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Bamboo Blade (Kendo): Sure it's more of a slice of life than a sports show, however you do learn a bit about kendo. The various strikes, the armor, and the various stances. Plus there are a few tournaments where the girls participate in. It also shows what lengths some people will go to win (usually by cheating).
The show is pretty cute & very fun, however the ending might leave you wanting more.

I generally avoid sports anime like the plague, might thow something in.

Ro-Kyu-Bu! - Basketball
Very Happy

To think that this is the one sports anime I have seen, I enjoyed it, well it did not feel like a lot of a chore that I could feel otherwise. It's two themes are basketball and Lolicon, so if you can't stand either, than you will unlikely enjoy this, though characters are cool, games can be climactic, and there is a sense of growth with the characters. I think that it is worth more than just be thrown away because of some of its more contriversial traits.

dtm42 wrote:

Shion no Oh - Shogi

I was thinking of recommending Shion when Hikaru no Go was listed as a "sports" show. (That's Shion herself over there in my avatar.) I have somewhat mixed feelings about this show, despite the fact that my teen-aged daughter and I waited impatiently for every episode. I liked the Shogi parts of the show much more than the murder mystery and thought the resolution of the case was implausible. That said, it has excellent voice acting by Kawasumi Ayako in the title role. (Shion is mute for reasons explained in the first episode, but Kawasumi voices Shion's thoughts throughout the show.) Good supporting work as well by such mainstays as Paku Romi.

The Shogi games themselves aren't portrayed quite so dramatically as the Go matches in Hikaru, but they are compelling nonetheless.

My only other complaint is that Studio DEEN's artwork varied tremendously over the course of the show. Some of the character models, in particular, were downright ugly at times, even when those characters were quite attractive in other episodes. Both Ayumi and Saori were ill-served by some of their illustrators. Noses in particular seemed to elude these artists.

I gave this show an 8 here, which I still think is a fair judgement.

I started rewatching Cross Game the other day and was reminded what a wonderful show this can be. I haven't watched many "sports" animes, but it's hard to imagine more than a handful of them could be as good as Cross Game.

yuna49 wrote:

I haven't watched many "sports" animes, but it's hard to imagine more than a handful of them could be as good as Cross Game.

Personally I didn't even feel that Cross Game was a sports anime. If someone was to walk up to me and ask a recommendation for an anime of this genre, my first thought wouldn't be something slow with SoL/romance elements in it.

Anyway, my recommendation is Slam Dunk, which should have been mentioned already. A classic sports anime, dealing with awakening passion to basketball. It has lots of games, training, cheesy music and some nice team camaraderie (also among opposing teams). The downside is that it is unfinished.

I couldn't help but compare and contrast Chihayafuru with Saki while I was watching the former. Animation should portray concepts that would be more difficult to portray with live action film. Mahjong is popular in Japan and played worldwide while karuta isn't popular in Japan and is unknown worldwide. As a result, karuta is portrayed more realistically in Chihayafuru in order to explain the sport. Saki adds in more elements of fantasy. Karuta is more of a sport since it requires physical endurance, while mahjong is more family oriented since it's played on a table and it allows four people to play at a time. Also because of mahjong's popularity worldwide, after the Saki characters tackle the national high school championships, they may progress to the world junior championships (in-universe).

Both Saki and Chihayafuru focus on character development and on their respective sports. Mahjong is a popular four player sport/game while Chihayafuru is a two person sport. As a result, Chihayafuru has roughly half of the cast of Saki, which allows it to develop its characters more deeply. Saki not only has characters from multiple mahjong clubs, it also has reporters, announcers, and audience members. Mahjong team matches are much longer than karuta team matches. As a result, Chihayafuru focuses more on individual matches than Saki does. The Saki manga is published in a seinen magazine while Chihayafuru is published in a josei magazine, but for whatever reason, anime adaptations containing scantily clad girls holding hands are more prevalent than ...

Chihayafuru is the newer anime and not surprisingly has better production values.

As for sound, I've only seen Chihayafuru once, but I prefer Saki's. In Chihayafuru, the poem readings can be grating. The more important Saki characters have associated themes. Seemingly all of the Japanese voice actresses for the Saki characters are popular, or so I've read.

I really recommend Chihayafuru and Ookiku furikabutte (big windup(?)) too~

but my taste in sport anime depends on if it is pretty drawn, voice actors and characters >< and of course the usual hard working team spirit~

Other sports animees I have liked a lot are

Prince of Tennis (Tennis) and Kuroko no Basket (Basketball)

Summer Wars (Hana fuda) too, it is a movie though and not only focused on sport/card games but Hana fuda plays a very important role in the movie~

Ping pong club. Over the top humor, kinda perverted, stereotypical.

Ooh, sports anime... I can definitely have fun with this thread. I'll add to the list with these titles:

Monkey Turn - Hydroboat/kyotei Racing
Just to help reference how good this title is, the manga it is based on won the Shogakukan Manga Award for shonen in 1999... Which it shared with Hikaru no Go. The basic story is that of a boy who, after seeing & attempting (& failing) a difficult hydroboat racing turn, decides to become a hydroboat racer himself, and after graduating from racing school swears to his female friend that he will become the #1 hydroboat racer within three years, which is generally considered impossible.

Monkey Turn works so well mainly because it's insanely well-paced. Where some shows might take its time dealing with situations that might otherwise not require an entire episode dedicated to it Monkey Turn deals with them within the same episode the problem starts in, allowing the show to focus on the professional advancement of the main character & his fellow racers. Unfortunately, the only complete English subtitles that the show has are from badly-translated bootleg subs, which is partially why it is such an unknown, but excellent, show.

Akagi - Mahjong
People love promoting something like Saki, but while Saki made me lose interest within one episode Akagi had me hooked after the first episode... When I checked it out raw back in 2005. Akagi himself is what makes this show so absorbingly addictive to watch, because you just have to see what he will do next, both in and out of his matches. The show also allows itself to be very watchable without any pre-existing knowledge of mahjong, and even if you still don't quite "get" mahjong while watching the show, the characters, sheer tension, & dark ambience will still keep you watching.

One Outs - Baseball
This is essentially Akagi but with baseball (& some other differences). Main character Toua Tokuchi differs from most other sports anime main characters in that his actual baseball skills are only above-average at best, but he more than makes up for it with his absolute mastery of psychology. This ends up making the matches in this anime more about how Tokuchi messes with his oppositions' heads, though actual baseball play is still important & pushed heavily. Hell, one of the matches ends up being about exactly how many obscure & forgotten baseball rules can be broken in a single match. Think you know baseball? That match alone might teach you a couple of rules & restrictions you didn't know before.

Ring ni Kakero 1 - Boxing
This is likely my favorite sports anime of all time, though it's partially because it's so not a sports anime at times. Whereas Ashita no Joe focused on character-based drama & Hajime no Ippo focused on the actual careers of boxers, Ring ni Kakero 1 focuses on outright crazy action. This show is definitely "over-the-top", but it also brings about a great & addictive sense of fun to the entire series. Yeah, the boxing here isn't exactly realistic, but the fights are still within the rules of boxing, though some rules might be stretched or loopholed when you think about it, but at the same time this show's old-school origins (the original manga ran from 1977-1981) results in the show being paced much faster than some other shows of its ilk. Also, since it has that old-school origin behind it, the story was made in a simpler time when creators could focus on what works for them & not have to stretch and/or over-complicate their creations in order to keep going; I honestly find Ring ni Kakero 1's relative simplicity really refreshing nowadays.

Finally, those who think that it being over-the-top means that no one is really hitting each other since there's all sorts of visual accentuation going on (read: VISUAL accentuation, which means that what you see isn't always exactly what the characters themselves see) will probably be surprised to see that this show actually makes it a focus to show that these boxers are actually being punched by these crazy "superblows". I have always felt, & still feel, that this show is horrifically underknown, underappreciated, & underrated, even though many who have seen the show from my recommendation have really enjoyed it, and that's only from the first two seasons, since the later two seasons haven't been subbed at all, outside of the first half of Season 3. In my opinion, these last two seasons have been just as great, if not better, than the first two seasons, and it just pisses me off even more that such an enjoyable, exciting, (mostly) well-paced, &, most of all, FUN anime is such an unknown to North America. Hell, Seasons 3 & 4 are both on the Top 10 Most Underrated anime list here at ANN (and until just a month or two ago S4 & S3 were #1 & #2, respectively, on that list for a good few months), so it's not just me that knows how good this series is.

I could honestly talk about this title more & more, but I'll have to stop myself here.

Time to revive this thread.

One Outs - Baseball

You know, it is so easy to find fault with this show. There are plenty of them, after all. Everybody who isn't Tokuchi (the main character) is an idiot. The villain is a cackling slimy one-dimensional money-grubber. There's no character development to be found here. Everybody stands around talking without the umpires getting annoyed. It doesn't even tell a complete story; if you want to find out what happens next you'll have to read the Manga.

And yet, though in a lesser series those faults would be damaging, in this one they are really inconsequential nitpicks. One Outs is the most entertaining Sports show I've ever watched bar none, and also the most cerebral Sports show I've ever watched bar none. It completely ignores the standard formula of such shows which espouses the philosophy of believing in yourself and in your team-mates, and winning through perseverance, hard work and natural talent. No, this series doesn't do any of that. In fact, it flips such thinking the bird and shows just how meaningless such a philosophy ultimately is. What wins games is not touchy-feely team spirit backed by years of training, but outsmarting opponent to exploit their weaknesses and turn their much-vaunted strengths into liabilities. One episode (episode spoiler[eight]) has the scenario where it is explicitly stated as fact that the team who breaks the most rules will win (and that of course applies to the 'good guys' as well); this is not your typical inspirational baseball show.

In short, One Outs is a treasure, a Thriller in the guise of a Sports show. I haven't had this much fun and excitement watching any series of any genre for almost two years (since PMMM to be specific). I highly recommend it, especially for someone who wants a different sort of Sports show, or who just wants a great show period.

Sorta revive this thread and.. throw some curve balls, but great series.

Angelic Layer- martial arts with dolls

Angelic Layer is a great series by CLAMP. It's about a young girl, Suzuhara Misaki, who moves to Tokyo and is immediately captivated watching a doll named Athena fight in an arena battle against another doll and win. Misaki learns that this is a new type of competition called Angelic Layer. The owner buys an Angel (they come in eggs, CLAMP likes angels in eggs), dresses them, designs them, and designates specs for them. Misaki creates Hikaru, a light weight, but very fast doll. Now the thing is the doll can't work on it's own, it has no personality, it's just a doll, until the owner puts on special equipment and the doll enters a special table top area called an Angelic Layer. It takes a lot of skill to learn to move the angel and make them battle. They have health meters and damage is taken off the life meter. If the angel's life hits 0, they can no longer battle and of course the operator/owner called a Deus, loses. Hikaru discovers more about herself, her family, and the mythic Angel, Athena through battling. It's really great and heart warming.

Yakitate!! Japan - baking bread

Yakitate!! Japan is about Kazuma Azuma who loves making bread and wants to be one of the greatest bread bakers in all of Japan. The thing is, bread is not as big in Japan as it is here, so he has to travel around the world to compete against a group of rather eccentric and crazy characters. Azuma has a special advantage though, he has a natural gift called Solar Hands. It's a warmness in his hands that helps the yeast to ferment faster. It's a great advantage early, but.. he learns to be more inventive later on. It's really cool because they make REAL breads and the Manga often has recipes on how to make the bread. He, his friends, and competitors all make some CRAZY breads though. It's fun and very different for a sports series.

Kaleido Star - gymnastics/trapeze/performance

Sora Naegino is a young girl with a little talent in gymnastics. She sees an amazing performance at the cirque-de-soleil-type show called the Kaleido Star. She immediately falls in love and wants to be the star of the show. She does just about everything to make her dream come true and starts seeing this spirit, the Fool, who says he's the spirit of the stage and wants to help her succeed. Initially Sora is just a supporting cast member, often picked on and not liked by some of the prima donnas, especially Layla Hamilton, her big rival. However, Sora begins to grow and learn and becomes a real rival for Layla over the course of the series.

Other less obvious ones, but well known Yu-Gi-Oh, Beyblade, [/b]Battle B-Daman, and [b]Kinnikuman. You could also consider Medabots, Pokemon, and Konijiki no Gash Bell/Zatch Bell if you stretch it a little. They technically fit the definition, but the active/live partner aspect makes me want to keep it separate.

So why do I consider all of these Sports anime? Well, they have all the qualities of sports anime. There is a competition. They have unique and crazy cast of characters. They have rules on how to play and the characters often have to "power up" their game to get better. They also learn more about friendship, often gaining friends when they had none before. The main character is also moral and refuses to cheat even if the competition does (and often beats them even with the cheating).

Btw there is a newer series called Baquash!. Haven't seen it but it's a basketball mecha anime. Looks interesting (I can't really recommend it as I haven't seen it, but just mentioning so you can look at it if that interests you).

I also recommend Big Windup!.

I'm surprised nobody has still mentioned Capeta

Taira Capeta was a 4th grader boy. He had lost his mother when he had been very little. Although he pretended to be tough in front of his father, actually he felt lonely. One day, his father brought junk parts home from his workplace and made a racing cart. Soon, they went to a circuit to drive the cart. However, Capeta found that its frame was bent and it could hardly run straight. But, with his technique he managed the cart. Furthermore, he followed soon after the fast cart and he could nearly leave it behind. The driver in the cart was Minamoto Naomoi, the champion of the East Japan Junior Cart. Looking at their chase, Naomi’s mother, Minamoto Nanako, advised Capeta to take part in the official race.

Looking for more sports anime but with female cast and players. So far I've got my eye out for Princess Nine, Kaleido Star, Saki, Chihayafuru, but not so much Bamboo Blade and fan-service shows just meant to show excessively-jiggling breasts, crotch shots every 3-5 mins, and obvious panty shots from very edgy angles. Open for more suggestions!

how bout Taisho Baseball Girls. it's a bit like Princess Nine, but set in the mid 20's

Student no.0 wrote:

... but not so much Bamboo Blade and fan-service shows just meant to show excessively-jiggling breasts, crotch shots every 3-5 mins, and obvious panty shots from very edgy angles. Open for more suggestions!

Despite its OP Bamboo Blade is actually far from a fan-service show. This is a show that spends half an episode with girls cleaning a pool and going to a bath house but doesn't really spend any of the pool time ogling the girls and completely skips the actual bath. Going from "okay, let's go to the bathhouse" straight to "wow, what a refreshing bath!" It's also sweet, funny, has good characters, and an interesting sports arc. It's only a partial adaptation of the manga though, so even though it ends at a good spot, it leaves you knowing there's more to it.

I'd second Bamboo Blade. There's not much if any fanservice in it. It's tame enough that it was rated PG (8+) here in the UK. I found the ending perfectly satisfying, I didn't know it was an incomplete version of the manga.

Taisho Baseball Girls is good too, although the ending isn't as satisfying as it could be, since it's a 12 episode show based off an ongoing light novel series. Nonetheless, it's an interesting show to watch, as the idea of women playing baseball at that time was shocking.

There's Yawara too. The titular character is the best in Japan at judo, having been coached by her grand master grandfather since she was young, but just wants to be a normal high school (later college) girl, and the show charts her (reluctant) journey to the 1992 Olympics.

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Sports anime recommendation thread.

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Sports anime recommendation thread.