Ro-kyu-bu is a loli/sports anime with a barebones plot and relatively static characters. While some might consider this points to criticize the anime on, I would like to point to the genre of the piece and remind everyone why we are watching this anime. To learn more about basketball? I should hope not. Sports anime is almost always a terrible representation of the actual sport itself. I will smack anyone who dares to say that Prince of Tennis accurately portrays realistic tennis matches and strategies with my Wilson K-Blade Team. Ro-kyu-bu is all about the girls. Loli anime is meant to be plain and simple, focusing more on cute art and high-pitched voice acting to attract fans rather than any depth of content.
For a loli anime, Ro-kyu-bu sets a pretty high standard.
Story (7/10)
Art (8/10)
Sound (9/10)
Character (6/10)
Enjoyment (8/10)
The story revolves around Hasegawa Subaru, a 1st year (sophomore equivalent) high schooler who's also a basketball star. However, the high school basketball team/club gets disbanded because the team captain gets caught in a scandal with some elementary schoolgirls. So, what's the most obvious thing that Subaru can do?
I'm sure the author was aware of what irony is.
The driving force behind the initial plot is the Subaru's refusal of playing basketball once the team was disbanded. Which is stupid. What kind of basketball player gives up basketball just because a school team is disbanded? Out of all the possible motivations that the author could have used, this was quite a poor choice, one that ultimately makes the message of the anime (Don't give up on what you love) weak and frivolous.
The actual plotline with regards to the basketball team is, surprisingly, not bad. The girls don't win every single game they play, and success is compounded with failures. While some episodes introduce filler characters, each episode contributes to the plot or characters substantially.
Regardless, plot is merely secondary to art in a loli anime. Ro-kyu-bu has a unique art style that fits quite nicely with the overall feel of the anime. This art style focuses a lot on the eyes and hair - even Subaru's hair is done quite detailed. Unfortunately, the same can't be said about their faces. Some of the angled scenes in the anime result in awkwardly derpy faces, especially for the protagonist. Besides those rare moments, however, the art remains top-notch and well done.
How in the world did they get such an all-star voice crew? Hanazawa, Ogura, Itou, Iguchi, Hikasa - a seiyuu dream team. Needless to say, the girls sound amazing: Maho with fiery zest, Saki with icy tone, and Hinata with breezy pitch.
The OP and ED are nicely done. Usually, songs that are sung by all the main seiyuus of the anime end up with better quality. The OST of the anime is not particularly amazing, which hinders the perfect 10.
I mentioned static characters in the introduction. Besides Subaru, every character in the anime is static and fits quite neatly into stereotypical and preassigned roles. Maho is the loud prankster, Airi is the clumsy well-endowed, Saki is the glasses girl, etc. Natsuhi is the boy rival of Tomoka (meaning they will inevitably be paired together in some way shape or form), Aoi will be tsundere until S2E13, and Miho-sensei joins the ranks of multitudes of teachers who act and look just like students.
Character molds are not a completely negative thing. After all, dynamic characters take more time and effort to prepare, and are likely to be misinterpreted or distracting. However, it would be a nice touch to make at least one of the girls a dynamic character.
On a whole, this anime is freaking cute. And genius. That "small forward" segment has got to be one of the greatest scenes in all of loli anime. I honestly enjoyed watching the characters interact with each other in their various ways, their various personalities and characters complementing each other.
Overall (8/10)
Ro-kyu-bu is not supposed to be some great action story like SAO or have deep philosophical insight like Ergo Proxy or be filled with heartwrenching scenes like After Story or all of the above (Angel Beats). In fact, none of the anime I just mentioned comes even close to Ro-kyu-bu in terms of pure loli goodness. Whether you are a full-blown lolicon or just an average anime watcher, Ro-kyu-bu will satisfy your cute needs for quite a long time. At least until season 2 comes out.
