Fall 2024 Anime: “Blue Box”

Synopsis

Do these sports-crossed lovers have a chance?

Taiki Inomata loves badminton, but he has a long way to go before he can reach nationals. When Taiki sees upperclassman Chinatsu Kano practicing her heart out on the girls’ basketball team, he falls for her hard. After an unexpected turn of events brings the two closer together, sports might not be the first thing on their minds anymore!

(Source: TMS Anime)

Comments

Alif Naufal H. (The Indonesian Anime Times)

If you’re wondering if you should watch Blue Box, let me give you an answer right here and now: If you like a really cute high school romance with a healthy dose of angst here and there, you should. If you like the sports genre in general, you should. Even better if you like both of those, as Blue Box is a really nice mixture of romance and sports, that I’m sure you’ll have a good time with.

Sadly, as someone who reads the manga, its anime adaptation left me with a mixed feeling overall. It looks really good, but a lot of times I feel like this adaptation plays too safe. The anime follows the manga faithfully with a lot of shots that look like a 1:1 redraw of the manga panels. You can argue that this is as faithful as an adaptation can get and that it’s a good thing, but I wish more adaptations could take liberties with its source material as Bocchi the Rock! did, and elevate it further.

While sparse, I don’t really like the adaptation’s usage of 3D models for its backgrounds too. It looks way too jarring, especially in the first episode. This is more of a nitpick, but this clip of the camera moving away from the character irks me especially as the two-dimensional character model doesn’t blend well with its 3D environments.

It’s not all bad though. I like the character designs drawn by Miho Tanino for this anime, it looks really clean; I especially like the shine on the characters’ hair. The performances delivered by the voice actors elevated the experience too; I like the casting choice of Reina Ueda and Akari Kitou as Chinatsu Kano and Hina Chouno respectively, they sound perfectly like I imagined how they would talk from reading the manga. The opening animation is also really stunning to look at, and it might be the best opening this season for me. Despite my grievances, the anime looks fine in general… stunning, even. I just wish it took a more creative approach with its overall direction.

Facts and Figures

Screenshots and Trailer

The Indonesian Anime Times