| Mifune East Middle Arc | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Kanji | 三船東中学校編 |
| Rōmanji | Mifune Higashi-hen |
| Manga | |
| Volumes | 11 |
| Chapters | 89 |
| |
| Anime | |
| Number of Episodes | 13 |
| |
The Mifune East Middle Arc is the third story arc of the MAJOR series.
It is centered around Goro Shigeno's middle school life with his mother and stepfather. He enrolls into Mifune East and joins its baseball club, where he hones his baseball talents now that he switched arms. This arc also focuses heavily on the friendship, and later rivalry, between Goro Shigeno and Toshiya Sato.
Summary[]
Enrolling into Mifune East (Manga: Volume 14, ch. 120 - Volume 15, ch. 130; Anime: Episode 027 - Episode 028)[]
Three years after leaving Mifune, now a southpaw, Goro returns and reconnects with his old friends Daisuke Komori, Kaoru Shimizu and Ryota Sawamura. There he meets three delinquents, Yoshitaka Yamane, Muta and Oikawa and first years Miyamoto, Shouji and Hirosaki. Together, they form a baseball club to participate in the Middle School Torunament.
The Mifune West problem (Manga: Volume 15, ch. 131 - Volume 17, ch. 143; Anime: Episode 029)[]
After rebuilding Mifune East's scattered baseball club, the team plays their first match against Mifune West, their sibling school, however, things go south surprisingly fast as the coach from Mifune West sets his eyes on Goro. See: Mifune East Middle vs. Mifune West Middle.
Hideki Shigeno's retirement (Manga: Volume 17, ch. 144 - Volume 17, ch. 145; Anime: Episode 055)[]
As Hideki's carrer reaches its end, his relationship with his family starts deteriorating. After getting help from both his wife and children, Hideki overcomes his fears and retires. This arc was skipped in the adaptation of season 2 and moved to season 3 instead by the anime production team.
Middle School's Tournament First Match: Housen Middle (Manga: Volume 17, ch. 146 - Volume 18, ch. 158; Anime: Episode 030 - Episode 031)[]
After three years, Goro and Toshiya meet again at the start of the Middle School Tournament. When Toshiya defeats Goro after being challenged, Toshiya indirectly helps Goro in honing his southpaw skills. After creating his own pitching style, Goro and his friends from Mifune East defeat their first opponent in the tournament, Housen Middle. After his own match, Goro meets a familiar face while watching Toshiya's match. There, Goro finds out what happened to Toshiya during the time he was in Fukuoka.
Middle School's Tournament Second Match: Seibukan (Manga: Volume 18, ch. 159 - Volume 19, ch. 163; Anime: Episode 032)[]
As the Mifune East team defeats their second opponent in the Middle School Tournament, a scout from Kaido sets his eyes on Goro and offers him a scolarship. When Goro refuses the scolarship and points the scout towards Toshiya, the scout boils down a plan to get Goro to join the Kaido High baseball team. With tensions high and Toshiya in the brink of snapping out, the semifinals are set between Mifune East and Toshiya's team, Tomonoura Middle.
Middle School's Semifinal: Tomonoura Middle (Manga: Volume 19, ch. 164 - Volume 21, ch. 182; Anime: Episode 033 - Episode 035)[]
Under the watch of Kaido's scouts, Goro faces Toshiya in the semifinal match of the Middle School Tournament and wins. After the match, he is offered the scolarship once more, but refuses it again and vows to defeat Kaido alongside Toshiya. Mifune East proceeds to win the final match of the tournament against Mifune West, and is classified to the regionals. In the meantime, the scout recruits Ken Mayumura to defeat Goro in the first match of the regionals.
Joining Kaido (Manga: Volume 21, ch. 183 - Volume 24, ch. 208; Anime: Episode 036 - Episode 039)[]
After the loss against Kaido, Goro and Toshiya discover the true height of the walls they are trying to climb. After some time, Goro, Toshiya, Komori and Shimizu all decide to go through the Kaido exams in order to join the prestigious school. While Goro and Toshiya are selected through the baseball club exams and Shimizu is selected through the written test, Komori is eliminated. Shimizu is convinced by Goro to go to a school with a softball club, since Kaido has none. In the end, Goro graduates from Mifune East and he and Toshiya both join Kaido.
Manga and Anime Differences[]
This is one of two arcs with the most changes in the anime adaptation:
- Chapters 124, 125, 126, 128, 131, 132, 134, 135, 136, 138, 139, 146, 151, 152, 159, 164, 181, 185, 190, 191, 203, 204, 207 and 208 were only partially adapted. The exact pages adapted from each chapter can be seen in the arcticles of their respective episode counterparts.
- Chapters 137, 140, 141, 142 and 143 were entirely cut from the anime adaptation.
- Chapters 144 and 145 were moved to season 3.
Aside from that, only two major events were cut from the anime: The second match against Mifune West and the third test of the Kaido entrance exams.
Matches[]
- Mifune East Middle 0 - 8 Mifune West Middle (first match, interrupted) - Ch. 132-134.
- Mifune East Middle 4 - 0 Mifune West Middle (second match) - Ch. 138-143.
- Mifune East Middle 7 - 4 Mifune West Middle (anime match) - Episode 029.
- Mifune East Middle ? - ? Bunkadai Middle (results not shown) - Ch. 146.
- Middle School's Tournament First Match: Mifune East Middle 5 - 4 Housen Middle - Ch. 151-156.
- Middle School's Tournament First Match: Tomonoura Middle ? - ? Chuou (results unknown, at least 3-0 for Tomonoura) - Ch. 157.
- Middle School's Tournament Quarterfinal: Mifune East Middle 1 - 0 Seibukan - Ch. 159-162.
- Middle School's Tournament Semifinal: Mifune East Middle 9 - 5 Tomonoura Middle - Ch. 164-179.
- Middle School's Tournament Final: Mifune East Middle 8 - 0 Mifune West Middle - Ch. 180.
- Middle School Regional's First Match: Mifune East Middle 0 - 19 Kaido Unified (Middle school) - Ch. 182.
Important Events[]
- Three Years after leaving to Fukuoka, Goro Shigeno returns to Mifune with his family.
- Goro reunites with Daisuke Komori, Kaoru Shimizu and Ryota Sawamura.
- Goro meets Masahiko Oobayashi, Yoshitaka Yamane, Muta and Oikawa. Together with Komori, they rebuild the Mifune East baseball team.
- The Mifune East baseball team defeats Mifune West.
- Goro reunites with Toshiya Sato and becomes aware of his history through Shuichi Kashimoto.
- After finding out about Kaido Academy, Goro and his team manage to win their first and second matches in the Middle School Tournament.
- Goro's team wins against Toshiya's in the tournament. Goro's team proceeds to win the tournament itself.
- After reaching the regionals, Mifune East loses by 0 - 19 against Kaido Unified, Kaido's middle school team.
- After the defeat, Goro, Toshiya, Komori and Shimizu all try to enroll into Kaido Academy.
- Goro and Toshiya are accepted, Komori fails and Shimizu decides to go to Seishu instead.
[]
| MAJOR Story Arcs | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| MAJOR | Kindergarten Arc • Little League Arc • Mifune East Middle Arc • Kaido Academy Arc • Seishu High Arc • Minor League Arc • World Cup Arc • Major League Arc | ||
| MAJOR 2nd | Daigo's Little League Arc • Fuurin Middle Arc | ||