Tsurune: The Linking Shot Ep 3- SO MANY THOUGHTS.
Mainly going to be talking about Minato in this episode, because I think the way Kyoto Animation depicted what went wrong was SO well done from a show don’t tell perspective.
When Kazemai started talking about Tsujimine’s archery style, I was originally thinking that Ryohei was going to try something different suddenly since he had been having the most trouble with his shooting. But the moment Minato started focusing too much on the way Nikaido shoots, I instantly realized that he was becoming like Shuu at the end of last season. Especially with how they showed Minato looking at Nikaido in the third round before they started shooting- there was a lot of shots where they showed the anchors of the different teams in each round as if they were standing right behind each other even though there were really four people separating them- and the way we saw Nikaido and Shuu’s figures appear as Minato was thinking about how they shot, it hammered home the idea that, like Shuu last season, Minato was too busy looking at his opponent and not his target.
Now, as for what actually went wrong with the team’s shooting, I REALLY like how it wasn’t spelled out, but the audience can understand it by everyone else’s reactions. This episode was focused on how Tsujimine’s tempo was so different from every other team’s, and the concern about shooting early and getting a technical miss. Although Minato was thinking more about the other team’s form when he was shooting, it seemed as though Minato subconsciously shot a bit earlier than he normally does. While watching the scenes of each person shooting on Tsujimine, I realized that listening and knowing who is shooting is extremely important. The anchors of course can see in front of them who just went, but if you’re the first person, you have to listen carefully and know when your team is at the fifth person and not mix it up with the other team’s shots that are also behind you. (Of course, there is probably more of a difference in sound since each person is standing more distance apart from the first person of the first team in line, but Tsurune often does close ups for when the arrows release, so the sound effect used tends to always be the same volume for the audience.)
Back to Minato though, by Kacchan’s reaction, we can see he is surprised by the sound of Minato’s shot. Upon reviewing the scene, Minato might have been altering his form too, as it seems that he didn’t pull the string as much as he normally does. This still would alter the tempo, as he shot faster than usual, and his sound, the titular tsurune, was not as clear as normal. From this point on, the rest of the team is thrown off their usual tempo as Kacchan is first left trying to catch up, and then everyone fumbles after that. Furthermore, the animators depicted Minato’s headband falling off as his thoughts became more and more consumed by how Shuu and Nikaido would shoot or how he wants to catch up to them, and I was screaming at my laptop at this point, because the headband represents the Kazemai team. Minato was literally abandoning everyone and shooting alone out there despite it being a team match.
There’s also so many other scenes in this episode that add to Minato becoming blind to his own faults. Before that though, I like how Kacchan hesitates before taking the blame for what happened. Although he is introduced as the most impolite on the team, the way he was described as “having a glass heart” in this episode really rang true. He’s sensitive, he respects his team, and likely didn’t want to call Minato out to his face as it would only create discord, even though he likely knew that Minato was the one who messed him up. But at the same time, from Kacchan’s perspective, Minato is their best archer, so he’s probably thinking that it can’t be Minato who messed up, it had to be him, because Minato only does the right thing during a match. To continue though, when we got that flashback of Minato showing Seiya how to shoot, he immediately becomes distracted by Nikaido’s kyuudo, and we Seiya floundering because he still needs instruction. This was just another case of Minato being easily drawn away from his friends’ needs for his own selfish desires, so it’s not a new thing, it’s a weakness he has always had.
And as for the ending, well, I never would have expected Masaki to ban Minato from kyudo, but it’s a perfect full circle. At the beginning of the story, Minato wanted to shoot, but was unable to because of his target panic. And so he ran away from the range, but with the help of friends, he finally got back there. But now he’s taking his friends for granted, and so to strip him of the one thing he desires most in a reversal of what he’s come so far to finally do is a GREAT move, but also an extremely low blow. I love it, and I can’t wait to see what will happen when Minato wakes up and realizes why he was the one in the wrong this whole time.
