Sports anime is perhaps the easiest genre to carry on due to its one and only rule: put the sports element front and center. It does not necessarily mean that sports anime should feel like a docu-drama-- it means that sports should be the medium in which the characters grow and find themselves and resolve their conflicts and finally, aim for the better future. Sports would subtly become the metaphor of life itself. One should train hard to have a better life, that one should be able to compete to elevate such life, and that both victory and defeat are simply the beginning of a brand new chapter of life. As time goes, though, different types of sports are adapted and become a breath of fresh air, let it be archery (Tsurune) or sumo (Hinomaru Sumo) or even karuta (the lovely Chihayafuru). Nonetheless, the rule shall be universal. Come to think of it, it is not as easy of a genre, is it?
Hanebado! attempted to defy the one and only rule. Now look at what it had become.
On the surface, the narrative seems strong and the characters even stronger. Sure, fan-service elements are to be expected (the originated manga, after all, is skewed more towards the male readers than the female) but with proper management, Hanebado! --again, on the surface-- could have been something really promising. Unfortunately, as if the people of LIDENFILMS had no faith in either the badminton sport and/or the promising elements, the whole thirteen episodes become a paradise for yandere girls to the point of which, does it even matter that they play badminton? In fact, does it even matter that they play sports at all? With the yandere-ness getting overboard, all character developments feel elementary, the conflicts become some sort of a farce, and the resolution becomes ultimately pointless. Every defeat would only snap their psychology and every victory would be a mere 'meh' moment. These are just a bunch of high school females bathing in sweat and bipolarity. It is as if, "Who cares about depth?"
At the end of the day, it is puzzling who should be ashamed of this product: the studio that made the anime or the audience themselves? Like the old saying, "there is no supply without demand". Does anime such as this exist in the first place because we, the audience, want this to exist? Have we reached the new low in terms of shallowness? Or perhaps this is the worst-case scenario: that audience just does not want to see deep and resolute female athletes on their screen? If it is the latter, then well, we ALL really should be ashamed.
#felixlovesanime
