This episode introduced the show’s characters and subject matter, but in a way that I found a little disjointed and confusing, so this summary paragraph is…not great. We open with a girls cheer team performing at a competition. It’s implied that there is some kind of accident, though we only glimpse the beginning. Probably. Then we start meeting the characters. Protagonist Kanata has given up cheering after…whatever happened. On her way to school she visits Megumi, a girl who used to be on the same cheer team but is now in rehab. It’s unclear whether the rehab relates to an injury (perhaps from the fateful opening performance?), or to a serious illness mentioned later. On the way to school Kanata gets sidetracked following parkour master Suzuha to a different school. In the process, Kanata meets Anna, a girl trying to get Suzuha to appear on her YouTube channel, and another girl named Nodoka. At Suzuha’s school, we meet Shion, who is reportedly a gymnast. There are some scenes of the girls interacting, and then one afternoon Kanata shows up at Suzuha’s school and chases her, ultimately resulting in Kanata doing some acrobatics of her own, which involves a flashback to the performance at the beginning.
So judging by this episode, this is an anime about cheerleading, and the girls we met will probably come together to form a new team. But is this a drama or a comedy? Is the tone realistic (e.g., Megumi in rehab) or fantastical (e.g., Suzuha going full Naruto)? I can’t tell at this point, and I’m still confused by several story beats. What exactly is Megumi’s injury/illness situation? What happened at the performance in the beginning, and/or why did Kanata step away from cheering? Why on earth was she chasing Suzuha at the end? Will she actually join a new team instead of returning to her old one? Setting aside my discombobulation, I must say that the parkour scenes were actually quite cool (no matter how unrealistic), and the choreography at the beginning was pretty nice. There was also some lovely scenery. Thanks to these strengths, this episode was fun to watch despite being confusing, enough that I think I want to give this show another chance.
Narenare is streaming on Crunchyroll.
Hmm, I wasn’t really thinking about trying this series, but now I’m a little curious. I’ve seen a few cheerleader anime, and most of them were pretty fun. Maybe I’ll give it a shot.
[…] clichés like many other anime this season. This episode featured great background art, just like Narenare, another P.A. Works anime from this season. Because the plot is so unusual, it’s hard to […]
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