Agreed. The first cour was making the dough, but the second baked it in an oven without letting the preheat finish first. Lopsided and slightly doughy. The pace picked up too much and focus shifted to the arms race between Eve and Aoi so much that the antagonists didn't get any chances to shine or be interesting foils. Too many went from 'I'm gonna win' to 'So... I lost' within the same episode and matches felt like more of a formality.

I liked the soap opera drama, but it fizzled out and nothing interesting was done with it narratively, which fed into the repetitive power ups and jobbing.

I respect that the ending wrapped things up and Even didn't win the British open before time heals all wounds, legal and otherwise. Eve is such an unlikable character - pure bravado - that I was rooting against her by the end and that might have played into some matches being uninteresting, if mercifully short.

In short, this is a good, simplistic take on old school shounen battle anime; but a terrible sports anime.