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Question: What is your favourite sports anime? From Tommy
Okay, I never used to watch sports anime. Out right avoided them and pretended they did not exist. It has only been since starting the blog that I’ve slowly started to try out a handful of newer shows and have picked up a couple of classics to fill in gaps in my anime knowledge. I’ll admit, there’s a lot of sports anime out there I still haven’t tried and even though I will accept now that some sports anime can actually be pretty compelling, it still isn’t a genre I jump into.
So Days was probably one that surprised me. I know from an animation point of view it is pretty terrible so if you are watching the show to watch a well animated football game, look elsewhere. However, something about the main character really appealed and I really enjoyed the interactions within the team.
In terms of classic sports anime shows that I’ve gone back and filled in because I’d missed them the one I most enjoyed was Haikyuu. I had a lot of fun with those characters and for a short space of time even got excited about the idea of volleyball (that wore off quick but it was there for a moment).
Yet, my favourite anime featuring sport is definitely Yuri on Ice!. I know, that is such a cheat answer given it isn’t a sports anime in the strictest sense of the word, but of all the anime that are focused on a competitor getting better at their game, Yuri on Ice is the one I love the most. I was happy to read your review of it recently and I’m glad that it continues to connect with people.
Alright, we’ll turn this over to the reader’s and ask what is your favourite sports anime?
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
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Hope you don’t mind the late reply, but I just saw this pop up in your “related” area. I watch a fair bit of sports anime, but I generally tend to prefer the ones that either focus on fictional sports, or more obscure/non-western sports. Like some of the ones I’ve really enjoyed are Angelic Layer, Saki, Chihayafuru, Bamboo Blade, and Aokana (I own AL and BB in my DVD collection, and would buy Saki in a heartbeat if anyone ever licensed it). I also enjoyed Harukana Receive this summer, but that was in part because I played volleyball in middle school, so a lot of the “sports” part of it like the practice drills they ran Haruka through were drills I remembered doing myself, so there was kind of a nostalgia thing going for me.
If I has to pick a sports anime it would have to be Ace of Diamonds and Haikyuu. Those two are awesome!! 😊
I never played nor liked basketball, but my favorite sports anime so far will be Slam Dunk. It has a good story, good animation, and lovable characters which makes each episode interesting and fun to watch which makes you crave for more.
Sports anime!
Where do I begin Karandi-san?
I’m a sports manga addict.
Haikyuu is definitely my favourite, but Area no Kishi, Baby Steps and Crimson Hero follow close behind~
Okay, I haven’t heard of those other three at all. Will have to look into them.
Haikyuu is the only sports anime I’ve watched and I enjoyed it so I guess it’s my favourite by default?
Either way, great replies as always, Karandi.
Favourite by default is fine. Were you going to watch any others.
Hmm, I don’t think so. Well, at least I don’t currently have any on my watch list anyways. I don’t specifically look out for any genres when I watch anime so sports anime being relatively smaller compared to others have a lower chance of being watched by me, I guess.
Aside from YoI, my favourite sports anime (and possibly my only “true” one, even if the sport is fictional) would have to be Prince of Stride Alternative. I know it’s quite middling critically speaking, but the passion and spirit of Prince of Stride’s characters really motivates me.
Prince of Stride is kind of awesome, in its own less than amazing way. I wouldn’t mind a sequel to that.
Fighting is a sport, right? Can I say Yu Yu Hakusho then or is that cheating?
Well…my favorite sports anime is Yuri on Ice too. But to be fair it’s also the only one that I have seen 🙈🙈 But yeah..not a real fan of sports as you know, so in all likelyhood there won’t be any more sports animes that I will watch. But who knows, things can change 😊😊
I really don’t like sport either and I thought I would never enjoy watching characters playing a sport. Anime apparently can make anything interesting. Haikyuu made volleyball seem interesting until I remembered that I really don’t like volleyball.
Ughh…if there is one sport that I really hated at school: it was volleyball.
But if you don’t like that but you still enjoyed the anime..that’s really saying something I guess. Ofcourse you realise that with comments such as these you have really gotten me curious now 😊😊
Do it.
I started Haikyuu because so many people recommended it to me and I just wanted to get it off my watch list and I ended up watching all three seasons in fairly quick order. It is a little bit addictive.
Oh yes!