An interviewer congratulates an athlete on leading her team to victory. Out of breath and visibly shaken, Nomi-san expresses her great relief at the win, knowing it means that she and her teammates have just saved women’s soccer in Japan. With this, the stakes and conditions are established: women’s soccer is eternally on the cusp… Read More First Impression: Farewell, My Dear Cramer
Iwa Kakeru! Sport Climbing Girls begins by introducing Kasahara Konomi, who is trying to figure out what club to join in high school after spending years obsessed with puzzle video games to the point where it was detrimental to her studies. That’s when she runs into the Hanamiya Girls’ climbing wall. Konomi tries climbing and… Read More First Impression: Iwa Kakeru! Sport Climbing Girls
What is up, otaku?! For this episode of the TangleCast, the team goes back a few seasons to look at a critically acclaimed sports anime just in time for our March Madness tournament. No actual sports going on? It’s okay, we got you covered as Peter, Holly, and David look at Run with the Wind,… Read More TangleCast 73: Run with the Wind
Sora is a newly minted highschooler whose diminutive size makes him easy pickings for bullies. But he doesn’t let this get him down, or get in the way of his passion for basketball (which, of course, turns out to be something of a family legacy). At his new high school he finds that the boy’s… Read More First Impressions: Ahiru no Sora
The most popular professional sport in Japan is baseball, so it’s little wonder that anime about baseball has produced some of the classics of the medium, and that of all sports anime, baseball is king. We’ve touched on past classics like Cross Game, Oofuri, and, well, Touch—but this anime season features well-regarded baseball anime, too,… Read More Can’t Get Enough Baseball Anime? Here Are Six Ways to Feed Your Addiction
I’m not an expert on his works, but I would call myself an Adachi admirer. And so after episodes one and two of Mix: Meisei Story, I supposed that I generally knew where the story was going, and specifically where the first arc would go. But episode three reminded me that Adachi isn’t only a… Read More Mix: Meisei Story, Episode 3 – Unexpected Developments
Of all the new shows this season, the one I did not expect to love as much as I did is the baseball manga adaptation Major 2nd. I never saw the first Major series (not that I wouldn’t like to but with over 150 episodes and no legal streams, it’ll be hard) and while I… Read More Major 2nd and Being a “Second”
We have been talking about sports anime a lot on Beneath the Tangles recently, and for good reason. Sports anime, in addition to being lots of fun to watch, provide many moments of wisdom that fit well with themes of Christianity. Of course, that means if you do not like sports anime and you are… Read More The Secret Stars of Anime Auditions: Scorching Ping Pong Girls
Thanks to Annalyn convincing me to watch Haikyuu!! back in around January, I ended up binging the entire season and a half that had aired and eagerly anticipated the upcoming episodes of season 2 (and later, waiting desperately for Fall to come so I could watch season 3). I was shocked, as sports anime had… Read More Sports Anime – Your Move
One type of anime I enjoy watching beyond my usual slice-of-life fare is anime featuring competitive games. More commonly, people call these “sports anime,” and while I am not the massive fan of them that some others are, I certainly enjoy them, definitely far more than I enjoy watching real sports. That said, I prefer… Read More The Secret Stars of Anime: Saki and the Spirit of Competitive Anime