Suzuka

Teenager Yamato Akitsuki has moved from the Hiroshima countryside to Tokyo to begin his high school career. In return for room and board, he has agreed to help his aunt and cousin run their bathhouse and the adjacent girls-only dormitory where he will be staying. On his way to meet his relatives, he passes by a local high school track and is mesmerized by a high jumper practicing her technique.

Later on, Yamato finds out that the high jumper is not just another resident of the dorm, but is also his neighbor. Suzuka Asahina is a heavily scouted track and field athlete who is attending the same high school he is enrolled in. A perfectionist by nature, Suzuka is put off by Yamato's clumsy and carefree attitude and finds it difficult to be near him.

Determined to win her over, Yamato joins the track team after discovering his hidden talent for sprinting. Through his interactions with the track team, his classmates, and the ever-inebriated college students in the dorm, Yamato finds the resolve to become a better athlete and a more suitable companion to Suzuka, even if it means pushing himself to the point of exhaustion.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Suzuka aired weekly on TV Tokyo from July 7, 2005 to December 29, 2005. The anime closely adapts the first 72 chapters of the manga, but particular changes were made to accommodate younger audiences. <br /> <br /> The anime was licensed by Funimation in North America. The company released six DVDs containing English dubbing from June 12, 2007 to January 8, 2008. Philippines TV channel Hero aired the series dubbed in Tagalog starting on December 3, 2006.

Episode Videos

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Related Anime

Adaptation:	Suzuka
Sequel:	Fuuka

More characters

Characters & Voice Actors

Asahina, Suzuka

Main

Mitsuhashi, Kanako
Japanese

Akitsuki, Yamato

Main

Nakamura, Daisuke
Japanese

Sakurai, Honoka

Supporting

Hosono, Yumiko
Japanese

Hashiba, Miki

Supporting

Hosokawa, Seika
Japanese

Hattori, Yasunobu

Supporting

Ooyama, Takanori
Japanese

Fujikawa, Miho

Supporting

Akesaka, Satomi
Japanese

Saotome, Yuuka

Supporting

Suzuki, Masami
Japanese

Asahina, Suzune

Supporting

Tominaga, Miina
Japanese

Sasaki, Kazuyuki

Supporting

Ikeuchi, Ken
Japanese

Newspaper Girl

Supporting

Nakagawa, Rie
Japanese

More staff

Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Maruyama, Hajime

Producer

Fukutomi, Hiroshi

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard

Hamano, Kazuzou

Sound Director

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Opening Theme

"Start Line" by COACH☆

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Ending Theme

	1: "Aoi FIELD" by COACH☆ (eps 1-14)
	2: "Kimi no Koto" by COACH☆ (eps 15-26)

More reviews

Reviews

Feb 7, 2007

rusette

Recommended

I have to say after seeing the whole series even though a lot of people said it sucked..it kinda left an impression on me.

The general audience should be the one that likes romance, drama, and/or "slice of life" anime. Or simply someone who just wants to give it a try. So if you're looking for something funny with a bit of fanservice and a couple of action, I suggest you try other anime's out there. XD I recommend this anime to those who watches realistic anime under the romance-drama genre. Oh, sports anime fans may have a little something to enjoy here.

Even though ...

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Nov 10, 2010

jai88

Not Recommended

The story is fairly simple - a young man moves from the country to Tokyo to start a new life at highschool, and falls in love at first sight with a promising athletic student (the titular character of the show). In short it's a love story, and while the premise sounds bland, so do those of some of the very best animes.

Suzuka, however, is not one of them. It's often described as "character driven" but this is a terrible thing because the majority of the characters (including the two main ones) are barely likable and have few redeeming qualities. Yamato ... and Suzuka both play to archtypes almost to the letter and this is incredibly frustrating to watch. Although the entire series is based around their romance, you are left with an overwhelming idea that this romance only exists because the writers said it does.

Yamato is ridiculous in his submissiveness, but there are certain points where you can at least feel some empathy and sympathy for him (those these are rare) - he also demonstrates a desire to try, which everybody likes to see. However, Suzuka is intolerable for basically the entire series, and since you as a viewer weren't written to love her like Yamato, you end up spending 26 episodes wondering why you're watching an anime that is literally about her. Quite a few of the side characters are far more likable, but they have almost no backstory and screentime, and can't carry the series.

The art and animation is also fairly poor - I'm not sure when the series was adapted, but it is low quality and not very good. The music is also uninspiring and sometimes I felt it was extremely dissonant. Apparently the sound switches between mono and stereo inbetween certain episodes. I'm not sure if this causes any of it, but the soundtrack as a whole isn't a strong point.

Through the entire show you are just left with a sense of pointlessness as the characters advance nowhere, widdling away screentime with obvious and drawn out internal monologues. It quickly becomes obvious how the show is going nowhere and how easily all of the development could have fit into a series half its length. From what I have read of the manga (which progresses far beyond the anime) things sound like they get quite interesting - but the anime adaptation is very stale.

I honestly can't believe the scores this show is getting - but I know there are other people like me out there who are unable to drop a series once they start it. I hope that those people read this review - and instead of starting Suzuka they find something better to watch. That wouldn't be very hard to do.

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May 10, 2010

Johnny_FBI

Recommended

One of the main problems of romantic anime is that you can always predict how it will end. Just look at the DVD-cover and read the title and you don’t need to watch it. So the plot itself is not what we watch romantic anime for, we watch it for interesting characters, their development and feelings.
But “Suzuka” was rather unusual experience for me; it kind of reminded me of “Macross”, because of the complicated love-triangle. First, we have Asahina Suzuka. You may call her tsundere, but the way she acts, thinks, feels makes her very realistic. At the times she can be very cold (her ... name actually means “Cold wind”) and uneasy to handle with but her warm, caring side is very touching.

Then you have Yamato Akitsuki. There is nothing special or unique about him, just your simple shounen hero. Luckily (for him, maybe) he manages to be not so stupid and irritating as other male heroes, like the ones from “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien”, “School Days” and “Elfen Lied” for example. Speaking of “Macross”, Yamato reminded me Hikaru, the way he couldn’t handle his own feelings was sort of the same.

Honoka, the second main heroine of the “Suzuka” is a caring, kind and cute girl who had a crush on Yamato for a long time. I can’t say that she is unusual type of character, but I glad that they didn’t make her as clichéd as Suzumiya from the “Kimi ga Nozomu Eien” (yes, I’m talking ‘bout it again and, yes, I don’t like this anime).

At first, I have to say one thing and don’t mention it again: sports theme plays no big role in “Suzuka” except the last 6-8 episodes.
The show starts rather slow and weak because nothing really happens; it’s like a long introduction to the characters. There are some times when romance goes completely away and we watch a typical mediocre shounen slice of life. But the second of the anime is just brilliant. We get to know Suzuka much more and Yamato changes dramatically.

What I liked the most about “Suzuka” is that every character behaves naturally. The way their feelings for each other were developing was almost life-like. Yes, it’s of course not perfect, but it definitely was great to not see in “Suzuka” any standard and over-used romantic clichés and exaggerating. And I must mention one more thing: usually, a main hero’s friend in this kind of show is an air-headed fool who thinks only about girls and tries to give stupid advices. But Yasunobu is nothing like that; he is calm and seems lot more mature than Yamato. In fact, in general all supporting characters were well-made.

This all good, but one of the main flaws of the series is a lack of those things which make you “feel” the show more: good music, animation and graphic. The animation of the show is quite poor: sport sequences look rather bad due to low budget (not sure, but I got a feeling that it IS a low-budget anime) and the whole visual style of the show is simple. I took a look at the manga and I think that black and white pages look much better. And the soundtrack is uninspired and mediocre. There are some nice tunes (like the second ending), but that’s just not enough for me. I can’t say anything about the opening because I couldn’t bring myself to listen to it even for a single time.

Still, all these flaws didn’t ruin the entertainment. The last 6-7 episodes of the show were very interesting and breathtaking; I was completely in to the story. I think that “Suzuka is a great example of how romantic anime should be made in terms of character development and depiction difficulties of their relationships.

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Sakurai, Honoka

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