{"id":1313,"date":"2014-07-16T16:47:25","date_gmt":"2014-07-16T20:47:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/?p=1313"},"modified":"2014-07-16T16:47:25","modified_gmt":"2014-07-16T20:47:25","slug":"how-sports-anime-finally-found-a-fanbase-in-the-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/how-sports-anime-finally-found-a-fanbase-in-the-us\/","title":{"rendered":"How Sports Anime Finally Found a Fanbase in the US"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a good time for sports anime. Yowamushi Pedal<\/em> is set to return in the fall after an initial 38-episode run, while volleyball series Haikyu!!<\/em> is finally kicking off its first big tournament story arc. The Free!<\/em> juggernaut continues to roll onward, drawing in a variety of fans in its target demographic and beyond. The genre is even being used as a sandbox for unique animation styles, exemplified by Ping Pong: The Animation<\/em>. Here in the US, often seen as a difficult market for sports shows, jerseys from various fictional teams can be seen in increasing numbers at anime conventions. What is it about this generation of titles that sees the genre in such excellent health, especially on our side of the Pacific?<\/p>\n

\"free\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I can’t possibly imagine how a show about competitive swimming found so many female fans.<\/em><\/p>\n

Quite a lot of things, actually. Writers and character designers have been making deliberate (and increasingly successful) attempts at appealing to a broader mix of male and female viewers. Animation has gotten more impressive over the years, a vital improvement for a genre that relies on the fluid motions of skilled competitors. Watch Kuroko\u2019s Basketball<\/em> back to back with 90\u2019s classic Slam Dunk<\/em> if you want a stark visual demonstration of how things have changed over time. Whether or not you like the new style of character design, it\u2019s clearly optimized for bringing in viewers with an affinity for dreamy dudes. Combine that with some solid action sequences and you\u2019ve got something for just about everyone.<\/p>\n

The simulcast method of distribution has also helped things here in the US. Sports anime and manga have never really had much trouble finding an audience in Japan, but things were far less simple for American licensors back when physical releases were the only option. Some notoriously bad sales numbers made the big hitters reasonably wary of the genre, and rightly so. Putting a series out on disc with a full English dub is expensive, and frequently not worth it for a niche title. By comparison, it\u2019s much less of a risk to put a series up online with subtitles, especially for a subscription-based service like Crunchyroll or Funimation. Because it\u2019s less of a financial risk, we get more sports series, and the genre has a chance to find more viewers. As a piece of purely anecdotal evidence, I\u2019ve never bought a physical release of a sports anime, but I\u2019ve gotten hooked on several after watching an episode or two online.<\/p>\n

\"PingPongAnime\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking of watching things online, GO WATCH\u00a0<\/em>PING PONG. Do it now.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not entirely surprising that the sports genre is starting to find a foothold in the US. Much of the over-the-top, special-technique-shouting, underdog-versus-champ appeal of shonen action shows is on full display, but with one unexpected advantage: believability. It seems absurd to bring up realism when talking about genres where characters have near-superhuman abilities, but it\u2019s actually quite important when it comes to holding an audience\u2019s interest.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re willing to take a lot of things at face value when it comes to characters\u2019 unique abilities. We accept that Onoda can keep up with experienced bicycle racers for the same reason we accept that Goku gets stronger when he yells a lot and turns his hair yellow: we like thinking about what it would be like to have special powers of our own. Where realism comes into play is in how the characters use those abilities, particularly in how they deal with their enemies. It\u2019s impossible to count the number of time an action anime hero has let the bad guy live to return in another story arc, all while the audience screams, \u201cJust SHOOT the bastard!\u201d Because some villains are too good to get rid of, writers have to jump through all kinds of ridiculous hoops to stop the protagonist from killing them, even when that\u2019s what any rational person would do.<\/p>\n

\"yowapeda\"<\/a><\/p>\n

If you watched\u00a0<\/em>Yowapeda, you now have the “Love Hime” song stuck in your head. You’re welcome.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sports anime avoids this classic problem by way of its very nature. Unless you\u2019re making a series about gladiators or bullfighters, sports are an inherently non-lethal form of conflict. It makes sense for a defeated rival to come back for a rematch because that\u2019s how sports work in real life. As a result, the viewer doesn\u2019t have to hold back the obvious questions that come up when the good giant robot pilot fails to finish off the bad giant robot pilot. Instead, we can just sit back and enjoy the clashes between the heroes, their rivals, and their mutual archenemies. This isn\u2019t to say that sports series are inherently better at storytelling than their action counterparts, simply that they have one less hurdle to clear. In a world of production deadlines that offer limited time for revising a script, that\u2019s certainly a significant advantage.<\/p>\n

I doubt sports anime will ever truly take off in the US, if only because it\u2019s forced to compete with the appeal of watching real teams on live television. Nevertheless, it\u2019s a genre filled with exciting and addicting shows, and the constant search for new source material has given some otherwise obscure sports a chance to shine. Now if only I could talk Japan into making a series about Formula One racing\u2026<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Kawaii Overthink is written by Paul Jensen. You can follow his ramblings about anime and manga on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>. Check back every Wednesday for new articles.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s a good time for sports anime. Yowamushi Pedal is set to return in the fall after an initial 38-episode run, while volleyball series Haikyu!! is finally kicking off its first big tournament story arc. The Free! juggernaut continues to roll onward, drawing in a variety of fans in its target demographic and beyond. The [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1313"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1316,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1313\/revisions\/1316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}