Badminton is not a sport I’m
particularly fascinated about. However,
since sports anime tend to portray sports in a more thrilling manner than they usually
are in real-life, I decided to watch the new badminton anime, The Badminton Play of Ayano Hanesaki!,
a.k.a. Hanebado! (which is the
abbreviation of its original Japanese title).
Hanebado! centers on Ayano Hanesaki, a genius badminton player
who grew up under the tutelage of her mother, a retired professional badminton
champion. One day, her mother suddenly leaves
her, and the heartbreak from it eventually leads her to stop playing badminton while in
middle school. However, in high school, she
enters Kitakomachi High, whose badminton club has just brought in Tachibana
Kentarou, a former Olympic-level player, to be its new coach. Ayano catches the eye of Coach Kentarou, and
he proceeds to recruit her. She
initially refuses, but her best friend Elena Fujisawa, believing it’ll be for
Ayano’s good, drags her with her to join the badminton club. There, Ayano begins her rivalry with Nagisa
Aragaki – the testy, obsessive captain of the team – whom she destroyed before
in a match in middle school, and who has since been carrying a chip on her
shoulder. In this new status quo, surrounded
by her new clubmates, she gradually recovers her passion for the sport.
As a sports anime, the most
important thing is to portray the featured sport in an engaging, visceral
manner, which would require consistently stunning, dynamic animation. Hanebado!
succeeds in this aspect, as the best thing about this series is definitely its
badminton games. Right off the bat, it
showcases an eye-popping match which declares what kind of high-octane animated
action can be expected from the rest of the series. Though it will take up until the final,
climactic match of the season before the epicness of the opening match is
surpassed, the matches in between are nevertheless exciting to watch.
There’s also a sufficiently
compelling story at its core; it sells the character study drama really
well. When contemplating about it in
retrospect, one would realize how laughably overdramatic it is with its soap
opera logic and preposterous plot points (in relation to this, Ayano’s mom is probably
one of the worst moms in fiction, and though the plot tries to rationalize her
decision, it doesn’t redeem her one bit).
But this assessment only comes much later. While
it’s being watched, these are all contextualized solidly by the direction, that the narrative comes off as poignant and riveting,
and not goofy and pretentious.
As the central protagonist, Ayano
has a unique character arc. She
initially starts as shy, carefree, and timid.
However, she has been apparently suppressing her real personality. When she finally unleashes her true strength,
her true personality is unleashed as well – arrogant, intimidating, and almost sociopathic. The transformation is so radical that it
seems she has dissociative identity disorder (DID), and for about half of the
season, she even seems to be the villain of the story. However, the season concludes with her being set
off on the right path.
Meanwhile, as far as this
13-episode first season is concerned, Aragaki’s arc arguably makes the
character as much as a main protagonist as Ayano, if not more so. She initially comes off as acid, insecure, and
obnoxious, but this only lasts an episode or two at most. The rest of the way, she inhibits the “confident,
dogged, purposeful competitor” archetype.
She works hard to improve herself to reach her goals, but she does so without
neglecting the importance of having fun along the way. This makes her a sports anime character worth
rooting for.
Nevertheless, the show isn’t ruined
at all because the secondary character is more of a sports anime protagonist than
the eponymous one, who spends a lengthy time being more of an antagonist. Actually, this only makes the show more
interesting, as it somewhat breaks the mold.
Moreover, it’s not like Ayano is a terrible character. In fact, the strong implication that her ruthless
side is more of her real self than the sweet demeanor she initially showed adds
layer to her character.
In the end, sure, Hanebado! does have a couple of flaws. But all things considered, it’s a very enjoyable
sports anime. Seriously, the high-quality badminton action alone makes it worth the watch.
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