#Kawakami Norifumi

[jollyrolls]

@miyukifest . For today's trope found family we have-

Miyuki with his classmates and teammates. His brothers - they have been through it all together and are a solid team

And his rival/friend. They both quietly acknowledge each other's prowess and mastery

His amazing and cool senpais who taught him so much and gave him a goal to look forward to

His juniors who revere him - whether they admit it or not.

and then, his favourite pitchers-

They both have repeatedly said that Miyuki was the reason they chose seidou and their batteries are a treat to watch!!

I wanted to add Rei Chan and Coach too but could not remember the episode numbers where they have scenes together and so we get just this much

[prettyiwa]

ダイヤのA Act II Volume 34

寺嶋先生! 「ダイヤのA」をありがとうございます‼︎

[ikuuikuya]

[aspenous]

DnA Edits (2/?)

[sawanada]

seido third years gc

[lilkikayart]

Remember that Mew Mew Daiya au I came up with in 2020. Well over the past 3 years I've been drawing silly scenes and concepts for it and I finally took the time to compile them altogether!

I don't plan to really take the drawings further anytime soon, so enjoy them as they are here lol I do hope to draw more though for this au, just new stuff. I still need to add Sanada as another Alien lol and feature Haruichi as mini Mew!

[ilchohand]

[daiyanerd]

Nori’s design in the 24 school calendar is so adorable 😆

[koushuwu]

Kawakami Norifumi in Daiya no Ace

[rainebowevee]

[confinedmadness]

A Case of Withdrawal Symptoms: Ace of Diamond

I’ve followed the Ace of Diamond series (both anime and manga) regularly for years and to this day. Ace of Diamond remains one of my all time favorite stories. Act II, in particular, I feel was even better than the already amazing Act I.

I avoided reading the last 30 or so chapters for a while but the other day I finally read everything and now I feel so in need of something to fill the DnA shaped hole in my heart. So today, I decided to just write about a few of my favorite characters in the manga. Along the way, I’ll also slightly touch upon story points and character relationships/interactions.

～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～

Kawakami Norifumi

Nori is my favorite character in the whole Ace of Diamond series, hands down. There is no contest, not even close. Nori is not only a character who we see from the very beginning of Act I and continue to see until the end of Act II, Nori is a very well-written character. He develops gradually in a believable way and at a realistic pace. He is someone whose growth we get to witness.

The best part? Nori is one of, if not the most relatable character among the main cast because he is not a genius, he is not particularly attractive or strong or smart. He has above-average baseball skills at best, with a relatively quiet personality that does not stand out, but a whole lot of resolve and mental fortitude.

I’ve said this before in a post I wrote way back, and I will say it again: Nori is the kind of person I strive to be. Good at what he does even if he’s not out-of-this-world amazing. Dependable and trustworthy, someone the people around him rely upon. Hardworking and resilient in the face of being looked down upon. Most of all, does not give up on improving himself despite being around people who are naturally better than him.

It’s so easy to lose motivation to learn something when someone else younger and newer comes along and has the abilities you don’t. But Nori reminds me that there is value in improving yourself for your self, that consistency is gained through hard work not “natural talent”, and that center stage cannot shine without the backstage hands.

At the end, when Furuya told Nori directly how much his presence makes him feel at ease, I just cried. Because yes, I did say that everything Nori represents is a good thing to work towards, but it’s also true you may not receive as much recognition as the geniuses. And being acknowledged like that? Hits you right in the feels and the tears of joy just won’t stop.

Miyuki Kazuya

I think most people who know me in real life or who’ve read my blog think Miyuki is my favorite character because I fangirl about him a lot. Miyuki has a lot of traits I love about a person: talented but hardworking, serious but knows how to have fun. In fact, no matter how much I love fanfiction and fanarts, I tend to be really picky about the ones featuring Miyuki because I find that they often forget or ignore the facets of Miyuki’s personality that I love. 

Fan creations tend to depict Miyuki as quiet, cold, and aloof. But for me, the best parts about Miyuki is his fun-loving, goofy attitude and his whole-hearted love and passion for baseball. He likes annoying enemies, poking fun at friends, laughing at other people. He’s not stuffy about hierarchy and judges people based on merit not seniority. He loves new challenges and finds excitement in playing with or against strong baseball players.

And yet, no matter how much I love Miyuki on his own, I feel that his relationships with other characters are some of the best in the series. A lot of his character growth is spurred by a relationship with another character instead of a more individual progress like Nori’s.

In terms of baseball and as an athlete, his rivalry/friendship with characters like Mima and Narumiya are some of my favorites. I love the wholesomeness of their rivalries. There is never malice or spite when they go against each other in games. Narumiya is probably the person in the series who has known Miyuki the longest. I’ve said this before but I love that Narumiya and Miyuki call each other by their first names. It emphasizes the fact that they’ve known each other since childhood. And now here they are, the stars of their respective teams.

In terms of leadership and as a person, his growth was shown a lot through his partnership with Sawamura and Furuya, his relationship with the Seidou coaching team, Chris, Yuuki, and Maezono, among others. He changes from being relatively self-centered, to thinking more about his teammates and the team as a whole. He learned to be more mindful and sensitive about others, as well as knowing that he can rely on his team as much as he is relied upon.

Finally, his friendship with Kuramochi is one of the most stable, most frequently depicted, and also often overlooked relationships. Though never explicitly stated in the series, Kuramochi is probably the closest thing Miyuki has to a best friend. They don’t have many really emotional moments together, but they understand each other and have each other’s backs. Kuramochi is the person Miyuki confides in when he has problems. And they’re both the first to notice something good or bad about the other. I don’t know about you, but that constancy is amazing. Regardless of whether they remain close in the future or not, I think a friendship like theirs is something to treasure for life. 

Sawamura Eijun

DnA is one of the few series whose main character I love. I think it was in one of my first ever posts about DnA that I mentioned how Sawamura is someone you really want to cheer for. A lot of anime/manga, especially in the sports genre, tell the viewers/readers that *insert main character name* makes you want to support them and help them succeed. But, Sawamura is one of the very few who actually makes you feel that way.

Personally, I believe this is due to the effective way the author shows that Sawamura is a multidimensional character. He has a very clear base personality that defines him as a person, but like every human in history, he is not just that. Different situations and even the shortest moments can bring out anger or frustration or even silence.

Sawamura is loud, optimistic, hardworking. But he can also get annoyed at his teammates, can feel jealous of his rivals, is susceptible to judging people without getting to know them, or can put far too much pressure on himself unnecessarily. I love that the series shows all of this unapologetically. He is not good with certain types of people, but even if he never becomes their best friend, he learns to get along with them. These types of character building make him human, and make you appreciate his usual noisy, laughing self even better.

My favorite part about Sawamura is how open he is to both learning new things and being corrected when he’s wrong. Not only is he willing to be taught, he does not ignore people that point out his mistakes. Of course, he gets embarrassed but he apologizes if he hurts someone, and trains when his skill or knowledge is lacking or wrong.

If not for this attitude, Chris would not have taught him all the baseball basics he clearly lacked, he would not be close enough to Miyuki to experiment with his pitches together or hangout in his room, Kataoka would not have given him the chance to be on the roster, Okumura would have stayed disappointed in him. He would never have been good enough to be the ace of the team.

And what’s even more amazing is that it’s not just the readers who go through a getting-to-know phase with Sawamura. His own teammates go from getting annoyed at his yelling to actually looking forward to hearing it, from wanting to support him to being supported by him as well, from cheering him on to relying on him as their ace.

～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～☆ ～★～

I don’t know if I’ll do something like this again, but I definitely want more DnA content coming my way because I am missing it so much. Tereading the series right now only makes me even sadder, but what can I say, I love making myself happy-sad.

[ryukapp]

Dec. 10th

[heaven-s-black-box]

We need give or love to Kawakami baby 🥲

It is so overrated

The wording on this one confused me a bit (I think you meant "we need to give more love" but then the part about it being overrated confused me and i think you meant underrated), but! I shall talk about Kawakami and my love for him!

One of my favorite running gags is the teacher guy always looking for Nori in stressful situations. It's funny and also highlights well how dependable Kawakami is. He's such a central part of the team, and even when he doesn't have the confidence in himself, everyone else can see that.

Nori also experiences one of the most subtle growths in the show and it's really highlighted watching act 2 (which I just finished rewatching). He asks Miyuki to catch for him; Miyuki's busy wrangling Furuya and Sawamura, and Nori slips his mind but he doesn't just let it slide.

Also, I think it’s one of the OVAs, but there’s a thing centered on Nori and his baseball journal and I highly recommend trying to track it down and watching it!

Nori is a character who's definitely easy to miss, not because the show ignores him but because he's just not as flashy as a lot of the first string. He's also not a character with a lot of visible growth, it's the subtle things like getting the slider down and taking charge of the younger pitchers. Putting s1 Nori next to s3 Nori makes the changes obvious, but as you watch there's never a stark difference. You aren't caught off guard when he asks Miyuki when he's going to catch for him.

He's not made to be the ace, and that's not a bad thing. Kawakami thrives as the ace's support, so that they know that when they fall, because they're only human so they will, he'll take the team to the end. He's almost like Tsukishima from Haikyuu in that regard, he's the moon to the ace's sun (be it Tanba, Sawamura, or Furuya). Nori has his team's faith, but he can't rally them the way the three aces can, but he can run damage control and keep moral from falling even more. There is an act 2 game where he does kind of rally the team, but if I remember correctly it's kind of riding the high of Sawamura/it's a third year's pride thing (where as the other three can naturally rally the team)

The more I watch Daiya, the more appreciation I have for him. And I don't think I've ever seen a Kawakami hater either. I think it feels like Nori is underrated (assuming that's what you meant in your ask) because he doesn't feel as central as the other pitchers, but he still carries the team so much.

The pitcher relay wouldn't be what it is without the safety net that is Kawakami Norifumi, and I think that's part of what helps him grow his confidence. He's an amazing character, and deserves all the love he gets.

[thepsykoshipper]

Some second years

[choujinx]

DIAMOND NO ACE ACT II (2015-2022) by terajima yuuji

[jsdhwdmax56]

My gosh he's obnoxious 😂😂