Genius 358 Redux: The Meta-ing

[prillalar]

I've been thinking and thinking and pacing around and thinking some more.

Disclaimer: These are not real kids and Prince of Tennis isn't a real sports series. It's mystical, it's samurai-ical, there are no girl managers. So I'm not considering whether or not this is realistic. It's not. But it's pretty damn interesting.

This match has nothing to do with tennis. Kirihara and Kaidoh are both fucking amazing players who keep getting better and better. But we already knew that. Inui and Kaidoh have a bond of trust that is good and noble and pure and true. But we already knew that. (Not that I'm complaining about having it reinforced!)

This match is Inui vs Yanagi and, unlike their previous match, it's about which one is stronger.

All of the tennis action has been between Kirihara and Kaidoh, where Konomi, employing a subtlety worthy of George Lucas, shows us that Kaidoh has matured but Kirihara has not. Kaidoh is much better at controlling his anger than before, he is more inclined to reason than to bash his head against a wall, he is a sportsman. Kirihara, though, is still childish and cruel.

(It's interesting that Kirihara has lost to both Ryoma and Fuji and is still unchanged. But Fuji's non-transformative tennis is a subject for another day.)

Kirihara goes into freaky evil demon mode and targets Inui, beating him to a bloody pulp. This finally breaks Kaidoh down and triggers his own demon mode (which did seem strange -- I would have expected him to go berserk and jump over the net and whale on Kirihara instead).

But Inui stops Kaidoh. Yanagi did not stop Kirihara. Yukimura did not stop Kirihara. Whatever the outcome of the match (and I can't imagine that Inui will be able to continue), Seigaku has won and Rikkai has lost. Inui is stronger than Yanagi.

If Kirihara is still like this, it's not his own fault, it's the fault of his teammates, his senpais. It's their responsibility to correct and socialize him. And clearly, even if they tried, they failed.

Rikkai has an interesting pragmatism — always win, Rikkaidai — that isn't entirely at odds with the whole shounen sports spirit. Or at least until now. But they've gone too far. I'm reminded of the eeeevil coach in H2, talking to his eeeevil pitcher: I don't want players who love baseball; I want players who love to win.

I'm actually deeply disappointed. I didn't want Rikkai to come off like this. I didn't want Yanagi to look so bad. And I wanted more for Kirihara.

But Inui and Kaidoh: your love is true, so very true, and ever shall be so. Your whole story arc, from the first moment I saw you, has moved me so much. You are so weird and so beautiful and you make me cry.

Like now. ♥

Comments

[takewing.livejournal.com]

I love this interpretation. It makes me like this match when before I didn't really care for it. ♥

[annotated_em]

This is why I'm reading these last chapters, but not actually incorporating them into my own canon. *amused* I'm working up an alterna-Nationals: tennis as it should have been played, even taking into account the samurai basis of the story.

Because Konomi, frankly, seems to have lost his own plot.

[storyteller.livejournal.com]

Whatever the outcome of the match (and I can't imagine that Inui will be able to continue), Seigaku has won and Rikkai has lost. Inui is stronger than Yanagi.

(Y) x 1000. The more uncomfortable I get about the way certain things are going down in the manga actually reminds me how much I love these boys. :(( ♥

[pharrezychica.livejournal.com]

Word girl, WORD.
I agree wholly.

I'm so disappointed at how Kirihara is still being shown.
Am I imaiginign it or it was implied that Kirihara was so unstable and uncontrollable, going into ddemon mood in the Kantou tournament because of the insecurity and instability of being wihtout Yukimura?

Well, Yukimura is there now. Why isn't he stopping Kirihara, why is he letting him play to destroy?
And more so, why is he pushing SANADA of all people to play to destroy Tezuka?

Konomi should have known better than this.
Better than taking the main rival shool team and turn them into VILLAINS.
Rivals doen't have to be villains, he showed it with Hyoutei. He should have kept it this way.

And now I'm left to wonder if Konomi will fall for the sport anime clichè and turn the final match, Yukimura-Ryoma into a blood bath, where the hero gets beaten into a pulp, injuried but in the end winning.

So disappointed.

[disutansu.livejournal.com]

I thought it was a bit weird because Renji corrected Kirihara when he stepped on Inui's glasses but now... I wonder if they're all too shocked because freaky demon mode seems terrifying. If they directed his anger to themselves, Kirihara might go berserk that he's being stopped. x_x

I definitely loved how Inui so easily pulled Kaidoh back from going into demon mode like Kirihara. Perhaps it was easy because he just barely went into the mode for a few seconds and it was easier to snap him out of it. I wonder how Kirihara will fare, if they can get him to snap out of it.

*crumbling* Inui and Kaidoh, I knew I'd never have any regrets.

[marksykins.livejournal.com]

Mmm, yes, one of the baby thoughts I was talking about this morning was Inui's sort of joking, "let's see who's the real man, Renji!" at the beginning of the match and how Yanagi's "that was superb, Sadaharu" in this Genius means Inui won. Inui has faceplanted on the court, covered in blood, and will most likely default (please default, sweetie), but he won.

A chunk of PoT is about the student surpassing the master: Ryoma over Nanjiroh and Tezuka, Kirihara over the Troika, Ryoma-Kaidoh-Momo over the Seigaku third years, but Renji taught Inui everything he knows about data tennis. Everyone acknowledges that, including Inui. In that way, even though they're the same age and were doubles partners and best friends, Renji is a bit like Inui's senpai. Renji might win this battle, but Inui is still ahead now. He beat Renji 1-on-1, he's the one who's a better senpai to his kouhai, he's the one who's taken what he's learned and grown from it; he's surpassed the Master.

Anyway, yeah, thoughts aren't complete, but Inui is fantastic. Not like we didn't already know that.

[shikishi.livejournal.com]

nicely put there, halbot.

I am a little disappointed in Yanagi right now. Not in Kirihara, as he is not doing anything outside of his norm - which could have changed over the series, but obviously hasn't.

I read this chapter as: Kirihara and Kaidoh both turn into Hatian demon gods, Yanagi says something bastardy and Inui dies, metaphorically not literally. I like your reading much better.

[branchandroot]

That's what's pissing me off most, right at the moment; Konomi went back on his plot. Kirihara /did/ advance and mature through Echizen and Fuji. He set aside the berserker mode and reached muga instead; he lost but kept his honor. It was all set up for some really nice plot/character progress... and then we get to nationals and Konomi takes it all back and gives him this hyper-berserker mode instead. *grumps* I'm in the middle of an entry wondering how I can make a coherent character out of this mish-mash, and what could possibly, plausibly, have led a player like Kirihara to /let go/ of what is repeatedly demonstrated to be one of the best techniques available.

[reposoir.livejournal.com]

Hm, interesting, interesting, especially with your statements (completely valid, imo) that this isn't a sports series, it's more a samurai-ical series instead.

I'm hoping that we see something in the next Genius or two that...not necessarily "redeems" Yanagi/Kirihara/Rikkai, but shows us that there's more than bloody-pulp-tennis encouraged by Kirihara's senpais being completely passive to the ultra-violence of this match.

[priestess123.livejournal.com]

Your insight is dazzling!!! That totally makes sense! I LOVE YOU!! ^_^

[zauberer-sirin.livejournal.com]

But Inui and Kaidoh: your love is true, so very true, and ever shall be so.

♥ ♥ ♥

[soltian.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I think my thought process works quite differently. I've never expected, or desired, really, any semblance of goodness, purity, or honor from the good men of Rikkaidai. I've always read each of them (with the exception of Jackal and perhaps Bunta) as soured and tainted characters; something clearly wrong with each of them. Redemption is not something that I necessarily find uninteresting, but Kirihara's blatant violence and insanity has always, to my sensibilities, overwhelmed "redemption". I do not see him as necessarily having a bad soul, but rather a random one that is nurtured towards cruelty which is encouraged by frustration.

In other words, I am neither surprised nor disappointed that Kirihara's strength of mind or moral fiber seems to have gotten worse, not better.

As for mister Yanagi, technically skilled as he might be, I already had a full understanding of him being a level, or even several levels weaker than his counterpart, Inui. Mentally he comes off as more vulnerable, more defensive and cold and so therefore more unstable. After having delved into him quite a bit more than I thought I ever would, I find myself completely unsurprised at his utter reluctance to let himself go emotionally even for such an important moment. I find myself wanting to smash his balls in for it, but all the same, there's no surprise.

I do not think Rikkai is an honorable team, and the opening match of Sanada vs Tezuka is false advertisement to that. Sanada has a sense of honor (a twisted, sadistic/masochistic one), but Rikkai does not, necessarily. No one has ever reprimanded Kirihara for violence or losing control, only for losing matches. There is certainly an extreme level of pride in their skill, but that doesn't mean they're above playing dirty. It's an odd mix.

In simplest terms, what I mean to say is...Rikkai is not redeeming themselves here, but I have a fascination for that as much as I'd have a fascination for a climb upwards. I don't think any of the screwed up members on that team are easy or direct saves, psychologically. Good lord I'd be frightened to even begin to try to figure out what was wrong with Yukimura, let alone try to heal him. Rikkai is a sick, sick little baby, and even if it's likely to stay that way, I sure as hell will love it to the end.

[leviosa8.livejournal.com]

I agree with your theory. But also with those who express concern at the lack of referee and rules that were enforced previously in the same manga.

I can understand you being overwhelmed by the InuKai, which does deserve love. But I am somehow puzzled everytime you give Konomi more credit than he deserves.

Samurai tennis, codes of honor... It all sounds very nice. And maybe below everything else, he aims for that. But then we remember that Ryoma has lost his memory stupidly and that they had to retrieve him by helicopter and the background character aren't better than cardboard figures with a tape repeating the same lines over and over again... ::Sigh:: It's all for the random joys. Like with Shitenhouji's games. We had the clown pair making up for all the remaining crap.