The Challenger’s Shot
This blog post may contain minimal spoilers. Please read this only if you had seen this Episode.
OVERVIEW
Coach Yoko went to Yu Kiyose’s homeplace to give her some invitation to play for an ice hockey team for one more time. Yu declines, but Coach Yoko has thought of some idea on how to make her to go to the venue where the girls of Nikko Dream Monkeys are playing!
Yu just got one simple challenge from Coach Yoko. If she wins, she won’t bother her in letting her join in the Nikko Dream Monkeys with Manaka and others! Can Yu be able to outbest her goaltender opponent and prove Coach Yoko wrong?
REVIEW
This Episode is about Yu Kiyose, a future ice hockey player that can be in the members stable of Nikko Dream Monkeys! Let’s begin.
As mentioned before in my previous Episode Review, Yu Kiyose is a character who is considered as ‘superior’ player of ice hockey. She wanted everything to go very well according to her strategies. And simply winning with a swift victory is her goal.
But then, what I can see for her when she quitted from her previous ice hockey team is that she wanted to explore more of herself. And basically, she was bored in doing the same things in the past all over again, and she wanted to grow and to be a normal girl like everyone else. And those in the previous sentence is the reason why she quitted.
Basically, she ain’t feeling the ‘fun’ factor when playing ice hockey anymore. And the more she repeats the same scene or event, the more that she is getting more annoyed and disappointed. So then, she is somehow a representation of anybody else who is a player of any games (whether indoor or outdoor), who is tired of seeing and doing more ‘repetitive’ games and mechanics all over again. Everything that she had experienced before — She don’t want it to happen ever again. It is simply saying that what was already done should never be done ever again in the future.
What Manaka has said that ‘fun’ factor should be present in playing ice hockey sport. It doesn’t matter whether you lose or win, but the fun factor still remains. Fun factor is not about winning or losing, and it is about on how lively and happy (joyful) you are when you play ice hockey sport! A game can no longer be fun to play anymore, especially if you are just thinking about yourself — Thinking about winning for yourself, while leaving your friends behind the dust.
So then, this is what Yu Kiyose must realize. She must explore something more than just playing a ice hockey game and to win it! There is just more than a thing that she must do, aside from playing and winning! Something, indeed, that can change Manaka and her team, and herself!
ICE HOCKEY HISTORY!
Last time, we had talked about on how this sport is being played by its rules! Right now, let us talk something about the regulations in this game, and it is none other than the Penalties!
Penalties in ice hockey come in many types and classifications! So far, let us take at least two of the simplest Penalties, which is common in ice hockey games!
The Minor Penalty is the least type of penalty, in which it lasts for at least two minutes for the offending player in the team. When a team incurred a Penalty, they may have consequences, such as having their team shorthanded by having at least one player to be off from the rink (the offending player). And also, depending on the type of offense made by the player against other player in an opposing team by means of physical injury, and so on, he or she may receive a Penalty in their team. That would last for at least two minutes, and if their opposing team scores, their Penalty period may end.
The Major Penalty is the highest type of penalty in ice hockey sport. It usually occurs when some players do something more than playing ice hockey, in which it involves physical fighting and brawling, and even charging against your opposing player in an opposing team! The team that incurred this Penalty shall have their offending player to be off from the rink for at least 5 minutes, and their team shall be shorthanded! And also, if their opposing teams scored a goal, their Major Penalty duration shall remain or continue until it expires!
That’s right, and this is something equivalent to a ‘foul’ in basketball sport!
Even commiting a simple misconduct while playing this sport can lead your team into a Penalty, so be careful!
But then, Penalty rules are really a part of ice hockey sport! And somehow, some other teams may use it as an advantage or strategy to win against their opposing ice hockey team — It’s an act of turning tables if they are almost losing the game! They may intentionally incur themselves some Penalties. However, they may use it for their ‘endgame’ strategy just in order to make your team lose in no time!
SERIES INFO
Pride of Orange (2021, dubbed: PURAORE! (プラオレ!) -Pride of Orange-) is Japanese Anime series about ice hockey sport. This Anime series was produced by CyberAgent/EXNOA, and character designs were done by Craft Egg (known for BanG Dream! Girls Band Party smartphone video game). Animation style was done by C2C. This Anime series has been aired and streamed since October 6, 2021, with its first Episode.
In Tochigi Prefecture in Japan, at Nikko City, an ice hockey sport season has opened for girls who wanted to aim for the ice hockey world championships.
A female junior high schooler, named Manaka Mizusawa, has become interested in playing the ice hockey sport. While she invited her girls who were her friends, they entered and tried for this sport game.
Their journey for aiming their first win, indeed, begins when they had experienced the world of ice hockey sport!
©2020 プラオレ！メディアミックスパートナーズ
