But there was a time where I was referring my friends to watch this. Asking that they sit down and watch a few episodes with me since there was nothing else I could provide us to rid of boredom. I sold this show as being a smarter romance, sports anime than its contemporaries. I not only gaslit those friends into thinking they were about to watch something like Haikyuu, before that show was even adapted, but I was also blinded myself.
Suzuka was shown to me at a time I was new to anime. I was ignorant to the medium and the what to expect other than what I knew from watching Toonami, Adult Swim, and the stigmas that trailed along from it all. I wasn’t against anime and manga, but I didn’t quite consider myself “all in” with it either. I had friends show me stuff before. Friends who were apart of the casual Ghibli guild and friends inside the cult fo cosplay; I had a myriad of sources showing off the best anime had to offer at the time. It wasn’t until around Suzuka, however, that it all started to click with me.
I must also deflate that last sentence and say Suzuka wasn’t what won me over, nor would I credit it being a major factor in why I felt that infectious otaku sensation, but shows like Welcome to the NHK, Beyond the Boundary, Neon Genesis, and funnily enough Sword Art Online. Suzuka did however provide a deeper connection with me as it felt so removed and separate from the anime I was watching. It was the first slice of life, sports, and romance anime I watched plenty of and inevitably became enchanted with its simplicity and interlaced drama. I was stricken with the mundanity of our character’s lives, that of Yamato and Suzuka, and the pitfalls they fell into for the hedgehog delima they share.
I feel like nobody, that once knew it, remembers this show. Perhaps that’s because there truly are much better shows out there that have a wider appeal and aesthetic to themselves, but I can say for myself this show was presented to me with a coat of paint that didn’t match the accents. What I mean is: Suzuka is not a sports anime and it’s certainly not a romance anime either. Like shows, outside of OG Gundam, that are labeled mecha, the mechs involved in the script are used to enhance said script. They are used as props to elevate the key themes and overall plot for the essential characters’ stories. The narrative is essentially the same but with big-ass robots fighting each other being a metaphor for the duality of mankind’s love of life, or whatever. Suzuka does this with sports. Yamato’s love language to Suzuka is his ability to run really fast, but, again, this isn’t a romance (at least not in the way I feel other shows are handled).
No matter how smooth Yamato can spin dash into Suzuka’s rear view as she pole vaults over the emerald hills, he will never exceed past her blind spots (the sports in which they play at their high school making up only a small fraction of the overall show). This isn’t a spoiler, and I’m only generalizing, but this is a dramatic take of teenage relationships between two friends that, at first, can’t seem to connect. This show is certainly no subversion either for it definitely has its tropes and well handled elements to those tropes, but the show get so different to everything I had watched previously, in a time when I wasn’t as hyper aware of anime and during a time when I felt most vulnerable too and was able to self insert so easily, even making the same dumb decisions Yamato found himself in.
And Yamato isn’t even dumb. That’s one of the best parts. Even today I genuinely believe both Suzuka and Yamato behave like realistic teenagers and not like complete idiots. Macross comes to mind in terms of a well handled relationship between two characters and in Suzuka our two main characters are tasked to make mature decisions and even tackle deep, tragic topics and handle them well without the writing completely taking dump over any of it for a punchline. I still enjoy both of their characters too and like how things end up so patiently and methodical by the end of the show. I think Suzuka deserves just a little more credit is telling a cute story that involves teenagers in a drama (and that’s not teenage drama that I’m referring to either).
Suzuka though does stumble about a lot. It’s art is boring to look at and has no real identity to its style and aesthetic. When Suzuka was brought to my attention, I was told the animation and art where really good, but none of it really is. It’s mediocre at best. I don’t quite see how this 26 episode show wasn’t allowed a larger budget but that’s not up to me I suppose. The music is rather boring and despite a single tune, I found nothing of note about this show having a good soundtrack with some tracks overstaying their welcome and other times being awkward, dead silence. But it’s not just that.
Suzuka has some of the more boring and annoying characters I’ve laid witness to. The first episode introduces us to an egregious scene where Yamato is caught off guard by a sexual deviant senpai who surprises him by unrealistically teasing him as she is naked with her giant tits hanging out. Pure comedy. Stuff similar to this happens a few other times but aside from those the show is inoffensive. Yamato’s chad friend evens him out and at least serves a simple purpose to show Yamato’s maturity and contrast is well enough but he quickly gets lost in the background to make room for the most unremarkable and unnecessary love interest just to create further tension and therefore extending the love triangle between Yamato, Suzuka, and Suzuka picture frame into an actual love triangle with Yamato, Suzuka, and this home wrecker. I don’t think anyone shipped those two and nobody who watched this whole show came out of the other end thinking it was a good idea in the first place either.
Without getting on that tangent, I do wish to express the relationships between Yamato and the others all conclude... with satisfaction, in my opinion. I don’t want to sell Suzuka as a romance anime because if you’ve watched good romance anime you’d probably say “this just ain’t it,” but I dig it. I like Suzuka as for the love that the characters ultimately have for each other. I fully admit that I’m still insufferably defensive to a degree with this show and would rather fail to properly commit to the idea that this show is anything less than a 6. But it’s also not a 7. But I do like this, and I think if provoked about this show again, I’ll recommend it once more.
