sport genre standard

Titles under this category is a sport anime, that will always be handicapped. Only happened with all sport anime titles reviewed after Capeta.

Review: Cross Game (クロスゲーム)

Posted by ranpha on 22nd April 2010
Posted in: anime review, romance genre standard, sport genre standard. Tagged: . Leave a Comment


Is this guy the main male protagonist of this anime?

I’ve chosen Cross Game as the next anime to be reviewed in this blog over the final season of Nodame Cantabile, mainly because I want to wait until its 12th episode was aired and released. A 2009 anime, naturally this anime will compete with ‘Anime of the Year 2009’ title holder Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei. But this anime’s quest for glory will be hindered by the fact that I will apply both the sport and romance genre handicaps to this anime rating.


Or maybe the main male protagonist is this character instead (Hint: Look at their faces)? Watch this anime to find out.

Story:-
Our main male protagonist loses his love interest in an accident, therefore he wants to fulfil her dream of seeing him pitching at the jam-packed Koushien Stadium. Helped by his love interest’s younger sister who is a pitcher herself, he builds up his skills and abilities to become an ace baseball pitcher who eventually carries his team to the nationals.

Just like the twin handicaps indicates, this anime is basically a romance and sport anime enrolled into one package, splashed with plenty of slice-of-life additives. The romance part of this anime is excellent, in fact, this anime is one of the better romance anime I have watched. My only complaint about the flawless romantic part of this anime is the essence is too conservative; you actually know what will happen next if you have read or watched the author’s past works. This is actually the first anime of his that I watched, but I have read the manga versions of Touch and H2 before. That’s why while I have the anime version of Touch in my collection, I never watches it.

This anime is also a decent slice-of-life anime, but the sport part of this anime is definitely not up to par when compared to its romance part. This mainly have to do with the fact that less than one-third of this 50-episode anime are devoted to the games the baseball club play. There are more episodes where the team is shown in training, but more often than not these episodes are also used to advance the romance part of this anime rather than helping its sporting aspect.

This is very evident in the training camp arc in the first half of this anime, which are used completely differently than the similar training camp arc in the baseball anime Ookiku Furikabutte I’ve reviewed before. In Ookiku Furikabutte, the training camp is used primarily to power-up the newly formed baseball team members, where you can see the team members training their heart out to become better at this baseball thingy. In this anime, the training camp arc is used to advance the relationship between the main male protagonist and main female protagonist. Situations like this is why I think Ookiku Furikabutte (there is a second season OUT NOW, yay) is a better baseball anime than this title.


This girl here is the mother of all flashbacks seen in this anime.

The presentation of this anime is excellent; while the pacing of the story is a bit on a slow side (unavoidable I think in this 50-episode series), the storyline does develop nicely with the possible exception in the last 10 episodes where I think the plot is moving too convolutedly. Another notable aspect of this anime is the frequent use of flashbacks. But even if this anime doesn’t have as many flashbacks, proportionately, as Saki has, the execution is arguably not as smooth as the one Saki have done. That recap episode at the middle of this series probably soured my view of this for this anime.

Character developments in this anime are excellent all around. The two main protagonists in this anime are definitely the best, and are assisted by plenty of equally good side characters. Even the introduction of a certain character midway into the series are done seamlessly and flawlessly (learn from this anime Umineko). The ending, while sadly predictable, more than make up for it with excellent storytelling that culminates towards a happy ending for everyone.


The violent main female protagonist…

Character Design:-
Characters’ design in this anime is decent, and that pretty much it. Plenty of black hairs, and that’s a very good thing in real-life Japan. A positive point for this anime.


…is about to punch yet another random innocent law-abiding civilian. Don't blame her, you have to see the first screenshot above to see why she is so jumpy.

Voice Acting:-
Meanwhile, the voice acting in this anime, as a whole, is just average. There are no outstanding performers in this anime for this aspect.


The main male protagonist's love interest is very well known for her pushiness when it comes to birthday gifts.

Music:-
The OST is quite decent. All ED themes meets my standard, with the exception for the 3rd ED theme. The OP theme is also forgettable. Somehow still a positive point for this anime.


Much of the baseball anime/manga from Japan has baseball team that aims for this common ground. Will we ever see a title that aims a little bit higher, such as, the World Series?

Animation/Direction:-
The animation is great, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography for the baseball scenes are also done well, without any exaggerations. The directing is tight and good, with minor exceptions.


Just a few of the side characters that helps the main male protagonist qualifies for the Koushien and also getting his woman.

Conclusion:-
Despite the twin handicaps, this anime still scored a respectable 7 out of 10. Would have been higher if the sporting aspect of this anime matches the quality of the romance part. Zan Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei still retains its throne for the time being.


This anime also has the sing-while-you-are-drawing feature prevalent in Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei series too, and IMO this anime has it better.

Short code: http://wp.me/prgSo-cm

Review: Ookiku Furikabutte (おおきく振りかぶって)

Posted by ranpha on 24th November 2009
Posted in: anime review, sport genre standard. Tagged: , . Leave a Comment


The paranoid main protagonist.

In the midst of heavy work-load that is customary near the end of the year, I can still slip in a new short review of yet another sport anime, titled Ookiku Furikabutte. A 2007 anime, it will challenge Bokurano that was crowned as ‘Anime of the Year 2007’ holder just recently. Not helping its cause is the sport genre handicap that was applied by virtue of being a baseball-related anime title taken place in a typical high school setting. Thus, read on to see the failure of this anime in its quest to defeat Bokurano and becomes the new successor.


The busty head coach doesn't waste any time to force the players to endure a customary training camp in their quest for Koushien.

Story:-
Our wimpy main protagonist Ren-Ren that cries a lot (even more so than the protagonist in Over Drive) but is actually very talented in baseball pitching (far more talents than Over Drive’s protagonist) reluctantly joined the newly formed understaffed baseball club at his new high school. Unlike his middle-schooler teammates, his new teammates quickly recognized his talents in baseball. Still, our main protagonist is haunted by his bad experiences during middle school days and that constantly makes him become emo and paranoid plenty of times, sometimes in the middle of an important match. Therefore his boyfriend need to ‘comfort’ (let your imagination runs wild here) the protagonist so that he can focus doing what he does best on the mound. If Saki features plenty of main female characters while relegating male characters as insignificant side characters, this anime is the other way around.

With some rare exceptions, stories in sport genre titles tends to be just average and filled with all the usual clichés associated with the genre, and this anime is not excluded. But just like almost all titles in this genre, the anime becomes far more interesting once the action started. This anime doesn’t waste its time to go straight into its (genre-requiring) training camp and the staple friendly match at the end of it. With the Koushien (hahahahahaha – very original indeed) being the club’s aim, the scenes where hard work, steely determination and unbreakable team spirits are abound in this anime, especially during the matches. The story has excellent flow and nice pacing, plus the director followed the example set by Over Drive and dedicates a full episode for the well-executed good ending, which has a lead-up to a second season.

There will be a second season right? This anime really deserved one! Still plenty of unfinished business in this anime!

Character development potential in this anime is huge, and the best positive that this anime has. Even after 26 episodes, I think the director only has tapped a tiny bit of potential that this anime has in this regard. There are plenty of notable characters in this anime that still need to be developed further. I do not think that will be doable even if this anime has 50 episodes, such is the detail put into that extremely long (and good) first round match of the summer prefectural tournament. I may have to visit lurk@irc.irchighway.net, the manga where this anime is based on is already in the 12th volume. It goes without saying that while the main protagonist is the character that has developed the most in this anime (definitely the best character in this anime), I can still feel that he can still evolve much further physically, mentally and of course with his talent too. The same can also be said for his teammates, especially the protagonist’s boyfriend (the protagonist’s cousin doesn’t stand any chance at all romantically).

And I will say it again. This anime really needs a second season. Really! And so are Bamboo Blade, Saki, Umisho etc.


An apt desription of the main protagonist by his boyfriend.

Character Design:-
The character designs in this anime is common for a generic shounen title, although the faces that main protagonist made is mildly interesting. Black hairs are rare, replaced by the more common brown hairs with different shades for each character. The design are decent but not spectacular.

Voice Acting:-
In general, voice acting in this anime is decent, although I can’t pinpoint any characters that is outstanding in this aspect. Uhmm… I have nothing else really to say here.


The prelude of the 'bonding process' between the main protagonist and his boyfriend, tha will lead to scenes that are NFSW that happened off-screen.

Music:-
The two OP themes and the 2nd ED theme are quite good really. Meanwhile, the OST is basically unnoticeable and the 1st ED theme is not really good unlike the others.


Despite their 'intimate' relationships, it takes the main protagonist quite some time to know the first name of his boyfriend.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this anime is very good, even in fast-paced scenes. Choreography in action scenes in this sport anime are realistic and not overexaggerated unlike a certain sport anime that should remain unnamed. The director has done a decent job with this anime especially with character developments and story handling. Definitely a positive point for this anime.


A dedicated flashback episode in a sport anime? Surely not!

Conclusion:-
8 out of 10. Still a decent sport anime despite the failure of challenging Bokurano for the ‘Anime of the Year 2007’ title. This anime is good enough for me to go read the manga version before I start watching either the long awaited Clannad After Story or the long-stored Paradise Kiss. See you later, probably next week if I can help it.


Some nice advice from the boyfriend that will really help keeping their 'intimate' moments smoother.

Review: Akagi (闘牌伝説アカギ 闇に舞い降りた天才)

Posted by ranpha on 6th November 2009
Posted in: anime review, perfect score, sport genre standard. Tagged: . Leave a Comment


The title protagonist.

From the creator of the excellent Kaiji series, come another proper thriller anime titled Akagi (he actually wrote this one first before Kaiji). Unlike Kaiji which is basically a darker and  deadly version of Wipeout Australia, Akagi is a mahjong anime (kind of like Saki). Therefore, this anime will be subjected to the sport genre handicap. This is a 2005 anime, thus none of the ‘Anime of the Year’ title holders will be challenged this time around.

Story:-
During the era of reconstruction right after Japan’s loss in World War 2, a desperate man is betting his life in a mahjong parlor in a rainy night with the local yakuza. On the verge of defeat, suddenly a drenched middle-schooler barged into the mahjong parlor. Sensing something special about the white-haired student (I told you white-haired people are evil!), the desperate man asked him to play mahjong in his stead, and everything started from there on.

The story in this anime is almost non-existent, but the mahjong games in this anime are intense, complex, very deep and mesmerizing. And that’s about it with this anime. The games are more realistic with the players getting more normal hands unlike in Saki where its players gets rare hands far more often. The protagonist especially is really skilled at getting hands that cannot be anticipated by his opponents or getting them to do what he wants, and he usually achieve that using mind games, deceptions (this guy cheats quite often), phenomenal calculating abilities, psychological warfare, abnormal strategies and sheer luck. Add them up to his charismatic, cool and calm persona, the protagonist is a very good template for a manga/anime character specialized in mind games. If only Lelouch Lamperouge has his ability, the Code Geass series would have easily gotten a perfect score. And he is just as good as Kaiji or Kaiser Reinhard or Yang Wenli, probably even better than them.

The flow of the plots during the games are excellent, which more than adequately covered for the lousy story transitions when not in-game. The presentation of the games is top-notch, with gazillion of monologues from the players, the spectators and very helpful commentary from the narrator that explains the strategies used in the games and their ramifications. Because of the narration, this anime is more accessible to mahjong n00bs than Saki (the fansub group also helps explaining the scoring system used in this anime, which differs than the ones used at my localities). Character developments is basically scarce, applies only to the main protagonist, and mostly done before the first time jump. Most of the main protagonist’s developments happened in the games played before the first time jump, with more off-screen developments during the two time jumps this anime before we get the (assumed) final fully developed character for the final game. BTW, the title main protagonist is definitely the best character here (as if you have any other options).

Unlike Saki, there are no metaphorical exaggerations in this anime, and of course far less flashbacks (they are nicely done). Some of them appears during the final game though, see the screenshot below. The ending is neat and tight, with some loose ends purposely left in ambiguity. Although I hoped that a second season will arrive, I do not think one will come.


This metaphor may be ugly, but it was relevant within the context of the scene where it was used.

Character Design:-
My comment from the same section in my Kaiji review applies, after all, the same person is responsible for this anime too. It is also interesting to note that there are virtually no female characters anywhere in this anime, even on the background. Definitely a positive point for this anime.


Most of the dialogues comes from spectators, gobsmacked by the crazy turns the main protagonist is taking.

Voice Acting:-
My comment from the same section in my Kaiji review still applies. The main protagonists in both anime are voiced by the same person, with the same level of performance. The only difference between these two anime in this aspect is that the main character in this anime speak (or being in monologues) far less than his counterparts in Kaiji. In fact, the narrator and some of the recurring characters that acts as the spectators may have far more lines (after all, they like to doubt the crazy strategies the main character deployed in the games he plays). Definitely a positive point for this anime.


Your typical antagonist that is common in any shounen titles.

Music:-
Unlike Kaiji, the OP theme and the hard-hitting two ED themes are excellent. The jazzy OST are sparse, but they are good too. Definitely a positive point of this anime.

Animation/Direction:-
The animation quality in this anime is quite good, even in the little fast-paced scenes this anime has (I will put the blame on camera panning problems upon the shoulder of the encoder). Choreography in this anime is decent in the few fighting scenes this anime has. The directing is good for the things explained in the story section.


And the antagonist will not be complete without evil laughs and creepy hairs.

Conclusion:-
Despite the sport genre handicap, this anime will get a 10 out of 10. Although if I were to compare this anime to Capeta (which incidentally is also a 2005 anime), this anime will come short. Capeta is, after all, is one of the best anime I have ever watched and has far better story than this anime. This anime is good enough to depose Uchuu no Stellvia from my Top 5 Anime of All Time list though, taking the spot number 4 currently occupied by Galaxy Angel series. Galaxy Angel is now number 5 in the same list.


The antagonist would have easily vanquished the protagonist if he have read that website! He should listen to his underlings' advice more.

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