Hanebado!

[KrayZ33]

https://myanimelist.net/anime/37259/Hanebado

"Ayano Hanesaki, a first-year student at Kanagawa Prefectural Kitakomachi High School, has a badminton ability able to surpass others effortlessly yet avoids playing the sport. She meets Nagisa Aragaki, a third-year student who practices day and night aiming to become the best player in Japan. Encouraged by coach Tachibana Kentarou, supported by club colleagues, and fired up by various rivals, the two engage in their youth and adored sport so thrilling like a shuttle flown at high speed!"

(Source: MAL News)



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vv43gRPD2rA

EP1

Badminton is very fun, glad there seems to be a good anime coming up for it this season.

Pretty amazing artwork, but the first episode is always better than the rest.
Looks like it could be a lot of fun.
Girl x Girl vibes too.

(Just to open some discussion)

[David75]

A good shonen with dynamic boobs :p
Could be a good sports anime.

[Ryllharu]

Honestly, I loved the moment where, back to back, the two main characters, one a hard worker, one a prodigy, both question and doubt why they're playing at all. For similar reasons, no less.

That kind of sold the series for me.

[KrayZ33]

Wow... the matches are amazingly dynamic.

This is very fun to watch. I hope they'll keep this up. So far, so good.

Pretty obvious "I'm not a prodigy, I'm a hard worker too" going on with both of the main girls.
Coach is a cool dude too.

[Ryllharu]

Really liking episode 2 as well. This one is a definite keeper.

Animation wise, they're relying a lot on motion capture/rotoscoping for reference, but like KrazyZ33 said, it's really working for them. The action is phenomenal.

[neflight86]

Agreed. This is my favorite kind of sports show: high energy animation, a drive to succeed, good characters, and some drama to put it all into context. I've got high hopes for this.

[KrayZ33]

The matches and all that are fine, but I don't get what's going on and why they are all acting like dicks

Either Ayano has been huge bitch in the past or they are all crazy. It's almost annoying how cocky they get while at the same time Ayano doesn't even know why and thus has no reason to challenge it.
She's not given any FKs whatsoever which is completely understandable.

[Munsu]

Yeah, I'm watching this myself and enjoying it too.

[shinta|hikari]

Ayano is clearly not a bitch. She might've overworked after her mother left, but that has nothing to do with her personality. This show is aimed towards women, that's why all these artificial drama and emotionally challenged characters exist.

I'm guessing Ayano's mom isn't really a total asshole and left her daughter not because she was disappointed but because she saw how painful it is for Ayano to live that way, to the point Ayano had to play through the flu at its peak (the other bitch cheated because she was already recovering by the time they played, none of that was fair or equal). Blondie here is angry at Ayano because the mom keeps comparing them, and she feels inferior to all the stories.

I wish Ayano would just return to her saiyan form of wiping out spiky hair 21-0.

[David75]

Connie is ayano's mother genius student. It's understandable Connie wants to confront another genius, Ayano.
Then the drama around is decorum coming catering to the targeted audience.

[KrayZ33]

I expected as much myself but it doesn't work when they don't give Ayano a reason to fight seriously.

"Whatever dude, I'm just playing for funsies - calm down it's just a game"

If I were to play Ayano in these situations, I wouldn't be able to get fired up at all and my "revenge/proof" would be meaningless because I didn't even tell Ayano why I'm doing this.

[shinta|hikari]

I was hoping Ayano would just do this the entire time: ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Buffalobiian]

I'm re-adjusting my expectations for more drama and less sports, now that I've seen this play out more.

Oh and tits, this show has some pretty well drawn bodies. That was a nice surprise.

[Ryllharu]

It's a chain.

Aragaki works her ass off and got skunked by a middle schooler (Ayano).

Ayano loves badminton, but her mother, a former champion, doesn't train her and ignores her for her pupil (Connie).

Connie gets trained by a former champion, but for some reason we don't know yet, wants to beat Ayano.

Then there is the pink-haired girl, presumably the top prodigy.

We also get the "part of a team" and "play doubles properly" angle. Ayano wants to be part of a team, and she surprisingly plays far better with Izumi than she does with Aragaki (who is a lot better than Izumi individually). Connie thinks she is good enough that her partner literally doesn't matter, while Aragaki is slowly learning to be less like Connie.

It's not drama-focused. It is still sport technique, teamwork, rivalries. The inferiority complex chain is interesting, but it's really just the vehicle to get to technique.

edit:
Take Ayano the perfect defense and Aragaki the expert smasher, playing together properly as a duo and you have a pretty crazy team.

[Munsu]

I don't think we've seen much indication that this will be more drama focused than other sports anime. Most sports anime as it is are slow starters as far as action (sports portion) goes. So, maybe seeing the female melodrama is biasing the expectations a bit. But guess we'll see, we're starting to get on track.

[shinta|hikari]

I don't think it's the amount of drama that people don't like. It's the type of drama, which is mainly menstrual female conflicts.

Shounen sports stories make you feel good. This makes you feel bad, especially for Ayano.

[Ryllharu]

I disagree. It's not "girl" conflicts. It's largely been rivalries and inferiority complexes.

I do think there is a bias in sports series, and a lot of it is Hajime no Ippo's fault. It has such a complete and total focus on the sports and training, and long, that a lot of people think that's what a sports series is.

The other person to blame is Adachi. His series are so lauded and so praised, that it seems his usual format is the gold standard for sports series with flavors of drama. I like some of his series, but they focus a lot on the training too, and the romance/drama often seems sidelined, even when it's woven in to all the other more visible stuff. They're all slow burns.

It's episode 4. Let's wait and see if this is a 12 or 24 episode series, because that hasn't been defined anywhere I'm aware of.

I'd compare this series, thus far, and quite favorably, to Bamboo Blade. It's a good comparison, with some of the character introductions shifted forward, but with less focus on individual talent.

[shinta|hikari]

But Bamboo Blade wasn't this angsty or melodramatic. Just talk it out, jeez.

[Ryllharu]

Uh...did you watch or read the same series?

It very much was.

The manga moreso than the anime, because of the alternate arc in the anime that served as a similar (and equally good) replacement while the manga was ongoing.

Most of the angst comes from the side characters, and not the primary cast. But the exact same stuff is there.

[Munsu]

I don't think it's the amount of drama that people don't like. It's the type of drama, which is mainly menstrual female conflicts.

Shounen sports stories make you feel good. This makes you feel bad, especially for Ayano.

I wasn't commenting on whether people like it or not. I was mostly looking at Buff's comment which discusses amount of drama vs sport.

[shinta|hikari]

@Ryll - Angst on the side vs angst as a main dish is different.

[Buffalobiian]

I wasn't commenting on whether people like it or not. I was mostly looking at Buff's comment which discusses amount of drama vs sport.

My main fear is that this would head down the direction of either Giant Killing, or Knight in the Area, both shows where management and non-sports stuff just made it dull and uninteresting.

I've seen some other shows that did the extra drama quite well, like Kaleidostar, Princess9.

It's a lot harder to care about the characters when stuff doesn't make sense. Like.. upping and going without telling your kid doesn't make sense. Parenting ffs.

[Munsu]

My main fear is that this would head down the direction of either Giant Killing, or Knight in the Area, both shows where management and non-sports stuff just made it dull and uninteresting.

I've seen some other shows that did the extra drama quite well, like Kaleidostar, Princess9.

It's a lot harder to care about the characters when stuff doesn't make sense. Like.. upping and going without telling your kid doesn't make sense. Parenting ffs.

I didn't watch Giant Killing, but I read a bit on it and liked it. Don't recall much of it though. Knight in the Area I've never watched/read.

My main point is that, based on 2 or 3 episodes into a show when that comment was made, the amount of drama vs. sport wasn't really any different to how other sports series have been approached, as in, pretty much most if not all are slow to get into it... so hard to tell at that point how the series will be balanced.

Though again, I'm not commenting on quality or whether you like it or not. Just think that making judgement AT THAT POINT on the balance of drama vs. sport when compared to how other sports shows have been approached would've been a mistake since there's really little difference.

[shinta|hikari]

Episode 5:



Wow, this show is totally not drama.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 5:



Wow, this show is totally not drama.

They talked about zoning and stuff. I'm stoked that it's finally about badminton.

Actually, I remember in Baby Steps that the MC concluded that despite his good returns, he couldn't win games without taking risks. I'll be quite interested to see if that concept pops up in this show.

[MFauli]

Let's hope the 'my mom didn't look at me 'cause I suck at badminton' drama won't occupy the spotlight.

[Ryllharu]

Riko almost came back ;(

There's a clear reason that Riko is Ayano's doubles partner, at least so far. She understands her opponents. She's not the best player on her own, but she can go up against one of the best players in the tournament and still hold her own. Nozomi was given instruction to end the match ASAP, but Riko held out and exhausted her all the same.

This is why I'm rooting for Riko to keep going with Ayano in doubles instead of Nagisa. Nagisa might be the offense queen of their school, but I think Riko is a better partner. She knows how to play their opponents better. Nagisa might blast through their defense, but Riko knows how to wear someone down and pays attention to their weaknesses in returns.

[shinta|hikari]

More crying and shouting yey!

The badminton scenes in this show are amazing.

[Buffalobiian]

More crying and shouting yey!

The badminton ridiculous uniform scenes in this show are amazing.

They sure are.

[MFauli]

Meh, sucked that she lost :/

Next episode more cringy badminton-psycho drama.

[shinta|hikari]

I love the wakiness of the new uniform. GJ.

[Buffalobiian]

I love the wakiness of the new uniform. GJ.

But check out Frederica School's. It's half a one piece. Even better, unless asymmetry throws you off.

[shinta|hikari]

I found that ridiculous. Why wear something like that in a badminton game? Sleeveless uniforms actually make sense for mobility.

[Buffalobiian]

Tsk Tsk.

Badminton is a spectator sport. Enticing uniforms brings more viewers, driving revenue and the livelihood of those in the industry.

[shinta|hikari]

Then why don't they just wear swimsuits? What is that half-assed thing...

[Buffalobiian]

Then why don't they just wear swimsuits? What is that half-assed thing...
You can't be too obvious.

[shinta|hikari]

They already are, that's my problem. You must hide it in the guise of logic, like mobility or whatnot.

[Buffalobiian]

Well, it's totally designed with 2 performance reasons in mind.

1st reason to go half-skirt is to increase cooling around their legs. Badminton is hot stuff.

2nd reason with half skirt is that it allows you to detect minor air currents to figure out which way the wind is blowing, if there happened to be wind in your indoor court.

[shinta|hikari]

That reasoning is as half-assed as that uniform lol. Nicely done.

[Buffalobiian]

That reasoning is as half-assed as that uniform lol. Nicely done.

Anything to promote these pleasing yet ridiculous designs.

[Munsu]

I love the wakiness of the new uniform. GJ.

https://www.adweek.com/creativity/this-japanese-company-believes-that-renting-space-on-armpits-is-the-next-great-ad-frontier/

[Ryllharu]

Maaaaaybe...you two should go look up badminton uniforms from Asia.

They're really not making these up as much as one might think. Miniskirts appear quite common.

Skort dresses too.

edit:
Why? Because they are often required. Just like bikinis for beach volleyball. Buff pointed out the reason.

[shinta|hikari]

But what about the half swimsuit half short thing?

1847

[MFauli]

Anything to promote these pleasing yet ridiculous designs.

Thumbs up!

[shinta|hikari]

Why? Because they are often required. Just like bikinis for beach volleyball. Buff pointed out the reason.

By the way. (https://ftw.usatoday.com/2016/08/women-beach-volleyball-bikinis-men-uniform-guidelines-kerri-walsh-jennings)

[Ryllharu]

That'd be what I was going for. Confirming what Buff was saying.

It has been required at the Olympics. Why? Because viewership went down before they were required.

So when they say they changed it again to be "more culturally inclusive," what they mean is, more viewership from outside the western world.

[KrayZ33]

weird, when I google Asia Badminton I get asian people with normal uniforms - shirts and shorts.

The reasoning is extremely flawed too, because it's not like it's a female only sport. It's probably more centered about men (just like about every other sport) anyway.

[Ryllharu]

Turn off safe search maybe? Tons of miniskirts (think they are mini-skorts though) and here and there, the dresses that Connie wore.

Maybe I'm wrong. Yonex, a sponsor of the series, probably only makes the clothing we see them wear during practice (multicolor unisex shirts and shorts).

Oh wait... (http://www.directbadminton.co.uk/deptproduct/badminton/womens-clothing-rackets/yonex-20410-womens-dress-(blue)?ProductID=31483)

But that's probably just weirdo pervy Asian companies...

Oh wait... (http://www.directbadminton.co.uk/deptproduct/badminton/womens-clothing-rackets/nike-court-pure-womens-dress?ProductID=29854)
Nike even has a skirt described as "pure flouncy" in the product name.

[shinta|hikari]

Those look fine. They wear shorts under those skirts anyway. Those look more cute than sexy, and having no sleeves makes sense mobility/temperature wise.

But what about this?
1848

[Ryllharu]

Yeah, that's in the "Cuz Anime" category.

The glimpse in the OP of the uniform worn by the pink-haired girl is equally as silly, in the opposite direction, by the look of things.

[KrayZ33]

Turn off safe search maybe? Tons of miniskirts (think they are mini-skorts though) and here and there, the dresses that Connie wore.

Maybe I'm wrong. Yonex, a sponsor of the series, probably only makes the clothing we see them wear during practice (multicolor unisex shirts and shorts).

Oh wait... (http://www.directbadminton.co.uk/deptproduct/badminton/womens-clothing-rackets/yonex-20410-womens-dress-(blue)?ProductID=31483)

But that's probably just weirdo pervy Asian companies...

Oh wait... (http://www.directbadminton.co.uk/deptproduct/badminton/womens-clothing-rackets/nike-court-pure-womens-dress?ProductID=29854)
Nike even has a skirt described as "pure flouncy" in the product name.


They look completely different to the one piece swimsuits though?
On top of that, I doubt they wear that and only that. I can't find people playing half naked in pervy japanese hentai clothing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAe1btWkz_M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLbnary0XQE
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HJuRolwJxEw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjcKlzxuP84
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTTtAlsYiAo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y4vN_gN3kU

"oh wait"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDMJUesKlHA

ah nevermind - pervy japanese gaming show, my bad.

That reasoning gets even more retarded if you consider the fact that they are underage highschool girls in their first/2nd year.

[Buffalobiian]

"oh wait"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDMJUesKlHA

ah nevermind - pervy japanese gaming show, my bad.

That reasoning gets even more retarded if you consider the fact that they are underage highschool girls in their first/2nd year.

HAHAHAHA, she baits so many onto the court that they get in each other's way. Ultimate bait.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 07

------------------




WTF, that was a great match. Turning the bitch level up to 11 works!

[MFauli]

Meh, I hate Ayanon. Now she's back to her ep 1-self. Talent over hard work. Sasuke over Rock Lee. Fuck off

[David75]

Meh, I hate Ayanon. Now she's back to her ep 1-self. Talent over hard work. Sasuke over Rock Lee. Fuck off
She's always been a passionate hard worker with talents.
It's been said quite a bit she's not as sharp as she was before her pause.
I see her losing in individual matches, but winning in doubles. The story is around her mother complex AND her relation to others.
So right now we're in her inhuman phase again so that we can experience her full metamorphosis into a more balanced human being with friends...

[shinta|hikari]

I love Hanesaki. I hope she never changes. Yanyanyan!!!

[Ryllharu]

So...is the "villain" of this series actually Ayano?

In deadeyes mode, it would seem to be so. She doesn't enjoy badminton like this. A lot of the other girls don't either, it seems.

The only one smiling in the OP at all while on the court is Ishizawa Nozomi (chopsticks). I guess Izumi likes it too, even though she was bummed that she lost.

[Munsu]

Hanesaki for the win!

[shinta|hikari]

That pink haired bitch totally got what was coming to her. I don't see Hanesaki as a villain for treating her like garbage.

I've never been a fan of competing "for fun." You can play for fun, sure, but competing officially means seeking to win. Fun might be a nice side effect, but it's not the goal, nor is it necessary.

[Ryllharu]

I mean in general. Hanesaki has crushed the dreams of quite a lot of her opponents at one point or another.

We're seeing this mostly from her perspective, but a lot of girls resent her quite a bit. Work your ass off, Hanesaki wins anyway, and when they see her crushing them again, she doesn't even seem to enjoy it.

[shinta|hikari]

Being talented doesn't make her a villain. That's just jealousy. And everyone including her works her ass off, they should know that much from her stamina.

Most if not all of Hanesaki's "rivals" treat her like shit. The only time she bitched back is against this pink asshole, who totally deserved it and more. How can she be the villain in general?

[KrayZ33]

Pink bitch is the villain here because when they were small Hanasaki actually thanked her for being so good and had to go all out for her. Instead of taking this as praise, she got super jealous and started to ruin her life.


Too bad it was so close in the end though, I would've enjoyed a clean 21-10 or something

[shinta|hikari]

It just seemed close. That amount of a gap in a 2 game sweep shows a large gulf in capabilities. Players of equal caliber usually trade games and come around 19 or even tie at 20. Hanesaki wasn't even breathing roughly at the end of it.

Since Hanesaki is out of condition and Pinkie is at her peak, Pinkie will likely never win a match, or even just a game against her ever again.

[Ryllharu]

Serigaya isn't the one Hanesaki Uchika 'abandoned' her daughter over. That's Connie.

[shinta|hikari]

Wasn't Hanesaki's defeat while ill, an illness intentionally infected by Pinkie, the reason why (Hanesaki thinks) her mother abandoned her? If she weren't ill, she wouldn't have lost, and her mom would have stayed (at least that's how Hanesaki sees it).

[neflight86]

Yeah, that's how I remember it. Pink won, so mom left in the trauma-flashback. Man, I hope that was a misunderstanding.

[Ryllharu]

It's why she hates Serigaya, and looks at her with dead eyes, but playing Connie hurts her more, especially with the "big sis" line.

Ayano ruins Serigaya (who is arguably a superior player because she uses strategy while Ayano really only reacts) with focus, but just playing Connie throws her off.

[Buffalobiian]

Hmm, okay. I've had my fill of Ayano in bitch mode now. It gets annoying when she does it off-courts and against her own team as well.

Mum needs to come back and do some parenting.

Connie's fucking weird. Does she have an issue with Ayano, or does she not? Or is she cool now that she's won once? I don't know anymore. At least the badminton's nice.

[shinta|hikari]

Mum needs to learn parenting first. Abandoning your child with no explanation is irresponsible and downright stupid.

[MFauli]

Tbh this anime turned out kinda badjish/boring. I'm now just looking forward to bigboobs having a rematch with Kyuubi Level 4-Ayanon and defeat her this time as opposed to losing as shown in episode 1.

[shinta|hikari]

It's always been bad in terms of forced drama and overall emoness, but the badminton animation is good and waki aplenty.

[Buffalobiian]

It's always been bad in terms of forced drama and overall emoness, but the badminton animation is good and waki aplenty.

Yes the waki is great.

Also they teased us with the fucking Frederica swimsuits and we never got any more. I've been ready for two whole weeks.

[David75]

We also had muscular Aragaki to compensate...

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 09

-----------





What is this? I don't even know...

-Mother goes on business trip
-Picks up a new daughter on the other side of the planet.
-Makes that her daughter.
-Double dips daughters
-Leaves the first one without telling her.

-2nd daughter wants to become family.
-Flies to Japan and beats her in badminton while letting her know how unimportant her friends are.
-Meets her again and wants to be her to be family
-Older sister remembers why being shit at badminton is a bad thing thanks to her, and now feels like abandoning said family (but actually doesn't)
-Mother turns up and says "Hi".

Someone somewhere thought this was a good idea.

At least Shiwahime has fucking class.

[Ryllharu]

But they showed Connie wanted to be family with Ayano from the beginning. What set the rift is that Connie wanted to impress Ayano with her skill so she'd accept her, because Uchika legitimately told Connie that Ayano is only "so-so" and she wasn't sure who would beat the other when asked.

Giving Connie the false impression that Ayano has always been as good as Connie (who was being trained hard by Uchika, who abandoned Ayano for another country to train better players than her own daughter).

Connie won, and expressed the Big Sister line, which was Connie's goal from the very start. That set off all the old wounds in Ayano, who went all dead eyes.

The whole fiasco has always been 100% Uchika's fault. Uchika should have taken Ayano with her. I'm sure she has reasons for not doing so, but they won't be particularly good ones.

That's what this episode showed.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 11.

-----------------------------









You used to play badminton for my acknowledgement.

(That's why I left).

And now you can play without me. So I'm back.

Seriously...
.. and the grandmother's just all "You two don't talk much do you?"

Ah.. whatever. At least there's a match to watch next week. Relationships in this show is all sorts of fucked up.
For some reason I'm sitting here thinking about which one I like better (or worse): Hanebado, or Glasslip

[shinta|hikari]

I'd be pissed if tomboy somehow wins or puts up a good fight against Hanesaki. She's injured and got crushed before. Hanesaki just beat blond fake sister, so she should be almost back to her monster form. That'd just throw out all sense of believability in the skill levels in this show.

About the mom's reasoning, she should just go to hell. Abandoning your child for such a dumb reason deserves that much.

[Ryllharu]

I'd be pissed if tomboy somehow wins or puts up a good fight against Hanesaki. She's injured and got crushed before. Hanesaki just beat blond fake sister, so she should be almost back to her monster form. That'd just throw out all sense of believability in the skill levels in this show.
Ayano is all fucked up in the head at this point. Even Elena thinks she's turned into a huge bitch, and blames herself.

Nagisa claims she has broken through her own doubts, and won't let Ayano's defensive skill discourage her. That's how Ayano wins, most of the time. Her opponents just give up. Nagisa could win, because she knows how to keep Ayano off balance, and that pisses off Ayano. It will frustrate her. It will cause her to lose focus. Ayano is already mentally weak because of her mother's reappearance. She's angry outside of the game. Nagisa just needs to push Ayano there, and she'll lose her cool.

Then Nagisa is running the pace of the games, and not Ayano.

It's basically the same thing Ayano did to Connie during their rematch at the sports park.

It wouldn't be unrealistic. I'd rather Ayano win, but have her not be satisfied at all, then lose her shit at her mom. Ayano's personal problems should keep her from enjoying her win. She needs to remember that she's supposed to be playing badminton because she likes it, or used to.

Why else is she suddenly obsessed with why the others play it?

[KrayZ33]

This show would've been significantly better if it were somewhat believable. Especially the problems and the drama.

It's also very inconsistent with the character design and almost irritating how they put Ayano into the "asshole" role and all of a sudden all the rivals who have been ass to her before are now "victims" because they got their asses handed to them as they deserved.

It's such a shame, the talk between matches is almost unbearable because how bad it is.
The show is about to climax at the end it seems and I skipped half of that episode to get to the match because everything else has absolutely no impact on anything and attitudes might change on a whim.

Just like Blonde-Norwegian girl's attitude who went from "teams suck - YOU SUCK" to "please join me :( I want you to be my family"

[shinta|hikari]

@Ryll - But Ayano has always been portrayed to be much better in her crazy bitch mode. Her normal balanced girl mode is the one that sucks at badminton. She should be playing the best in her career because she is so driven to give the finger to her mother.

I would love it if Ayano intentionally makes tomboy use her injured leg, forcing her to play in pain and eventually resign because she can't stand anymore.

[Ryllharu]

She probably will do that to Nagisa, and Elena and all her teammates will tell her she's being a huge bitch. Ayano and her coach will say Nagisa knew what she was getting into. Something something cliché...series over.

[Ryllharu]

Something something cliché indeed. This episode managed to be the culmination of everything wrong with this series, all in a single place.

Three major problems with this episode on its own:

1) The art style changed, so Ayano and Nagisa both aged 10 years. It suddenly looks a lot more like a hentai than a sports/drama series. Doesn't look like a budget thing. It was clearly a choice. Was it meant to make the match more intense? All it ends up doing is looking extremely out of place when the other characters are still their normal design.

2) Pink-hair fulfilled her destiny as a disguise of Exposition-chan's (Herald of Poor Writing). She's literally only there to explain the strategy of each of the two girls playing. That whole thing where she was Ayano's rival when they were kids? Meaningless. Her role in this eps as Exposition-chan could have and should have been picked up by either the other girls at their school or the coach.

3) Too many overlong explanations in general. This isn't Prince of Tennis or Cross Game. They've spent zero time the rest of the series explaining any of the minutiae about badminton skilled strategy and technique. Now it is being used to pad the final episodes. Is it a character-driven sports series? Is it a sports-drama? Is it a drama? Is it a technical sport series? Pick one and stick with it.



The issues with the series as a whole really find themselves a home here.

- Uchika is one of the worst anime mothers ever. Too blind to see that her daughter wanted to be better so she could have fun with her mother. Not because she was finding a new plateau for young women playing and making a living off badminton. Uchika wanted to make a copy of herself in Ayano, successful at doing something she enjoyed, and ruined her. Ayano clearly didn't care what activity it was. She wanted to play with her mom. Young Ayano was like Connie before Uchika destroyed her by abandoning her.

- All the drive the last few episodes where Elena realized she forced all this shit back onto Ayano when Ayano had finally stopped playing and torturing herself from the very start of the series...goes nowhere. Elena gets convinced by Uchika that this was the correct path all along?!

- All the arrogance and bitchiness that Ayano has been throwing around for weeks, is all forgiven in a moment because she got outplayed by Nagisa? The whole shouts of encouragement were a bullshit plot development.

[shinta|hikari]

The most bullshit part was Ayano losing to Nagisa in stamina. That was her thing. She had monster stamina and control. Then she just... didn't.

This series is inconsistency itself.

[Buffalobiian]

Something something cliché indeed

The seal on her right hand has been lifted!

[MFauli]

I swear I'll break something if Uchika is redeemed in the next episode,saying some line like 'now you understand badminton' to her daughter ...

[neflight86]

Agreed with all of the above. Inconsistency has transformed this series from a strong sports (melo)drama to a passable mish-mash of shounen sports cliche's. Odd styling choices aside, I still think the artwork and animation are overall strong.

The mother's redemption will be inverted for this show itself.

[Buffalobiian]

Episode 13

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And Nagisa won, and mother was forgiven. What bullshit.

All the drama they tried to stuff in went to hell because of how forced and inconceivable the setup is.

The best part of the episodes were actually fake-bitch Ayano and Intense-Training-Pink-Hair.

Generally good art and maybe two matches aside, this is a prime example of how not to do sports anime.

[MFauli]

Worst sports anime I can remember. The final match was the only proper match.

Bitch-mom being forgiven is the biggest bullshit ever, reeks of Stockholm syndrome or whatever. Maybe Ayano will marry Sasuke? Would make sense.

And wtf, wanting to llay when the knee is obviously stressed and in danger of worsening. That's just not funny or 'motivated', It's plain bs.

[shinta|hikari]

Nonsensical final episode. It's like the author didn't know whether to write a shoujo or shounen story, so he/she just mashed the worst tropes from both together.

[Ryllharu]

This is why the Top 3 thread is meant for only those series that end that season. I can't remember an anime souring so badly with such a promising start between Golden Time and now this.

[shinta|hikari]

Wasn't this only a 1 cour?

[Ryllharu]

It was. But 12, 24, or 52...they can all turn to shit in their final segments. This started out as one of the strongest shows of the season, and ended as one of the weakest.

I guess what I was trying to convey was that Golden Time took a hard nosedive, and nothing else in my recent memory had been as bad as that, until now.

[Buffalobiian]

It was. But 12, 24, or 52...they can all turn to shit in their final segments. This started out as one of the strongest shows of the season, and ended as one of the weakest.

I guess what I was trying to convey was that Golden Time took a hard nosedive, and nothing else in my recent memory had been as bad as that, until now.


My main fear is that this would head down the direction of either Giant Killing, or Knight in the Area, both shows where management and non-sports stuff just made it dull and uninteresting.

This show turned out worse than the above two I mentioned.

Glasslip comes to my mind, but that show was more convoluted from the start, and was hinging on whether the final episodes made sense of it all or not. The end confirmed that it was indeed all convoluted, albeit pretty.

Side note, gold standard for patella tendonitis would be MRI. Ultrasound can give you some useful information as well. But plain film xray will tell you jack shit. (not that this affected the show's rating. I don't expect medical stuff to be right in non-med shows).