TV Review | Tsurune Season 2 (Episode 10: Draw Of A New Dawn)

“Tsurune delivers another enjoyable episode as the team continues their training for the Nationals while Nikaido’s storyline takes a touching turn.”

During last week’s episode of Tsurune, the team from Kazemai high school encountered the Tsujimine team during their training beach camp. Today’s episode continue this storyline as the two teams prepare for the Nationals.

TRAINING

The two teams of Kazemai and Tsujimine continue their training at the beach camp in this episode. They even face each other during a training match but we only see the results of this match. The match itself is not that important, their training is. Indeed, the Kazemai team is still trying to find their ikiai. They work hard on it do so. And this time, they ask the rival team for advice.

Fuwa actually describes his way of doing things beautifully. Each person has to find their path and each shot they take is different. So they can’t try to force their ikiai. And trying to match each other’s time isn’t the right way. Because if one fails, the others will also fail. This gives new leads for our favorite team. In fact, they try switching their positions. It is by trying different things that they will find what their ikiai is. And they still have some time to find it until the Nationals. Like last week, this beach training camp also allows the teams to get closer and share some friendly interactions.

NIKAIDO REVEALS HIMSELF

Moreover, the episode also focuses on Nikaido and this marks a turning point into the story. We see a different side of the character, one who gets nervous and who isn’t all nice. Last week, we learned that he was holding a grudge against Minato and Shu. Now, Minato learns all about it and unsurprisingly, he hadn’t realized what was happening while Seiya knew something was off. Seiya is always the one who notices everything. Besides, Nikaido also stops playing buddy-buddy and reveals his endgame.

Even in doing so, this character doesn’t come off as mischievous for us the audience. And that is because he has his reasons. He is doing all of this for his sick uncle. Obviously, this means his judgement is clouded and thus what he may say or the way he may act does not necessarily reflect who he really is. In fact, we see a touching scene between him and his uncle at the hospital. And Minato realizes that as he sees things unfold. He is actually reaching a helping hand towards Nikaido. I think this is going to be interesting to see how their interactions evolves during the Nationals.

Like I have said since the beginning of the season, Nikaido is a complex and multi-layered character. I always enjoy learning more about him. Now that we know the whole picture about him, I think the next step in his story arc is mending his wounds.