Dive!!

I binged the show I think it's a good show, but not a masterpiece and not many people may like it because the anime has some negatives in my opinion which can be a huge turndown for some people.

Let's start with the negatives:

- Rules of diving and the scoring system are not explained. This is a problem because not everyone who will watch the series is a fan of the sport and it's not famous or intuitive enough for people to understand the sport.

- While I think the main cast is good enough, the secondary characters are in my opinion not well developed and/or ... serve just to drive the story forward and put struggles to our protagonists.

- We don't know enough about the personal lives of the three main characters except for Shibuki. We do see some bits like Youichi being the son of one of the coaches and Tomoki being left alone with his brother. However, I think we need to know more about these two. I know because they are competitive divers they don't have a lot of free time, but that doesn't mean they don't have any private life.

And here are the positives:

- The art is very good in my opinion. I like the aesthetic design of all the characters. And the diving animations look good in my opinion. However, I didn't like the reflection of the water on the character's skin.

- I think the story overall did a good job in portraying the growth of Tomoki, Youichi and Shibuki. Both in their athletic improvements and personality.

- I think it does a good job at showing how terrible the life of a young professional athlete (they aren't paid, but they are aiming for the Olympics) can be. Because you give up a huge portion of your free time which could be used to spend more time with some of your friends, relatives and studying a little more if needed. And many times those efforts do not pay off.

Even if the number of positives and negatives I listed is the same. Personally, for me, the positives outweigh the negatives. I think the series is good, but I think it's a bit of wasted potential. I think 12 episodes just weren't enough for the series and should have been more.

I watched Dive!!. Here are my thoughts:

So, as you might have guessed, this is a fairly typical sports show that is focused on diving. Much of the show revolves around the preparation, and selection, of athletes for the Olympics. Going to the (Tokyo) Olympics is certainly relevant to recent world events at the time of my writing this. Overall this show has a pretty amateurish feeling and seems low budget.

Considerable attention is paid to the technical aspects of diving, certainly moreso than I expected. This is a very unique feature of this anime and one of the main reasons I stuck with it. It was ... interesting to learn about the sport of diving through this medium. In fact I would have liked to have seen even more focus on the details of the sport (maybe I should've just watched a documentary, haha).

Although it was a little melodramatic, I was grateful for the absence of comedy in the show. I could consistently feel the tension in the show and the pressure the athletes were under. There was a pervasive feeling of anticipation of upcoming competitions. I much prefer this over a comedy-heavy show. So although people complain about melodrama, I just want to point out that the alternative scenario could have been much worse.

Overall the characters were fairly weak and a little underdeveloped. However, I did like the female coach (Kayoko) and the ocean-cliff diver guy (Shibuki). Shibuki was one of the reasons I stuck with this show; he was a cool character. Kayoko was also cool and I enjoyed her presence. Unfortunately the MC was a pretty lackluster character; he didn't have much of a personality and added little to the show. A better MC could have gone a long way to improving this show, or at least somehow making him more sympathetic and likable would. I found the coaching staff more intriguing characters than the divers themselves (there is a fair bit of drama revolving around the diving organization and its members). There is also a lot of focus on the athletes' state of mind – I appreciated this, even though it could have been done better, and would have been augmented by better characters.

The visuals are serviceable but certainly nothing special. There wasn't any discernable art style. Although there were no major visual flaws, the animation is basic and lackluster, and definitely not a selling point for the show. Which is kind of unfortunate because this anime could really benefit from a high animation budget; there was tons of (squandered) opportunity for visual flair. I try not to place too much emphasis on visuals, but there was definitely a lot of wasted potential here in that regard. This anime could have looked awesome if only it had the budget. Also I can't end this paragraph without mentioning those hot muscular slender diver bodies – they are indeed tight and sexy, and there is a lot of fanservice, albeit with lackluster animation. One thing I will say about the fanservice is that there was never ever screentime devoted strictly to it – it was always just incidental and never particularly intrusive. I say this in contrast to so many other shows that basically put a neon sign up saying "THIS IS THE FANSERVICE SCENE" (I'm being hyperbolic) and proceed to jiggle breasts in front of you for the next minute straight with nothing else of entertainment value on-screen; the fanservice in Dive was way more tasteful and nondisruptive than this, which is certainly preferable to the alternative. Also it's just unavoidable that a show focused on male diving athletics is going to have a lot of naked lean muscular men on-screen.

The audio is underwhelming; the OST is not bad but fairly generic, and the voice acting as a whole is quite mediocre. At least the ED song is nice and soothing.

Even though it was amateurish, there was nothing about this anime that was particularly awful. On the other hand, there was nothing about it that significantly impressed me. It is a fairly typical sports show, just focused on diving and maybe with a bit more voyeuristic flavour than usual. A bit more melodrama as well, but I still much prefer that over excessive comedic relief. On the other hand, I wished they focused even more on the sport and experience of competitive diving itself, rather than all the melodrama regarding the Olympic team and its support staff. The last few episodes definitely had some forced drama laid on heavy.


My overall rating: 5/10
It wasn't THAT bad. Although amateurish, it doesn't have any major flaws. It's a little heavy on the melodrama but personally I still prefer that over excessive comedy; I appreciated this anime maintaining a consistently serious mood. This anime doesn't make any major unforced errors, but also isn't particularly ambitious. Although the characters are forgettable, it was an adequate sports show. I was adequately entertained and would watch a second season.

People who like sports anime should consider giving this a chance. It's a shame about the budget – I really think this anime could have benefited from better production quality, moreso than other shows. This definitely doesn't deserve to be one of the lowest-rated shows on MAL.

For the record, at the time of writing this, I have not yet seen the Free! anime (it is often compared to Dive).

I remember a long time ago when I was a child, multiple times I attended a summer camp hosted at a university with an Olympic-style pool. I swam in this giant pool frequently, and I still vividly remember the diving platforms. It was set up exactly like in this anime. It brought back some memories. I've had recurring dreams over the years about being back in that pool. It's a prominent memory in my mind. I remember jumping off those concrete diving platforms. As a kid it was really cool. I still vividly remember the feeling of those concrete diving platforms beneath my bare feet, and the feeling of jumping off them.

SPOILER COMMENT: nobody actually goes to the Olympics...during the show. The last episode takes place before the Olympics, during a preliminary competition from which the Olympic team is determined. Personally I tend not to fixate on plot milestones like this, but I know this will bother other people. The ending isn't entirely unsatisfying though. An Olympics arc would have been nice to see, but I suppose the Tokyo Olympics were still years in the future when this anime aired. As I've already alluded, most of the show's drama revolves around the preparation for the Olympics, not the actual event. So, be aware of that and set your expectations accordingly.

anime felt pretty boring to me to be honest, i don't think it really focus on the main plot which is "Diving". there isn't much explanation about the sport related topic as well.

additionally, the characters' drama seems to overshadow the plot. too dramatic for my liking to be honest.

even though, i like watching "diving" sport during olympics etc., i think there should have been explanation on their points grading during competition because not many people would have understand how they are being graded.

but in general, can't really expect much from anime that ends in twelve or thirteen episodes as many things will be ... squeeze into such little episodes and a lot of explanations are left out which always keep people guessing when the anime ends.