OH my gao, this is so unbelievably cute, so ridiculous lovable, so fantastically amazing and full of so much greatness. I typically try to avoid using this word, because of how people react to it, but…. It’s the only way to even explain what Ro-Kyu-Bu is….
…… Welcome to Loli’s playing basketball!!! That’s right, that’s what Ro-Kyu-Bu is, but fret not, aside from a few bathing scenes, it’s not all that bad, I promise (I’m totally lying, don’t listen to me, beware, ecchi)! The story of Ro-Kyu-Bu is about a high school student who is forced to be a sensei to 5 school girls in a basketball club. The student, Hasegawa Subaru is forced by his aunt who is a teacher at the elementary school, who is an “L” as well to train 5 girls for three days; it’s a sort of plot to get Subaru back into basketball and it works incredibly well too, because once he witnesses the girls playing, he devotes all of his free time into helping train them.
So the story is pretty simple and the only issue I have from it is there seemed to have been some problem when Subaru played basketball, I know MAL gives the synopsis for it, but without reading it, you’d never really “know” that, it’s never expanded on or even talked about, though I guess there are vague hints… maybe? (I really don’t think so). If you haven’t figured it out yet, Ro-Kyu-Bu is without a doubt, slice of life with some comedy involved, there are ecchi scenes as well, so take that into consideration before watching something like this. The main reason to watch this though, aside from the amazing cast of characters is the way all the girls get better and grow.
The stars of the anime, the absolutely adorable and ridiculously cute girls; we have Tomoka, the ace of the team, the most experienced basketball player and she has an excellent jump shot, which is what draws Subaru to want to coach the girls. There is also Hinata; she is the epitome of what moe could ever hope to be, innocent, adorable, super cute and a seiyuu performance that will knock you out from squeeing and being so darn gleeful, Hinata is an unbelievable girl and her growth is tremendous. Maho, our rambunctious, loud and hot headed member of the group, her ability to learn is astounding, surpassing everyone and anyone in the same age group (though being new to basketball, she still has a lot to learn). Can’t forget about Airi, she’s the super tall girl who doesn’t really look like she belongs in elementary school, she’s been through some tough things growing up and as such, is afraid of a lot, her being tall is also difficult for her too, since she believes being tall is bad; her developments throughout the anime are quite amazing. Lastly we have Saki, the intelligent girl who can stay cool even under pressure, the game changer as I would call her; she’s capable of a lot and her skills are used often to stay competitive in games.
The girls are cute; the story is just as cute. The spirit to play basketball, the yearning to win and go on to do something more with basketball; it’s really just incredible. I can’t even believe it, but this amazing anime had me tear up for just being so darn cute, I had all these emotions and feels when the girls wouldn’t back down and wanted to continue playing, to continue learning and growing, things like that always get me to tear up and in Ro-Kyu-Bu, it’s no different. The actual growth of the girls is well shown too, aside from Tomoka, everyone else essentially starts off as newbies, they have no idea what to do and how to do it, so Subaru starts with the absolute basics, learning to pass, how to shoot, learning coordination and being aware of your surroundings. Now because it’s a 1-cour anime, the girls pick up on the lessons incredibly quick and get “good” quickly too. I have no problem with the escalated pace of storytelling, since the last two episodes are amazing because of it. I will say though, don’t expect a lot of actual basketball matches or anything even close to that, the entire bulk of Ro-Kyu-Bu is quite literally about the girls learning basketball and getting close with their coach.
Art. !!! Wooooohoooooo; I think it’s unbelievably superb. It’s cute on top of cute on top of more cute. The girls are all adorably drawn, they have huge eyes (HUGE!!), large heads compared to the rest of their bodies and all (The basketball is as big as their heads, it’s soooo cute). There are some examples of gorgeous and great background art, though I will say that most of the other scenes, especially repeated ones, aren’t as detailed or astounding. The focus, I feel like, was the girls, the basketball and things related to them. The animation is pretty good, I have no issues with it, hair sways beautifully, clothes move in ways you’d expect. The lines are really well drawn, everything is rather smooth and free of hard edges and dark lines, it’s a light show, with light colors and light everything. Though seeing as how this is an ecchi based show…. ahem… well the lines, yeah. I personally loved the art, especially the eyes and the way their rendered/shown to us, it’s unique.
Music. Ahhh, it’s actually incredible. What an amazing sound track. The OP and ED are 100 % perfect, “Party Love! Party Love! Party Love!”. The BGM is phenomenal and well executed; capable of bringing hype to scenes that need it and cuteness when everything else requires it. It’s cheerful, it’s poppy, it makes you want to cheer for the on screen dilemma and then giggle and laugh and squee at how adorable everything in this anime is, it’s just amazing.
Aside from all that, the supports in Ro-Kyu-Bu are really good, especially the aunt Mihoshi, but there is also Subaru’s childhood friend Aoi. The two of them alone bring in many laughs and Aoi is so darn cute with her own crush for Subaru, though her dilemma is pretty funny.
Personally, Ro-Kyu-Bu is exactly what I’ve been looking for ever since I’ve seen Softenni (Think Ro-Kyu-Bu, but about Soft Tennis, more fan service and a ton of comedy). Something extra cute with cute girls playing a sport. I have actually found a few other girl sport animes to watch and I look forward to them, but Ro-Kyu-Bu is a huge hit for me, I loved every second of it and am so happy there is a 2nd season available to watch. 10/10, the cuteness overload is amazing and the girls are soooo cuuuute!
