• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

I really enjoy sports themed anime, come share your favourite!

Status
Not open for further replies.
Fbh

Fbh

Member
Kite said:
Whatever do you mean? Studio Pierrot is clearly spending the majority of this season's budget on Tokyo Ghoul and not Baby Steps lol
Click to expand...

Well you have to consider they have to pay the whole animation team AND the consorship team who gets to work just as hard.

Those black/white "flashes" and filters that ruin the show require a lot of planning and hard work
 
S

Soma

Member
ibdLDLJLSRlSK4.gif


Ping Pong the Animation is not only the best sports anime I've watched, it's also the best anime show I've watched in a long time.
 
Y

YesNOnoNOYes

Member
Master Milk said:
Does Saki count? If so, easily my favorite.



If not, then Princess Nine. Love the main character and her rival, and the team, and everybody, really.

Surprised no one's mentioned Free yet, that shit was good.

Surprised there's only one mention of Free so far, that shit was good. lol
Click to expand...

LOL at that edit <3

Yepyep, we need more FREE! love in this thread yoooo *___*
 
L

Love Deterrence

Member
Slam%20Dunk%204.jpg


Simply the greatest of all-time, OP! I originally watched the show over the course of a couple of weeks, and loved every second of it. I never wanted it to end... The characters were likable, the story was one that was easy to relate to; oh, and I would be remiss not to mention the fight scenes, which were just as unforgettable as the basketball games, themselves! Just an unbelievable show from start-to-finish.
 
W

watervengeance

Member
Cloudy said:
Anyone who hasn't seen Major should drop everything and go watch now. Goro is the biggest badass in sports anime

PS: It doesn't matter if you like baseball or not
Click to expand...

The anime does a good job of making you feel the energy and speed in his pitches too. I remember the time he got yips and all his pitches just look slow and weak as shit compared to normal.
 
J

jph139

Member
Glad to see there's already love for Cross Game and Slam Dunk; those are my two favorites. Hajime no Ippo is one that I've been meaning to get to for a long time now; I do love boxing.

Princess Nine looks like something up my alley; generally I prefer slightly older stuff for sports anime. They tend to be more down-to-earth in my experience.

Also, while it's a manga so it's sort of cheating here, I'd recommend Cross Manage. It's about a guy managing a really shitty high school women's lacrosse team; fun character and a lot of heart. Not too long, either, though it could have definitely been drawn out further.
 
Paracelsus

Paracelsus

Member
All modern supernatural sport shows are copies of Captain Tsubasa, and in the case of Inazuma Eleven, not even good ones.

I'd say that, Slam Dunk and Ashita no Joe are my trifecta. Attacker You was also a good one, not a new concept but the older entries were just terribly animated.
 
M

Member876

Banned
Mitsuru Adachi is the sports manga god. Anime adaptations from his work are usually really great, from Touch to Cross Game, I have liked all of his work.

Slam Dunk and first seasons of Ippo are other two of my favorites.

Hajime no Ippo was amazing show during it's first run but it got worse after that. Second season is still solid, it does lack in the art/music department but it is still funny to follow the gang and their antics. Third season on the other hand started to left out big chunks of the manga out and there was very little character development before the fights. I stopped watching the third season around episode 8, since it didn't have many of the elements I liked from season one.

Eyeshield 21 left me cold. Characters were just too outlandish for me and the humor felt childish.
 
P

Puruzi

Banned
Member876 said:
Mitsuru Adachi is the sports manga god. Anime adaptations from his work are usually really great, from Touch to Cross Game, I have liked all of his work.

Slam Dunk and first seasons of Ippo are other two of my favorites.

Hajime no Ippo was amazing show during it's first run but it got worse after that. Second season is still solid, it does lack in the art/music department but it is still funny to follow the gang and their antics. Third season on the other hand started to left out big chunks of the manga out and there was very little character development before the fights. I stopped watching the third season around episode 8, since it didn't have many of the elements I liked from season one.

Eyeshield 21 left me cold. Characters were just too outlandish for me and the humor felt childish.
Click to expand...
Third season has the best arc in all of Ippo though, the Kamogawa flashback.
 
Q

questionmark

Member
Not trying to argue that Go is (or isn't) a sport, but for all intents and purposes, Hikaru No Go is essentially a sports themed anime. It's about a kid who's introduced to go by a ghost. It follows the kid as he grows to love go and dedicate his life to playing it. The ghost is the only supernatural aspect of the series. Also, don't worry about not knowing go. I didn't know anything before watching it, and I still don't know anything too be honest. It's not necessary to enjoy the series.



Kite said:
GuCGeP7.jpg

Cross Game
Click to expand...

I see this mentioned a couple of times, and I just wanted to chime in and point out that as far as the mangas go, Cross Game is by far one of Mitsuru Adachis weakest stories. Of his mangas, I see Touch and H2 have also been turned into anime. While I cannot actually vouch for the quality of the animes, I would strongly recommend those over Cross Game based on the mangas. Especially Touch. They're all about baseball. If you are interested in manga at all, I also strongly recommend Rough (swimming) and Katsu! (boxing).

Rough, Touch, Hikaru No Go, Slam Dunk are all probably in my top ten manga/anime series.
 
D

daniels

Member
I liked Ippo and kuroko .. but kuroko gets really and i mean REALLY stupid with the constant talking in matches. I tried some episodes from Haikyu!! could be interesting "That is what It Means to Connect" :D
 
C

Cerity

Member
questionmark said:
I see this mentioned a couple of times, and I just wanted to chime in and point out that as far as the mangas go, Cross Game is by far one of Mitsuru Adachis weakest stories. Of his mangas, I see Touch and H2 have also been turned into anime. While I cannot actually vouch for the quality of the animes, I would strongly recommend those over Cross Game based on the mangas. Especially Touch. They're all about baseball. If you are interested in manga at all, I also strongly recommend Rough (swimming) and Katsu! (boxing).
Click to expand...

Touch is the best adaptation of the lot, H2 was one of those typical situations where they animated it way too early and ended up having to make up some crappy ending not even halfway through the actual manga IIRC.
 
Q

questionmark

Member
Cerity said:
Touch is the best adaptation of the lot, H2 was one of those typical situations where they animated it way too early and ended up having to make up some crappy ending not even halfway through the actual manga IIRC.
Click to expand...

Interesting. Mind telling me how it ended? The ending is probably my biggest gripe with H2.
 
bronk

bronk

Banned
Yowamushi Pedal has one of the freakiest most bad ass enemy in an anime ive seen in awhile...... and its about riding bikes lol. Love it.
 
F

fertygo

Member
Eyeshield's anime are trash, the manga are god tier though.. I wish Eyeshield adapted in today era than early 2000's, so its can be slotted in better airing schedule so its can have better production value like Haikyuu.
 
B

bigosc2k

Banned
Ippo is one of the few sports animes I watched and enjoyed.

Eyeshield 21 was alright, I found it hilarious that Sena would run for like 20 yards for only 3 to 4 yard gains.
 
T

Tarsul

Member
I gotta agree with OP, sports anime are excellent entertainment. Some are funny as hell (Slam dunk), some really motivate to train (for me Hajime no Ippo) and all are teaching team spirit.

I mentioned my favorites but I like Kickers, Ping Pong, Major, One Outs, Giant Killing, Hungry Hearts even Prince of Tennis, Eyeshield21 and Buzzer Beater to a lesser extent. There was another one that was great... aoki densetsu shoot (subbed by saizen); it's about a school team of football (soccer) players with some love triangle thing but even a touch of tragic and all. Just lovable characters and story. (Also, I have to rewatch Hikaru no Go now that I have a _real_ understanding of Go)

Man, I love sports animes. Easily my favorite anime genre.
 
N

NamikazeBurst

Member
Dragonborn said:
Have you seen Major? Really awesome show
Click to expand...

Cloudy said:
Major. Fantastic show that follows the main character from when he's a kid playing little league in Japan to the pros in the US. Just great stuff

major-episode-26-english-subbed.jpg


Why is there no US release of this?

I guess Ippo would be 2nd
Click to expand...

These people know what is up.

My Ranking:

Major! (I watched it all last summer; it was amazing. The opening songs for seasons 1 and 6 are excellent. Baseball is probably the only sport I like, even though I don't watch any sports on TV or anything.)

Inazuma Eleven (Season 1 and 3. These are the best seasons in my opinion just based off the plot and abundance of characters)

Hajime no Ippo (Great. A new set of episodes finished a couple seasons back. Very entertaining)

Inazuma Eleven (Season 2, IE:Go Season 1. I didn't really like Chrono Stone and Galaxy seemed like it was going to be like IE Season 3, but a twist ruined it and I am only about half way through)

There are others that I have seen. Prince of Tennis was alright, but I never completed it. Haikyuu is pretty good so far. Ace of Diamond I stopped in the mid-twenties, but it was picking up.
 
B

bjork

Member
Adachi stuff is a given, they're usually just nice stories and that's a relaxing watch or read.

I really wish Rookies would've had an anime, but it went the live action route. Maybe too much cursing for a cartoon? I don't know.

I'm surprised no one's said Dan Doh yet. A guy talking to a talking golf ball or whatever seems like it would have fans who like strange stuff.
 
M

MrTeachwell

Member
My all time favourite (probably only because it was one of the first anime I saw) is Battle Athletes Victory which I just found out is a retelling of a 6 part OVA. It's not really based on any real sport but it does involve a lot of the things that make sports anime fun.
 
M

MrChom

Member
farisr said:
Hungry Heart Wild Striker is a fun soccer one (you already mentioned the GOAT Tsubasa). Good characters. Fun matches, funny moments.
Click to expand...

Someone else has seen this! Seriously, I loved Hungry Heart, all 52 episodes of gloriously ridiculous soap opera-ness. It's a little bit cliché but if you don't want cliché then don't watch sports anime. I loved this.

Hajime no Ippo has already been mentioned, and I liked what I saw of Princess Nine before the disk with it on corrupted :(
 
X

XM1049

Neo Member
Just noticed this topic, maybe you guys can help me out. I used to watch a soccer anime back in the 90's, all I remember was that the kids had some super skills, for example whenever the main character was about to score a goal, the soccer ball would fly high into the air and it would turn into an eagle, another player kicked the ball towards the goal and it would split into 6 different balls. If anyone could help me with the name of this anime it would be appreciated.
 
A

Anteater

Member
Grew up reading the Adachi Mitsuru stuff, Touch is my favorite series, both anime and manga were really great, especially the brilliant sound track and the 80s japanese pop music that plays in the background in a few episodes, other than that I haven't kept up with the anime version for some of his works, but for mangas I usually like re-reading Katsu!

For mangas, Rookies is by far my favorite right next to Slam Dunk.

Don't like the Slam Dunk anime.
 
C

Cerity

Member
questionmark said:
Interesting. Mind telling me how it ended? The ending is probably my biggest gripe with H2.
Click to expand...

Just had a look over it. It ends over the winter break during their 2nd year with both Hideo and Hiro exploring & professing their love for
baseball
. Which took about 4-5 episodes to do.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Similar threads

True Stories is one weird movie and I love it.
5
1K
k_trout replied
Forbes: Xbox won the Game Awards 2023
Opinion 2 3 4 5
211
14K
Crayon replied
Oxford Word of the Year 2022: Goblin Mode
2
71
3K
dr_octagon replied
Tekken 8: IGN Has Released the First Hands on Preview
Analysis
11
1K
KrisB replied
Lara Croft Crowned Most Iconic Video Games Character of All Time, According to BAFTA Poll
2 3 4 5
208
9K
ResurrectedContrarian replied
Top Bottom