Ryman's Club

I love badminton. I played it at a highly competitive level for almost 7 years of my life, commuting an hour to my club 5 times a week where I dedicated buckets of sweat and even more hours to a sport I loved. Unfortunately, many people frown upon badminton. It’s a tricky sport to play, which makes it trickier to understand and appreciate. So it doesn’t come as a surprise that of all the sports out there that anime could cover, badminton is one of the most underrepresented. That’s why I’m grateful for shows that push badminton into the spotlight, because it’s truly one of ... the best sports out there.

But that’s also why I’m very disappointed with Ryman. Just like Hanebado, there was a lot of potential it could live up to. But unlike Hanebado, it fell flat on its face much more quickly and much more heavily in a way that makes the show extremely tough to watch, not only as a badminton fan, but also as an anime fan.

I think a basic requirement for sports anime is serviceable (get it) animation. Haikyuu is a perfect example. Its first few seasons? Great animation which elevated everything else. The last 2 seasons? Piss-poor animation which drags everything down. Even Hanebado, which had such boring attempts at melodrama, horribly faked conflicts, and lacklustre characters, was still an enjoyable watch thanks to its amazingly accurate (within sports anime ofc) portrayal of the sport and the stellar animation.

Is Ryman’s animation any good? No. It’s horrible. You rarely see any rallies aside from the final few episodes. Instead, they’re cleverly cut to make you think shits going on but really its just lack of animation/budget/effort. And even when they do animate “epic” jump smashes, diving saves, or clever net play, the animation is so fucking stiff, I don’t even know if it’s handanimated or done with CGI. Ruins the immersion in the sport when you see janky limbs making janky shots.

And without good animation to prop it up, Ryman just becomes a hard-to-believe, angsty story. I’m not even gonna touch on the attempts at a “story” because it’s just quite sad.

Don’t get me started on the inconsistencies either. There’s supposed to be “powers” like foresight, but only MC has it. We’re also supposed to believe the power structure they have set up: an Olympic/top BWF calibre player can be bested by 2 bums? Very nice. Instead of tapping entirely into super fantasy like Kuroko or plausible realism like Hanebado, Ryman tries to have its cake and eat it too. Ultimately, it ends up falling short here as well, just like everywhere else in the series.

But I think Ryman’s biggest fault is its refusal to properly elaborate on the complex strategies that are actually behind the sport. Shot selection, location, angle, speed, footwork, pace of play, and coordination with your partner. Just applying these to singles alone is complex enough, but it gets even crazier in doubles. Because Ryman chooses to dumb the narration/discussion down, what you’re watching is just a watered-down, unexciting version of badminton. Sure shots are going here and there, but why? How, why, and when do players change their tactics and strategies? Instead the explanation you get is “How about I attack you instead!” or “He’s using that devil drop, killer!” I get that you’re trying to make it cool and all, but really it just sounds lame because people who don’t play badminton won’t have a clue what’s going on and people who actually know enough about badminton will be even more confused as to what the fuck is going on.

3/10 for being a bad anime overall. +5 for showcasing badminton, my favourite sport. -5 for ruining badminton, my favourite sport.