Iwa Kakeru! Sport Climbing Girls

Video games, especially puzzle games, were always at the center of Konomi Kasahara's life. However, upon entering Hanamiya High School, she decides to break away from this lifestyle. As Konomi wanders the halls in search of a new activity to engage herself in, she stumbles upon a gigantic wall owned by the school's rock climbing team. Fascinated, she attempts to scale the wall, discovering that she can use her puzzle-solving skills to help her reach the top.

Certain that she has found her calling, Konomi immediately joins the club. As she strives to improve her climbing skills, Konomi, alongside the rest of the Hanamiya Climbing Team, will learn what it truly means to be a "sports climber" and work to achieve victory in the upcoming competitions.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Kasahara, Konomi Main

Uesaka, Sumire Japanese

Yotsuba, Sayo Main

Suzuki, Aina Japanese

Uehara, Jun Main

Ishikawa, Yui Japanese

Sugiura, Nonoka Main

Tomita, Miyu Japanese

Iwamine, Chinari Supporting

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Gotou, Kikuko Supporting

Harada, Sayaka Japanese

Samura, Rina Supporting

Midou, Daria Japanese

Kurusu, Anne Supporting

Tamura, Yukari Japanese

Kumagai, Chigusa Supporting

Kokuryu, Sachi Japanese

Fujita, Masumi Supporting

Ueda, Chihiro Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Iizuka, Aya Producer

Suzuki, Megumi Producer

Ozawa, Fumihiro Producer

Reviews

Jun 3, 2023

The_Namer

Recommended

It's pretty common for sports anime to take a few episodes to get into gear. Since the protagonist is usually a novice, albeit one with some special skill that gives them a natural advantage, they usually need to get some training in a sport's fundamentals under their belt before we see much action. While not veering much from that formula, Iwakakeru does get off to a surprisingly brisk start. Novice Konomi is taught the basics and engages in a climbing showdown against a rival in the first episode. That said, it's probably also the show's weakest episode, so I'd recommend not deciding whether to continue ... watching the series until episode 2.

What holds episode 1 back is the way it depicts Jun, Konomi's initial rival. She's an archetype who appears at the start of most sports anime, the super-serious type who berates the newcomer for taking Sport X lightly and brow-beats them with a lecture about the hard work and guts required to succeed. Iwakakeru almost feels like it's included this story beat out of genre obligation because its execution is especially abrassive and off-putting here. The thing is, Jun is only like this in episode 1. Come episode 2 the team is already starting to gel, and more importantly we're introducing to many of their upcoming opponents: a wonderful collection of hilariously quirky weirdos. That relatively dry and dour opening episode is soon forgotten as faces off against the spider-themed climbing girl, the panther, the ballet dancer, and the...zombie?

As someone previously ignorant of the specifics of sport climbing, I was pleasantly surprised to see how much variety there is to it, since the series covers three different disciplines. It also pays a lot of attention to the specifics of climbing techniques, equipment, and the psychological aspect of the sport.

It's just a shame that the series never really excels in any one aspect. Story, characters, direction, art, animation and music are all good, but don't break through to greatness. It ends up being a solid series with a good sense of humour, a dynamic depiction of the sport, and a pretty well-rounded story arc for its 12 episodes.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jul 6, 2021

WhiteRocket

Mixed Feelings

I had high hopes for this series, but it really just barely met my lowest expectations. As a recent entry in the CGdCT/sports genre, there is plenty of material out there to compare this project to, mostly to it's detriment.

The biggest source of disapointment, after watching the 12 episode run, is realizing how little actual creative thought was put into this show when the premise had such amazing potential. The story runs the typical sports show formula without variation, twists, disruption or contradiction. The character archs are as interesting as a Nebraska Interstate. The art was the best point, ... but the true beauty of sport rock climbing is hard to describe even in anime, the fluidity and awesomeness of the motion really has to be seen to be believed and that means live action at minimum, and probably IMAX would be the optimum format. Voice acting was good, it's just there wasn't much in the script to get excited about. Sound production was fine, but not very inspiring.

In a genre full of good shows but paced by suprisingly good shows like "Girls und Panzer", this show truely fails to live up to its potential. GuP accomplished so much more storytelling in its 12 episodes. Ro-Kyu-Bu! had more interesting characters. Keijo!!!!!!! was more creatively interesting, and Senran Kagura had better fanservice. There are probably even better examples that I haven't found yet. Maybe, if there's a second season, the writing corps will put some real work in, get away from the formula a bit, and make some more interesting choices.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Jan 2, 2021

Rul___

Not Recommended

It's pretty good to bring up the rock climbing as a theme which is also rising in popularity nowadays. This anime also quite able to introduce what rock climbing is. Where the key is like playing puzzles and also training muscles.

This anime contains waifu only, just a normal design. Maybe for those of you who like those fetishies should watch the anime. I quite enjoyed the introduction to the sport itself. But for the story as usual it's like any other sports anime. The characters are also familiar in sports anime, some are sneaky, opulent, arrogant, blablabla. Comedy? I don't feel like it or ... I'm surprised to see MAL there is a comedy genre.

The standard animation just doesn't get the hype right when it comes to rock climbing. Only gave the angle of the fetishes. This anime is pretty good for you getting to know what rock climbing is and how the competition do. But the story's instinct is really generic. Maybe what can be highlighted is the fetishes angle of the muscles and muscles.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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