Ooi! Tonbo – 13 (Season Finale)

In case you’d advised me a few years in the past three straight LiA posts could be golf anime (albeit two from one collection) I’d have stated you had been loopy. And that’s coming from somebody who’s been predicting a golf anime increase for a very long time. Effectively, it’s right here. Three in a 12 months, and extra to return (even when that sadly received’t embrace Inexperienced Inexperienced Greens). Manga has all the time offered the choices – anime has simply refused (for about half a century earlier than 2023) to play alongside. There’s completely nothing about this sport that precludes it from making a very good topic for anime. If something I believe it’s higher suited than most sports activities, given the preeminence of the psychological aspect of the sport and relative lack of intense motion.

Ooi! Tonbo (which did certainly have its second cour confirmed for fall, as teased right here final week) has been the most effective of the brand new wave of golf anime to date. Final week’s episode was a little bit of a shank as in comparison with most, however on the entire the collection has been glorious at depicting each the sports activities and human sides of its story. And it managed to ship a really satisfying conclusion to the primary part of its story with this episode. It’s nonetheless not fully clear precisely what the subsequent arc will appear like, however the Hinoshima arc seems to be completed for now a minimum of.

Tonbo’s development spurt was a bit jarring contemplating a time skip of only a few months, however provided that she seemed approach youthful than 15 earlier than that’s most likely comprehensible. Wataru continues to be making a play for “My Tonbo”, now by attempting to learn golf, but it surely’s clearly Quixotic. The diploma to which the final two episodes centered on Youko (I really did think she was falling for Igaiga) and Bunpei wasn’t my favourite selection – I by no means actually cared a lot about that. However when issues had been targeted on Tonbo and Gon-ji Ooi Tonbo raised its recreation significantly.

Finally I believe Tonbo is making the appropriate determination right here. And I might suppose so even when she was merely leaving to go to highschool, to not attempt to grow to be knowledgeable golfer. But it surely was by no means simple or clear reduce, and it was by no means presupposed to be. She’s abandoning the place that adopted her when she was on the low ebb of her life, a spot the place she was very blissful. Most significantly she’s abandoning Gon-ji, her solely household and the one who gave up essentially the most to verify she had a secure and supportive place to develop up. That was all the time going to be painful and the ache of that parting was depicted in a extremely beautiful approach.

Because the director and Bunpei arrange a “Tonbo Farewell Cup” for her final day, Gon-ji stews over his emotions about her leaving. Intellectually he is aware of that is the appropriate factor for her – she shouldn’t undergo life with a center faculty training and shut the door on a future off island. Emotionally it’s a unique story. He’s apprehensive about her and about himself lacking her an excessive amount of. Every of them are afraid to point out the opposite how apprehensive they’re for concern of constructing the opposite much more scared. So Tonbo goes for genki and blithe, and Gon-ji goes for hard and unaffected.

All in all I believe this comes off fairly realistically. Gon-ji is a tough man whose presence doesn’t lend itself to overt emotional vulnerability. In the long run, unable to inform him flat-out, Tonbo places her emotions in a letter – gratitude, and a plea to not neglect her (as if that may ever occur). For him, it’s all about not coddling her emotions. Gon-ji causes that if he makes use of variety phrases to make Tonbo really feel like she will be able to come house at any time when issues get robust, she most likely will. However I liked that when push involves shove, he caves and tells her exactly that (even when it’s not till she’s crusing away).

Now then – now what? Tonbo is certainly steaming away on the ferry – however Igaiga is at her side. Final week I used to be vibing that wasn’t going to occur, so I’m unsure precisely what the deal is right here. Is he merely accompanying Tonbo to get her safely to the Kumamoto home (or the Udo home in Kumamoto – even that’s not clear) or is the plan for him to stick with her and watch over her golf training? It could appear odd for Igaiga to drop out of the story, and really laborious for him to not if he had been to stay on Hino whereas she was on the mainland. However whether or not by design or not, what the subsequent a part of the story will appear like is a bit mysterious for now.

With that we watch for all, with Rising Impression to tide us over (I’m not a binge watcher). I wasn’t fairly certain what to anticipate from Ooi Tonbo, but it surely’s proved to be a subtler and extra emotionally complicated collection than I imagined. In case you’re going to attend a long time for a good golf anime, it is a fairly rattling good one to lastly break the drought. It respects and understands the sport, and by no means forgets that before everything it has to inform a human story we care about. The flight of younger individuals from rural Japan is a critical dilemma that anime tackles once in a while, however hardly ever with the perception and even-handedness it does right here. Deliver on the again 9 in October.