Naturally, the show has quite a few difficult-to-watch sequences, but the overall tone is still hopeful. Most characters have complex home lives that are shown in quite a bit of detail, and the show touches upon themes of bullying and even child abuse. That description can be attached to roughly a million sports anime and manga, but Stars Align is far more concerned with the students' lives away from the court than most of its contemporaries. Revolving around a school's soft tennis club, the anime chronicles the team's growth as its members gain confidence and come together to pursue their dreams of competing at an inter-school tournament. Although not a complete unknown, Stars Align is nevertheless a fairly obscure modern sports anime, which is a shame as the story takes quite a few risks that set it apart from the genre's typical output. Without a preinstalled fanbase to lean on, these series need some other calling card to garner attention, be it a well-known director or a unique setting. Unless a studio has enough name recognition to carry all the momentum on its own, anime that are not adaptations run the risk of falling by the wayside. All three leads are charming, and Joutarou's struggles are not commonly explored by sports anime. Leaning into comedy, The Gymnastics Samurai can get pretty silly at times, although its gymnastic competitions are consistently great. While father time will always be undefeated, Joutarou plans to go down fighting thanks to his daughter's encouragement and the support of Leo, a fan-turned-friend. While still capable in his own right, the performer is no longer in his athletic prime, and he has started to notably decline. Once upon a time, Joutarou was hailed as Japan's best gymnast. As its name implies, The Gymnastics Samurai is about gymnastics, making it basically the only anime that covers the subject. Obviously, they are popular for a (profitable) reason and deserve all this attention however, it is nice when a series comes along that highlights a more niche activity. Each sport has at least a couple of noteworthy shows, and they tend to frequently feature in new manga stories. Hinomaru Sumo handles its characters' development well by blending realism and hype to create an experience that is grounded but also filled with satisfying moments.Īnime loves tennis, soccer, and especially baseball. Consequently, he needs to prove his worth by competing in tournaments as part of a high school team, a process that sees him training and fighting alongside a range of characters who are also dealing with insecurities and challenges. At the start of the show, the protagonist is already a capable fighter, but he is not tall enough to meet the requirements to become a professional sumo wrestler. Ushio loves sumo, and he has been training for years. The anime's strengths lie in its likable main characters and intense fight sequences, the latter of which compare favorably to most martial arts-based stories. Hinomaru Sumo does not try to reinvent the wheel, instead opting to rely on a well-worn but successful structure to tell an enjoyable and exciting story. However, push past the unusual central activity and one will find a fairly straightforward sports shonen anime about a disregarded character looking to prove everyone wrong and become the best in the business. Sumo is not a topic that has been mined extensively by anime or manga, and this shortage adds an element of novelty to this particular series. Ultimately, fans of the genre will need to look to the past to get their fill of sports shows. The Way of Pon could work for viewers who like board games, although it is not available on a Western streaming service. Otherwise, Winter has no other sports stories, along with very few shows that might be able to scratch a similar itch. Technically, the quarter has one anime that fits the bill in Captain Tsubasa: Junior Youth Arc however, that show started in Fall 2023 (and will continue until the end of Spring 2024). It is not unusual for a season to come along that does not contain any additions to the genre, and Winter 2024 is (almost) a prime example. Updated Januby Mark Sammut: While not rare, sports anime are not quite common either. Some shows are even so well regarded that they've transcended being well-regarded only as sports stories and moved into "best animes of all time" territory. Still, few rival the best sports anime that fans and critics alike have declared all-time greats.
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