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6 years ago in 2016, there once was a thread about Sports Anime. Not any one in particular, just Sports Anime. While it may have unjustly wilted and fallen into archives a short year later, the spirit of the thread did not die...! Inspired by that thread and the ongoing simulstream of sports anime, I have decided to try tweaking and reviving this concept centered around  Seasonal Sports Anime! And then after some  This season has seemed pretty robust for Sports, pending the breadth of your definition. While BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls' Story- seems the runaway hit, discussion on Ao Ashi is positive, and both Fanfare of Adolescence and Dance Dance Danseur have been sleeper surprises. There's also Love All Play if your badminton thirst runs deeper than what last season's Ryman Club could slake. So if any, many, or all of these have caught your interest this season, post away! Especially if you're watching Love All Play, which I'm not watching and have heard nearly nothing about. Synopses below:  Ao Ashi posted:Ashito Aoi is an aspiring football player from a backwater town in Japan. His hopes of getting into a high school with a good football club are dashed when he causes an incident during a critical match for his team, which results in their loss and elimination from the tournament. Nevertheless, he catches the eye of someone important who happened to be visiting from Tokyo. How will things turn out for Ashito?  BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls' Story- posted:Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story is a youth story centering on two female golfers. Two girls, Eve and Aoi, who grew up in completely different circumstances and have different play styles, are caught up in the world of women in golf.  Dance Dance Danseur posted:Junpei is happily snoozing away during his sister's ballet recital when a male ballet dancer steps onto the stage. Moved by the strength and skills the dancer displays, the boy discovers his love for this art.  Fanfare of Adolescence posted:The story follows three 15-year-old boys who go to a prestigious horse racing academy to become jockeys. The three-year academy is 10 to 20 times harder to enter than most schools, and whoever wishes to enter must pass an academic, physical, and fitness test.  Love All Play posted:Ryou Mizushima enrolls in junior high and joins the badminton club with great vigor. Although the club didn't have a proper coach, Mizushima improved his skills with his own physical strength by the time he participated in the prefectural tournament. Afterwards, he is approached by the Yokohama Minato High School's badminton coach, Ebihara. If you're interested in the aforementioned simulstream, you can join us HERE each Thursday at 6:30PM CDT for the new episodes of Birdie Wing, Fanfare of Adolescence, and Dance Dance Danseur. All five titles stream on Crunchyroll, times below: Ao Ashi, Saturdays at 12:00PM GMT BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls' Story-, Tuesdays at 10:00AM CDT Dance Dance Danseur, Fridays at 1:45PM CDT Fanfare of Adolescence, Saturdays at 11:00AM CDT Love All Play, Saturdays at 5:00AM CDT dogsicle fucked around with this message at 03:47 on Apr 26, 2022 |
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Apr 26, 2022 03:17
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 11:44 |
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to kick things off, takes on some of the shows that haven't really popped up in the main seasonal thread yet: Fanfare of Adolescence - these early episodes have been more focused on expanding the cast and building their dynamics, but with ep3 tying up Grace's initial arc i'm looking forward to a greater focus on the riding aspects in the context of our cast, rather than the ep2 race that had one of their senpai/alumni. seems like a solid pickup if you have a bias for cute guys and antics, and if cg horses won't send you screaming. there is something so funny about having a typical Sawano insert with vocals kick in over a cg horse race. Dance Dance Danseur - i had read the first chapter or two of this manga and put it down, since its Welcome to the Ballroom vibe incl the toxic masculinity angle felt redundant. the anime seemed like a decent time to reevaluate and i have honestly been loving it! the character designs are definitely a hurdle, but Junpei's struggle to be honest and figure out/admit what he actually wants is alternately compelling and hilarious. he's a bit stupid, can't keep a poker face to save his life, and Miyako or her mom always seem to be around to take the piss out of him. the dancing has also been solid so far, and the OP/ED are both great.
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Apr 26, 2022 03:32
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by popular request of Strange Quark, feel free to share non-seasonal sports series thoughts here as well. with Summer being comparatively light on sports, i'll probably try a 1:1 reboot of the original Srice thread then. 👍
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Apr 26, 2022 03:54
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not that it was unexpected, but glad Ao Ashi has closed out the tryouts this week. it's still in a place where i'm not finding the other kids particularly compelling aside from how they bounce off Ashito, though Akutsu was a great heel in the match. i think the issue only stands out to me because they draw attention to some of them for strange moments like Otomo's "I can focus in the game simply because I like soccer" or the beady-eyed kid that pulls about equal focus in the episode to just hype Ashito to the audience as he's washing out in despair. with Birdie Wing i just hope it stays on the bullshit, though maybe "shady money match vs snake-themed bdsm lesbian in a fully modular underground golf course" will prove hard to top. the excess on display is just astounding between Vipere's theremin theme, her obnoxiously loud zipper and tongue noises, the transforming course being animated like a mecha launch sequence, and the entire romcom sequence of rushing to meet Aoi. really hoping now that Vipere has been defanged she falls into the comedy villain support squad with the other hustler Eve busted. Strange Quark posted:We're four episodes into Fanfare of Adolescence and it's been very promising so far. I went into this show expecting nothing other than knowing that the director served as the episode director of three random episodes of IDOLiSH7, but it's got the vibe down pretty good. You've got the usual mix of stupid, wacky antics, but I especially like how the show has been weaving in the cast's anxieties and insecurities. Our main character is a recently retired idol, and unlike a certain other show (Aquatope), it's actually feels like a purposeful element. He gets recognized in public all the time and it clearly bothers him, and one of his jockey classmates had bought into the whole idol inspiration thing as a fan and now has to deal with the disillusionment of realizing his favorite idol wasn't actually enjoying what he did. An easy rec to idol drama fans if it can deliver on the character arcs it's set up. i definitely had expectations/hopes for Fanfare more centered on the details and practice of racing which at least up to now has been scarce, buuut that's fine. the Aki backstory really hit a surprising note of fleshing out the world, to have a character with a deep connection to Yuu's idol work that raises beyond the already-there elements that could often fade into the background (e.g. the documentarian staying with them, some extras recognizing Yuu). fingers crossed on Danseur continuing to include his dumped friends/uncle. it does seem like the sort of thing where the series could relax after having cast off the big obstacle in the way of its main focus and end up not looking back. i'll say i really enjoyed how Junpei's attempts to resolve the bullying he caused, even the one that seems to have succeeded, are all just so half-assed and don't show any real thought to or understanding of Luou. it's a realistic and interesting resolution since there's still a lot to work through between the two of them even without Miyako complicating that relationship. UnderFreddy posted:i am very happy to have a good footie anime after the disaster that was (imo) Days. also  all my homies hate Days. still a very strong memory of feeling let down by that anime and its excessive focus on an awful lead while other characters would show promise they never explored.
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Apr 30, 2022 17:59
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 very glad Birdie Wing having HTC involved in production treated us to at least one episode of Gratuitous VR. i'm curious of the eventual resolution they'll land on with the girls occupying either side of the golf world, though mostly since i never want to leave the illegal golfing plots e.g. the ep preview confirming my greatest hopes of Vipere as a bumbling ally in this conflict against Catherine (because of course) . Fanfare was in a similar spot this week by having a lower key episode to hit some character beats before ending with an overwrought cliffhanger. I did like Jiro's attempt to talk sense into Hayato via their shared dad issues over the past two eps, and the blowup between Hayato and Yu was great as a conflict that emerges basically from coincidence but could be a good turning point for Yu...unfortunately it seems like Hayato needs to endure a horse pileup before his lesson is learned. 😔 Danseur continues to be excellent, though i don't feel like there's much to add here either. Junpei's entry into actually learning ballet is expectedly without external friction (thanks mom), though i appreciate that they balance his natural aptitude and advantages from solo practice/jeet kune do etc by a pile of bad ballet quirks he's gotten from just dancing as the spirit takes him. same for having Luou not only address his dislike of Junpei for how the bullying situation was handled, but multiply it by the typical disdain for a rough, overconfident intruder you sometimes see from a character already long-established in a given sport/hobby. with Junpei being fully taken by Luou's dancing and coming off less frustrated/jealous of him, it'll be fun to see the unbalanced rivalry develop.
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May 6, 2022 03:21
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| # ¿ May 16, 2024 11:44 |
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that was honestly part of the early episodes' charm to me, watching someone finally feed his love for dance again while he protests too much. he's certainly inconveniencing others a bit along the way, but for the most part it's just him being his own worst enemy in a way that made me laugh a lot. but yeah, after the first couple episodes he's definitely over it and has other challenges related to his mindset about dance to work through. i've really enjoyed the latest episodes as Junpei gets proactive about gaining a better understanding of capital-b Ballet, and it causing him to look back and cringe at his past arrogance and hedonism (from a whole several days ago, my god!). not that he's grown beyond it enough to do things like reevaluate his goals to something more attainable, or avoid getting into stupid flexing competitions with other dancers.  similarly, the scenes of Luou talking back/standing up to bullies while still being unable to make direct eye contact are a great measured bit of (entertaining) character growth. oh, and they didn't forget that Junpei's friend exists, which was a super nice addition to the competition scenes along with the dance mom comments lol. very weird how relationshipped up some of these middle schoolers are though.
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May 29, 2022 04:48
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