You wouldn’t think a schoolgirl golf tournament (with a few adult women, albeit) would be this exciting. But then, you’d have had a hard time convincing me Go or karuta or a koto competition would be either. Storytelling has that power, if it’s in the right hands. If you happen to be a fan of the subject matter anyway – as I am with stuff like golf and soccer or baseball – so much the better. But the fact that Ooi! Tonbo went from a first season with zero competition time to being a traditional tournament anime in the second without skipping a beat is a remarkable achievement.
I just love seeing wild child Tonbo having fun playing golf her way. And so does Igaiga, which is itself fun to watch. You can’t teach what she does, that’s the thing. It’s a combination of unique circumstances and freak natural talent. Even something as simple as losing her hat and feeling the wind in her hair (which I think she uses to help read it) plays in her favor. Wind is a huge factor in golf – some players can handle it, some can’t. When a real hard gale hits the British Open that instantly eliminates probably 70% of the field. Doing what Tonbo does here in hitting groundballs may seem bizarre to her marshal (who really needs to STFU) but if you watch The Open when the wind is up, the best wind players do it all the time.
Of course, hitting a lob into a strong headwind to kill the ball on the green is something few pros would ever risk – that’s just Tonbo being fearless and freaky. The fact that she does it to try and spook Igarashi so much the better, but he knows her too well than to even be surprised. That doesn’t apply to the threesome in the final group, however. They have the spectacle of Tonbo’s magic act playing out in front of them, as she avoids even a single bogey on the front side even as their time in red numbers draws ever-shorter. Not being paired with them and playing in front of those three was another huge break for Tonbo.
Not only does Tonbo avoid a bogey on the front nine, she even manages a birdie on the 9th with that crazy flop shot. She’s expecting big smiles from Igaiga, but he adorably goes into full tsun mode, scolding her that a pro doesn’t consider the round half-over til after the 10th (because the last three holes are so stressful). Once he slinks away, though, he shows his true colors. Desperate to let the Hinoshima islanders know but not knowing anyone he can message, Igaiga has the disaster center make an announcement that Tonbo is within a stroke of the lead.
For the final group, the tension and stress has been building and building. That’s what playing in high winds is like – for most people. And watching Tonbo laugh her way through the same conditions compounds their angst. And of course it’s worst for Hinoki. Not only does she have her idiot father making a nuisance of himself – she has to hide from him when she gets back to the clubhouse, and the superintendent bails her out – but she’s carrying a terrible secret. She’s a cheater – there’s no nice way of saying it. And karma has thus far refused to punish her for it, which unnerves Hinoki even more.
All this comes to a head when her ball gets stuck in a tree (I’m shocked she didn’t know she had to declare it unplayable before she tried to shake it loose). It’s Tonbo who comes to her rescue – and pays a price for her recklessness with a sore butt (hopefully nothing worse) and a missed putt of her own when she’s winded from her sprint. I’m very curious to see how this is handled, because there’s absolutely zero uncertainty about this – Hinoki is disqualified. There’s no accepting a retroactive penalty or nonsense like that. She signed an incorrect scorecard, she’s out. And she deserves to be, as scared as I am to see how her father reacts. As realistic as Ooi! Tonbo has been on the whole, I hope it portrays this resolution of this as it really would be under the rules of golf.
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