RE-MAIN – 04

「なんかヤバいかも……」 (Nanka Yabai ka mo……)
“This Ain’t Looking Good…”

This week’s episode had the classic “training arc” vibe as the team finally came together for their first training sessions. With the Tokyo 2020 Olympics underway IRL, I appreciate the way RE-MAIN is educating me about the rules of water polo as it’s definitely a sport worth checking out! That aside, I thoroughly enjoyed the team bonding in this episode, and it seems each members’ goals and driving forces for water polo are starting to take shape. Here’s what went down in the world of anime water polo this week!

The Team is Assembled and the Training has Begun!

As I predicted, the catalyst for Amihama joining the water polo team was indeed going to be a family-related intervention. On the other hand, I was very wrong about my claim last week that a family tragedy would be the reason for him joining. In a way, it was Minato who indirectly causes Amihama to join the team, as if not for his elder brother and sports rival Riku Momosaki‘s (Yuuma Uchida) interest in doing battle with Minato, Amihama would never have changed his mind so drastically.

The training that followed proved to be challenging and tiresome for all members, but in many ways was inspirational to watch. The boys sharing their exhaustion together and bonding in the bathtub, we got to learn a lot about what is driving them to be water polo champions. Not only that, but it was interesting to see them going over the rules and explaining each role as well. It seems that each individual’s abilities and builds were taken into account to finalize the team’s player formations, which I thought was pretty cool. And after watching the Olympics water polo the other day, seeing the way they move their legs in a figure-8 motion underwater was a good testimony to the realistic nature of this series and their approach in showing us the sport.

The First Match Opponents are…Juniors?

While it was hilarious that they ended up versing the children’s team as their first opponent, it was also quite disheartening to see them struggling against an established water polo team. It looks like team Joujima will need to re-evaluate their game plan and perhaps start focusing their training on specific weak points. Nevertheless, regardless of the result, this match against the kiddies will be a great learning experience for the team and after playing their first match they’ll surely come together to form a legitimate water polo team where everyone’s unique strengths will shine through.

My predictions moving forward are that the children’s team will get the W here, but not without a fight from the Joujima crew. This established kiddy team is a little too high up for the boys to reach in just one match, but I think they’ll progress quickly throughout the match, and will learn as they fight. We may even learn that this junior team is one of the best junior teams in the prefecture, who knows? Either way, it’s bound to be a great match and certainly not without its laughs! Looking forward to next week’s RE-MAIN.