Episode 8

## ©2022「アキバ冥途戦争」製作委員会 / Akiba Maid War Production Committee

**A Blood-soaked Ballgame: The Kyun of Victory Shines On You** (鮮血に染まる白球　栄光は君に輝キュン♡, *Senketsu ni Somaru Hakkyū Eikō wa Kimi ni Kagaya-kyun ♡*) is the eighth episode of Akiba Maid War. It broadcasted in Japan on November 25, 2022.

## Synopsis

After being absorbed into Creatureland, the Maidaliens were rebranded into an Axolotl-themed maid café. As they hold a funeral for Manami, the Oinky Doink Manager comes to pay her respects with the Debt Collector, but ends up upseting them. Nagi then arrives and, while wielding Manami's signature bat, orders both sides to settle their grievances with a baseball game. Nagomi is elated that the maids can engage in a peaceful match, but with the café short the minimum number of baseball players, the Manager is forced to hire three Venezuelans (José, Luis, Antonio) to fill out her side. The Oinky Doink team gets off to a hot start, though the Venezuelans are not ballplayers, but tourists in Akihabara at the time. With her team behind, Ugaki orders her team to start cheating, and one of the Axolotl maids strikes Nagomi on the head with a bat.

The game soon turns into a brawl, despite Nagomi's efforts to focus on the baseball game itself. However, a couple of Axolotl maids grow impressed with her resolve and start ignoring their manager's cries. Ugaki herself decides to step in and attack Ranko with a bat, but is knocked down by Zoya. Suddenly, Ugaki is backstabbed by her Axolotl mascot, who turns out to be Miyabi, shortly before getting stabbed with her dagger. However, the Axolotl team pretended they were both still alive to finish the game, which Rankp wins with a final strikeout. After the game, Ranko meets with Nagi, recognizing her as her sworn sister from 15 years ago. Nagi tells her that she should have fought for their mistress in the past, and now must fight for the sake of her group otherwise, she'll have no place in Akiba.

## Characters

### In Order of Appearance

* Nagomi Wahira
* Ranko Mannen
* Yumechi
* Shiipon
* Zoya
* Yasuko Yaegashi
* Okachimachi
* Nagi
* Kazue Ugaki
* Debt Collector
* Miyabi

## Trivia

* After Zoya dropkicks Ugaki as she attempts to attack Ranko, she then threatens to turn Ugaki into Pirozhki a stuffed pastry that is filled with either savory or sweet fillings and then baked or deep fried.
* The scene where the teams are standing in line and crying as Oinky Doink Café sings a song mirrors the end of the Kōshien baseball tournament, a tournament held for Japanese high school baseball teams that is nationally televised and considered a major sporting event. Specifically:
	+ The Oinky Doink Cafe singing a song about the café parodies the tradition where the winning team sings their school song out loud.
	+ It is rather common to see the players and coaches from the losing team cry at the end of the game, due to the extreme difficulty of making it through the tournament only to lose at the very end. For the seniors team members, it also signifies the end of their high school baseball career.

## References

1. ↑ Japan's field of dreams: school baseball teams vie for Koshien glory
2. ↑ Can five middle-aged guys who graduated high school years ago still sing their school songs?
3. ↑ Koshien Summer High School Baseball Japan. It's big!