Cheer Danshi!!

I first wrote this off as a generic sports type show but soon came to regret it much later as I enjoyed watching it a lot more than most anime this season.

The main appeal is the way the characters have to push through so many hardships to reach their near impossible goal of creating an all male cheer leading team. This creates an emotional story of overcoming embarrassment, fear, trust and physical boundary's which may prevent them from fulfilling their goal.

It's the only anime I've seen to make me cry, laugh and simultaneously want to do a handstand in the same episode proving ... just how brilliant it is: normally it's impossible to motivate me to do exercise. The show's
comedy is excellent and hits every time when it wants too. On top of this the character interactions are funny and sincere with great performances all round.

Whats also interesting is that their cheer leading team - the breakers - is based off of a real life male cheer leading team, adding to the interest of the show as its cool to think that some of these events may have actually happened in real life (though I'm sure a lot of them are made up).

Even though this anime doesn't have a brilliant sound track or a memorable cast of characters theirs enough going on to make it enjoyable and heartwarming enough to work well. It can almost be inspiring if you like the characters enough.

I would consider this a must watch for fans of the sports genre and a refreshing show for anyone who is just bored and needs a good time filler.

Before I begin this review, props to Waseda University Shockers for giving us this anime!
Watch the link to get an idea for the anime: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AE7QecvR3fQ

Men doing something like cheerleading? Not unheard of but this show is the definition of male empowerment! I believe no activity should be restricted to a certain gender with this show being the beginning of countless opportunities. This a series that has the sport cheerleading under the spotlight as we follow the lives of two former judo participants who embark in this new challenge.

The main character for this show is undoubtedly Bandou Haruki, who is a college student that has the ... background of being from a prestigious judo family. This is evident in the fact that his father runs a dojo/gym in their name and that his older sister Haruko has won countless titles throughout her career. He then makes the decision to abandon the sport after suffering a severe right shoulder injury preventing him from participating. His best friend Hashimoto Kazuma follows suit in his decision as they do everything together since childhood. After this life decision, they immediately pursue cheerleading for a fresh start by trying to recruit members to start a college club, which would later lead to the formation of the Breakers. Initially they were ridiculed for even trying but our two main characters never struggled and persevered dutifully by researching the basics and applying it in front of campus. This caught the eye of a certain few which led to them joining and a chain reaction ensued since then with more volunteering to join.

Now one thing that needs to be disclosed is the ridiculous pacing which is apparent when a recap is inserted 5 episodes into the broadcast. The first episodes mainly focus around 6 characters who are the initial core of the group with them being the founders. Mostly everyone is inexperienced to some degree which is shown when every member undergoes a brutal training process just to be fit performance wise. This implies that they should be naturally strong and have a good sense of balance. Mizoguchi and Toono who are one of the earliest to join struggle with this aspect, due to the fact their bodies aren’t equipped for the sport.

Haruki and Kazuma are not subject to this because they are already in good shape from their time doing judo but still encounter problems in the process. Tokugawa Shou, who is an important character later on is adamant on not joining until the group can get on his level, which is the purpose for these episodes. The group weren’t called the Breakers until afterwards when the numbers reached to around 15. As more people joined, the same process of training had to be applied for everyone to be in sync. If they had the time to make a recap episode, then surely they could’ve accommodated another episode to deal with every member settling in to the new organisation.

The characters are numerous but there is just no reason to talk about everyone, so I’ll narrow it down to the three most significant characters with them being Haruki, Kazuma and Shou. Haruki is an individual who has defected judo once he realises he cannot keep up with the strenuous workload. His shoulder injury he sustained from a grappling move has somehow led to him having a fear of heights. Yes, this is the man who fell from less than 2 metres at best has resulted in this joke of a character. This is totally unnecessary when he hangs out on his apartment’s rooftop just to socialise and is a base for further cheerleading training. It is also known that he sees his older sister Haruko with an inferiority complex despite the fact that he is a fervent supporter of her when she performs in matches. The irony being is that being the physically stronger sex doesn’t always guarantee success which is the case for our unfortunate young man. It’s not like she doesn’t have her fair share of problems…

Kazuma on the other hand is just as talented as Haruki and even exceeds him in some aspects as being a better well rounded character. Kazuma is the focal point of the Breaker’s group when he is assigned the position of captain due to being a very vocal and earnest person at heart. The man is the superglue who resolves disputes that may occur and is the regulator to preventing any infighting. As stated earlier, Kazuma is a childhood friend of Haruki which has given him the status of almost being a family member in the Bandou household. I should rephrase that; he is treated to being the equivalent of a family member which just shows you how far their friendship has come. The reason for him choosing cheerleading is simple, as both his parents were active cheerleaders in their youths but even that does not explain the sadness that lingers in his mind.

Finally, we have Tokugawa Shou who has the most difficult circumstances among the main cast. At first he was rejecting every proposal for him to join when it is known he is terrific at gymnastics. Once he is impressed with the setup and general abilities of the group, he is convinced in the direction the Breakers are heading and sort of acts as a player-coach because he is the most valued and experienced of the lot. Things change when they recruit Satsuki Takashiro to supervise their progress, only for it to not go down well with Shou who has a complicated relationship with her, which is later explained in his backstory. Despite this, he is still a team player and is ready to sacrifice himself for the greater good of the team. Even with less screen time, I find him to be a far more intriguing character compared to Haruki who comes off as one note at times.

The art style and animation is certainly subpar compared to the norm that is produced nowadays. Brains Base have had some spectacular looking shows in the past such as Baccano! And Mawaru Penguindrum only to find themselves with Endride and Cheer Danshi this year. You don’t have to be an expert to say this is reminiscent to what Studio Deen had to go through but they are making a solid comeback. The character designs are somewhat basic but are peculiar at the same time, I could never get tired at looking at the same faces. Since this is basically a sausage-fest, this should be well received by the ladies who this time have good looking characters for once! The animation is just below average as there are too many instances of poorly drawn scenes when it’s not related to cheerleading. If only the whole show could be drawn like the opening segment, then that would make me a happy man.

The sound is slightly better as there are moments where I was solely focused on the tune that played in the background over the other content. The OST has not been released for me to identify that part of the soundtrack but is usually always played at the end and gets me every time in the upcoming previews. Once again, with a cast so large you will expect top seiyuu to perform their characters with the likes of Okamoto Nobuhiko playing Kazuma perfectly. Another thing to note is that the seiyuu for Haruki who is Yonai Yuki, is completely new to me did a splendid job as he hasn’t worked on many shows.

If you’re looking for a sports anime, then look elsewhere as this is a show that may feel underwhelming in many aspects. Sure the competitive drive is there but I feel this is more of a drama-oriented show personally. It’s lacking in production values but won’t necessarily stop you from enjoying it.

There are only 5 episodes out so far, so this is going to be based on first impressions and my thoughts so far.

Story:
Even though sports animes is popular nowadays, this is a very original anime. It's about 2 boys who used to train Judo, but decided to try something new. You guessed it, Cheerleading. Every episode has a main focus, so the episodes can skip sometimes, but not so that you have no idea what's going on. It's very sweet and we see them develop from being at the bottom to slowly getting better. What's also good is that there is not that much focus ... on romance, the main character has a crush, but it doesn't ruin the story at all.

Art:
I think the art is really good. It's beautiful, smooth, and the characters look realistic. They are also all unique, so it's easy to tell them apart. I noticed in their first performance that they changed the art so that it almost looked like a music video, which I think is really cool. You can also see the tumbling they do very well.

Sound:
The opening and ending songs are very catchy and sweet, fits the theme for this anime perfectly. The soundtracks are good as well, there is nothing to complain about.

Character:
Probably the best thing about this anime. The characters are all unique with different personalities and looks. You will for sure find 1, 2, 3, everyone, you'll like, haha. There is also a lot of characters. Not everyone has showed up yet, but I'm pretty sure they'll make as good introductions for everyone as they did with the characters that have showed up so far.

Enjoyment:
This is a solid 10. I really enjoy this so far, I am literally counting down days for the next episode. I can't wait to watch this anime grow into something amazing.

Overall:
A 9 overall, because this anime so far is;
-Enjoyable
-Good plot
-Great characters
-And Saku showed up for like 30 seconds in the end of episode 5;; (He is probably my favourite character so I can't wait to be introduced to him in the next episode!)

This is definitely a must watch for sports anime/Cheerleader lovers who enjoy a lot of good characters and sweet plot.

GO FIGHT WIN!!!!!!!!! LET'S GOO BREAKERS!!!!!
I'm going to remember this quote forever.

Cheer danshi is clearly the most underrated anime of the summer 2016 season or possibly the entire year which I don't get it.

KEY: Break being what the characters need to accept about themselves or overcome any difficulty

Story: The story of the show.... Well there isn't any... The true story of the show is within the characters. The characters backstory is the true story of the show where we just want to get up and cheer for those boys that they need to break whatever they need to break in this cheer club.

Characters: ... When you look at the opening of the song. I bet you one question... How is the series gonna fit all 16 characters into the series. Well to sum up your answer They were introduce indirectly in episode 5 and in episode 5.5, yes the recap episode was not a full recap episode. It was only a recap for the first 19 mins. While the last 3 mins being ending credits and Haru explaining after their debut new members just keep coming in none stop hence in episode 6 we get to see the other 7 characters introduces into the series. That is a smart way in term of progression. Let's take something useless and make it into a plot driven episode.
Each characters have enough screen time that we just want to cheer for them. I say the characters that have the least amount of screen time is chen (Chinese dude) but since his basic purpose in the group is to improve on his Japanese. So... we don't need a lot of screen time with him. Each characters have enough character development. Like, Haru being overcoming his fear of heights and growing some balls in this cheerleading team. Ton learn to overcome his self doubts, Mizoguchi learning to use his own words and not use famous quotation,Kazu to make people smile he needs to first smile on the inside and out. Sho able to move forward in life and become their base in the cheerleading team. Gen learn to stop comparing to Ichiro and just compare to his past selves. Ichiro learn to stop showing off. Hissahi learn that people are different from him his reason to cheer is different from one another. Sakuma always think that having a small body is a problem in life as he isn't that strong but thanks to his small body he is able to a flyer. Takumi, Gen and Doh learn to be independent as their big brother is gonna leave the team. Kin though being a man must be a bad boy and cause trouble. I already talk about Chen as his basic purpose is to improve on his Japanese his getting there as he used some hard Japanese words as his confronting Domino. Takuya being a worry puss on his younger brother learn to stop worry about him as spoil him is spoiling himself. Takeru learn that to have patience and guts to actually become a real man as he is scared when the flyer fall and he isn't able to catch them on time but the flyer are even more scared as the base didn't catch them on time. But we all can thank one person the coach. Thanks to her those boys are able to grow so much.
Now when you look at it all the problem that the characters faces are all relatable. Even Haruko (Haru sister) aslo need to understand and able to break and accept that her brother doesn't want to do judo anymore. From Haru's fear of heights to Kin though that being a man must be a bad boy, We all relate to those boys

Art and animation: A lot of people did complain about being dull and the colors aren't that bright but personally it works as they used 1 thing that no other anime uses DUST. There's dust in the air, When I watch other anime I always wonder how the hell they can fire a beam of light straight without dust interrupting. The show also got an addition bonus to the characters design as they look like real human beings where they look like us. So we can't really say characters face are of model as we make some weird ass faces before in our life.

OP, ED and OST: The OP (opening song) is literally OP (over-powerful) as the characters start something new into their life as well as changing their lives one by one. Also the song is sung by luck life which also bring me to bungou stray dogs ed. Which I also love. The OST is THE OST is amazing just want me to get up and cheer for those boys. I need it... right now... The ed... is well.. cute. IS THE BREAKERS DURING A MINI PERFORMANCES... ISN'T IT CUTE?!

Enjoyment: I'm glad they decided to stick on the basics of what is cheerleading and what is a cheerleader, some moves so the characters are able to shine brighter than the sun. Unlike another sports anime that I'm gonna review next. *cough* *cough* yuri on ice *cough* *cough*.

Recommendation: Simply put watch it. Cheer danshi is the show that is able to make me laugh, smile, cry and feels as I watch my boys overcome their difficulties in this male cheerleading squad. A lot of people are actually disappointed with the ending as we didn't get to see the full performances and they didn't mention a winner but when you think about it does it matter... I mean since when cheerleading is about winning or losing?? Cheerleading is suppose to support people, motivate them and make them smile. That is the role of a cheerleader. Now for the full performances part it would make sense to place some past animated scene to see how much those boys grew both as an individual and as a group in this cheerleading team. Also, don't you guys want to know what is in their notebook?? It has been killing me what is in those notebook.

Other recommendation include the obvious pretty boys show free!! and not a sports anime... in-fact is about music to save their school love live with the same perspective of characters breaking and accepting what they need to accept about themselves.

So overall 9.6/10. Now you why not a staright 10/10?? simple, Haru x chihiro didn't happen. WHY!!! TON WHY!!! POOR HARU

Cheer Danshi is a sports series unlike many in that the focus is not on characters whose reason to live is the sport itself, but rather tells the story of some dudes in college looking to have a great time doing an activity which for most of them has no deeper meaning than "I just wanted to try it", a fact that in my opinion is a plus, as it is closer to the real life circumstances of non professional sports clubs. Having said that, all the members have a real passion for improving and give cheerleading their all.
All characters are fine or even great, ... very human with their own issues, which thankfully do not get dragged on, as every chapter they improve a little.
A deep problem of this series is the animation, the way the camera moves to evade showing scenes that would have lots of movement is very noticeable, specially in the cheerleading presentations themselves.
Not for everyone, give it a try if non standard series interest you.

I honestly thought when I first heard about this that it would be some sports anime to drag in the fujioshi/fundanshi community, but I was completely mistaken.

This show had meaningful relationships and teamwork without it being a "anything is possible with friendship" stereotype. I also loved how they didn't discriminate with the cheer leading club and didn't make all the men tall and muscular. All the characters had their own details and backstories so no one was just some filler background character.

The main reason this show dragged me into watching it was when I saw clips of the intro, I've never seen ... dancing or performances in anime that weren't 3d, since it's always easier to animate those scenes. But all the performances were frame by frame, which somehow made it much more appealing to look at and looked quite smooth!

One heartwarming thing is how the show represents the moral of the story. You learn in the show that the cheer leading team's name is called "The Breakers". They all decided to name their team this because they all wanted to show people that they are "breaking" the stereotype that you need women in a cheer leading group to be successful. But another meaning to the name is that they were all trying to "break" through their own personal insecurities by expressing themselves through cheer leading. I absolutely loved the show even more than I already did only because of this one small but significant detail.

Overall an amazing and heartwarming show, I would absolutely love a season two!

Warning: this show is fujoshi bait.

You probably could have gotten that from the summary, actually, but I'm here to say that, as someone who enjoys shipping, both gay and not, Cheer Danshi!! is just... not a good anime. It has a cool premise and a catchy ED, but that's where, for me, the enjoyment ends- Cheer!! suffers from a spectrum of other problems, varying from bad pacing to an over-inflated cast to blatant bl-lovers' fanservice.

Story: 6/10

The story isn't that bad. Cheer!! doesn't have a lot of substance, but that's not necessarily a bad thing for a light slice-of-life sports anime. The storyline is pretty basic ... sports anime- a bunch of kids join (or in this case, form) a team for X Sport, aim to win nationals/semifinals/other large X Sport event, and develop meaningful relationships.

In this respect, Cheer!! has a decent stand. Haru has an alright backstory, the issue of why an injury that would keep him from doing judo competitively ever again doesn't matter when he's being flung in the air by a tower of ten other people aside, and the only thing that sucks in the story is the pacing of the character introductions, which I'll get into in the character section.

Art: 7/10

The art is decent. Nothing that anyone would watch the show specifically for, but nothing that would really put you off, either. It feels kind of choppy or plain sometimes, but Bandai Visual isn't KyoAni.

Sound: 8/10

Voice acting and music is decent. It gets an extra point for the catchy ED.

Characters: 4/10

This, in my opinion, is the biggest issue with Cheer!!.

I can't remember any of the fucking characters.

Aside from the first few who were introduced- Kazu, Haru, Ton, Mizo, and Shou- most of the characters had absolutely no introduction whatsoever. I came back from the recap episode and- bam! timeskip. Suddenly, there were fifteen more guys with unique haircuts in the gym with no introduction. What the fuck? They proceeded to pair up into convenient shipping couples in the span of three episodes. I understand that introducing such a huge cast AND developing a plot in 12 short episodes is difficult, but really, the only way I remember any of the characters is by either their physical description or which other character they were supposed to be shipped with. And I didn't really care about any of the main characters- Haru, Kazu, Mizo, Ton, and Sho- either, despite the fact that the writers could have easily developed them deeply if they had cut one or two goddamn gay-bait scenes. (Mizo is the exception. I'm fond of him because I have a weakness for the megane trope, which is a personal preference and does not affect the fact that he was badly developed.)

Another thing that really irked me was the tone of the anime, which can be best represented by one scene I remember from about halfway through the anime. The main six or seven characters were on the roof, practicing, and nothing was going well- at some point, it devolved into them shouting about their problems, complaining about how the issues they faced were worse than anyone else's. When Haru- the main- was the only one who hadn't spoken, he opened his mouth.

At this point, you would expect a rousing speech of leadership, right? Haru is our mc, the "average joe" dragged into the world of men's cheerleading by his overly positive best friend's story about his dead parents. He should say something about how all their struggles are important, but they should always get back up. That kind of emotional validation is what I'm watching slice-of-life shows for, goddamnit. Instead, he screams and bitches about how nobody around him understands how difficult /his/ life is, and why /his/ problems are so much worse than anyone else's. I almost dropped the show at this point, honestly.

I also disliked that the only female characters were a) Haru's sister, a judo prodigy who apparently can't win a single goddamn judo match unless her brother is there to cheer, b) a "cutesy" love interest for Haru who the writers cleverly eliminate by making her turn out to be Ton's elusive gf so they can continue with their fujoshi-baiting, and c) the hardass coach stereotype. Oh, and all the other cheerleading teams, who are never mentioned or shown for more than a minute. At one point, I'm pretty sure the show almost explicitly stated that boys were naturally better than girls at sports.

Enjoyment: 4/10

I like gay shipping, but I'm not into fujoshi bait, and I didn't really care about any of the characters.

Overall: 5/10

Not a great show. Cheer!! doesn't bother to hide its fanservice, and, imo, doesn't live up to any of the hype that's been surrounding it as a "fresh, new sports anime". I finished the show out of a sense of obligation, and will probably never rewatch it.

An anime that at the beginning suggests that the end will have an incredible performance with the protagonist flying into the air, full of acrobatics and adrenaline. Buuuuut, it doesn't. Although the anime's proposal was cheerleaders, the focus is different. But calm down, I also have positive reviews.

I believe that the strength point of this anime was the development of the characters. Seriously, each of the 16 members has a well-built personality! Not to mention that everyone has a very diverse appearance (a chinese, a chubby, delinquent, effeminate, with afro hair... anyway). And in those 12 episodes alone, they were better developed than many famous ... animes. This made me very happy. Are some a little generic? Yes. But not all. I confess that I felt a little angry at Haru, excessive shyness irritates me. He couldn't even speak to his own sister, that sucks. So I prefer to think that Kazu is the real protagonist. As soon as I finished watching, there was a slight squeeze in my heart, because I will miss them.

The art is relatively simple, but pretty. Sometimes she gets a little relaxed, but nothing that gets in the way of the story. The soundtrack is very pleasant (especially in the comical part). A very unexpected thing happened also in the penultimate episode with a girl named Chihiro. I didn't know if I laughing or hiding my face in some hole HAHAHAHAHAHAH I won't tell you because it is clearly spoiler. But I already tell you that you too will be surprised.

About the end, it was great and at the same time terrible. Great because all the members had their screen time. Terrible because during all that time they were training like convicts, but they did not show anything exceptional during the presentation. Not to mention that they didn't even disclose the final result of the competition. The sporting genre has become the second priority in history (extremely disappointing). But anyway, now I at least know that cheerleader is a really cool thing. Before I thought it was shit done by annoying teenagers, it was interesting to have another perspective on the subject.

I'm probably going to be one of the few people who finds this anime to be mediocre at best - particularly as it seems to have been welcomed with open arms into the anime community and hailed as something unique and groundbreaking. Which I feel it isn't. Now don't get me wrong, I do like the anime - it just didn't strike the same cord with me that shows such as Free! or Haikyuu!! did for example.

First thing's first - I'll go over what I enjoy about the show first:

- It is an insanely pretty show but that's to be expected from the gloss kings ... themselves: Brain's Base. The animation is very nice, I will give it that. It's colourful, it's eye-catching and energetic which really fits the tone of the show and is used to its advantaged. Brain's Base know how to make shows look nice and Cheer Danshi looks amazing

- Secondly the voice cast is really good - I'll give particularly props to Okamoto Nobuhiko who does an excellent job as Kazuma (honestly what is it with this guy and playing excited sports fanatics). The rest of the cast do an excellent job in giving their respective characters the voices that look as though they would fit but it doesn't quite save the characters - but I'll come back to that later.

- Finally the story is not that half bad, it's nothing ground breaking other than it's about an all male cheerleading squad. The whole 'characters must come together to create a team and overcome obstacles which may come their way' has been done loads of times before. But I can forgive it because it's hard to do any other way and to be perfectly honest, it is done well. You can get wrapped up in the concept and that's perfectly passable.

Now onto the less enjoyable bit - where does the series fall flat?

- I said before that I liked the voice actors but it didn't save the characters and what I mean by this is that I feel like the characters are not defined enough. This is going to be a show with a large cast, you can see it in the opening, but I have a hard time remembering the characters names besides Haru, Kazuma and Ton. That's not good for a show with lots of characters - you need your characters to stand out but for some reason the characters in Cheer Danshi all seem to fold together with the exception of - like I said before - Haru, Kazuma and Ton. But that's just who I remember. I understand that it's still the beginning and there's time for the characters to progress and gain their own identities - as such I will wait and see.

- The pacing of the show feels a little rushed which is leading me to believe that it will be a 1 cours series with only 12/13 episodes - and that's not good. Unless it gets a second season, I feel like the show will end up being horribly rushed and not enough expanded on. Sometimes a fast pace can be good but when you have to introduce characters gradually, then it can be a downfall. Again I do understand that it is still the beginning of the series and it's yet to be announced how many episodes the series will have but it's just a guess. Perhaps the pacing issues will be resolved later but right now events all seem to collide and it pushes the pacing along at too fast a rate. Hopefully it will be a 2 cours show with 25/26 episodes or multiple seasons because fast pacing can be excused.

Over all, I do like the show. It might seem like I don't but I feel like there are flaws with it. I don't think it's really anything new or groundbreaking but it's a nice change from other sports series that don't rely on off the wall plot twists (Kuroko, I'm looking at you). I won't say it's got quite the heart that Haikyuu has or the character likeability that Free has - but there is still time and perhaps my opinion will change.

And to that I say - we have to wait and see!

If what you are looking for is an anime with an interesting cast and you don't mind a somewhat predictable development for its genre, this is for you.

–

1. Originality: 8
Personally, I consider that any sports anime that moves away from the overexploited baseball, basketball and soccer already acquires a higher level of originality.
However, the idea that the show tries to capture (to recognize cheerleading as a current sport) is something that I consider quite new. That, and the fact that cheerleading is not really a sport for men normally.
That's why, although the story is inspired by a team of cheerleaders of real life, I can't ... help feeling that Cheer Danshi!! is a sports anime with one of the most original plots that I have seen in this genre in a while. However, of course some things in its development look somewhat generic, so I can't allow a 10.

2. Story Development: 8
Although it seems impossible to develop a good sports anime in 12 episodes, Cheer Danshi!! is the exception.
Fortunately, this is an anime that could be said to have almost no filler. Each episode, although it may seem a filler episode at the beginning, ends up showing how important it is in the main plot and in the development of its characters. In addition, I have to rescue how all sixteen members of Breakers receive development or, at least, a background story that allows us to empathize with them and keeps them away from being simple extras.

3. Characters: 9
Its diverse cast, and the different points of view on why to be in the group, makes you get interested in the characters both inside and outside the training for the routines.
If there is something that managed to get my attention as the episodes progressed, it's how the new personalities that were adhered to the team affected it as a whole both positively and negatively. Although at the beginning our seven original members may seem a bit simple, we can recognize their peculiarities later when we meet the other nine members and their varied personalities.

4. Enjoyment: 10
Although it's a little obvious at this point, I think it's worth emphasizing again that I really enjoyed this show in its entirety.
If there is something to highlight about this show as the "most enjoyable thing" that it has, it has to be the characters and their development not only as a team but as people. Obviously, watching them strive to follow their new dream is exciting, but it's even more so to see them strive to improve in their personal lives.

–

I decided to watch Cheer Danshi!! thinking it would be bad, and that I could laugh at it. Obviously, I didn't expected to come across a catching story and interesting characters who you want to know more about after every episode.

Cheer Danshi!! was definitely NOT one of my favourite sports animes. This series had a lot of potential featuring an all-male cheerleading team, however, it failed to deliver the character development, animation, or plot other sports animes had successfully done.

Unlike most other sport animes, they didn't have any memorable characters, everyone is acting in a melodramatic way, the animation was below average... which is a big red flag for sport anime which depend a lot of action. Most importantly: there was no tension or competition...

Forgettable Character

The characters were unmemorable and cardboard. I can't remember any of them other than Haru, Kazu, and Sho, ... who have a bit of back story going on. Most characters are defined with one characteristic, that is displayed over the top in an unrealistic manner, some characters' only unique characteristics were their accent, some were completely forgotten after 2 episodes. Even the more developed characters were two-dimensional, Sho, for example, was defined by only three traits: 1) his love for a squirrel character - Nishijirou, 2) having experience cheerleading, and 3) being stoic, reserved and serious. Unfortunately, his three traits not only didn't work together, they worked against each other. It seems like the producers thought it would make him less boring to have a "silly" side with his obsession over a squirrel but it just left me wondering why is an adult man being so obsessed with a product mascot. His character seems to change from time to time as if he is not the same person.

Full Review: https://shiorisworlds.wordpress.com/2016/10/19/%e3%83%81%e3%82%a2%e7%94%b7%e5%ad%90-cheer-danshi

You know what I love about sports anime? The way they make you want to get up dedicate your life to something as you're watching them (at least the really good ones do). "Cheer Danshi!!" does that. As I was watching it, I really found myself wanting to do EVERYTHING they were doing. I thought, "man, I want to learn how to do a handstand! I want to cartwheel!" I even felt like wanting to do planks!--which they do in order to gain that core strength they need for tumbling around everywhere and holding people up. Speaking of tumbling, that's probably the only thing I ... did NOT want to do because I knew I could never. Lol.

Aside from making me want to do stuff, this show is h-i-l-a-r-i-o-u-s. Like, laugh out loud hilarious. But wait. I have a confession.

I watched it English dubbed. (Gasp!)

So I can't speak for the original Japanese version of it. But about the way the English dialogue is written I'm 100% sure that the translations are not direct translations. They're very localized, and I say this because I'm pretty sure that Wataru didn't actually say that he has "white boy rhythm" in the Japanese dub (he really said that in the English version and I about cried laughing because of it). So, I think the localization worked in this anime's favor because it wouldn't have been anywhere near as funny as I had found it to be in English. With that being said, I recommend it be watched in English if you don't speak Japanese and English is your native language.

So humor is possibly its biggest strength. What follows would be the characters which really drive the story. The characters are very strong and distinct and I enjoyed seeing how they interacted with each other, how they had to work together as a team, and how they had to overcome their own obstacles. Each character had at least one sole obstacle they had to overcome. Unfortunately, this anime is overall very rushed, which really killed the character score. The reason is because all of a sudden, like a dozen characters popped up at once and I found myself completely overwhelmed. I'm sorry, but that is NEVER an okay thing to do--at least not in my book. No one appreciates it when you shove a million characters into the story all at once; it's confusing. It really started to feel disjointed once that happened, and I had trouble connecting with any of the newbies. halfway through, it just gets really messy which sucks because of how much I enjoyed the first half. I honestly wish they would've tried to split it into two seasons. I'm sure that would've have been better for the anime.

In all, it's a very enjoyable show that really rushed its way through at the end, but it was still enjoyable, it made me feel good, and it gave me lots of laughs.

I won't be saying much about Cheer Danshi!! Since the description is up below, but if you plan on watching this, you're in for a unique, laid-back, and overeall very enjoyable sports anime.

Cheer Danshi!! deals with two best friends, Haru -- an ex-judo sports guy, and Kazu -- a happy-go-luck young man. They are both attending university, with Kazu offering the idea to start up an all-male cheerleader club after being inspired by old recordings of his deceased parents, who used to be teammates on a cheerleader group. From there on, the two friends search for more of the university students to join them in ... order to form up a team big enough to compete. As the story unfolds, Kazu reaches his goal and Haru learns to overcome the hardships that stopped him from feeling more free and doing the things that he love.

Cheer Danshi!! has all the same characateristics of most sports anime -- team consisted of many different perosnalities with a few shining more than the others, hot guys, really dramatic practices and so on. Regardless, the anime is mostly noble, in my opinion, for presenting sports as something fun that they would be doing for the sake of their enjoyment and friendship. The BREAKERS practice to compete and win, though Kazu's initial decision come from creating a place for him and his friend to feel at home. Most members of the team are new to the scene of cheerleading, because they're there to have fun.

The story isn't very intriguing, but should be emotional at some points. Haru and Kazu are very relateable and loveable as well, being the main characters of the show. I recommend this piece to people who aren't all about the sports in anime, but in for a new experience that they most likely have not experienced before.

The art is great, music is very nice and up-beat. Cheer Danshi!! is yet another sports anime that does what it's supposed to do, while keeping it fun and fresh.

Unlike its predecessors, Cheer Danshi has nothing that makes any sports anime enjoyable. There’s no emphasis on competition, the characters lack any serious emotional bonds with one another, and any development made is crudely washed over with trivial filler.

While the series looks promising at the beginning, it loses it’s way once millions of other characters are introduced. May as well sever any connections you had with the supporting characters at the beginning, as they are seemingly forgotten about the higher the episode numbers climb. What’s more, due to the lack of competition, you never see the characters struggle and grow through defeat and failure ... – a successful, heartbreaking motif used in other sports anime. This makes the characters goal of winning nationals seem really pointless, because no one truly cares about the outcome.

Despite its downfalls, and there are many, the characters are nice to look at. A true range in hairstyles and colours helps you distinguish the characters you can’t be bothered to remember the names of.

Reasonably a lack in budget may limit the amount of animation possible, but there are barely any performances throughout all 12 episodes. Ideally an episode would be focused on mastering a particular maneuver, and the obstacles the team must overcome together. However it’s brushed over with family problems, racist jokes, and gendered clichés. The most you’ll see of anything resembling a choreographed routine comes in the form of the opening.

Though there may be sports involved, Cheer Danshi is not really a sports anime; on the other hand it also lacks any serious emotion to call it a good slice of life anime, either. Unfortunately the whole thing gets lost itself and what it aims to be. If I were younger perhaps I would have enjoyed it more, but if you’re looking for a mediocre waste of time, then Cheer Danshi may be your answer.

As I sit here sipping peppermint tea, the cold bitter breath of winter clawing at my window like grey wolf shrouded in steam, I find myself satisfied with finishing an anime that simply does not stand up to my high standards of what a 'good' anime should be.

Cheer Danshii is a pleasant anime that borders on the ever increasing combination of Slice of Life and Sports. The basic premise of the story is that a group of high school students form the first ever men's cheer leading squad for their school. The story itself is not that awe inspiring, and indeed the ... story telling has a number of troupes and cliche attempts at character development. But the beauty of this anime is not that its phenomenally written, well drawn, or compassionately animated. It is instead enjoyable because it is based off of true events. A quick youtube search of Waseda University will give you the all mens cheer squad that this story was based off of.

Will this anime break any records? No. Will it change your life? No. Will it make you smile from time to time. . . Im betting so.

Hello guys . This is my first time Writing a review about an anime so please read it till the end and bare with me.

This anime i did see its name when it aired in july 2016 but for some reasons like for first thing the name of the anime i find it a little weird when i checked the synopsis it was even weird from normal sports genre anime there are many popular titles but nothing with cheer-leading and that too it revolves around a male cheer-leading club it is kind of weird right??

I think that too but that’s where i was this ... anime is really good and has some best way to encourage you to exercise.

This anime really is one of kind because there are not many anime with cheer-leading Noo!!! actually there none at all . The character development goes slow and sturdy which build up a good relation with the character. The show’s comedy is excellent and with the good range of characters.

At first they have lass members in the club but soon they started getting a lot of members. Each character added has something special for the team . I found out something too this anime/manga is based on a real life all male cheer-leading team.

This anime has a memorable cast of characters theirs enough going on to make it enjoyable and heartwarming enough to work well. It can almost be inspiring if you like the characters enough.Actually i am not a very sportive person but this anime motivate me to try something.

I'm really disappointed because, based on the first episode, I really wanted this show to be good. It seemed like it was going to be pretty funny and actually take its character motivations seriously, but the show took a harsh drop after the first few episodes and quickly filled itself with too many characters to care about and watched its promising aspects fade into the background. The production value suffers A LOT as well. It also had the misfortune of coming out in the same year as Yuri on Ice, which does the whole "men do a traditionally feminine sport in a non-high school setting" ... idea about as perfectly as one possibly could.
Overall, Cheer Boys had some promise, but just gets boring and jumbled as it goes along. Go watch Yuri on Ice instead.

(Sorry my poor english, I'm brazilian) This anime is wonderful. Despite the low grade for me he is very good, the characters are charismatic and the part where Haru and Kazu talk in front of the hospital thrilled me, is beautiful the way Haru sees Kazu, it seems like there's something else there , and Haru ends up crying next to Kazu, because it's like he takes Kazu's pain for himself. At the beginning of the anime it was Haru who needed the confidence and courage to go on, but in the end Haru overcomes it all and then he has to give courage so ... that Kazu could go on and not give up on everything. Despite not having a very complex storyline I like the anime proposal and how they make something simple be fun. The soundtrack may not be much, but I like how lively the ending is, showing the mood of the anime well. The anime may have what it usually has in sports anime, start as a weak team and then gain prominence after much training, but ends up having a different proposal, where there is a "sport" that is usually done by girls, but they break down barriers being a team of men only, and even if nobody likes the anime I like it a lot.

People tend to say that Cheer Danshi!! is a unique sports anime, and I'd kind of argue that that's because it doesn't carry itself like a sports anime at all. Yes, that means that the motivation for these characters to cheer is different than your standard sports anime, which is always to be the best team in the nation. But it's also the way this anime tells its story that makes it so different. I don't really know how I feel about this anime after watching it, but I think the conclusion I came to is this: it does well to make you fond of ... the characters but isn't that great at telling a story.

Before getting into all of that, I'm gonna talk about the animation for a second because it was very obvious where the effort was placed for this anime. The only dance-ish anime I've seen besides this one was Bakuten!! The way that anime handled the constant full-body motions of the characters as they practiced or performed was to make it completely CGI-based; but that anime still had practice scenes to show the characters in motion. Cheer Danshi!! didn't do that, and that was a bit disappointing. Their practices turned into a bit of a slideshow, and most of the anime is their practices, so it felt a bit like a cop out. Especially when the animation for the actual performances was so good. The art style itself is nice, but animation was often disappointing.

Back to the good stuff. The pacing--and I don't even know if pacing is the right word--of this anime was awful. There are definitely story elements to this anime that almost feel like they're broken up into baby arcs depending on the character or conflict being focused on. Many of those elements were nice to watch from a slice-of-life or drama anime perspective, but they slowed down the plot so much. Plus, because they were such short stints of story, I kept expecting a longer storyline to pick up afterward to tie the whole season together (in a better way than just "let's keep cheering" was holding it together). With the lack of a permanent story, this anime was completely hung on its characters, and that's what I hung onto as I completed it. If you think of it as a sports anime, that is. Since it's so focused on the characters and their conflicts, it actually makes for a decent slice-of-life. It's just that the anime made me expect cheering to be the focus of the series, not only the team on its own, which is how it's different from a normal sports anime. I actually think it could have made a very interesting and unique format had the pacing been done better.

The characters, like I said, weren't bad at all. There were probably just as many corny moments that were a bit hard to watch as there were meaningful moments, but by the end of these 12 episodes, I really liked the cheer team. There were a lot of scenes that drug the episodes down that I felt weren't necessary to achieve a likeable cast of characters, but this anime did still achieve that. Now, had the team been developed from the beginning instead of the way it was (to avoid spoilers, I'll just tell you that the team isn't all together for nearly half of the anime) it could have been more successful. These characters had real-world problems that reached into the story, which took up most of the last half of the anime (another reason it's unique among sports anime), and those problems worked to build the character relationships over the course of the 12 episodes.

I'm not sure what else to say about Cheer Danshi!! because a lot of it wasn't great and the elements that were are difficult to talk about. If you're like me and you like watching anime one right after another, this one might make you feel like it's dragging on and on without big enough payoffs at important junctures of the story. But if you like doing other things while you watch anime, this pace might suit you. I don't think this anime deserves the MAL score it has, but it's also just an average anime. Either way, it left me with a distinct impression of it that it isn't all that bad, so it must have done something right.

As someone heavily into the cheer world (cheered for 6 years myself, two sisters that cheered in college and coach now, mom that coached), I was super excited about this anime. From a technical aspect, the cheers and routines and realities of the cheerleading were completely spot on.

For the most part, I loved the characters, but really felt that they could have dug deeper into the characterization. At least Kazu, Haru, and Shou got some deeper storylines.

What really killed the potential for me was the MASSIVE drop in animation/art quality after only a few episodes. It was so utterly sad. I ... was hoping that at least the last episode would be better, but was disappointed to see that it was not. Any scene that showed more than a half-view of the characters was so poorly drawn. My friends watching with me and myself were laughing.

It was super cute but could have been so much better.