2015 has come and gone. A new anime season is coming with more titles and fun. But before we delve any deeper into new series that will air in 2016, let’s take a moment to see what 2015 had for us.
Once again, the criteria is that the anime series must end in 2015, regardless of when it started airing.
So this is it! The annual Hoshiko’s Best Anime list has returned.
When it comes to being a basketball anime, I think it’s difficult not to compare Kuroko no Basuke with Slam Dunk!. After much thought, I realize I like Kuroko no Basuke pretty much for the reasons I dislike Slam Dunk!
Why I like Kuroko no Basuke is similar to why I like sports anime, except this post is very much tailored to this specific anime.
Maybe I’m used to likeable characters from days of K-ON! or any other club-centric anime, which explains why watching Hibike! Euphorium can be a little hard. From the first episode until now, I couldn’t find myself invest in any of the characters. My definition of invest as in like, support, cheer, etc. For example, I thought it was fun to watch Hirasawa Yui explore music and learning to have fun playing guitar. Or how I would cheer for Kuroko and his team in all of their basketball games.
In Hibike! Euphorium, I don’t find such characters. I don’t find this feeling. Watching the series at this point is only to find out how far the club will go and grow out from their very messed up state. As the matter of fact, I hated Kumiko at the start of the series.
Several weeks have passed since the world of manga bid farewell to the much popular series Naruto. And several weeks before that, my friends and I bid farewell to another of our favorite series Kuroko no Basuke. In other words, we’ve spent a lot of days these past few months “chasing” the weekly chapter. We would eagerly and anxiously waiting for the release of the translated chapters. Worst part is, the translators seem to delay the release of the last few chapters on many occasions.
For us, we would greet each other each morning to with either “Kuroko still not yet release.” or “Naruto not yet out”. And then we’ll go on with our work while periodically check for possible updates. On a “bad” day, we would end the day with the same sigh. Figuratively speaking, of course.
Among the sports anime aired this year, Baby Steps and Haikyuu!! really stood out for me. While both are sports anime, their premises couldn’t be any more different. Haikyuu!! focuses on volleyball, a team sports while Baby Steps focuses on tennis, mostly known as a single player sports. I think that in itself laid out the major differences between the two anime in terms of atmosphere, excitement and player dynamics.
As I found myself following quite a number of sports anime this season, I can’t help but to take a step back and wonder why I like sports and competitive game anime. Over the seven years of me watching anime, I’ve watched many sports anime such as Bamboo Blade, Slam Dunk, Chihayafuru, Kuroko no Basuke, Free! etc.
So why do I like sports anime that much? Here’s why.
During a rare one week break that I had, I picked Slam Dunk from my to-watch list to entertain myself throughout the Chinese New Year holidays. I didn’t enjoy the series as much as I thought I would. Basketball is my thing, I love watching the games even though I probably know nothing about it.
See, the reasons I love watching sports anime are the adrenaline rush and the excitement. With Slam Dunk though, instead of getting the doses that I need, I got annoyed. I’m well aware that Slam Dunk is a wildly popular series, even among non-anime fans. Unfortunately though, I don’t think the series is my cup of tea.
Here’s why. (Please don’t throw shoes at me if you’re a Slam Dunk fan).
