Baby Steps 2 (Season Two)
Review By: John Fragglepuss Evans and Breanne Evans
Genre: Sports, Romance, School, Tennis
First Aired: Spring 2015, 25 episodes (It’s a sports anime, of course it’s 25 episodes)
Summary: The second season of Baby Steps starts where the first season left off, with Maruo traveling to America to become the best tennis player he can be. It is quite impressive that everyone in Florida speaks fluent Japanese, even Mike, his coach. Maruo is able to take full advantage of his time in America, learning new techniques he had never heard of, honing in his developing skills, and of course by taking copious notes on how to improve his game. After his trip to America, Maruo has one goal in mind, to qualify for and win the All-Japan Juniors tournament. Follow Maruo as he battles on and off the court. He competes against a wide variety of players, each of which provide a unique challenge. Off the court, Maruo deals with other difficulties.
Baby Steps 2 is an entertaining watch because the opponents that Maruo meets on the court are all unique in both their play style and their personality. The temperament of different players stresses out Ei-chan and he has to find a way to deal with these new challenges that he is not familiar with. As Maruo quickly learns, no two opponents are the same. The story is fitting for a sports anime, the characters are enjoyable and develop as the season progresses, there are matches that last several episodes, backstories for opponents that make you feel for them, and everything else you would expect from a sports anime is present, even the crowd explaining the rules from the sideline during a match.
You might enjoy this if: You enjoyed the first season of Baby Steps or are just an overall fan of tennis. In general, you will probably enjoy this if you like sports anime. If you like Kuroko no Basket, Haikyuu, or Free, check out Baby Steps.
You might not like it if: Long, drawn out battle scenes are not for you. The long tennis matches resemble a long fight scene, with a considerable amount of thinking and talking throughout the battle.
Note to the Viewer: While I hated Maruo’s hair in season one, it did not seem to bother me in season two. Maybe I just got used to it.
Instead of an AMV I’m throwing in the opening to Baby Steps because I love it so much. It’s appropriately titled “Believe in Yourself” by Mao Abe.
Here’s my review of Baby Steps season one
Fragglepuss.com
