Review of Baby Steps

Baby Steps Baby Steps is a memorable sports anime with informative analysis of tennis, likable characters, and thrilling gameplay. CHARACTERS: 20/25 The protagonist of this series is Eiichiro Maruo. Supporting characters are Natsu Takasaki, Takuma Egawa, Kojirou Kageyama, Yukichi Fukuzawa, and Himeko Sasaki. Eiichiro plays against and continually interacts with other tennis players such as Takuya Miyagawa, Ryou Oobayashi, Hitoshi Araya, Hiromi Iwasa, Souji Ike, and Yuu Nabae. Other supporting cast include Eiichiro’s parents and his coaches, Coach Miura and Coach Ryuuhei Aoi. Eiichiro is a very likable and hard-working student who decides to try his hand at tennis and ends up loving it. Throughout the series theviewer grows to admire and root for Eiichiro’s unique approach to mastering tennis and is charmed by Eiichiro’s growing love interest, Natsu. Kageyama and Sasaki play supportive, comedic, and unobtrusive roles. Eiichiro’s parents both support and challenge Eiichiro’s pursuit to go pro. The coaches and Eiichiro himself provide a majority of the analyses about training and gameplay. What is greatly impressive is the number and variety of other tennis players that Eiichiro faces, providing new and unique spins to each series of episodes in which Eiichiro is playing against one of them. The viewer grows to admire the uniqueness of each person’s game and how Eiichiro learns something different when/after facing each player. Something that might be lacking is character development and screen time for some of the other characters, like Natsu, as she is basically just a strong tennis player who is supportive of Eiichiro and is the cutest girl in class. Kageyama ends up just being someone who goes to Eiichiro’s matches and is talked to by the coaches. In addition, Eiichiro may be almost too analytical and focused on tennis, as other aspects of his life, such as his love life, are really very superficial and don’t get the depth of character development that the viewer may want to see.

STORY: 38/45
The story of Baby Steps draws you in and leaves you wondering what happens next, especially when Eiichiro is playing in a match. While one might think that watching Eiichiro play in matches multiple times can get repetitive, every opponent is unique and possesses different skills, making every match feel fresh and thrilling. What’s great is also that while Eiichiro is a rising star in tennis who is improving at an alarming rate, he doesn’t win every match, keeping the story feeling a bit more realistic. The gameplay analysis narrated usually by Eiichiro himself or the coaches is very strong and informative. There is also, of course, the overarching story of Eiichiro growing as a tennis player and deciding that he wants to go pro. For this reason, the stakes are raised, causing viewers to root for Eiichiro even more as there are concrete goals he has to achieve. The overall development of his relationship to the sport and to his studies are done very well, as are his training and adjustments in his training. What may be lacking, as mentioned previously, is more about Eiichiro’s personality and life other than being an honors student and being very focused on tennis. For example, there’s not much regarding his friendship with Kageyama. In addition, while Natsu plays heroine to Eiichiro’s main character role, their interactions are quite minimal and Natsu doesn’t receive much character development other than being another tennis player trying to go pro who happens to be the cutest girl in class.

ART: 8/10
The art in Baby Steps is nothing special. Everything is well-drawn and most scenes are well-animated. What might be lacking is having more scenes with actual movement of players during matches instead of just using speed lines for the ball. The OP and ED are well-animated and set up the series well.

SOUND: 8/10
The sound in this series is great. The voice acting is done very well, including the action scenes. The sound effects are strong and matches sound like a real game is being played. I’m not sure how many variations of tennis balls being hit that they used, but it seems like a lot. Background music is used at appropriate times, but seems limited as we hear the same music used repeatedly, especially during matches.

ENJOYMENT: 9/10
Baby Steps is a very enjoyable anime. As stated before, Eiichiro’s is a very likable character and one can’t help but cheer for him to do well. Every match is unique, thrilling, and sometimes spans for several episodes, leaving viewers wanting to know what happens next. His growing relationship with Natsu is also a joy to watch.

OVERALL: 83/100
Would I recommend Baby Steps to a friend? Absolutely. It’s an informative, funny, entertaining, and thrilling anime about tennis. It makes me want to take up my racket again and get back on the court.