(you can disagree but please do so politely. i am not in that good an emotional state right now.)

of course I know, shiting isn’t seiichi, that’s the point of having an adaptation, you can rewrite the characters and they sometimes turn out better than the original (lu xia, lu xiangqian, mu siyang). but I find it very hard to believe that yukimura would laugh and say ‘your face looks a bit scary’ and poke sanada’s face.

why? because yukimura has never been seen as someone weak. he’s fought to bring rikkai to the top, he’s been fighting skilled opponents since he was young. the illness is so debilitating because he’s lost control. yukimura rushes through rehab just so he can play tennis, so he can stand on the court and be strong again.

yukimura’s prideful. and in that rooftop scene, there’s not much room to interpret tian zilong’s expression/tone - it’s pity and concern. yukimura doesn’t strike me as someone who would accept that readily, he would be disgusted that his vice-captain who he could readily beat 6-0 is pitying him.

in general, shiting’s pessimism just seems to lack yukimura’s vitality? all his sun setting metaphors and the fact that he types 我已经很久没有打网球了(I haven’t played tennis in a long time) in a text message to zilong... playing tennis is more of a wish than a goal. he’s not talking about rejoining them on the courts, he’s talking about what he used to have.

then again, maybe shiting is just yukimura three years down the road, slightly more jaded, aware of what society wants you to do and how difficult it is to go pro, and conscious of what a fifty percent chance at age eighteen mean. 

addendum 1: on zilong’s texting. from the scene before shiting’s surgery, we can see zilong sending him 5 texts in quick submission. could be a subtle ref to sanada using a handphone designed for the elderly in tenipuri, but what about this - zilong’s worried that if he doesn’t type fast, shiting won’t be around to see his messages...

(source on weibo)

thanks for the ask! i love all your gifs from the show~

11. What did you like most about the adaptation?

 this is a very broad answer, but i’m going with intra- and inter-team dynamics! the character interactions were quite natural, and it was nice to see the friendships forming between Yuqing and Yufeng, Diliu Zhongxue, Xingyao etc. for Yuqing, it was nice to see the seniors giving Lu Xia advice, tennis-related or otherwise. they also had quite a few silly moments as a team.

12. What do you think the adaptation could have improved on?

this is a good adaptation, but it still struggles with the flaws of the original - the next team is built up to be even stronger than the last, but Lu Xia and Yuqing will always win. the Lu Xia/Qi Ying subplot was better executed than the original but somewhat forced. also the conclusion felt like it was wrapped up hastily.

on Rikkaidai/Haiguang

even if you didn’t ask, i was going to write an entire post on what i thought of Haiguang in this show lol. so here it is: