Hinomaruzumou

In professional sumo, there are no weight classes. It's a savage sport where the strongest survive, and anyone willing to test their mettle can step into the ring. There is, however, a minimum size requirement to be a pro sumo wrestler, and young Hinomaru Ushio, incredibly talented and hardworking though he may be, does not meet that requirement. This small boy has big dreams of reaching the highest class of sumo, Hinoshita Kaisan. The only way he could possibly go pro is if he becomes the High School Yokozuna, a title given to the strongest wrestler in high school tournaments.

Ushio is under a lot of pressure, as well as a time limit. If he can't show off his skills in the high school tournaments, he may lose his chance to go pro permanently, and the odds are stacked against him. Instead of enrolling in Ishigami High, the best school for sumo in Japan, he enrolls in Odachi High and must build a sumo club from the ground up with the one devout member Shinya Ozeki. Odachi High is the true underdog of the sumo world, but Ushio has to push forward with all his strength if he is going to make it professionally.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Ushio, Hinomaru Main

Abe, Atsushi Japanese

Ozeki, Shinya Main

Ochiai, Fukushi Japanese

Gojou, Yuuma Main

Kumagai, Kentarou Japanese

Kunisaki, Chihiro Supporting

Satou, Takuya Japanese

Gojou, Reina Supporting

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Tsuji, Kirihito Supporting

Terashima, Takuma Japanese

Kuze, Sousuke Supporting

Takeuchi, Shunsuke Japanese

Tennouji, Shidou Supporting

Takeuchi, Ryouta Japanese

Sada, Mizuki Supporting

Ishikawa, Kaito Japanese

Mitsuhashi, Kei Supporting

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Oowada, Tomoyuki Producer

Takahashi, Tomoko Producer

Kinoshita, Tetsuya Producer

Reviews

Jun 11, 2025

Fox_in_soxx

Recommended

A really fun sports anime that just checks all the right boxes of the genre. Very likeable quirky cast of diverse characters that might fall into classic stereotypes, but the show delivers these stereotypes so well it feels actually really fresh. Add their very organic relationships the mix and you have a sollid basis for great heartwarming moments, something that the likes of Blue Lock severely lack.

Sure, Hinomaruzumou itself is your standard sports anime with an underdog MC who tries to climb to the top with determination alone and doesn't offer much above that premise, but it has so much heart I didn't mind for ... one bit. Also the fights are enjoyable and don't last a hundred episodes, which I feels refreshing after watching the stretched out matches in Hajime no Ippo (And I love that anime).

Also I was VERY pleasantly surprised that given the nature of the anime, there were zero homoerotic jokes and it really pays respect to sumo instead of cheap overused haha formula.

It was a beautiful short journey and I felt like crying at the end. Thank you, Hinomaru.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 9, 2023

Azuea1

Recommended

Absolutely amazing anime. Alot of sports anime tend to focus only or mainly on the MC but in this show they give everyone a bit of the spotlight. Sumo isnt something im interested in usually, but this anime is great. The way the story is told is beautiful, the pacing is good and the bouts are great.

Overall this anime ticks all the boxes for me ; it looks decent, the battles/bouts are emotional and explain techniques well enough to understand how it all works.

Something felt missing though, im not sure what exactly it is but something didnt quite sit right at times.

Still, ... definitely a solid anime and would recommend

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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May 28, 2020

ktulu007

Mixed Feelings

Hinomaruzumou is an anime from late '18 to early '19. It's based off of a Kawada manga and the anime was handled by Gonzo. Gonzo has worked on some spectacular anime like Chrno Crusade and Bakuretsu Tenshi. They've also done really mediocre stuff like Strike Witches & Trinity Blood and some absolute rubbish like Sunabouzu. So, predicting their quality isn't exactly plausible. Let's just dive in and see how they did with this one. 

Story:

We open with our protagonist, Little Mac, going to scout a school with a strong sumo team. He accidentally takes a wrong turn and ends up at a school where the Sumo ... club is made up of one, dedicated guy. Naturally, he ends up going to this school with an under dog team. As he's very short, his one hope of entering professional sumo is to do well enough in High School Sumo to be able to bypass the physical exam. Don't ask me if that's an actual thing in Sumo wrestling as I don't know.

The biggest issue with this series is that it follows every trite, over-used Sports media cliché. If you've seen literally any other work about an underdog sports team, you can easily predict the arc the story's going to follow and, in at least 90% of cases, predict who's going to win each bout. No twists, turns or originality.

The writer is also a bit weird about the way he talks up sports. He clearly has a thing for Sumo wrestling, but even when it comes to the characters who used to be Judo and Wrestling champions, he spends a bunch of time hammering in the idea that their performance in Sumo is not reflective of whether wrestling or judo is a stronger discipline. Like he's deathly afraid that his audience will think they know his position from how the characters do in a sumo match. I mean, obviously Judo is stronger. Even ignoring the fake wrestling with the personas, Olympic wrestling is basically just muscular guys having foreplay. Which shouldn't be a surprise, since it comes from ancient Greece. 

Honestly, the best part of the series are the thirty second, comedic bits you get at the end of the episodes, after the ending theme tune. 

Characters:

Having compelling, complex characters could make up for  predictable, generic plot. Unfortunately, this series doesn't have those either. The characters are really bland. You have the highly driven, and skilled one who drives the team forward. The one with a lot of potential and passion but a huge losing streak. The former delinquent turning their life around. The athletic one who's new to the particular sport. The one who's in over his head but doing his best. And we can't forget the one who loves the game, but shouldn't play it for physical reasons but irresponsibly does it any way. 

Art:

The artwork looks fine. The details are pretty well done. The characters have decent designs. The bouts are a bit mixed. A lot of the "special moves" are pretty boring. The character will shout out that they're doing a hundred demon take down, or something and you'll get a still image of the character doing it or you'll see the other character counter the move by firmly planting their feet. You'd think a series that's a love letter to sumo could make sumo look more interesting. 

Sound:

The actors do well enough. I can't really fault Abe Atsushi. Kumagai Kentarou, Satou Takuya or any of the other actors on their performances. However, you can't really call it great acting to be able to portray characters this generic competently. I actually really like the Fire Ground theme tune, but the rest of the music is just kind of... meh. 

Ho-yay:

There isn't any, really. Maybe if the characters had developed relationships, it would be different. But they don't. 

Areas of Improvement:

The element of surprise is your friend. Just have some moments where you defy expectations. They make things more interesting than if you can predict everything that's going to happen really early on. 

Develop the characters. Having generic characters that develop into something distinct and more complex is fine. Having generic characters that follow completely typical arcs is just boring. 

Take yourself less seriously. The best parts of this anime are the short, comedic scenes after the ending theme tunes. And a big part of that just comes down to the comedy being less bland than the typical story and characters. If they went a bit more comedic, the series could well be more enjoyable.


Final Thoughts:

If you want a very typical underdog sports work about sumo wrestling, this anime is for you. If you want any kind of originality, you might as well skip this one. I'm giving Hinomaruzumou a 5/10. It's inoffensively bland. 

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Hinomaruzumou Episode 24 Discussion Stark700 - Mar 29, 2019	45 replies	by animejas »» May 28, 2024 7:46 AM
	Poll: Hinomaruzumou Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Dec 14, 2018	20 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Jan 26, 2024 8:25 AM
	Poll: Hinomaruzumou Episode 10 Discussion Stark700 - Dec 7, 2018	18 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Jan 25, 2024 8:15 PM
	Poll: Hinomaruzumou Episode 9 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 30, 2018	20 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Jan 25, 2024 7:59 PM
	Poll: Hinomaruzumou Episode 8 Discussion Stark700 - Nov 23, 2018	27 replies	by RGreatDanton »» Jan 25, 2024 7:43 PM