Variable geometry

[branchandroot]

Once more, because it seems to bear repeating, we cannot gauge the strength of shounen sports characters by comparing their performance in matches if there has been any time at all between the matches in question. The name of the game, whatever game it may be, is “evolution”.

So, for example, Hakushuu beat Seibu. If (when) Deimon beats Hakushuu, will that mean that they would now beat Seibu if they played them? Not especially.

Sanada defeated Tezuka, and Tezuka has defeated Echizen. Does this mean Sanada is now stronger than Echizen? Not likely. It doesn't even mean he'll win for sure next time he plays Tezuka.

And in neither case is that solely because Deimon and Echizen are the heros and have the narrative deck stacked in their favor. The telling factor is rather that all the variables in these equations are in motion. The heart and soul of shounen sports is the drive to improve, to overcome past defeats and grow stronger.

Even in cases where a comparison is explicitly made in-manga, as when everyone marvels at how easily Yukimura defeats Touyama who was even in skill with Echizen, you can see from here that this comparison is made specifically to highlight how much Echizen has evolved in the interim.



A big part of keeping shounen from being deathly boring depends on that passionate motivation of the characters to advance over the course of the story (and, in extreme cases, over the course of days or hours) and keep the balance of power uncertain.