Review of Hanebado!

Hanebado! This anime has come under a lot of praise and criticism since it first released this summer. Some have praised it for its realism while others have criticised it for bad writing and character inconsistencies. For me though, I’m actually really happy with the way this anime went. I got invested in this show because there’s a lot I can relate to. To give us out some serious talk, all us have had some kind of issue growing up especially with our parents. Now granted, most of us didn’t have the kind of issue that Ayano has with her mother, but the anime givesa good example of what happens when you make a bad decision that has a long lasting effect along with showing just how bad life can get. This is the reason why so many people are so frustrated with this show.

And I get it. No honestly, I do. I get why people wouldn’t like this show because most of us have never experienced the kind of hardships that Ayano has been through. Most have never even experienced the pain or fear of abandonment. Simply put, the people who hate this show comes from a lack of experience themselves, not because they’re bad people themselves. That’s why I like this show so much. The writers were not afraid to tell this story the way they did instead of playing it safe, even at the risk of being heavily criticized themselves. It’s easy for the younger anime fans to criticize these things because they have yet to experience real hardships themselves. On the other hand though, it’s easy for the adults, the older fans, to forget that they were once teenagers themselves. And since the majority of anime characters are teenagers, we as a whole tend to forget that at that age we are bound to make more mistakes than we would as an adult.

The thing you need to understand about Hanebado is that this is not a typical moe show with cute girls doing cute things while all sharing the same passion like Harukana Receive or Yuru Camp. And while this anime is about badminton, the sport is not the main focus of the story. In fact, it never has been. This isn’t a sports story with a bunch of drama thrown in, this is a character driven story that is mainly about one character’s tragic journey with badminton being her driving force. The sport itself acts both as a subplot and a driving force for its characters. Every major character you see has their own story to tell. What they went through to get where they are, what hardships they had to face, and ultimately how they feel about each other.

To give some comparisons, Hanebado shares a lot of parallels to the Rocky movies, specifically the first two, and it’s story is essentially the dark side of the those film. While Rocky Balboa was on quest to prove himself, Ayano is on a quest for revenge. Additionally, many characters in Hanebado represent other characters in the Rocky films, with some obvious differences of course. To truly understand Hanebado and the story it’s trying to tell, we have to look at every character individually. Which is why for this review, instead of doing my usual EASY TO UNDERSTAND kind of thing, I am going to talk about every who has played some role in Ayano’s life. On that note this will not include Nagisa or Nozomi because both of them virtually have nothing to do with Ayano. Hopefully, even if you still don’t like this show after this review, one day you will come to understand and perhaps even appreciate it because as we get older we begin to have a better understanding or not just fictional characters, but the human mind as well.

KAORUKO SERIGAYA - The Arch Nemesis
Let’s start with the one who inadvertently started the whole thing. When we first see Kaoruko she immediately strikes you as a person who is very arrogant, very disrespectful, and perhaps a little crazy. Her history with Ayano is that of a classic arch nemesis. Being one of the earliest of Ayano’s opponents, Kaoruko was unable to beat her until she deliberately got Ayano sick with her cold, sabotaging their match while using the excuse that she wanted to fight on even terms. Because of that, Ayano ended losing, something that would a devastating effect on her. A few years later she shows up at Ayano’s school unannounced and challenges Ayano, beating not through skill but through psychology.

So in the beginning it’s easy to dislike Kaoruko. She intimidates her opponents by talking down on them, making them feel that they’re no match for her. She even trash talks her own teammates. However, there’s a lot more to Kaoruko than you realize for she is essentially the Apollo Creed of this anime. In the Rocky movies Apollo also liked to brag and trash talked his opponents, but he also had the means to back it up. He didn’t become the heavyweight champion for nothing, he did it by doing the work that was required. Kaoruko is exactly the same way. She may be rude and disrespectful, but she didn’t get where she was by doing nothing. She’s worked harder than any other player on her team. She doesn’t play badminton for popularity points. She plays it because she wants to, and she wants to be the best out there. She’s earned the right to brag and trash talk.

But of course, her arrogance eventually got the better of her. In her second official match with Ayano, she made the mistake of thinking she was facing the exact same opponent. Well, she soon found out she was wrong and lost because of it. However, she didn’t go down without a fight and this is where I really do admire her. Like Apollo, she’s very knowledgeable about the sport she plays. In addition, she does have a cute side to her which is shown when she develops a schoolgirl crush on Ayano’s badminton coach. However, when it comes to badminton she gets serious. When she realizes she is not facing the same Ayano from before, she changes her strategy. She uses all her knowledge of badminton in a effort to beat her opponent, believing that she can win after falling behind. All the work she’s put in shows, to the point that even her teammates, who she was rude to before, can’t help but cheer her on. But in the end, it’s not enough and she loses, her pride being further damaged by Ayano’s own trash talk.

Now you can say that she had it coming, and she did, but I like to believe that her loss against Ayano finally showed her that she wasn’t invincible, that she was as vulnerable as every other player, and that she finally accepted her human. This may sound crazy but I actually consider Kaoruko to be the best girl of the anime. The reason why I believe that is because in that final scene when she broke down after her loss, it showed me that beneath all that arrogance there is a sweet girl there. The problem is that she lacks the social skills to really express them. So in the end, Kaoruko is not an evil person. Arrogant, yes, but not evil. And she actually respects Ayano because she is the reason she works really hard to perfect her skills. And again, she may have started the whole thing with Ayano, however she is not directly responsible for Ayano’s mother leaving. And speaking of which, let’s now shift our focus to…

UCHIKA HANESAKI - Worst Mother Of The Year
We have every reason to hate this character, for under no circumstances should a parent ever abandon a child. However, I disagree with everyone who says that she is a terrible person. A terrible mother, definitely, but not a terrible person. The thing you need to understand about Uchika is that she is a badminton fanatic. To her, badminton is her life to the point where it’s her obsession. It consumes her everyday thought. And when you look at her past, it’s understandable. She was a ten time national champion… who suddenly became pregnant and had a child. Now we don’t know what the exact circumstances were leading to her pregnancy, but even though her life had suddenly changed her obsession with badminton didn’t. And sadly there’s a lot of parents in the real world who are like this.

When you’ve had such a successful career in whatever your profession is, settling down and starting a family is the furthest thing in your mind. You’re either ready for it, or you’re not. And that’s the thing with Uchika, she was simply not ready to become a mother yet because her mind was always on badminton even when she was pregnant with Ayano. This carried on through Ayano’s childhood and later Connie’s. In every scene Uchika is in, flashback or otherwise, she is always talking about something related to badminton. It’s never about them. Heck, she doesn’t even see them as her daughters or even as children. She sees them as her proteges. She doesn’t see herself as a mother, she sees herself as a coach. It doesn’t mean she didn’t love them any less, it’s that she doesn’t know how to be a mother. Her obsession with badminton is her undoing.

Her leaving Ayano initially wasn’t because of Ayano, it was because of herself. When Ayano lost, her badminton mind told her that she had failed as coach. Because of that, she leaves Ayano to relieve her frustration by training her other student Connie but ended staying longer than she planned when Connie started to show potential. Again, her mind is always on badminton. Later on, we discover that the real reason was because she wanted Ayano to develop her skills on her own without having to rely on her. Now of course, this doesn’t excuse her actions but when you look at her character it does make sense and she even acknowledges that she’s been a terrible mother. A terrible person wouldn’t say that. In families who are financially successful, especially the very rich ones, more often than not we see the children of those families grow into spoiled brats, sometimes even violent ones. This is because either the parents are spoiled brats themselves or were so focused of their lives and careers they ended up neglecting their own children. In the case of Ayano and her mother’s successful career, who’s to say Ayano wouldn’t have turn out the same way if she continued to cling to Uchika?

When you really think about, Ayano’s strained relationship with her mother is not much different from Indiana Jones and his strained relationship with his father. Both their parents are very much alike and yet they were both trying to teach their children to rely on themselves rather than their parents. Henry Jones ignored his son for the most part partly due to his obsession with the Holy Grail while Uchika took the more extreme method by leaving Ayano behind. Both had the same idea, but Uchika’s method was entirely wrong and she knows it, but again her mind is always on badminton. Her decision has left a permanent scar on Ayano, one that she will have to deal with one day. Luckily for Ayano, she had at her side…

ELENA FUJISAWA - The Childhood Friend
At this point in time Elena was the closest person to Ayano after Uchika’s departure. She had tried to support Ayano the best that she could as a friend though. In a way, she’s essentially Mickey Goldmill, Rocky’s original trainer. Her mistake though was that she didn’t fully understand Ayano’s trauma with her abandonment. You see, a lot of people claim that Elena is entirely at fault for bringing Ayano back into badminton when she didn’t want to when in truth it wasn’t because how was she supposed to know what was going to happen to Ayano? Simple, she couldn’t have and it’s because she didn’t know about Uchika’s other student Connie.

The reason why she forcibly brought Ayano back into the sport of badminton was she because she felt that Ayano’s reason was very foolish, and I agree with her. Why should you abandon the sport you love so much just because you’re mother left you? Elena is basically trying to tell Ayano that, “Hey, there are better ways to play badminton. Forget about your mother. Play for yourself, or better yet, play for a team.”. Elena was simply doing was friends do, helping her friend out by telling Ayano she shouldn’t give up her passion just because her mother. And in the first five episodes, Ayano begins to see a new light in the sport. She begins to enjoy it again and becomes fascinated with the idea of being with a team. Elena had done her job by bringing happiness to Ayano again and all was going well. That is until the sudden and unexpected arrival of…

CONNIE CHRISTENSEN - The Other Protege
Now Connie is the most misunderstood character in this anime. A Danish girl who is rather tall, she was trained by Uchika at an early age due to the overseas trips Uchika often took. People write off this character because of how she initially treats Ayano and for her sudden character shifts. I understand perfectly well why people really dislike this character. However, the reason for the dislike isn’t necessarily because of bad writing, but rather the anime’s poor execution of her character especially when she tries to be nicer to Ayano. For me though, Connie is the character I feel the most sorry for because she is basically the innocent victim in this story. Granted, she pretty much brought on herself but let me try to explain Connie’s character as best I can.

The thing about Connie is that she’s very competitive when it comes to badminton. Her coach Uchika is also very competitive in badminton, so naturally she assumed Ayano would be the same. Like Kaoruko, she wants to prove that she’s the best in the sport but the big difference is that she has a more personal reason. She wants to prove that she’s the better student of Uchika’s two proteges. In a competitive sport like badminton where you’ve been trained by the same teacher this is a perfectly normal thing to do. Who wouldn’t want to prove who’s the best of the two? The problem was that Connie was overcome by her overeagerness to prove herself. While it’s never shown in the anime it’s heavily implied that Uchika did not want Connie to face Ayano just yet. Whether this was because Ayano would beat her easily or because she wouldn’t take to well with suddenly having a stepsister is uncertain, but given Uchika’s character it was quite likely both.

Now some of you I’m sure are asking about Connie sudden request for Ayano to accept her as her sister instead of her rival when she was so hostile towards her in the beginning. Well, to understand that you have to look at Connie’s own past for it’s very similar to Ayano’s. Through her flashbacks we see that Connie had lived a very lonely life in her childhood. Every scene we see her she is always alone. We’re never shown why exactly that but considering she was living in a very nice house it’s safe to assume that she had parents that virtually ignored her and not because she was an orphan. She developed a passion for badminton but this did little to cure the loneliness in her heart. Then comes Uchika, who not only becomes her coach but takes her in as her daughter. Despite Uchika’s faults, this is one of the kindest things she’s even done even though it would later have a devastating effect on Ayano.

The reason for Connie’s initial hostility isn’t actually directed Ayano personally, but rather at the idea of being part of a team as shown in their first match. This has nothing to do with any so called rivalry, it’s actually has to with Connie’s insecurity. When you look at her past, it makes a lot of sense. Given the lonely life she’s gone through she’s pretty much taught herself that she doesn’t need to rely on others. However, deep down she wants to be part of Ayano’s family, but now that Ayano is adopting a new family with her team Connie considers this to be a threat. When she realize she that she wasn’t alone through her teammates, she discovered that her entire thinking was wrong and she tried to make up with Ayano. At least, that was the intention. The problem was that the anime didn’t execute very well which is why her sudden change came off as both unrealistic and unbelievable to many. However, by the time she realized this the it was already too late. Her declaration to Ayano about being Uchika’s second daughter ended causing much more damage to their relationship than she realized.

Connie’s mistake though was that she rushed in without thinking. Her even bigger mistake was on how little she knew about Ayano. She only knew what Uchika had told her and had assumed that Ayano would be no different from her. What she didn’t know was the fact that Uchika had abandoned Ayano and that it had left a very deep scar. She didn’t know about Ayano’s mental state until she actually saw it for herself. And when she did, it scared the living hell out her. All of a sudden she found herself right in the middle of ugly family feud, something she wanted no part of. She could have attempted to apologize to Ayano for her reckless behavior, but at that point Ayano had already gone over the edge. Yes, she may have cause it but again this was due to how little she knew about Ayano. Any apology now won’t do her any good. This was now Ayano’s and Uchika’s problem. They have to sort it out themselves. Luckily for Connie, she had her teammates to support her. And now let’s finally talk about…

AYANO HANESAKI - The Near Tragedy
Ayano’s story is a very sad one. It is a perfect representation of someone who fell to the dark side. To quote the famous words from Jedi Master Yoda:

“Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.”

One thing these characters all have in common is the fear of losing, which is quite common in single player competitive sports. All of us who are very passionate about sports hate the thought of losing. It is a bitter pill to swallow. But for Ayano, it’s a much more personal reason.

Ayano’s fear started when she lost to Kaoruko and that loss was greatly magnified when she sees her mother literally walk out of her life. No phone calls, no letters, no communication of any kind, nothing. She believed she lost her mother because her loss to Kaoruko was too much Uchika to bear, not knowing the real reason behind it. Because of this, she was afraid she was never see her mother again. She convinced herself that the only way she can get her mother back was by winning again. Winning every game she played would bring her closer to her mother. Any loss would take her further away, so losing for her was not an option. And that’s exactly what she did, she turned into a badminton monster. Then one evening she sees a badminton magazine with Uchika on the cover, the very first time she’s had any contact with her mother. However, when she opens the magazine she see a picture of her mother with a stranger at her side, kissing her on the cheek along with a quote that she won her championship thanks to Uchika as her coach. It is here that Ayano’s fear turns to anger. To her, it is the ultimate betrayal.

Luckily she was able to put aside her anger by pursuing other sports such as tennis, as we saw in the beginning, only to be dragged back into badminton by Elena for reasons I’ve already stated. Understandably, she was nothing to do with the sport she once loved. Before then she only playing in the hopes she would get her mother. Now that she knows that Uchika has another student, she no longer has a reason to play. At this point, she feels she’s lost everything. Her rematch against Nagisa reminds her of her loss against Kaoruko. Then Kaoruko herself shows up and Ayano tries to quit the badminton club after Kaoruko beats her again, and then later on when she loses against Connie she nearly suffers a mental breakdown. She tries to make excuses for it but then runs away. However, before that game happened she was beginning to see badminton in a new light. She was beginning to fascinated with the idea of playing for a team. Unfortunately, Connie’s untimely arrival would destroy whatever hope Ayano had from saving herself from her anger. When Connie declared that Uchika was her substitute mother and she was going prove her worth over Ayano, this finally pushes Ayano over the edge. Her anger has now turned into hatred. She now wants revenge for all the suffering she’s gone through.

Elena is the first to see Ayano’s yandere like eyes and it scares the living hell out of her. The sweet little girl that she knew from childhood was no longer there. It was now replaced by this monster who is out for revenge. At this point, Ayano wants the people who put her through all this suffering to pay for it. She starts with Kaoruko, the one who again inadvertently started it all. As mentioned before, Kaoruko made the mistake of thinking she was facing the same opponent. But at this point, Ayano’s quest for revenge was in full force. While Kaoruko did fight until the very end, she was no match for this new version of Ayano. All the trash talk she had gave Ayano earlier was thrown right back into her face and it really hurt her pride. Ayano’s next target would be Connie, possibly followed by Uchika who she intends to abandon in the end. She wants to prove that she no longer needs her mother. However, she will have to get one last obstacle who is in the form of Nagisa.

To give an comparison, Ayano in the beginning is very much like John Rambo. In the movie First Blood, Rambo was both abandoned and betrayed by his country simply he was a Vietnam War veteran. He was alone and very depressed. He virtually had no reason to go on. Ayano is very much the same. She was abandoned by her mother for no good reason and later on she lost the will to play badminton. Then Rambo finally snaps due to his mistreatment from police and goes on rampage for survival. The same thing happens to Ayano after Connie’s declaration, except this time it’s more personal. Ayano essentially becomes a more extreme version Clubber Lang from Rocky III. Like Clubber, she develops a very cold and arrogant personality. She treats everyone like they’re below her, even her own teammates. She’s no longer interested in teams, she’s only interested in playing the actually good players with the intent of destroying them entirely and then giving payback to both Connie and her mother.

IN CONCLUSION
Despite these great characters and a really powerful storyline, I'm really disappointed with how this anime ended. I had hoped for, and even wanted, a second season. With the way the story was going, I just didn't believe that LINDEN FILMS wouldn't end the way it did. Unfortunately though, that was too much to ask and the ending we got I felt was both underwhelming and it made the story feel incomplete.

While I didn't expect Ayano to forgive her mother right away, she really learn anything throughout her experience through the whole series. It pretty ended the way it started. Nothing was really resolved between Ayano, her mother, Connie, and to lesser extent Kaoruko. It was just left the way it was, leaving you feeling really unsatisfied. Worse yet, Ayano is still in her her crazed state. Don't get me wrong, I didn't want to see Ayano go completely to the dark side, but I would like to see some kind of redemption.

The best characters, heroic characters that is, are the ones who make a mistake, a very big mistake, and then go on a journey to redeem themselves and to make things right again. For this anime I felt that some major tragedy should have befallen Ayano, one that finally wakes her up from her craze state. I knew her being beaten by Nagisa might have some impact, but not one powerful enough to really get through to her.

I would have liked this better if season one ended on a tragic note and then season two picks up right where it left off with Ayano going on mission to redeem herself while receiving help from a completely unexpected source and ending with her biggest and most important match against Connie. And it the end, all are able to forgive each other and peace is brought back into their small world. That would have been a much more satisfying ending, at least for me.

Overall, Hanebado! is not a bad anime, but a really underwhelming one. The story and characters are great despite some poor executions. However, the ending does not doe the story justice for how it resolves some things but leaves others unresolved. A prime example of wasted potential. This anime deserved a second season, but sadly it's unlikely we'll ever get one.

I'm DirectorK and until next time, stay tuned!