Ao no Hako

Every morning, incoming first-year Taiki Inomata hurries to his high school gym in order to further refine his badminton skills. However, his true motivation stems from sharing the otherwise empty gym with second-year Chinatsu Kano, Taiki's crush and the star player of the girls' basketball team. Although Chinatsu seems unapproachable, Taiki gradually finds opportunities to get to know her little by little.

Unbeknownst to Taiki, his tireless work ethic and admiration motivate Chinatsu to work harder and strive to achieve her greatest ambitions. When her family must suddenly move overseas for work, Chinatsu decides to remain in Japan and shoot for victory at the national level. With nowhere to stay, she is taken in by Taiki's mother, who is longtime friends with Chinatsu's own. Overwhelmed with the new reality of living alongside the girl he loves, Taiki resolves to join Chinatsu at the national level in his own sport—and grow closer to her in the process.

Still, despite being good enough to catch his coach's eye, Taiki must fight an uphill battle to qualify for a spot on the starting team. Cheered on by both Chinatsu and gymnast Hina Chouno, his childhood friend, Taiki aims to make a name for himself among his powerful upperclassmen.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Chouno, Hina Main

Kitou, Akari Japanese

Kano, Chinatsu Main

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Inomata, Taiki Main

Chiba, Shouya Japanese

Kasahara, Kyou Supporting

Kobayashi, Chiaki Japanese

Haryuu, Kengo Supporting

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Moriya, Ayame Supporting

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Moriya, Karen Supporting

Shiraishi, Haruka Japanese

Hyoudou, Shouta Supporting

Ono, Yuuki Japanese

Inomata, Father Supporting

Maeda, Hiroki Japanese

Inomata, Yukiko Supporting

Yuzuki, Ryouka Japanese

Tanaka, Junichirou Producer

Kikuchi, Hitoshi Producer

Kishida, Takuma Producer

Inoue, Yuuji Producer

Reviews

Jun 13, 2025

Yorsenpai_999

Recommended

Blue Box is a slow-burn slice-of-life romance that stands out for its emotional realism and gentle storytelling. What starts as a typical “crush on my senpai” setup quickly shifts into something deeper and more grounded. The story doesn’t rely on overused tropes or forced coincidences, even when the main characters begin living under the same roof—it handles these situations with surprising maturity and subtlety.

Taiki, the main character, is kind-hearted, patient, and genuinely supportive—not just toward his crush, Chinatsu, but also his friend Hina, whose quiet strength and emotional growth are beautifully portrayed. Chinatsu feels like a real person, focused on her goals, yet quietly forming ... a bond with Taiki that is soft and unspoken. The presence of sports adds a refreshing drive to the story and gives the characters something to strive for beyond romance.

Every character has their own depth, even the supporting ones—like the calm, understanding Taki's friend was, who always knows what to say. The pacing can feel slow at times, but that slowness adds to the realistic charm, making each connection feel earned rather than rushed.

Blue Box doesn’t scream drama or fantasy—it whispers growth, warmth, and emotional honesty. A beautiful watch if you're looking for romance that feels human.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Jun 17, 2025

NotStonks

Mixed Feelings

This is a strange opera.

The plot is very simple: a guy has a cruch on an older girl and they SLOWLY get into eachother. So what's new from a general romance story? 2 things: the fact that they live together and the existence of Hina.

I referenced the bare minimum from the story just to start the review.

About the first point, I don't think I need to go further: you'll se by yourself.

About the second one, let's just say that it's not by chance if Hina Chono has double the likes of Chinatsu and Taiki combined... she lowkey carries the whole 1st season by herself.
Without this ... character, I don't think this serie would have gotten this much attention.

I don't know if I even wanna recommend it because it's very much just a general romance with never-going-to-happen-in-real-life moments, dumb MCs and nowhere-to-be-seen character development or depth added to secondary characters.

I've seen quite a few romances (Kaguya-sama, Your Name, Clannad: After story and Violet Evergarden just to name a few) and Hina stands in a solid top 3 of "Most well-written characters" because she did what she could at the right times.
With some mistakes because, she isn't perfect and that's what makes her top up for me (remember, she's like 15): in her shoes, how many would haven't done the same thing? If you know you know.

I know it seems like I'm just yapping about Hina but I really think about her when I think about Blue Box. That's it.
Waiting for season 2 to fix some stuff 'cause stuff needs to be fixed.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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May 7, 2025

_Maria_chan_

Not Recommended

Initially, I had very high expectations after watching its trailer and the first episode. It's shown that this anime is about two genre: sports and romance. But sadly the sports no longer exist in this anime. The author has given a lot of importance to the romance and love triangle here. Total of 25 episodes were filled with clueless and unnecessary stories. There was no plot, no comedy. Overall this anime was very slow and boring. I thought I could watch badminton and basketball games here, but not even ten percent of sports were shown here. The entire anime ends with scenes of Taiki and ... Chinatsu unnecessarily talking and face each other, Hina is suffering pain of rejection which was so undeserving and sometimes they would show some scenes of their game practice.

About the characters, the two mc Taiki and Chinatsu were pretty useless. They like each other but entire 25 episodes, they can't tell each other what's on their minds, which was so weird. Surprisingly, the author made the second female character Hina more likable than the female mc Chinatsu. Just only Hina is such a straightforward likable character here. The female mc Chinatsu has no contribution here, her job was only to make misunderstand. The male mc is so useless and brainless, I really don't wanna say anything else about him.

Btw, The opening and ending song was beautiful and the animation quality was also very nice.

Lastly, I would definitely not recommend this to anyone. Because I don't want anyone to waste their time watching such a clueless anime like I did.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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2020's Essentials Part 3 [2024-2025]

by baby_minu

33 Entries · 38 Restacks

🎧Anime with Thai dubs🇹🇭3｜🎧อนิเมะที่มีพากย์ไทย🇹🇭๓

by Adrena

50 Entries · 3 Restacks

Netflix Anime (Part 4)

by ReSeinen

43 Entries · 73 Restacks

Second Season of 'Ao no Hako' Announced

The 25th and final episode for Ao no Hako (Blue Box) ended with a second anime season announcement on Friday. The first season produced by Telecom Animation Film be...read more

Mar 27, 3:08 PM by DatRandomDude | Discuss (7 comments)

Romance Meets Sports: Shouya Chiba, Akari Kitou Bring Us Inside 'Ao no Hako'

With its down-to-earth yet charming cast, Ao no Hako (Blue Box) has continuously been a fan favorite in Weekly Shounen Jump since the serialization began. Combining...read more

Oct 25, 2024 9:34 PM by tingy | Discuss (9 comments)

	Poll: Ao no Hako Episode 14 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Softhenic03 - Jan 2	155 replies	by Quequel »» Jun 19, 6:45 PM
	Poll: Ao no Hako Episode 19 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Softhenic03 - Feb 6	95 replies	by kirA_-_ »» Jun 17, 7:37 AM
	Poll: Ao no Hako Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) IzanaSolos - Mar 20	190 replies	by P3netrat0r »» Jun 17, 4:16 AM
	Crunchyroll's Best Romance Anime of 2025 dazedcowcow62 - May 25	31 replies	by Eraser_stp »» Jun 3, 8:54 PM
	Poll: Ao no Hako Episode 18 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Softhenic03 - Jan 30	82 replies	by kime33 »» Jun 3, 9:08 AM