maybe you are looking at it from a forced perspective and giving the author too much credit. maybe he really just doesnt like sawamura and prefers if the other dude was the main MC and you just want to believe its deeper than that. or maybr your right 

guess we'll never know till the end.

I'm really just happy that Eijun is startng to be acknowledged because his hardwork is finally showing and he's becoming a troublesome player. Being overshadowed had its perks because it was definitely a slap in their opponents faces that they paid too much attention to the light and not what else around it. I was honestly upset when Miyuki considered Furuya's request to pitch even though he was scheduled with Eijun (the schedule was established for a reason!) but Miyuki is not suppose to be the only one who gets to receive such rant. There was also Furuya who just went up and declared something like that while Eijun was considerate keep tabs on Miyuki schedule. Eijun was also being lenient with Miyuki's decisions around that time. 

I've read Act II 5 times now (honestly) and I love how Eijun is still re-evaluating his performances and try to do better every time he can. I get where his coming from especially during the Hakuryuu game when he wasn't satisfied with his perfomance despite the praises. You know you can do better but didn't while you performed, you truly won't get the satisfaction despite what other people say. Although I admit, he was a bit hard on himself.

Others may think that it's arrogance and insensitvity (believe me, I received comments like that numerous times) but the fact he can still see his flaws is what made me respect Sawamura Eijun and I don't hand out my respect to fictional characters. Terajima-sensei may have his flaws but he is a good author who makes good use of actual experience and lessons rather than metaphorical conclusions I often see in other animes. Sometimes words are not enough to overcome problems. Practice does not make perfect, it makes improvement and improvement only blossoms if you practice with effort and heart.  

Ace of Diamond is a great series (despite the character and plot holes LOL) and I feel for every character. When TJ brings a character down, he brings it down HARD! I hope Furuya grows well as Eijun's rival and friend, and Miyuki is also starting to understand his role as a captain, catcher, and a senior. Coach Kataoka is also starting to reflect on his choices and past experiences, I hope he makes good use of that (his words) 

Hmm, it seemed like I expressed my thoughts in the wrong thread seeing as this is about main character problem. Oh, well. For those who stopped half-way, I'm not forcing you or anything but give it another try. The one who felt unsatisfied were you lot after all. I'm with Seidou in every step of their journey, and I want to see more of Eijun's growth.  

I think that the dynamic is fine with them and I like the fact that it's not from zero to hero in a matter of month or two in the story timeline, BUT I feel that sometimes the author needlesly and forcibly crushes sawamura. one example is game against seiko. pressure from batters was huge but sawamura had already experienced that in the game against yakushi (todoroki) and inashiro (in a different way). it shuldn't have been a big deal. so that really doesn't make any sense, because one on his selling points (since the first episode, reiko's scouting) was his will/mental toughness. you can't just one moment have it than lose it than have it again. the same thing happened in major  where there were a few plot points just illogically forced onto the main character just to make him suffer more.   

There is no problem. Case closed. Y'all just overreacting. Eijun's development is super realistic.

I read some of the reply’s- and some of them were “no they are just overreacting”. When really I don’t think so, Sawamura is introduced as the main character in the beginning of the series. And Furuya is not. Furuya is presented as a “rival” like character that is  supposedly improving faster. But I (yes I am currently just watching the anime act 2, but I’ve come to where Sawamura is doubting as to when/ if he will ever join the main team on the field) think that Sawamura will improve also but maybe slower but better. He’s gonna learn from mistakes and experience of being shut out. I truly think that he will use that as “power” to motivate him to improve even more than he did before.

Those people who keep saying have faith and all that noise, doesn't understand....  I get every writer is free to right how every they want, but to create a protagonist then do what they have done will leave viewers estranged from the series.  MOST fans feel the same way about the direction of the show.  I have a feeling the coach is going to resign and one of the pitchers will go with him.  I like shows that have rivals but this doesn't even seem like a rivalry.  Eijun Sawamura is the most likely character in the show but it seems like right now he's a glorifide cheerleader.

If you are actually writing something properly, then the characters should develop on their own though, right? So it's natural that you wouldn't know how the manga would end when you begin it. If you did, there'd be no point in writing it at all and nobody would read it...

In any case. I have a complicated view of Eijun. I want him to be the ace, but I also want to hit him very very often. Every time he goes off on one of his silly yelling fits about one of the other players - "become a man, Harucchi", "Now you have to live up to being a captain!" "THis is the level of this guy right now"...etc. ALL OF THOSE yelling moments make me really want him to go away and never come out again.

And that's for me the weakness in the writing of his character because in every other respect he's really likeable. He's honest, direct, works hard, plucky, fights back against adversity, deals with criticism, works to improve his game, and never gives up. If only he'd stop shouting stuff that's not funny the first time, let alone a million times later - I'd absolutely have him in my top 5 characters.

But that makes that impossible.

So Furuya. I don't understand the Furuya hate. To develop Eijun requires developing Furuya. While wanting Eijun to be the ultimate ace, I have a lot more affection as time has gone on for Furuya (not just because he doesn't shout stupid stuff all the time) because there's this sweet innocent simple side to him whereby he is just happy to be playing in a team. And I think it's fine to develop both of them, so they both grow. I think the series is stronger for having both of them. And if Eijun would just stop yelling stupid stuff all the time, I'd enjoy their rivalry so much more.

...But my #1 is Miyuki, and so what I want to see is the ultimate Koushien final win in THIS year, with him as catcher. I feel like if the series doesn't build on that very first episode, (and continued hints in that direction) where Eijun basically changed the course of his life having met Miyuki, then it will be a wasted trajectory. I am fine with Eijun taking time to get to the ace point, because I like character development and I'm patient. But I don't have any interest in the new catchers or a team without Miyuki or, frankly speaking, Kuramochi, who is probably my #2 character.

So however this arc twists and turns towards the finale, I want to see the ace/catcher pairing of Eijun and Miyuki winning at Koushien as the culmination of the plot.

How it gets there I really don't mind. So long as Eijun stops yelling stupid. I don't blame Haruichi for getting annoyed with him. I would have hit him by now.

Also!

I feel bad for Kawakami. :)

I, on the other hand, has no problem seeing Sawamura and Miyuki lose in an epic battle against Komadai. It's about the journey, it's not about the result. Sawamura becoming the Ace was the ultimate achievement because it took him sweat and tears to reach that point and it's not just because he's there that the story is done. A lot of people thought Sawamura becoming the Ace would be the "end game" of the manga, I've always believed otherwise, that it's instead the start of another chapter. I know a lot of people would be disappointed when Miyuki and Co actually retire and maybe Seidou loses the Summer Koshien but I would personallly be fine to see them lose because it would make the story feels more realistic that way that no matter how good you are, there're always someone better, no matter how hard you try there could be guys out there that try even harder and not just because you want to become the best that you actually can get there. If they do go all the way, great, even if they don't it's still great because again, it's all about the journey and the process. As long as Terajima give us an epic showdown, that'd be a glorious climax all the same.

To be honest, I actually don't disagree. So long as it is the final point. I think what bothers me more is that I've seen people talking about beyond Miyuki and a Sawamura/Okumura battery and it all being the climax there. And I am a Miyuki fan so I am biased out of all get out when it comes to this, but for me as soon as the 2nd years go, the ace competition also becomes meaningless. Both Furuya and Sawamura came to Seidou because of Miyuki and the story constantly reinforces that, more with Sawamura than Furuya, even. So from a writing/plot point of view, the climax for me has to be a final with those two as the battery. I actually don't care if they win overall, but I care that that's the end of the story and we don't go into extra innings with a new catcher in order for Sawamura to finally 'win Koushien'. Sorry if that was not clear.

I think for me the most important thing is also not Sawamura but 'the team'. And again my bias, but for me 'the team' centres on Miyuki, and also Kuramochi, to such an extent that a new 'team' would (for me) be meaningless. Even though it worked with the third years retiring, that was also because from Sawamura's point of view, Kuramochi and Miyuki are way more influential and Chris, the third year that affected him most, continued to do so from the sidelines all through till graduation, rather than on the ground.

I don't hate the new first years but for me the story's been building from the start the idea Miyuki put forth of the partnership a battery comprises. If that battery isn't Miyuki and Eijun at the end of the series, then it undermines the journey.

I totally agree with your premise that the journey is way more important than the hero or winning overall. I just feel like the narrative has foreshadowed that final battery partnership from the start, so not to culminate with it in any form of finale would be a waste to me.

Again, acknowledging my opinion comes with huge pro-Miyuki bias :)

@小百合姫

Actually, you don't even need to wait for Miyuki and the rest of the 3rd years to go before feeling like the Ace race has became irrelevant. The main premise of the story has always been about Sawamura coming from behind, from a status that was below Furuya to prove to the team and especially Miyuki and Kataoka that he could be the better pitcher, the best pitcher in the team and therefore, the Ace of the team. For a large chunk of Act II has been mostly about the tail end of Sawamura's journey to become the Ace and living up to that hype, going over Miyuki's and the coach's expectations. That bit of the story is now done, Sawamura has fulfilled half of his objectives coming into Seidou. The remaining half is yes, together with Miyuki, as Ace and captain, take Seidou to Koshien, firstly by beating Inajitsu in the rematch and secondly take them as deep as possible (maybe go all the way) in Summer Koshien. The story now is about how Sawamura is going to adjust to being the Ace of the team, how he mature in the short time span that he's given (he's not given any trial run chance here as it's extremely rare for a pitcher who overtook another one from his year who's been wearing the Ace number for longer than he is heading into the biggest Tournament of the year, the Summer Koshien like this) and how he'll live up to his status. His recent developments are already quite impressive to witness.

On the other hand, the team aspect here to me is not about Miyuki. Miyuki along with Sawamura are certainly the 2 key factors in this team, they pull the team, they keep the team's shit together when it's needed but ultimately, it's about the other key players on the team that should show up to the party. You already know more or less what to expect from Miyuki and Sawamura, their level isn't going to fluctuate much, when it's crunch time, they will deliver, it's a known quality of them. However, the reason why Seidou should become stronger than the rest from my point of view is that they have an assembly of more talented individuals than the rest of their competition within the Prefecture at least. There are many teams that have only 1 or 2 key players Akikawa for example only has Shunshin, Hachiouji for example only has Kawabata. Seidou on the other hand has 2 pitchers that're amongst the best of in their year, Haruichi who's frankly a batting genius and for the first 2 matches in the manga right now, he's been the biggest driving force behind their offense and he's been driving in more Runs than either Miyuki or Zono, Mochi is easily the best SS in his year, Toujou is hugely underrated but he's an extremely good CF with consistent batting, Shirasu is almost a perfect RF, Zono is average but he has batting power that could be clutch at times. It's exciting to see this whole cast makes their plays and demonstrate why they should be beating their opponents to come to meet Inajtsu in that Final. So far Haruichi and Mochi has showed up to the party spectacularly and it's time for the rest of the cast to take some of the spotlights as well.

I do think that some could be jumping ahead a bit too much with 1st years like Okumura who I think isn't going to get a chance to play this Summer because of Miyuki being a captain and 4th batter on top of being the starting catcher, there's no reason you should ever sub this guy out. Okumura is there mostly to provide a different perspective to Sawamura and Seidou's story from the eyes of a rookie on the team. I know that Okumura is a new fan favorite but I also do get the feeling that Terajima will most likely not going to continue the story much further after Miyuki and Co retire so from that perspective, it's sort of more difficult to try to get too invested in the rookies on the team given that they'll barely get to play at all (for some), especially the deeper Seidou progresses, to contribute much and on top of that, there's no promising that we'll get much more from them past this Summer Koshien.

To me, this Summer Koshien journey is not just about Sawamura and Miyuki as the main battery, that'll be the core narrative for sure but it'll also be about the 3rd years and the current 2nd year on the team like Haruichi, Toujou, Kanemaru, how they'll start to carry the team down the line. That's where the baseball can get deeper and more interesting.