I try to be as objective as I can when writing a review. But perfect objectivity is impossible and in my opinion, undesirable.
The average grade is completely irrelevant and shouldn't matter to anyone. I personally rated this show 8.
Overview
Touch is a high school sports romance drama based on the manga written by Cross Game. Unlike most sports anime out there, the series puts emphasis on its characters and their interactions. As for the actual game of baseball, it is presented realistically, completely free of shounen like special moves and whatnot. This combination made Touch insanely popular in Japan as well as in Europe (even though baseball is essentially non-existent here).
This is the second out of the 3 recap movies. Although those films have added scenes and a changed plot, they're pretty much obscure, at least outside of Japan.
Even online fansubs are hard to find and their quality isn't that great.
Animation: 8
A bit better than the first movie.
The art again is very pleasing and maintains the same look from the original. The character design are improved and you can tell right away who is who. A greater attention is given to their bodies that look great from any angle and in any moment. Minami's rhythmic gymnastic exercises are very fluid and simply stunning
The backgrounds are detailed and in some scenes even amazing. The people in the background and the game spectators are rendered a lot better this time around. They aren't just a static image this time. The lighting is a lot better as well, in the dark scenes as well as in the bright ones.
The overall animation is also a lot more dynamic as there are almost no shortcuts taken in depicting movement. The static scenes were treated more carefully in this movie, so there aren't any inconsistencies.
Sound: 8
The background music and the songs are appropriate, but nothing too special. Other miscellaneous sounds are of higher quality and help immerse the viewer in the tension of the baseball games.
The seiyuu are the original ones and do an excellent job as always. Minami and Tatsuya's voice-actors are great at expressing feelings through subtle changes in their tone. Too bad they don't get as many chances to shine as in the series.
Story: 7
This film covers the second year of high-school for Tatsuya and Minami . Weirdly enough, it is mentioned quite a few times that they're freshmen. This is clearly wrong as the preliminary games for the Koushien are once a year and in the freshmen year, Kazuya was the team pitcher. I guess it is just a factual error.
The plot is a direct continuation of the first movie and starts just after Kazuya died and Tatsuya pitched in his place in the final. Unfortunately, it doesn't have much in common with what happens in the same time period in the original. Clocking in at just 79 minutes, including the credits, it doesn't spend much time on anything else but the preliminary tournament for the Koushien and Minami's competitions.
The changes are pretty dramatic and if you've seen the series, you can't help but feel that the producers took the easy way out. Conflicts that took dozens of episodes to get resolved and involved a lot of people are discarded altogether or finished with a good old heart to heart conversation. The training part of every sports anime is neglected, as the leads seem to get better extremely fast. But, even worse is the fact that everything is easily predictable.
The plot flows well again. There are a few short romantic moments, but the general feeling is that the story is rehashed from a random sports drama.
Character Development: 7
While the first movie pretty much destroyed Kazuya's character, this film does almost the same to Minami. It is to be expected, considering the fact that the focus is on Tatsuya and his inner turmoil. She loses her stubbornness, her strong will, her doubts and comes out as kinda submissive.
The only character that grows is Tatsuya that learns to deal with his brother's death and find his own purpose in life.
Value: 6
This is a reasonable adaptation of a classic, but it is inferior to it in every way imaginable. It is a good baseball drama, but it doesn't have much value for those that don't like this sport.
Enjoyment: 7
I didn't like it as much as the first movie. Even if it was shorter, I felt it dragged in the second half. I am curious to see how they will deal with all these changes in the third film, but I don't have as many expectations as before.
