#tk2 tag

[deathofthetext]

The way that Osamu's overprotectiveness towards Chika manifests more when he's feeling insecure about his ability to contribute to his team is really interesting to me. I think specifically because in both Round 4 and Round 7 when we see it manifest, we see him make... questionable strategic decisions because of it.

In Round 7 this is more telegraphed, because Hyuse is there to argue with him about it, but in Round 4 he also pulls Yuuma off of what he's doing in order to make sure, not that Chika is safe and can contribute further to team tactics, but that she can retreat. And this comes directly after Round 3, where the commentators made sure to acknowledge how much value Nasu Squad got from Hiura and Kumagai choosing not to bail out, but to stay and fight to buy time for their ace. "To catch up to the top group, you need to score, not worry about losing points." Osamu also made sure in Round 3 to let Yuuma do what he does best and fight without having to worry about escaping in order to cover his teammates. In Round 4 we see Kitazoe and Ema immediately resign themselves to dying as usefully as possible to buy time for Kageura to go wild. Yuuma, in contrast, is being pulled off of a fight he should be concentrating on as the squad's ace in order to cover Chika's retreat, and it seems to be... mostly just because Osamu is panicking?

But what really makes this interesting to me is that this overprotectiveness doesn't really even raise its head in Round 5. Teruya kills Chika and Osamu is completely calm, because he's still locked in on beating Katori Squad. When she apologizes, he just says "No, you did well. Nice work, Chika." And it's not that he's gotten over it, because it's a pivotal point in Round 7 that Azuma is able to play on his protectiveness towards Chika in order to manipulate him into making a worse tactical decision. It specifically manifests when he's bailed out early and can't contribute more to the team physically--he goes into panic mode.

It's just super fun to see the precision with which Ashihara is writing his protagonist! Osamu's relationship with Chika and the ways he's prone to coddling her are obviously crucial to both of their arcs, but digging into the specifics of how and when he goes overboard and lets it interfere with doing a good job as Tamakoma-2's captain is so interesting. It really speaks not just to a generalized want to protect people and specific care for Chika, but also to his insecurity about his ability to do so.

[deathofthetext]

What is your favorite World Trigger Rank Wars Round?

it's hard to outdo that perfect final moment of chika finally taking the shot and osamu taking out ninomiya, but i think my favorite match structurally is actually r4... every detail of the matchup and how it plays out is just perfectly set up to show tamakoma-2's flaws by comparison.

ninomiya is the experienced, skilled, and powerful shooter that mikumo wants to be, and the unstoppable high-trion force of nature that chika is scared to be seen as: you can't kill him, you can't escape him, you can't even steal his prey.

azuma is a patient and knowledgeable strategist who knows exactly when to play his cards, where mikumo rushes into danger because he overestimates himself. he also demonstrates what an extaordinarily good sniper can do with years of practice, detailed knowledge of the terrain, and significant observational support from the rest of his team--and we see chika, immediately afterward, do the same thing easily and without even looking, because she's that powerful. and it only makes things worse.

and kitazoe and ema really demonstrate how useful a good support team can be, and specifically what they can accomplish while targetted by an enemy ace in order to buy their ace time with their deaths--whereas kuga, as the attacker and ace of his team, is being dragged around trying to protect his squadmates and cover their retreats, instead of being afforded the freedom to only think about his own fights like he was in r3.