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:: Episode 26: Musashino: The MOVIE
   Kihon no KIHON (Basic BASICS)

Summary


Welcome to the wonderful world of MUSASHINO! What you're about to hear is a Tale of Two Pitchers; an inspirational story about a pathetic bottom-feeding baseball team that pulled itself together and became awesome. Corny introduction aside, it all happens a year before the main Oofuri storyline takes place, when a new backup pitcher joins the team! This pitcher, Haruna, is SO awesome that the ace pitcher, Kaguyama, gets all angsty and considers quitting baseball.
SO! One day, instead of fooling around after practice like with his fellow losery teammates, Kaguyama decides to follow Haruna to see what makes him tick. Kaguyama, Haruna and Miyashita do some goofy flirting with each other before Haruna and Kaguyama run off to have a hardcore workout session. It tuckers Kaguyama out completely, and he can't believe this is what Haruna does every day!


The two of them stroll off to cool down while talking about stuff, and we get a fun little flashback from earlier. Ookawa divides the catchers and pitchers into pairs, Kaguyama and Akimaru being one battery and Haruna and Fishlips the Catcher being another. Haruna lets them know about his silly little eighty pitches only rule, which causes Ookawa to snap and KICK Haruna! Miyashita and Akimaru rush to his aid, and the three of them run off to get some ice cream or something while Ookawa is left standing there like a fool.
The moral of this flashback apparently is that Ookawa and Haruna don't get along. At all. Haruna and Kaguyama talk some more, and Kaguyama gets more and more angsty, and finally ends up telling Haruna about his newfound desire to quit.


While Kaguyama pours his angsty heart out in front of Haruna, Ookawa just so happens to come by and overhear their conversation! Soon enough, Miyashita arrives on the scene as well, and the two of them decide to stay and snoop around as if they were on Nosy Neighbors. Kaguyama goes on and on about Musashino being a losery team where losers gather, and that they suck so much that it's downright embarrassing for them to aim for the win. When he starts rambling about talent and fate, Haruna gets all ANGRY! Kaguyama KNOWS how hard he works, doesn't he? Haruna then suddenly realizes that this just might be the first time Kaguyama ever thought about quitting, and is suddenly reminded of his OWN angsty past. Just as he's about to spill out his dark secrets about why he chose to join Musashino, Ookawa and Miyashita decide for some utterly idiotic reason that right now would be the perfect moment to come out of their hiding place. So they do, and they still expect Haruna to tell them about his past! Haruna is furious, but thanks to Miyashita's girlish charms, he ends up telling them ANYWAY.


The main reason for Haruna to pick Musashino was... their coach not being bothersome. FOR YOU SEE, back in middle school, Haruna had this really obsessive coach who hung around him all day bothering the living daylights out of him about various pointless little things. One fine day, Haruna's knee started to hurt, and while the coach assumed it was just growing pains, it was eventually discovered that he suffered from a REAL damage! For some reason, the coach stopped harrassing Haruna after that. Haruna went to rehab by himself and his knee eventually got better, but he still felt like quitting baseball. His teammates managed to talk him out of it, though.
This tearjerker of a story causes even MORE angst for Kaguyama! This time he starts rambling about Haruna being lucky for having a swell experience like that he can look back at when things get tough. Ookawa gets fed up with Kaguyama's pathetic whining, and Haruna suggest that the two of them have a race. He has Miyashita tell Kaguyama some lies in order to get him to believe in himself, and it works! He still loses to Haruna, but his speed has improved. Haruna manages to knock some sense into him. Kaguyama isn't going to quit after all!


Ookawa and Miyashita take their leave, and there's this really dramatic scene where Haruna finds out that the two of them are dating and a dramatic leaf-carrying wind blows through his hair and everything. Haruna leaves as well, and Kaguyama bows deeply to him in secrecy. What follows is a montage of what happens next - Musashino decides to follow Haruna's example, increasing their training and generally being more awesome and enthusiastic. Kaguyama isn't afraid of aiming for the win anymore, and the episode ends with Musashino being victorious!


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