Spring 2021 First Impressions – Farewell, My Dear Cramer

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 13

Source: Manga

Story Summary: Women’s sports are often underfunded and given significantly less prestige than men’s sports; the girls and women who play them sometimes have to navigate additional hurdles to find recognition. Nozomi has played on boys’ teams through middle school because she feels the members of the girls’ teams aren’t serious enough; Sumire has become a one-girl show, rivaled only by her, well, rival Midori. These players and others find their way onto the struggling girls’ soccer team at an unassuming high school, and suddenly against all odds, their competitive spirit starts to find a home. Soon after their year begins, a big name returns to the school to help coach this group into becoming a winning team.

Impressions: Much like the real-world reception for women’s sports, the anime landscape for series and movies based around them is largely a mixed bag. For every anime that portrays them seriously, there are several more that are overly-cloying, overly-dramatic, or overly-sexualized. The first episode of Farewell, My Dear Cramer is one of the few I’ve seen lately that seems to avoid most of those pitfalls, focusing on a more down-to-earth story in which the characters are challenged by the social status of their sport, but also not defined only by their gender.

I like how the story follows a few different focal characters, each trying to manage different challenges as they enter high school. Nozomi’s situation is the most interesting to me because the hurdle she has to overcome is that her skill level is unmatched on the middle school girls’ team, but her strategy of playing with the boys creates even fewer opportunities for her fellow girls to be challenged and do better. It’s a cyclical problem and one that’s not easy to address – should some people be held back for the good of the sport’s long-term health? It’s a big ask of someone who’s a gifted player, and one which might have implications if they later try to go on and play professionally. That said, it also indicates the prevalence of internalized stereotypes and how they insidiously continue to do harm by manifesting themselves into being true even though they’re by no means unavoidable.

When the first and second year team members engage in a practice game to feel out each-others’ skills, the strengths and weaknesses of this adaptation become clear. On the positive side, their match is fun to watch and it’s great to see the characters that we’ve been following from the beginning of the episode break out and prove their skills on the field. On the other hand, the animation throughout this episode is pretty mediocre and where I would have enjoyed some tighter action and more dynamic animation, there’s only some very basic and often off-model imagery. I’ll be the first person to say that it’s not animation quality that makes or breaks an anime for me, despite the fact that it’s literally an animated medium. I’m more concerned with storytelling and character development. But it is a bit of a bummer when something that could have been extra fun with some cool action misses the mark in that regard.

That said, I find the characters charming and I do love a good story about a down-and-out team finding its footing with fresh members. 10 years later I still fondly think about Giant Killing and its portrayal of a team that nearly everyone had given up on. Sometimes the right team members and competent leadership can go farther than anyone would have expected, and it would be great if this anime could latch onto that idea and go wild.

Pros: I like that this story seems to be going in a “full circle” narrative direction by bringing on Naoko Noumi, the famous player from the Japan National team who inspired Nozomi and others, as the team’s new coach. I like the idea of women helping other women succeed, serving as mentors and inspirational figures rather than being made to needlessly compete for depressingly few resources.

Cons: There are just some odd visual choices in addition to the decidedly “just okay” animation. This anime does this thing I’ve seen elsewhere (Haikyuu! is the first one I thought of) where if characters are standing behind a net or a fence, that piece of the scenery is erased so their entire face is visible. Sometimes it works, but here it feels awkward and just draws more attention toward the other visual issues.

Content Warnings: Mild references to sexism in sports. A gag involving a nosebleed.

Would I Watch More? – I’d like to say yes, and I haven’t dropped the show just yet, but it’s definitely not a sure thing which makes me feel a little sad. I just wasn’t impressed by the quality of the production and unfortunately that aspect of it left a big impression on me.