I've caught a bit of a cold, so I'll just say whatever comes to mind. I'll add more once I'm feeling better. I'd actually considered many of these suggestions before starting the story, so I'll address them one by one.
First, the school issue. A lot of you readers have already figured out that he'll definitely be going to Seidou.
Personally, I feel that the true protagonist and core of Ace of Diamond is still Sawamura. No matter what kind of personalities the Seidou players have, the reason they all like him may be a mix of admiration and affection for Sawamura's particular kind of gentleness. Just like his middle school teammates—even those who didn't play baseball or had never participated in sports—were willing to endure hard training with Sawamura. I don't know how to put it into words anymore.
How should I put it? I feel like without that lively guy, Ace of Diamond wouldn't be nearly as interesting.
The passion and comedy both came from Sawamura. In the manga right now, Sawamura alone was carrying all of Seidou forward. At least spiritually, he was the pillar.
At first, I considered whether he should go to Yakushi or Seidou, but in the end I decided on Seidou. Although Raichi's personality was a lot like Little Angel's, he lacked that spirit of leading the team in a positive direction.
I also considered taking Little Angel out to form a team in Nagano, defeat Nagano's powerhouse schools, and enter Koshien. Coach Nakanishi was originally set up for that plotline; he had the ability to join a Major League coaching staff. But on one hand, the powerhouse coaches in Ace of Diamond were far more formidable than real-life Japanese coaches. On the other, what would happen to Seidou without Sawamura? In their first year, they might lose the finals terribly. Sawamura's nerves of steel carried them through several innings that first year. And Sawamura's later fear of pitching wasn't because he was afraid of hitting someone—it was because that Hit-by-Pitch had become the reason they lost. At least, that's what Sawamura's subconscious believed.
Let's talk about coaches first. The first two—Big Windup! and Mitsuru Adachi's works—were basically coaches directing things by imitation. Ace of Diamond was closer to the professional level, mainly relying on psychological warfare, with coaches taking over the game through direction at crucial moments as a supplement. The players were mainly encouraged to think for themselves. That's how you develop professional players while still winning games. So teams like that were far stronger than teams that relied entirely on a coach constantly giving Signals, or on a coach sitting beside the field like a smiling Buddha. The teams in Ace of Diamond were fully professionalized, and there was also a gap in intelligence warfare.
This will come up in the high school arc. You could already see a huge difference in the anime. For example, during Seidou's first year, they had a practice game against Osaka Toin, then another against Inajitsu the next day. Inajitsu had no idea Seidou had played a practice game against Osaka Toin. The same went for the three-way practice game between Inajitsu and Shu Bei, when Tanba got injured. Aside from Inajitsu and Shu Bei, no one knew Tanba had been hurt. That showed how well they handled secrecy. You wouldn't see the amateur teams from Mitsuru Adachi's works or Big Windup! casually scouting their opponents.
What was I talking about next?
Right, the female lead. There will be one, and influenced by Mitsuru Adachi's works, she'll also be a childhood friend. Her name and background will be slight adjustments of a female character from an anime that's still updating recently. The rest is confidential.
His position in high school is also confidential. Sendou's high school position may change; it'll be a bit like filling in wherever the team lacks people. His talents were introduced over several previous chapters.
To sum it up, his reactions were faster, so he'd be very strong in the infield. But since he was left-handed, there would be some obstacles. Those obstacles were only compared to himself, though.
His reactions were a cut above everyone else's, so even if he switched to pitching right-handed or turned and threw with his left hand, he wouldn't be slower than anyone else.
But I won't have him play positions that aren't suited to left-handers—second base, third base, and shortstop. Those were all right-handed positions. The protagonist could handle them and play them well, but he wouldn't play them.
His explosive power meant he could pitch or catch, while his speed and spatial awareness would make him equally unstoppable in the outfield. But as previous chapters have said, the protagonist prioritized batting, and that would run through the entire story, even though his batting technique wasn't that great. That's it for his position. His talent was that of a hexagonal all-rounder, and one who exceeded the standards across the board. Those traits supported his lifestyle and way of thinking.
Just like Matsuzaka Daisuke, who didn't train in middle school, got beaten up in high school, then worked hard for a year and won both the spring and summer championships. If your talent wasn't absurd and you didn't work hard, there was no way you could make it work.
Even people at Narumiya Mei and Raichi's level didn't have the capital to slack off. Narumiya Mei might seem incredible, but strictly speaking, his talent was inferior to Little Angel's and Jianggu's. Like Miyuki and the others, Narumiya Mei spent money attending Little League to learn baseball from age four to six, then went to Little Senior League in middle school, and then high school. He only reached that height after so many years of professional training.
Lastly, I suddenly remembered Sawamura's batting. After watching it many times, I realized that the reason he could make contact whenever he squared up to bunt was because Sawamura's bat speed was too fast. The reason his swing was so fast was that all the joints in his body were flexible, allowing his body to explode like a whip. That made his swing incredibly fast, and bunting indirectly extended the time he had to swing.
I don't know what else to say. If there's anything you want to ask, discuss it here! If I see something I feel like answering, I'll add it to this chapter. There are too many advertisement comments.
I'm really in terrible condition today. After finishing these thousand-plus words, my first feeling was that none of it flowed smoothly at all.
I'm going to sleep first. I really can't hold on anymore. Good night, everyone!
Before you continue