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The Winter 2023 Anime Preview Guide
Tsurune: The Linking Shot

How would you rate episode 1 of
Tsurune: The Linking Shot ?
Community score: 4.3



What is this?

Target panic: a psychological condition that prevents some archers from shooting confidently and accurately. Minato Narumiya, once a promising young prodigy in kyudo, or Japanese traditional archery, dealt with this condition for years. Now that he has forged new bonds with his high school kyudo teammates, he has managed to stave off his archery anxiety. A new school year will give Minato more opportunities to hear the Tsurune, that is, the distinct sound of the bowstring as the arrow is released, and continue to reignite his passion for the sport.

Tsurune: The Linking Shot is the second season of the Tsurune anime based on Kotoko Ayano's novel and streams on HIDIVE on Wednesdays.


How was the first episode?

Lauren Orsini
Rating:

The first season of Tsurune aired five years ago, in Fall 2018, but if you don't remember much about it, no problem. The first episode of Tsurune: The Linking Shot is all about getting viewers reacquainted. That makes it sound like you're in for a serious expository slog, but you'll be relieved to hear that this isn't the case. That's the magic of this refreshing slice-of-life sports show: it knows how to show instead of tell.

At first blush, it doesn't seem like much happens in this episode. If you only listened to the content of the dialogue and ignored delivery, it'd be simply about Minato and his teammates discussing the sports festival, the upcoming kyudo competition, and how excited they are for their next practice session. But taken holistically with the atmospheric visuals and a delicate musical score (which might as well be called “Piano To Chill And Do Kyudo To”), this nostalgic and meticulously animated return to the world of the Kazemai High School Kyudo Club is Kyoto Animation doing a victory lap.

It would be easy enough to have a background character say, “Oh, Minato? Yeah, he got in an accident that killed his mom and injured him, had a lot of trauma related to that and his favorite sport, and now you can find him at the kyudo range most days shooting arrows.” But rather than taking that easy way out, this gentle reintroduction nudges the viewer with subtle cues. The storytelling visually recalls Minato's past trauma when he remembers his mother's face and lifts his gym shirt to wipe his face, revealing the scar on his stomach. In this fashion, Tsurune makes a leisurely return to the world of Minato and his teammates and all their various relationships and rivalries. The audio mixing plays a particularly critical role in the storytelling: you'll notice a slightly different sound for the tsurune as each character shoots his arrow.

As echoed by the title “Summer Calls,” this first episode is about re-establishing a place and time with distinct characters to populate it. The stakes are extremely low, though if last season's angst and tournament tension are anything to go off of, that should change soon. Instead, it's a soft return to this kyudo club's earnest and hopeful world. There's a reason that some viewers call Tsurune a spiritual successor to Free!: it's an elevation of the “cute boys doing cute things” genre, with strong emotional beats, more robust animation, and a story in which the relationships between the characters do most of the heavy lifting. It's a strong start that reminds me just how pleasant it was to watch the first season of Tsurune (between the sharp pangs of angst!), and I have no reason not to be optimistic that the second season will follow that lead.


James Beckett
Rating:

I wasn't even aware that Tsurune: The Linking Shot was a sequel season, and normally I wouldn't go out of my way to cover a follow-up to a series I've never seen for Preview Guide. But, given that it's been five whole years since the first season aired, I figured I might check the show out just to see if it held up for newcomers. Plus, it's a new Kyoto Animation joint, which should always be celebrated. If nothing else, I'd figure I'd get to enjoy the results of some of the top craftspeople in the industry animating the hell out of some archery scenes.

And that's exactly what I got! Tsurune will definitely satisfy the cravings of any anime fans out there that are looking to get absolutely lost in the studio's signature blend of gorgeous backgrounds, ethereal lighting, and stunning character animation. The archery scenes, especially, are simply a wonder to behold; I cannot imagine how difficult and time-consuming it was to animate the peculiar flex and heft that a high-speed arrow has in motion, never mind all of the subtle character movement needed to sell the act of drawing and shooting the thing. I was happy to watch this premiere just for the opportunity to appreciate the artistry on display.

The story and characters, on the other hand, did less for me. This could very well be on account of my missing out on the full season and movie's worth of background material that would endear me to these characters, and while the premiere does a good job of introducing Minato and the rest of the kyudo crew, it was hard for me to get invested in all of the time we spend simply hanging out with them, since their personalities all seem to be subtle variations on “generally well-meaning and nice archery enthusiast”. It very much reminded me of real-life scenarios where I've ended up hanging out with a group of longtime friends that I barely know; they're pleasant enough to make the time pass by more or less painlessly, but I still felt like the odd man out.

Still, returning fans are undoubtedly going to love Tsurune: The Linking Shot, and I could see newcomers being intrigued enough to want to go back and start from the very beginning. I'm not a huge fan of such low-key hangout shows, even ones this beautifully animated, so I probably won't be sticking with it, but I have to recognize some damned impressive artistry when I see it.


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