Furuya no Ace.... No.

NO!!!! Don't cry, sweet baby! He just got it for now. For now! How many tears must you shed before receiving the ace number you deserve!?

I consider Daiya no Ace/Ace of Diamond to be a good sports series. I am currently locked up in the domain of sports anime yet somehow can't get out of the Hetalia series. However, when it comes to sports rivals...at least the main one for Sawamura which is supposed to be Furuya, that is where the story falls apart.

I am already disgruntled by Furuya's selfish character development. I don't mind flawed characters as Miyuki and Sawamura are very flawed and I still love them all the same. I love the humanity of the characters from Daiya no Ace and Furuya is very much human. However, where the way Furuya is written annoys me. I have nothing against this character since I said before that I do consider Furuya's flaws (selfishness, bullheadedness to name a few). He is a rounded character but he is a static character.

Furuya never got the character development that fits right in a series that focused a lot on team spirit and especially that baseball is a team sport. I always thought that he was pushed in the wrong direction that I wanted Terajima to break the haughty. It's just hard to sympathize with him at times when he got everything on a silver platter (seriously the only reason he got the number in the first place is because Sawamura and Kawakami were undergoing trauma, experiencing 'technical difficulties' and he's the only one able. If anything, it's a hollow victory. That and he haven't proven anything of ace quality. Even reading the spoilers due to scanlation gap, he is taking the credit for his fellow pitchers' dirty work of the ace.). Furuya's pitching is just boring to watch (compared to Tanba, Kawakami, and Sawamura, their pitching's just exciting to watch coupled with the suspense) and even placed in supposed to be exciting parts, it's only exciting because it's basically down to the last play not because of Furuya himself. He doesn't stir me with joy, unlike Sawamura.

It certainly doesn't help that everyone else kept fawning over Furuya when Sawamura is pushed to the side, looking by the sidelines in jealousy, leaving him with no recognition. People hardly recognized him and his growth and talent, working so hard and getting results even after the yips. It's still about all about Furuya. Why the hell am I still watching/reading the damn series if it's going to be about Furuya from a fellow batchmate's POV whose views are far more refreshing? There's one thing to be the Butt Monkey but there's another to not recognize how far one had grown. This is not just me speaking from a writing perspective, it's me speaking from personal experiences.

Sawamura might not be the only MC but we see through his POV. When Sawamura is denied, I feel I'm denied. When Sawamura shunted to the side, I'm shunted to the side as well.

Again, I don't hate Furuya. I just dislike the way his character is written and how poorly written a rival he is. He's a poorly written rival. If you want to see a better-written rival, please see Rin Matsuoka and Sosuke Yamazaki from Free!. Hell, even Kanou Shuugo from Oofuri is a better friendly rival.

There's no interaction that is rival-like, friendly or otherwise, that show a clear rivalry. Because of the cast's unhealthy obsession with him, Eijun cheering him on, and Furuya monologuing how the mound is his while the team fawn over his fastballs, the rivalry crumbled because there is little interaction. Narumiya and Raichi have far better rival-like interactions with Eijun and I love the brat and monkey. Raichi is just pure adorableness and Mei is hilariously self-centered. Hey, at least those two got the development that is just right for the series and the character.

Unfortunately, Furuya involved the part of the series I don't like other than the poorly written rivalry and development that pushed in the wrong direction.

The story set up the premise that we will be seeing Eijun Sawamura's rise to be the ace. If the story continued with Furuya as the ace while his so-called 'rival' would never achieve the ace number (and I would forever grit my teeth when Furuya cruelly said that there is no need for two pitchers on the mound. Those are goddamn cruel to someone who worked his ass off and has grown so much over the span of nearly a year. Fans of Furuya, you cannot deny the flaws of your favorite character just because he is your favorite. You have to acknowledge the flaws and you cannot deny that his words to Sawamura, his supposed rival, is cruel.), it would never fulfill the premise that had been established from the beginning.

Speaking of the ace, Terajima seems confused about what exactly makes an ace when he tries to say something that makes an ace. He's just confused. So if he continued to say that Furuya with his stupid skills with the lack of good development for him with his selfishness that he need to be forcibly removed, speaking from a teacher of mine's perspective, he would rather lose every game than give it to a selfish player in a team sport.

If the new first years fawn over Furuya, I would put the series on stand-by until I hear something heavenly, preferably that Sawamura finally got the recognition he deserved and getting the ace number. I'm still putting the DRRR vol. 13 on standby due to vol. 12's utter disappointment.

From the start, we got people acknowledging Sawamura's talent and growth but those are so far and in-between moments in comparison to the overhype that is Furuya.

It's just frustrating that some of the problems of the series revolved around one character whom I tried to like. I never dislike a single fictional character in my life. I'm neutral to Furuya but that's just barely when the way Furuya is written ticked me off.

Forgive this post for its ranting. I just need a place to rant and with my friends and family busy with their own work and I know that they definitely won't understand what I'm talking about.

Anyways, let me go into another tarot assignment to the characters of Daiya no Ace. I'm not sure how to list the characters and some are still in debate in my head. Some choices are more easier than others like Eijun and Furuya.

You know what, I am adding Haikyuu!! to this particular list. Obviously the Haikyuu!! characters would follow after the Daiya no Ace characters. This is mainly to keep me sane. I am pulling together a compilation of tarot assignment I made so far and that's still in development. Finalizing which series I am going to add first before going into new ones. Okay, going to add Free! characters into the mix...

Character - Arcana

Eijun Sawamura - Fool 

Kazuya Miyuki - Hermit

Chris Yu Takigawa - Hanged Man

Youichi Kuramochi - Empress

Kenta Maezono - Justice

Tooru Masuko - Strength

Haruichi Kominato - Priestess

Satoru Furuya - Devil

Tetsuya Yuki - Emperor

Kouichirou Tanba - Star

Jun Isashiki - Temperance

Ryosuke Kominato - Death

Norifumi Kawakami - Strength

Shinji Kanemaru - Magician

Hideaki Toujou - Sun

Hisashi Watanabe - Hierophant

Koushuu Okumura - NA

Seto Takuma - NA

Kesshin Kataoka - Justice

Rei Takashima - Hierophant

Hiromitsu Ochiai - Devil

Raizou Todoroki - Hierophant

Raichi Todoroki - Wheel of Fortune

Shunpei Sanada - Star

Mei Narumiya - Tower/Sun

Masatoshi Harada - Temperance

Wakana Aotsuki - Priestess

Nobu - Star

Shouyou Hinata - Fool

Tobio Kageyama - Judgment

Daichi Sawamura - Emperor

Koushi Sugawara - Empress

Ryunosuke Tanaka - Priestess

Yu Nishinoya - Chariot

Asahi Azumane - Lovers

Kei Tsukishima - Tower

Tadashi Yamaguchi - Magician

Chikara Ennoshita - Strength

Kiyoko Shimizu - Priestess

Hidoka Yachi - Lovers

Ittetsu Takeda - Hierophant

Keishin Ukai - Hierophant

Yui Michimiya - Empress

Tooru Oikawa - Tower

Yuutarou Iwaizumi - Hermit

Hajime Kindaichi - Devil

Kenma Kouzume - Hierophant

Tetsurou Kuroo - Justice

Lev Haiba - Strength

Takanobu Aone - Strength

Kenji Futakachi - Hierophant

Kotaro Bokuto - Sun

Keiji Akaashi - Star

Wakatoshi Ushijima - Emperor

Haruka Nanase - Wheel of Fortune

Makoto Tachibana - Empress

Nagisa Hazuki - Magician

Rei Ryugazaki - Justice

Rin Matsuoka - Emperor

Gou Matsuoka - Lovers

Aiichiro Nitori - Chariot

Seijuro Mikoshiba - Temperance

Sousuke Yamazaki - Strength

Momotarou Mikoshiba - Sun

Goro Sasabe - Hierophant

Miho Amakata - Hierophant

Kisumi Shigino -