Tag: Sports

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Halloween Seasonal Special Features

It’s Spooky Season! – Day 11: Backflip!! Episode 5

I always tell people that I’m a fan of sports anime, but that comes with the caveat that I’m extremely picky about the sports anime that I actually watch. If the tone is too juvenile or if the characters are too unlikeable (for a genre that relies so much on character interactions and growth, it’s wild to me how many contain just shitty characters), I won’t actually continue watching the series. So I suppose that I might not really be a sports anime fan, but instead just a general anime fan who happens to like some sports series (in the same way that I enjoy a few comedies, some mecha anime, etc.).

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2022 First Impression – Extreme Hearts

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Hiyori’s idol career has stalled-out before it even truly began. Though she has musical talent and a desire for her songs to be heard, she just hasn’t gained the fandom that her managers would have wanted. Her one true fan, Saki, listens to Hiyori sing after school every day, but one fan does not a career make, no matter how passionate that person may be. Eventually Hiyori’s management terminates her contract, but they leave her with a piece of advice – she may be able to give her budding career the jump-start it needs by entering into one of the many Hyper Sports competitions that are all the rage.

Hyper sports players employ a wide selection of enhancement gear during their matches, which adds an additional element of excitement to the games. The best teams also tend to become famous, which is something Hiyori wants. When she starts training, however, this causes Saki to remember some painful moments from her own soccer-playing past. It isn’t until Hiyori is actually out on the field attempting to make her dream a reality that Saki truly comes to terms with her own failures, and she and her friend Sumika rush onto the field to support Hiyori.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2022 First Impressions – Shoot! Goal to the Future

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Related to Aoki Densetsu Shoot!

Episode Summary: Tsuji was once a star on his soccer team, but his own arrogance over his skills as a shooter eventually spelled his downfall. After that he left soccer behind in favor of other pursuits, though his attitude toward the sport itself took on a specifically sour note. The team at Kakegawa high school has a championship history, but that seems to have faded into the past. Now other teams don’t even find them worth practicing against.

When Jo, one of the current team members perceives Tsuji’s disdain toward soccer, their philosophical differences blow up into a fight. In the background, a mysterious man watches this conflict with unusual interest. This man turns out to be Kamiya, a past member of the team and now a famous pro player. He returned to Japan upon the request of Kakegawa’s principal, and while he seems mostly uninterested in coaching the young members of his former team, witnessing a soccer shoot-out between Tsuji and Jo piques Kamiya’s interest. Perhaps there’s something he may be able to do for the team at Kakegawa high school – but it will take a lot of work for them to reach their destination as a cohesive team.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2022 First Impressions – Fanfare of Adolescence

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 13

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Yu Arimura is a member of a popular idol group, but after seeing horse racing for the first time he becomes fixated on the idea of becoming a jockey. After gaining entrance into an extremely competitive jockey-training high school, Yu’s fans and the media immediately begin questioning his motivations. Why not just continue to live the life of a famous idol like his fans obviously want? But Yu is committed to this new endeavor in spite of their protests.

On the day of the entrance ceremony, Yu’s convictions are put to the test. Not only are members of the media ready and waiting to hassle him, a mishap outside the building causes two horses to get loose, leaving the students to try to wrangle them. Yu feels in over his head, until one late-arriving student named Shun, who appears to have a gift for interacting with the animals, comes to the rescue. Shun shows Yu the view from atop a horse, and Yu realizes that he really is in the right place after all.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Spring 2022 First Impressions – Love All Play

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: TBA

Source: Novel

Episode Summary: Ryo is a middle school badminton player who idolizes one of Yokohama Minato high school’s aces, Kento Yusa. While he’d love to play badminton on the same stage as Yusa, his own skills aren’t quite up to the Yokohama Minato level of play. At least, Ryo believes so until the badminton coach from Yokohama Minato reaches out to him directly and offers to get him entrance into the school on a sports recommendation. As it turns out, Ryo definitely seems to have some untapped potential that might end up giving him a leg-up, so-to-speak.

Ryo’s father is unimpressed and very nearly forbids Ryo from pursuing this opportunity. As a college sports player who encountered trouble after physical injury, he knows first-hand what an inconvenience it can be to lose the ability to access the skills required of the program. However, undeterred, Ryo offers to take a more traditional path toward his dream, by entering the school based on academic achievement. Though this is an uphill battle based on Ryo’s mediocre grades, his sister helps him study and it seems as though he might make the cut. After being asked to join a weekly practice session at Yokohama Minato High School, Ryo is excited to meet Yusa, his idol. But sometimes heroes seen from afar turn out to be very different in person.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Salaryman’s Club

Streaming: Crunchyroll

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Mikoto Shiratori is a former high school badminton star whose doubles career was derailed after a traumatic incident during a match. As an adult he’s played on the corporate team for a large bank, but only as a singles player and with not nearly as much success. After yet another loss, he’s let go from both the team and his job. As he heads back to his parents’ home with his tail between his legs, he gets an unexpected call from the Sunrise Beverage Company looking to recruit him to their company and corporate badminton team.

What Mikoto thought had been a major stroke of luck turns out to have some… caveats. The senpai providing him with job training is a free-spirit named Tatsuru, who first appears to Mikoto face down in a park after a late-night workplace outing. After spending a day with the guy, Mikoto finds out that the intention was to have them both be partners on the badminton court as well – as the two halves of a doubles team. Their coach just happened to omit that little detail. Mikoto’s participation in this ploy comes down to the result of a single’s match between himself and Tatsuru, and while Mikoto’s skill at anticipating his opponent’s moves proves formidable, Tatsuru’s skills and experience come out on top. Now forced to make good on the wager, Mikoto’s sour mood has only just started to rev itself up.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Tribe Nine

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Mixed media (also includes a smartphone game and webtoon)

Episode Summary: In Neo Tokyo, battles between youth gangs steadily got out of hand until in the sport of Extreme Baseball was instilled as the official conflict resolution method of record. Now these gangs, called “tribes,” battle out their differences on the baseball diamond (and the surrounding city, usually). Haru is a bullied kid who doesn’t feel like he has the strength to fight back against his tormenters, but a chance meeting with Taiga, a tuna fisherman with a desire to play Extreme Baseball, and Shun Kamiya, considered to be the Minato Tribe’s ace player, changes the course of Haru’s destiny.

When the Minato Tribe is approached by representatives of a rival group and challenged to a game, the laid-back Shun volunteers both newbies to help represent them on the team. Haru is terrified by the sort of power on display – Extreme Baseball allows the use of various enhancements to provide players with superhuman strength, and their current opponents are heavily invested in these sorts of tools. Haru is scared to step up to the plate, but some advice from Shun and the fact that his eyesight and reflexes are much better than most allows Haru to survive the inning while Shun cleans things up. Haru feels a change in himself, and decides to remain a member of the Minato Tribe (and its team) after all.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Winter 2022 First Impressions – Futsal Boys!!!!!

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Mixed Media Project (including a smartphone game and live-action matches).

Episode Summary: Haru Yamato couldn’t have cared less about Futsal, until he happened to catch a bit of the U-18 world cup in which Tennouji, a player from Japan, pulled out one of his special moves. Now remaking himself in Tennouji’s image (or at least getting into the sport) has become a goal of Yamato’s. On his way to his high school entrance ceremony, a seemingly-ill-fated shortcut brings him face-to-face (though upside-down) with Seiichiro Sakaki, whose Futsal skill is definitely top-tier. The two successfully use the game to dissuade some bullies from picking on a group of kids.

But Sakaki is a bit of a one-man show, and therein lies the issue; though he and Yamato want to join the Futsal club at their school and find themselves in a pickup game fending off bullies once again, it’s clear to the more experienced team members that his lack of willingness to work together with others may become an issue. Can Yamato’s youthful spirit and willingness to have fun possibly break through Sakaki’s hard, selfish shell?

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Autumn 2021 First Impressions – PuraOre! ~Pride of Orange~

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Multimedia Project

Episode Summary: The members of the junior high embroidery club are used to turning their stitches one-by-one into small works of art. But when Manaka invites the other group members to attend an information session for the Dream Monkeys, the local ice hockey team, they start to discover a much different way of weaving together their various talents and skills.

The mastermind behind this beginner’s class is Coach Matsunaga, a former player and someone with high aspirations for the Dream Monkeys. Not only is she on the lookout for new team members, she hopes to incorporate a brand new form of entertainment into the games – having the team members perform a victory dance following their wins, thus turning each hockey match into a show. This goal seems questionable on its surface but it just might work; the members of the embroidery club, as well as a couple of students from a neighboring school, all seem interested in giving this new sport a try.

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Anime Reviews First Impressions Reviews

Summer 2021 First Impressions – Re-Main

Streaming: Funimation

Episodes: 12

Source: Original

Episode Summary: Half a year ago, Minato was on top of the world. He and his middle school water polo team were national champions. But a freak car accident left Minato in a coma, and now that he’s finally awakened he’s missing those memories of middle school and the sport he once loved. All he wants is a feeling of normalcy, and when he pledges to re-join water polo it’s because he wants his family to worry about him less. But his atrophied muscles and the fact that he still has to study for high school entrance exams mean that his promise to take up his formerly favorite sport again is one he likely won’t be able to keep.

After 8 months of studying and rehab, Minato is accepted into a perfectly average high school that’s close to his house. Moments into his first day, however, is when he starts getting bombarded by requests to join sports clubs, including the water polo club. Jo, the head of the club, recognizes Minato from his middle school days, and Eitarou (Minato’s biggest fan) corroborates this against Minato’s will. As Minato runs from his two pursuers, he discovers one more forgotten relationship that may have once held a place of high importance for him.

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