A few days ago, we had a bit of a storm after an official advertisement for the opening theme of Achiga-hen referred to the song as the “first season opening”. The slip was discussed left and right, but things seemed to simmer down after fans analyzed how many possible misinterpretations of the word season the person behind the one-time announcement might have made.
Fans might find it increasingly more difficult not to get their hopes up, though, after a recent interview with the show’s director, Ono Manabu:
Starting from the semi-finals, I want to take my time presenting the playing styles of individual characters and painting the drama and stories behind them. (…) The developments following the vanguard match should be particularly interesting, as they will take part nearly simultaneously with the manga, and it’ll be anyone’s guess what’s up ahead.
As manga readers can attest to, just the vanguard match against the final boss candidate Miyanaga Teru might take the anime up to episode eleven or twelve. How the anime staff plans on giving a detailed account of the other matches right now remains in the realm of speculation. Extra episodes via Internet distribution, OVAs, or maybe a second season? Only time will tell.
Nevermind Teru, there are FOUR other Shiraitodai members after her, all hinted to be very strong in their own right. While I do think Ritz has given the anime staff an outline to work with, a lot of the details might have to be made whole-cloth just to fill in episodes (like what they did with the Individuals in the first episodes, which were skipped on in the manga).