Review of Hanebado!
I honestly don't know why I bothered finishing this. As a child I grew up with Badminton so to see the first two episodes portraying the sport in such an ugly fashion put me off it for a while before I continued. But here we are and let's have a chat on Hanebado. (Insert joke about how you can't spell "Hanebado" without "bad" here). I've watched two sports anime this season based on fanservice-heavy manga. The other one being Harukana Receive. While I can't comment exactly on how faithful each adaptation is, I would've much preferred Harukana's approach to the genre. That is to say ageneric, but decently done sports anime on friendship happiness puppies sunshine and all that nonsense with a heavy dose of fanservice and waku waku shequasars. On paper, Hanebado's approach of forgoing most of the fanservice and light-hearted moments and instead zeroing in on the drama and misery seems right up my alley. After all, Ayano's character is defined essentially by her abandonment by her mother. However, in execution it just doesn't cut it for me.
My largest complaint about the series is its lack of focus. From the first 2 episodes focused almost exclusively on Nagisa's development to the point of making her seem like the main character (she's not, but she's still the most important secondary character), to the side stories on sausage girl and senpai boy which I frankly don't give much a toss on about, the series feels somewhat schizophrenic when it comes to its plot. While ostensibly about Ayanon, she doesn't make much of an impact up until episode 5. I will say however I did enjoy Ayanon's drive and character study, especially the drama surrounding her and her shit mother, though the resolution to that in the final episode is a complete copout.
Speaking of characters, they are either hate-sinks or mostly forgettable. They change personality so quick you'd swear they were bipolar. Prime examples include Connie and Kaoruko where after taunting Ayano several times they show up a few episodes later wanting to be good friends? And to have Ayanon forget all the shit they've done?? What!? You can't just take a shit on my lawn and say you wanna be friends me while I'm bashing your head in with a badminton racket the next day. Good thing Ayano's one of the few characters with consistent personality. Her anger doesn't dissipate and the comeuppance she serves is cathartic. You can feel her breaking point and her insanity leaking out at any moment. It's brilliant. The horror music too perfectly ramps things up a notch. Making this my second favourite unintentional comedy of the season (the other being Happy Sugar Life). Though speaking of Happy Sugar Life, it's awful how Ayanon's mother came out unscathed and without any karmic retribution or even any lasting hatred from Ayanon.
The audio design in this is pretty bad too. A lot of the times the BGM can overpower the lines of dialogue spoken by the characters. Especially when the horror strings are playing. Ayano with her softer voice is the prime victim in this. It always feels like her voice lines are played loud enough to be heard with any clarity, even when she’s shouting.
At times I do wonder if the director actually hates the sport. Badminton is portrayed as a really ugly thing in this, being the driving force behind Ayano's trauma and the source of many conflicts throughout. Matches are animated well enough, and they don't bore me to the extent of how Harukana's did, but honestly the characters behind the net ruin the experience for me. Being the horrible people they are.
Oh well. I wonder if Yonex ever regrets sponsoring this.
3/10. Would not Wei-wei.