Unpopular opinion: Most sports anime are severely overrated (no spoilers!)

Catalano said:
Attack no1 is the best sports anime ever made, it really portrays the drama and the life of a volleyball player, all the ups and downs. I don't know about you, maybe you're not into sports, I like it because there is that team spirit, the tactics, the need to defeat a hard opponent.
Also there are lots of baseball anime like Touch, Major, Cross Game that tell good stories about characters, their way of being and all that shit, slice of life, you name it, it's pretty wholesome for me.
I also heard good impressions about ping pong the animation, it's about character growth and all that, people like a good story of a character who goes from 0 to hero or about someone who learns about life through sports

TharTV said:


I actually like sports, but the problem is just that overall they are too predictable and don't do anything that really stands out.

Major and Cross Game are some of my favorites for sure, but still One Outs is by far the best baseball anime there is. Still I don't think there's a single sports anime in my top 10, or even top 20 tbh.

Catalano said:

don't wanna sound like an ass but most battle anime are predictable, like for ex nanoha which you gave it a good score, we all know that the good girls will defeat the bad girls. Just like in major, we know that goro's team will win 99% of the time with that lousy team from s1, but what it matters is the team spirit and the fight just like in your regular battle shonen, I'm not saying that this is a bad thing.

TharTV said:


With predictable I mean it as in, it doesn't really do anything extraordinary or beyond expectations.

Taking One Piece again as an example, while it does have its typical shounen tropes, some things are just exceptional and unique. Like for example the characters.... a skeleton with a afro that plays music instruments, or a cyborg that uses cola as an energy source. Nami is probably the most boring character from the main cast, but even she has a really interesting backstory to make up for that (in fact, she and Robin have the best back stories imo).

My Hero Academia also has some really good stuff going for it, like actually addressing stuff about heroes beyond just beating up bad guys. And All Might is one of the most iconic characters of all time.

On the other hand, I can't think of any character in any sports anime that really stood out for me. Ippo is likeable because of the whole underdog thing, but he is nothing special. Same with the whole Haikyuu crew tbh.

p.s my anime ratings are horribly outdated so take them with a grain of salt, would probably change a lot of the ratings if I'd watch them again

TharTV said:
While I do enjoy watching sports anime (hell, I even enjoyed Rock Climbing Girls....), I don't understand why some of them are rated so high on this site (and elsewhere). Some good examples of that being Haikyuu and Hajime no Ippo.

On the other hand when talking about battle shounen series, some people say One Piece is overrated. Even though a lot can be said about the slow pacing, too many (unnecessary) characters etc., it more than well makes up its flaws for all the great things it has to offer. The overarching story is really interesting, the characters (and especially their backstories) are really good, it has a great mixture of drama and comedy, and it has the best anime OST imo. From all the 150+ anime that I've seen, it is the best adventure series without a doubt.

Unfortunately I can't say the same for 95% of sports anime. They are just too predictable, and there's nothing that really stands out. Hell, I actually think One Outs is the best sports anime I've watched so far, and that one is more psychological than sports oriented.

I will admit, I haven't read the manga yet, so it very well may be that some of these series get better later on (please no spoilers, want to find that out by myself). But so far I just haven't been that impressed, and think it's outrageous that Haikyuu gets a higher score than Death Note for example.

What are your opinions on this?

FanofAction said:
Sports in general are "overrated". Yeah , I said it...Just a bunch of dudes going around groping each others balls. Only one that's interesting to me is hockey. Big dudes bashing into each other while balancing on ice. Badass. I'd love to see an anime centered around hockey

Kenzolo-folk said:

The first sentence made me laugh so HARDJFSK
And yes, why isnt there a hockey one yet??? What the hell

amusedmonkey said:
"Overrated" is a word used by those who can't comprehend that it's a simple case of their taste deviating from the mean. If enough people rated something high, it's not overrated. It's rated just right to represent the general consensus of the target audience.

Drawler said:
it's a difficult genre to get into because if you're not a fan of the sport the show is about then it's unlikely you're gonna like it, but that doesn't mean is an "overrated genre"

but even then yes I would agree that Haikyuu is overrated, it is really standard, does nothing special and my guess is that people like it for the pretty boys only.

jal90 said:

Having one of the most widely explored casts in anime, with a lot of collective and individual growth and giving emotional emphasis to many characters in every match, displaying way above average animation in the matches with an insane amount of emotional buildup for like every game and a lot of detailed focus on postures and physical effects, and you think people like it for the pretty boys only. How's the self-deception going.

Drawler said:


plenty of other series also do that and do not get the recognition Haikyuu does. why?? of course there's something else here

if the boys were ugly or if it had a kiddy tone nobody would care for it

AllIsManga said:

I don't really get the "they are just too predictable" criticism. It's not like as if they win every match. And even if they do, I don't see the problem. It's the journey that matters, not the end. You might as well never watch romance then since 90% of the time, it's obvious who the MC would end up with. And I'm currently reading One Piece (250 chapters in) and I'd say it's pretty predictable so far. Death Note is good no doubt, but for me, it couldn't maintain its 10/10 momentum once a certain character died.

ChocoMikan said:
It just sounds like you have a preference for deep, complicated stories, which is not the point of the sports genre. You're judging it on something it's not trying to be. You wouldn't call a Slice of Life bad because it doesn't have enough action.

And obviously you're not going to find super original or unique characters because they're normal people living in a normal world. Much the same for dealing with world issues, it would make no sense to add that to sports anime as that's just not what it's about. Moreover on that previous note, in a fantasy it's easy to make a character no one has seen before but that doesn't mean the character is great. Personally I would prefer the characters from Haikyuu because they feel more real to me and 'uniqueness' can often become a character trait in itself which would make the character much more of a stereotype and so, at least to me, less interesting.

Edocchi said:
@TharTv You rate Major higher than One Outs though. The former is obviously a better sport anime.

Drawler said:


plenty of other series also do that and do not get the recognition Haikyuu does. why?? of course there's something else here

if the boys were ugly or if it had a kiddy tone nobody would care for it