Konomi goes to a speed climbing camp with Jun. She realizes she needs to work hard to catch up to her friends and rivals.
Wall 10 – “Restart!”
Hmm.
Konomi’s main character status affords her plot armor, but Iwakakeru! showed she’s also a vulnerable young lady. Konomi cried because she was so disappointed in herself! But Konomi is so likable, even her main antagonistic rival insisted on raising her spirits. Don’t cry, Konomi! No one wants to see Konomi cry. We all want to root for Konomi. Except Anne Kurusu. She wants Konomi to lose. She also wants to bump chests with her in the shower. That’s an amazing alternative, but I need to settle for rooting for the endearing puzzle solving former gamer.
So, most of us root for Konomi to climb the speed routes faster, but Iwakakeru! makes it clear that’s easier to hope for than to achieve. We’re seeing in sport climbing what we see in other sports — specialization. We can look at Mo Farah and Usain Bolt and say they both run fast, but that doesn’t come close to describing the two extremely dissimilar ways they run. Mo Farah runs long distances while Usain Bolt focuses on 100- or 200-meter distances. If you asked them to switch running disciplines, what would that look like? Oh, it would look like Konomi trying to speed climb instead of bouldering.
It’s a good thing that Konomi realized she wouldn’t find the answer within herself, but mixing and matching different climbing styles wouldn’t work either, because those styles don’t fit her body. Iwakakeru! introduced a new character to break that deadlock in Konomi’s mind, which I don’t mind at all, because we got another tanned muscled body to look at in the next episode.
Heh.
Isn’t nepotism in Iwakakeru! great? Sayo, the school director’s daughter, convinced the school to install a speed wall. Aw. Konomi is sad about Jun, but it’s all good. Jun the tsundere has returned!
Konomi still eats poorly. Jun will start complaining again. Konomi wouldn’t have it any other way. Jun smiles as she recalls having fun climbing. Konomi smiles at Jun smiling. This is an Iwakakeru! moment. Moments over! Aw. Konomi wanted to be the one to rescue Jun and bring her back. Konomi wants a friendly rival. Spoiler alert. She already does. She’s closer than she thinks. Jun knows who her rival is. Hee.
Nonoka is happy to have her straight man back. Jun thought Nonoka was one of the Iwakakeru! fools. Nonoka mumbles to herself. Sayo-chin is a bit crazy. She let some first-year student on her first day in the club try to kick out another one. Crazy! Speed climbing is not Konomi’s jam. She needs to do lunging and sprinting moves, not the deliberate grasp and hold she does for bouldering. Her time is terrible. She needs to knock nine seconds off that attempt to be competitive for the Combined Cup. Woof. Huh? Has Konomi not been working out for six months during the Iwakakeru! time skip? How does she not have any stamina at all? She should be sprinting up that wall three times in a row for an interval workout. Iwakakeru! sets us up for maximum drama and disappointment.
Jun breaks the speed wall down for Konomi. Sad Konomi is sad. Her times aren’t improving much at all. Training camp time on Iwakakeru!. Oh, only Jun and Konomi are going to a speed training camp. We’ll meet some of the other girls we saw before. Ha. Akane is here already. Ignored! Kurea too. Funny. Akane backs away from Kurea. Kurea has been working hard these last six months to beat Konomi. It doesn’t look like Konomi did extra squats or weight cutting. The samurai girl Satou is here too.
Hahaha! Jun worries about all this trash-talk laid on Konomi, but she just said she’s glad she came! The former competitive gamer loves competition. Iwakakeru! is in full comedy mode now. Nakata the Route Setter is the coach of this training camp and he loves looking at teenage girl muscles. Creepy! Oh? Is Konomi shy around men? Is this why she went to an all-girl school? It looks like Nakata healed nicely from that assault by the ugly stick in his previous appearance. Nakata is all right. He wants to foster climbing skills on the national level. There was supposed to be an Olympics connection to Iwakakeru! this year. Konomi eats all this talk up.
Konomi has much work to do to improve her times. Aw. Konomi mopes about her performance. Nakata is a good coach. If Konomi can’t figure out how to climb faster on her own, then she can watch the other Iwakakeru! girls and pick up their cues. But she still needs to choose the techniques that work best for her body and climbing style. Plus, she needs to practice using them. And then Nakata crossed over the line into the ick factor.
High Concentration Konomin has evolved in Iwakakeru! and can analyze other climbers. Har. Virtual Konomin takes the hairstyles of who she analyzes. Hilarious. Virtual Konomin even has Kurea’s smug eyebrow. It’s Konomi’s turn to synthesize what she learned from other climbers, but I don’t expect a breakthrough here. Oof. She went even slower. Was it a problem of moves or a problem of stamina? That attempt was at the end of the day, so fatigue is a high probability culprit even with all the hesitation of making her body do unfamiliar things.
Steamy bath time! Boo. Iwakakeru! disappoints for fanservice. Kurea is here for all the mean girl negging. Kurea becomes frustrated that she can’t provoke a response from the sulking Konomi. Oh no! Kurea made Konomi cry! Kurea wanted banter, not vulnerability. Smack! Where did that come from? Is this the same thing Akane went through with Jun last episode? If this girl who beat me sucks so much, how much more must I suck? Or is it a case of beating your rival at her best? Let’s go with the second one. The first one raises many borderline personality disorder issues.
Jun needed to chuckle at Konomi’s story. Wow. Her hair is long now. Jun just went through the same thing with Akane at the climbing shop in the last Iwakakeru! episode. Jun noticed Konomi’s problem on the wall — she wasn’t climbing in her style. Konomi needs to choose the techniques of others that fit her climbing style and body type. I called that. It’s only the first day of training camp. Konomi shouldn’t be so hard on herself. Ah. Jun did figure out what caused her performance anxiety. Konomi’s best newcomer results dashed Jun’s sense of self-worth which she based on her years of climbing experience. Aw. Konomi needs to cry and apologize to Jun for breaking her spirit. It wasn’t her fault!
Back at it again. Konomi needs to find what works best for her. Iwakakeru! gives us a new blonde tanned girl running the walls. Who is she? She’s doing pro-level times. She’ll be important to Konomi in the next episode.
Iwakakeru! Sport Climbing Girls streams on Crunchyroll.
