That paragraph alone tells you whether you will or will not enjoy Keijo, which (suffice to say) is completely reliant on your ability to suspend your disbelief enough to accept the, uh, internal logic of the show as well as the absolutely absurd premise and battles.
The story works out fairly simply, with the various leads enrolling in a school/training facility to learn how to master the, ehem, sport in question and become professionals. There is nothing particularly striking or different about it once the battles subside; the show is fairly generic in its quiet moments and while that isn’t a bad thing, the action scenes are clearly the highlight of the show.
Speaking of the action scenes, they’re an incredible amount of fun, extremely well choreographed (in more ways than one) and never felt anticlimactic or dull. The strategies are completely ridiculous, ranging from making a butt look like boobs to calling a butt Cerberus to literally parodying the ever so infamous gate of Babylon move to whip out infinite butts (a personal favorite). While the action scenes never look bad, there is a very noticeable drop in animation quality as the show goes on, and it clearly shows in the last few episodes, where it’s clear that the studio was saving budget for a spectacular final showing.
The animation quality looks decent but nothing spectacular, only looking straight up great during the action scenes, where there is a lot of fluent movement and really nice looking CGI effects. The artwork looks distinct and nice, but is also nothing to write home about.
Characters are generally likeable but very basic, which while isn’t a bad thing doesn’t leave much room for them to develop (which isn’t the purpose of the show, sure, but a review is a review). Their interactions are loads of fun and even had me chuckling from time to time, but mostly when about the absurd setting and not when they’re interacting with each other as characters.
All in all, Keijo isn’t a show for everyone; those who do find the premise “interesting” will find an incredibly fun show and solid timewaster, while those who are unable to suspend their disbelief will not enjoy it. Both are perfectly acceptable opinions and it boils down to what you, the viewer, wants to watch.
Thank you very much for reading this review, any and all feedback would be appreciated.
