Jul 20, 2020
I went into watching Hoshiai no Sora knowing nothing about it but it's name. I don't particularly enjoy sports animes, but maybe that's why I ended up enjoying this one so much.
Of course, there are many scenes of soft tennis being played, and technical explanations, as I would expect from any sports anime. But, the thing that stood out to me is the awesome character development.
The main character, Maki, lives in a loving home despite being terrorized by his father who's divorced from his mother. He clearly has childhood trauma and continued trauma relating to this relationship. He finds comfort and strength through
...
his teammates and newfound passion for the sport. It's beautiful to watch that develop.
The reason I don't have any problems with the slow reveal that every single player on the team has problems as home is because that is COMPLETELY REALISTIC. In middle and high school, I personally didn't know many people who had a wonderful and loving home life, and who used school activities and time with their friends to find a place of comfort and self expression. To me, that is what this anime is about and why I enjoy it so much. Not to mention the absolutely amazing inclusion of both transmasc and non-binary characters who serve as important parts to the show. As someone who is non-binary myself, it was extremely refreshing to see a character with similar struggles portrayed realistically in a way that a manga (ABOUT BEING NON-BINARY) like Fukakai na Boku no Subete o failed to do.
Overall, I am a person who watches for story and character development over animation and sound. The animation did not stand out as anything too special and I did wish for better animated scenes of the tennis matches so I could clearly tell what was going on. This is perhaps the only downside of this anime for me.
It seems like this season is only the beginning and I am eager for more. I want to see how these characters can support eachother through their struggles and my hope/expectation is that this will happen in future seasons.
With only the animation as a downside, this is why I give this series as 9/10 so far.
Reviewer’s Rating: 9
What did you think of this review?
Nice
0
Love it
0
Funny
0
Confusing
0
Well-written
0
Creative
0Show all
