This Week in Anime

Why You Should Watch Backflip!!

Nicky
Not just one boy! Six of them!

Out of all the anime this season, I really feel like Backflip!! truly surprised me. I adore sports anime but I feel like they can totally be hit-or-miss.

Yeah, sports live or die by their animation but especially when the sport is all about performance. With Backflip!! being part of a 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami commemoration project, it's certainly got the strength to hold itself up as a prestige work. But god, if you don't believe me just look for yourself.

Not only did the first episode blow me away with a fully choreographed performance, it's got some great CG accompanied by these slick 2D detail shots. This is one of the most beautiful premieres in a stiffly competitive season, and the show doesn't drop off from there either.

It's the exact kind of thing you want for your inspiring narrative. But what's the show without a story? Shōtarō Futaba is an average directionless middle-school boy whose experience with sports mostly equates to sitting on a bench. When one summer day he wanders across some stray butts.

And again, him feeling overwhelmed by the raw power of a performance is one of the few times I feel like an anime totally "earned" that dramatic kind of reaction. Unfortunately, because Men's Rhythmic Gymnastics is a sport designed for six people, Ao High couldn't get full marks with only a four-man squad, and they end up being unable to place this time.

Shōtarō ends up attending Ao High but one of the other boy he happened to sit next to during the competition ends up applying to the club before he can even work up the courage, and it's SUPER AWK cuz as he also happens to be a prodigy.


You can feel what he has to start comparing himself to even before he joins the club.

Fortunately, I actually rather like Misato as a rival because he's mostly reserved instead of mean, and his technical proficiency ends up being a source of inspiration for our fledgling Shōtarō-kun instead of a real downer.

I feel this way when I see some sick-ass animation, too.

Shōtarō doesn't get discouraged by the other members being better than him when he's starting out. He fears his inability to keep up because what he wants most is to feel like a part of the team. It's fortunate for him that his team, his coach, and the manager are fully dedicated to supporting him in his efforts to get onto their level no matter how much he fumbles.

I'm particularly fond of him for his cooking skills. Also for the fact that his bark is clearly bigger than his bite and he always ends up apologizing swiftly. Most of the jokes around the characters are simple but the timing of the banter is always so quick that I end up feeling charmed and giggling anyways.

They're all pretty much archetypes with specific hobbies and family backgrounds that play into jokes, like the team captain being a musclehead obsessed with his family's fish cake business. Then there's the more mild vice captain with a plant obsession, or the trendy ladies' man of the group being obsessed with a particular idol.

Even the coach is kinda peculiar, in that he seems to be a MAJOR Wife Guy™, but none of the members have ever seen his wife and they all think he's making it up at this point and are too afraid to ask.

And given how at least two of the characters seem to be somewhat inspired by him in the past, I get the feeling we'll get to see even more of that. The coach is definitely the most mysterious character so far. He even uses his connection to pull them into a training camp with a rival school.

Also supporting them is the soft-spoken manager who is never seen without her smart tablet and is at the ready to show off information or snap embarrassing pics. She's actually a relative of the coach.

In other words, she's not utilized very much but whenever she is, she's Good.

The introduction of this mischievous white-haired child creates another push but also another rival for Shōtarō in particular. He's a lot different from Misato in that his playful nature pushes Shōtarō out of his shell right after meeting him, getting him to "feel" rather than think. He's actually an even more fierce natural-talent than Misato and his desire for competition makes him a little threatening, even. Also, he used to go to school with Misato and calls him "Misa-pon" which is very cute.

Also good cuz he's 100% opposite personality of Misato and it gives us something to focus on while Misato still remains a bit of a mystery about himself.

Misato doesn't even stay in the Cool Boys sports dorm with them because he goes home every night.

It's also implied that he picked Ao High because of a history with the coach but I'm sure that's stuff that'll come with due time.

The rival team makes it pretty clear that our team still has a lot to strive for still. They pretty much outclass them in everyway, but it's nice to see them fight or bond over their similarities. I enjoy the two meathead redhead coaches taking everything to the logical extreme, including seeing who can do the faster backflips. Then there's also the episode 5 where they do "Double Hide-n-Seek" but they're both so stupid that everyone keeps waiting around at school in small groups for hours.

Episode 5 also ends up being a whole tone exercise of: WHO GAVE YOU THE RIGHT TO MAKE THIS SPORTS ANIME SO SPOOKY?!

It shows off how good the background and lighting team really are to pull this off. AND THEN IT'S NEVER EXPLAINED!!

It's a great tone departure and character build-up just before the start of the Big Competition!

Even with our resident Soar-boy's best effort to keep up with the group. It's only expected that'd he'd hit some sort of emotional slump.

He doesn't mean it, he's just Peak Socially-Awkward Ace. Since Shōtarō highly values his opinion it doesn't help him much. Throughout the show, the others point out that Shōtarō is actually well-suited for gymnastics. His experiences trying and failing in other sports make him well-rounded and he picks up quickly that he's technically proficient, which leaves the only thing blocking him is his mentality.

When it's not showing off the cool moves, some of the best shots are simply dedicated to capturing Shōtarō's mentality, and it doesn't skimp. It's wonderfully composed with gentle character animation and graceful colors. Even when Shōtarō is visually sinking deep into his anxiety right before The Big One we get blessed with this little moment to give him the confidence he needs. Narratively, there's not much original about Backflip!! from other sports anime but whatever it does, it executes with passion and style.

Please at least check out the performances. I also want to highlight the CG direction in particular. I'm a proponent of using whatever tools in your shed in order to make great anime, but I've never quite gotten over how stilted anime CG is. Dance and action especially are where I see it, even most idol anime use motion-capture and CG and it doesn't quite gel with me. Even if I can sometimes tell that the models are different in Backflip!!, the camera-work and the direction of these sequences are also just on point and it makes me wish more anime would catch-up to that kind of excellency.

It's a welcome argument for why we should continue to get more animated sports dramas over any other medium. Sports dramas aren't based in fantasy so you can argue that they'd be nearly identical if created in live-action, but when animated they can look and feel just as fantastical as any action spectacle. Animation can bring us closer to the feelings of the characters in a way unfeasible in anything else.

Like, where else would I be able to see the literal sweat droplets so beautifully flying off of this boy?! Whoa!

For what it is, Backflip!! soars with confidence and doesn't falter in its landings. It puts a big ol' smile on my face whenever I watch it. I'm sure it'll be a great show to fall back on for those wanting something inspirational in their life.