
-Accelerator-

Apr 13, 2014 10:13 AM
#9

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Mar 2010
1694
Finally over!!! 3 hours.. eh? More like half a year for us!
Apr 13, 2014 10:21 PM

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Dec 2010
2200
This manga suffers from overly drawn-out matches.
May 27, 2014 12:15 AM

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Jan 2013
11047
Yay, that was such a long match. It got tiring.
Jun 21, 2014 11:06 PM
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Jan 2013
86
Great match. Okada was really great and I liked how he was struggling with his philosophy some chapters ago. The crowd was cool too.
Aug 5, 2014 2:31 PM

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Aug 2010
10990
Glad I marathoned this one XD I feel like I would've died from waiting if I was waiting with u guys XD It was about 14 chaps so not really that long count wise but probably one of the longest.

Lol'd at the end when he realized who called it Bazooka XD And glad for Okada for getting all those sponsors XD He'll definitely improve as a pro from here on out and as Ei said, facing him again might be really tough ^^;
Apr 6, 2018 11:40 PM

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Jun 2016
3391
That was an incredibly match. I don't think it was drawn out at all given if you read each set in one sitting like I did. In fact this one had constant development on both sides until the end where we got quick recap fast forward matches. Okada proving yet again that the world of Baby Steps is full of developed characters who want to win just as bad as Maruo.

I adore how Ide not only got the Okada bazooka to stick around but also how he hypes up the crowd around him. What a charismatic fella.

This was such a high stakes game and I think the biggest downfall to Okada was honestly his mentality. I would have never expected his solution would be to double down. I thought his tennis would involve branching out, but instead he determined to use his pessimistic attitude to become the highest risk highest reward player that's possible with no hesitation. That's cool to me. Maruo's cross angle's may have started good but he quickly learned to read them, and if Maruo didn't start mixing up all the nuances possible in his shots there was no way he would have won. You could see once he acknowledged Maruo as his equal and hit the double fault he fell out of the zone.

The cheer battle was fantastic. It was the first time Okada has ever been acknowledged like that, and not only that but he was scouted by sponsors for that showing. Those were some beautiful moments. I actually loved seeing him in the bathroom raging, rather than being zen and thanking Maruo for showing him his weakness he let it out in anger and was inspired by it. That's the kind of variety in reactions I want.

Maruo recognized that his future was in Okada's hands and gave an incredible piece of advice. Even if you can't outright challenge someone there is no time you should ever accept your fate to them not performing well. Instead you should manipulate them as much as possible, using as much slight variation and struggling as much as you can to make them mess up. The crowd may have saw it as Maruo waiting for Okada to mess up but it wasn't that, it was him weighing his patience down and making it as hard as possible for Okada to hit his high skill shots, showing he wasn't the king of dragging out matches when he met Araya for nothing. I remember the words of mang0 once being something along the line of "gotta make it hard for them even if it's confirmed".

This was a powerful match and seeing Okada's defeated expression after crushed me. I never expected this match to get this intense after set 2. This was a fight of manipulation, high stakes, high aggression, and mentality.

Now Maruo's parents will see him play!
May 19, 9:28 PM

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Mar 2014
625
WOOO LET'S GO MARUO

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May 27, 9:09 PM
It’s time to ditch the text file.
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