Konomi meets Anne Kurusu, the pro climber. Jun teaches children how to climb walls.
Wall 9 – “The Princess of Climbing”
Hmm.
Iwakakeru! connected the two stories of Konomi and Jun through their antagonists. We learned Anne Kurusu uses intimidation and trash-talking to demoralize future opponents who might threaten her winning record. Akane the Rookie Killer did the same thing to Konomi in the second episode. Here, Akane built up Jun instead of tearing her down. Jun was someone who had defeated her repeatedly, and this better climber became part of Akane’s view of herself. If Jun is a terrible climber now, then wouldn’t that make Akane even more terrible? She can’t have that, so she decided to put Jun back up where she belongs to preserve her own identity.
The way Iwakakeru! shows Jun’s circumstances at the sport climbing shop invites questions. First, it’s been six months, but we saw she couldn’t climb up a wall at all. Was this only a case of performance anxiety? Is she fine climbing by herself, so she should be in great shape, but gets the yips in front of an audience? Didn’t Jun develop her performance anxiety at the semifinals? Doesn’t that make it a new problem on top of the underlying one that made her bomb the walls so badly? It appears Iwakakeru! will just concentrate on fixing Jun’s performance anxiety, which is a common sports psychology problem.
I liked the connection Iwakakeru! made between Jun finding how to climb for fun again and smiling for customers and children’s classes. She started climbing for fun as a child, so this was a neat way of removing the stick from Jun’s backside. This redevelopment of Jun’s fun side humanized her, and it emphasized her tsundere ways. Jun’s bashful nature will still be an obstacle to reconciling with Konomi. The Iwakakeru! episode brought Jun forward a great distance in redeeming her character. She’s still prickly, though.
Heh.
Iwakakeru! did it. They really did it. They skipped six months of Konomi competing in climbing meets. Konomi has a new gold puzzle hairpin to balance her original blue one. She’s done so well that announcers have a name for her puzzle-solving – “Murder Observation.” Konomi doesn’t like it. I don’t like it either. Crazy announcers.
Sayo complimented Konomi on her progress during the last six months Iwakakeru! didn’t show us. Nonoka pointed out the important part that dudes like watching her. Ya think? Konomi doesn’t want to sully her lily paradise of climbing girls with the idea of icky boys. Speaking of icky boys, Anne Kurusu appears for an exhibition climb for her fans.
Anne pays attention to potential opponents. She’s aware of Sayo, and all of Iwakakeru!’s Three Climbing Dames. And Konomi too! Nonoka didn’t want to be part of this scene. Anne is setting Konomi up for something. Konomi vs. Anne in the exhibition match! That whispering thing reminds me of Akane the Rookie Killer. The last time Konomi was in a climbing duel, it was against Jun for joining the sport climbing club. Sayo thinks it’s a good thing. We’ll see why. Trust the Sayo-chin, Nonoka!
I’m not a fan of “Murder Observation” but Iwakakeru! really wants to push it. Anne’s pointy hair buns made me think of a cat before, but now I see her as a demon ogre. Konomi only has a minute to solve the wall. That’s not enough time for her. Anne crushed Konomi in the duel.
Anne seemed nice in public, but then in the showers the naked truth comes out. Iwakakeru! puts it in the right place. Anne demoralizes Konomi and just wants to make beating her at the Combined Cup sweeter. Anne, the pro climber, looks down on the amateurs and needs to make it clear that they can’t even approach her level. Anne also seems confident this tack works negatively on Konomi instead of motivating her. Konomi should just make fun of her flat chest… That is hot. Naked girls glaring at each other soaking wet. Oh, nice. Konomi got under Anne’s skin too. She has two months to back up her tough talk.
Sayo looks on the bright side. Konomi learned her weak points in that exhibition match Iwakakeru! dumped on her. She needs to climb faster. Sayo (and Nonoka) explain how the Combined Cup points work. Like golf, the lower score (your rank in Speed, Bouldering, and Lead) is better. Who do they know who can train her? Oh, they know someone we haven’t seen in six months. Jun’s hair grew longer. Boo. She still ignores Konomi.
Har! Jun can’t ignore a customer! Iwakakeru! did a good thing making Jun work retail at the sports climbing shop. Even better! Akane is there to tease her staff senpai! So much mean girl negging… They better not do that in front of children. Jun is a climbing nerd, but she has trouble taking a child’s perspective to explain things. That’s part of her whole issue of taking climbing so seriously and not letting other people enjoy it differently. It’s been a big issue since the first Iwakakeru! episode. Fun. Akane explains the climbing wall as collecting gems. Instead of Poppit, it’s Bejeweled for Akane. Jun will blow her stack at such talk. Climbing isn’t a game!
Jun doesn’t understand how Akane can be good at public speaking but still be the Rookie Killer. Uh, someone who plays mind games knows how to play with minds. Iwakakeru! is good at showing this. Jun’s mental game is weak. Ha! Akane made Jun run the hard route. Oh. Jun still has performance anxiety like what happened on the final wall at the semifinals. No improvement for six months? That’s not good.
Hoh. Akane needs to fix Jun so she can’t be a worse loser to a loser. Whatever works for preserving self-esteem. Gah! Jun did not need to run into Konomi right now. Also, hasn’t Konomi run into Jun at the shop before now too? Such a strangely written Iwakakeru! episode. So awkward when ex-girlfriends meet up after a long time.
Iwakakeru! finally exacts its revenge on Jun. If she doesn’t beat Akane, she’ll have to quit the club, er, stop working at the climbing shop. This is Akane’s first day at her part-time job. Sigh. Let’s get to the end where Jun learns a wholesome lesson and remembers to eat her vitamins, or whatever. Jun only climbed with the Hanamiya High School Sport Climbing Club for two months, yet she feels so much loyalty to them. She’s been away from them three times as long as she was with them. Please, just let me see Jun in spandex flexing her abs again.
Ah. How Jun Uehara Got Her Groove Back, AKA, Iwakakeru! Episode Nine. Jun remembers that climbing never stopped being fun. She was the one who changed, so she can change back. Eek. Big sisters should not fight in front of little kids. Okay, Jun started moving again. She regained her childlike joy for climbing. Akane dug her own grave for the next climbing meet, but she saved her own self-worth by making Jun better than her again, so she can crush her on her own terms. Akane is a crazy person, but it worked out for Jun somehow.
Iwakakeru! Sport Climbing Girls streams on Crunchyroll.
