Rewatching Season 2 and it struck me, those scenes after the Ooya game, when Furuya asks Ochiai to learn a breaking ball and Eijun gets summoned to the coach.
I’ve seen the argument mooted that this (the “you can be the best in Japan” speech etc) is evidence of Furuya being favoured in the team over Eijun. But honestly, with the benefit of Act II as hindsight, the two scenes put together do exactly the opposite.
Ochiai is irresponsible with what he says to Furuya. His motives are also not honourable, given he wants Furuya to fail in the autumn and shine in the summer, when he hopes to have hold of the team. The entire conversation happens in that lonely spot outside, with no witnesses, and in darkness.
Eijun, on the other hand, is summoned to Kataoka, in the brightly lit sunshiney office. Rei is also there, and both heap praise on him - but unlike Ochiai, Kataoka’s advice for Eijun is that he should be grounded, not rush, and work bit by bit as he has done up till this point, to build a solid foundation.
With Act II, we know which set of advice was the most successful for the pitcher in question. This whole parallel can be expanded out to literally the whole of Daiya and the rivalry between Eijun and Furuya and how others treat them from start to end.
There are many times Furuya gets praised and Eijun gets criticised, but ultimately, there are also many times where there’s no substance to the advice Furuya gets, or he is put in a situation simply by default (ie nobody else was in a fit position to be ace in the Autumn, when it’s noted a few times that he isn’t trusted fully as the ace, despite having the number).
Eijun has more challenges put his way, but because he tackles them one by one and is kept on the level by Kataoka’s advice and the guidance of those around him - several of whom take extra time out to help him, like Kariba, Kanemaru, etc - he ultimately builds the better foundation.
It’s just that these two sets of scenes demonstrate the contrast SO clearly.
