Review of Hanebado!

HANEBADO! Review As of recently, my appreciation for sports anime has grown from what it initially was. Much of my appreciation for this genre has come from my love for Haikyuu!! and Free!! Both of these shows have managed to become some of my favorites in the sports genre of anime and perfectly demonstrate the appeal of their own respective sports in numerous ways. I didn’t want my newfound appreciation of sports anime to dwindle out immediately, so I took it upon myself to search for other well-received sports shows. The anime that I ended up stumbling upon was a series called, HANEBADO! In this review,I’ll be talking about the story, characters, animation/art, music, and my overall thoughts on the show.

Story: 6/10 (Fine)

HANEBADO! is a badminton anime about hard work, determination, and the purpose behind pursuing the things we love. At first glance, this show may look like your typical sports anime, and you’d be 100% right in thinking that. Unlike Haikyu!! or Free!!, HANEBADO! doesn’t strive to do or say anything all too different from what you're used to. It plays around with interesting themes and concepts, but given the short length of the series, not much was ultimately achieved. Unfortunately, the story of HANEBADO! is its weakest aspect.

Characters: 6/10 (Fine)

One of the things that stood out to me in this series was how most of the characters were handled. As mentioned before, HANEBADO! is a fairly short anime. With only 12 episodes to get the viewer attached to its characters, I suspected I’d be walking away unimpressed. While not bad, most of the characters can be described as ok. This applies to Ayano Hanesaki as well. Despite being one of the two main characters in the show, Ayano came off as unlikeable and bland in almost every episode. I think a large part of the reason I felt this way about her was because of her antagonistic nature. Shortly after Ayano’s return to badminton, her personality is completely flipped. She goes from being timid and friendly, to someone who neglects her friends and only thinks about winning the next match ahead of her. I understand that she needed time to develop as a likeable character, but this drastic shift in her personality left me a bit conflicted at times. I’m sure I’m not the only one who thought of this, but Ayano sometimes comes off as the villain for a large part of the season. In fact, I found myself rooting for her rivals more times than not. Thankfully, Ayano isn’t the only main character in HANEBADO! The second main character I’d like to talk about is Nagisa Aragaki. Initially, I wasn’t a big fan of Nagisa. She came off as cold, rude, and downright cruel to her teammates at the start of the season. To my surprise Nagisa actually acknowledges these faults, and does something about them. She starts living up to her reputation as captain of the team, and even learns to support her teammates as best she can. With that in mind, I think it's safe to say Nagisa is my favorite character in HANEBADO!! She’s smart, kind, and a great representation of “hard work pays off,” in a show that’s largely focused on that exact theme

Animation/Art: 8/10 (Great)

Animation is always something I’ll value in an anime. When done right, it can really affect my enjoyment of a show. In the case of HANEBADO!!, they absolutely knocked it out of the park. Movements felt fluid and really helped demonstrate how intense a match of badminton can truly be. If there’s one thing that makes this show worth watching, it's the animation.

Music: 7/10 (Good)

For the most part, the OST does its job right. Some of the best matches are usually accompanied with some stellar music, which made some of the scenes all the more memorable. If you want some uplifting and motivational music to listen to, I’d definitely recommend some of these tracks.

Final Score: 6/10 (Fine)

Overall, I’d say HANEBADO! is a fine show. Aside from the beautiful animation and top-notch music, there’s not much here to talk about. If you're looking to feed your hunger for sports anime, I’d recommend checking out this series.