Reviews

After 12 eps I can tell you that if you’ve seen the poster you know what to expect, it isn’t really Slam Dunk on ice but it also never advertised itself as that. This is aesthetically a “CGDCT” anime which in my opinion isn’t the best match for a story about hockey but it might just be strange enough to work. If the idol part of the show puts you off, first of all don’t worry i understand it but please also understand that it isn’t a bad strategy. This show isn’t made for a tradicional overseas market and seeing the success of Uma Musume you can’t fault them for trying to appeal to a larger Japanese audience in a similar way and after 12 eps it only plays a small roll (for an idol show it sure has few and far in between “idol moments”)

This anime was made in collaboration with the Nikko Ice bucks, people that actually know what their talking about help made this anime and it shows. The on ice scenes are legit the slap shots, snap shots, and even the goalie saves all look better than half the American hockey movies I’ve seen. As far as a hockey anime goes the hockey aspect looks legit, yeah Canadians will cry about losing in the opening minutes of ep 1 but hey when was the last time y’all won a Stanley cup? (jk love you Canadians, I’m Mexican so I can’t really talk shit lol). Throughout the 12 eps this show had all the classic hockey moments you could expect so I give it major props for that (they even had an off the penalty box scoring chance!)

Yeah this isn’t the perfect hockey adaptation I might have wished for years ago but tbh I never expected to see a “hockey anime” so I’m stoked to get this and I hope this results in more attention for ice hockey in Japan and in the anime industry overall. Honestly having had realistic expectations for it I really enjoyed it. If like me you love hockey or want to know more about it and are open minded you might enjoy it too.