Baby Steps Season 2

Synopsis

The stage of the second series is the Florida Tennis Academy. There, rivals aiming for the top of the world competed every day to raise the world rank even one. How will Eiichiro overcome the world barrier by studying abroad for the first time in his life ... A hot and realistic story of the boys, depicting the behind-the-scenes behind-the-scenes tennis scene in an easy-to-understand manner.

Main Cast

Taishi Murata

Eiichiro Maruo (Main Character)

Age : 41 | Popularity : 4%

Minako Kotobuki

Natsu Takasaki (Main Character)

Age : 32 | Popularity : 12%

Daisuke Namikawa

Takuma Egawa

Age : 48 | Popularity : 12%

Asami Seto

Himeko Sasami

Age : 31 | Popularity : 23%

Hiro Shimono

Yukichi Fukasawa

Age : 44 | Popularity : 25%

Taiten Kusunoki

Coach Yusaku Miura

Age : 57 | Popularity : 7%

Takuma Terashima

Kojirou Kageyama

Age : 40 | Popularity : 11%

Tetsuya Kakihara

Takuya Miyagawa

Age : 41 | Popularity : 22%

Episodes

Episode 1

05 April 2015 - The World and the Wall

Eiichirō arrives in Florida, and Coach Mike introduces him to Marcia, an upcoming junior whose older brother just made the Pro's. Marcia and Eiichirō play a match, and Marcia decides Eiichirō must be training for the French Open because of his slow play style.

Episode 2

12 April 2015 - A Vicious Circle is Lucky

Eiichirō begins closing the gap on the others at the Florida Academy, but during everyone of his matches he has one moment where he presses too hard, costing him a set and eventually costing him the match.

Episode 3

19 April 2015 - Data for the Future

After winning his first match in America, Eiichirō finally gets to play Ike in a one set match. Ike gets it approved at the New Years party where many of Eiichirō's new friends first learn of Natsu.

Episode 4

26 April 2015 - Awakening to Simplicity

In his final day in Florida Alex agrees to play a best-of-3 match with Eiichirō. Alex realizes that Eiichirō's notes contain all of his weaknesses and that he will have to adjust his play style to win the match.

Episode 5

03 May 2015 - Takuma's Decision

Eiichirō returns from Florida and is given a day off to adjust his body to the time difference. After the day off Eiichirō begins a new strict training regime to help him get ready for the Kanagawa Prefectural.

Episode 6

10 May 2015 - First Encounter by Scouting

Coach Aoi explains to Eiichirō that he stopped the match against Takuma because his body wasn't developed to serve like Takuma yet. If he had continued to serve that way, he would have injured himself and forced himself to give up his tennis career.

Episode 7

17 May 2015 - Revenge at the Critical Moment

The Kanagawa Prefectural begins as Eiichirō faces off against Araya's new underclassman Nishimura. Araya has told Nishimura all of Eiichirō's weaknesses from the year before, making Nishimura very confident in his chances of winning.

Episode 8

24 May 2015 - The Speed of Evolution

Eiichirō and Miyagawa face off in the second round of the tournament for their second match. If Eiichirō loses he knows he'll lose all chance of going pro. If Miyagawa loses he knows his path to become a pro will take longer and might force him to go to college first.

Episode 9

31 May 2015 - Baffled by Intuition

Coach Ryuhei Aoi decides to teach Eiichirō the importance of relying on instincts during a match instead of relying solely on data. In order to teach him how to play against a player who relies solely on instinct Eiichirō is forced to face off with Natsu.

Episode 10

07 June 2015 - Start With a Roar

Araya and Eiichirō begin their match in the Kanagawa Prefectural Final. At first both are holding serve and the score is at 3-3. However Coach Aoi realizes Eiichirō doesn't have the knowledge on how to deal with left handers since he's only played Araya once.

Episode 11

14 June 2015 - Choices and Explosive Power

Eiichirō throws out a couple of unexpected dropshots in set 2 and begins to alter the speed of his game. After trailing 30-love to begin match 2 of set 2 Eiichirō is able to rally with this new strategy and pull off a break.

Episode 12

21 June 2015 - Full Force Toward Adversity

Araya and Eiichirō prove to be even and are both unable to break each others serve. Making things worse is there will be no tiebreaker., Instead an individual must win by 2 games.

Episode 13

28 June 2015 - Gathering of Rivals

The gang begins their third and final year of high school in different classes. Eiichirō and Natsu both realize their classes seem to be moving on without them as they are getting ready for cram schools and entrance tests.

Episode 14

05 July 2015 - Moonlight and the Sound of Waves

The final door on the way to the All-Japan Junior, the Kanto Junior Tournament, is just around the corner. Eiichiro psyches himself up as he confirms his promise to his parents that he'll give up if he doesn't win the All-Japan Junior, and then he sets off with the other STC members for Chiba, where the Kanto Junior will be held.

Episode 15

12 July 2015 - A Hero and Loud Cheers

The Kanto Junior Tennis Tournament begins at last, and Eiichiro is facing Yakabe Tadanori in his first match. Although he had watched videos of Yakabe's matches from a year ago, Eiichiro is bewildered by his opponent's much taller stature and completely different play style, and all the unexpected factors lead him to consider blanking all his mental data and starting from scratch.

Episode 16

19 July 2015 - Whish, Then Fwoom

Eiichiro is stunned by all the cheering Ide receives as their match begins. He struggles with the unpredictable plays of the intuitive Ide, but he recalls what he learned in his match with Natsu and concentrates on watching his opponent. Meanwhile, Ide also struggles to keep up with Eiichiro's constant changes in tempo and starts to tune out the world as he tries to focus.

Episode 17

26 July 2015 - Dramatic by Nature

Ide's remarkable ability to adapt instantly to everything has Eiichiro struggling, and reads his notes again to regain his focus. This improves his movements and leads to more impressive rallies, making the match even more exciting. Neither is willing to yield as the match comes down to which player can manage to hold serve...

Episode 18

02 August 2015 - Visualize the Pressure

Eiichiro thought he was successfully ignoring the crowd's roaring cheers for Ide, but his body was reacting to it more than he realized. The pressure of playing in front of a dramatic, Ide-centric crowd is troubling Eiichiro.

Episode 19

09 August 2015 - A Rude First Meeting

Eitaro, upon winning spectacularly in his fight against Ide, decides to go to the National Junior's. Coach Aoi explains that towards the end of the match, Eitaro was completely in the zone.

Episode 20

16 August 2015 - Psychological Warfare and Self-Control

The match against Takagi begins. Just as Yukichi warned, Takagi's style is unique.

Episode 21

23 August 2015 - Good, Evil, and Rules

Even if it seems to lack etiquette, Takagi's play style continues to work in his favor by disupting his opponent's pace. Eiichiro struggles to deal with Takagi's tactics.

Episode 22

30 August 2015 - Existence is the Driving Force

After beating Takagi, Eiichiro moves onto the semi-finals as does Natsu in the women's division. Eiichiro becomes aware of new feelings towards Natsu while watching her match.

Episode 23

06 September 2015 - Aggressive is Ideal

The match has just begun and Eiichiro is already close to being in the zone. His excellent condition is reminiscent of his match against Ide; Eiichiro doesn't give Nabae a chance to fight back and soon takes the lead.

Episode 24

13 September 2015 - Recklessness and Surprise

The match between Eiichirou and Nabae finally reaches its thrilling climax, and the former risks losing to envision his victory.

Episode 25

20 September 2015 - Final Set

The game finally reaches its final stage. Eiichiro who desperately envisions a vision to win Nambae and is ready for a new strategy with the intention of losing.

Crew

Department	Role	Name
Visual Effects	Character Designer	Masayuki Kouda
Sound	Music Arranger	Tanaka Jin Akkin
	Music Producer	Kouhei Yamada
	Sound Director	Hajime Takakuwa
	Music	Yochiro Yoshikawa
	Theme Song Performance	Mao Abe
Writing	Original Series Creator	Hikaru Katsuki
	Lyricist	Mao Abe
Art	Art Direction	Kunihiko Inaba
Production	Producer	Izumi Nakazawa
Directing	Series Director	Masahiko Murata
Department	Role	Name

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