What comes to mind when you think of “sports” anime?
I suppose all of us are used to shounen sports anime, where the characters are obsessed with their sport and team, and will break all boundaries to reach for excellence. (Or am I speaking for myself, being a Haikyuu otaku?) Amid all our good ol’ shounen sports, do you sometimes wish for a breath of fresh air that would let you feel just the life of the sportspeople? Here I am with a review for just that kind of anime. Minasan, allow me to introduce Taisou Zamurai, the samurai gymnast.
Forgive me if I sound overenthusiastic about this show. I am writing this while listening to the show’s OST which is simply brilliant. Ah, before this review gets all over the place, I’ll begin properly.
Info Stuff?
Taisou Zamurai is an original anime by MAPPA. Aired in Winter 2020, it was a short 11-episode anime.
The Plot (this time written by yours truly instead of copied off MAL :)
The anime is set in the years 2002 and 2003. The story revolves around Aragaki Jotarou, the samurai who once shook up Japan’s gymnastics industry, who is approaching his midlife and gradually deemed old for being a gymnast. After losing his wife, Jotarou was mentally weakened, and he is also worried about his little daughter, Rei. But then the samurai meets a ninja, a chance encounter that revs up not just the Aragaki household but also all of Ikebukuro! This is not a sports anime with young sportspeople who strive for their growth, but about a mature sportsman who strives to reach new heights. Now, how will our samurai make his comeback?
Characters You Will Love
What I loved most about this anime was that despite being short, it focused on all the characters, even the very minor ones, and showed their contribution to the life of others around them, making the story beautiful. This is apparent from the very first episode and got me hooked from the get go.
Firstly, of course, we have Aragaki Joutaou. He is a little oblivious and we get to see that slowly throughout the show. You will think, “ah, this Joutarou. Look at Joutarou being a Joutarou!” (Are you thinking about Jojo? No. Don’t.)
Next, we have the Aragaki Rei, Jo’s angel of a daughter. We see this 10-year-old being such a great human being and such a great daughter! And it is thanks to her that we get more focus on Joutarou’s home life- how Joutarou is as a dad- which we seldom get in other sports anime.
We have the ninja Leo, whose hiding no jutsu will shock you. The show takes its time to build this character. But I personally feel that his contribution to others was more prominent than others’ contribution to him.
Alongside, we have Joutarou’s coach Amakusa-san, who tries his best to get some love from his daughter to no avail. Joutarou gets a rival gymnast to shock him back into focus: the bandana prince, Minamino Tetsuo. He is a strong character with some gap moe and we might have gotten some more focus on him if the anime had just one more episode. Still, even though we don’t get details, the symbolisms are high (not just for him, but for the others as well) and you will get an idea about the deeper stories behind the scenes. Joutarou’s mother-in-law is a fabulous grandma who we all want but don’t deserve. Then there is Brittney the acupuncturist, Joutarou’s colleague Takizawa, Ayu the gyaru, and BigBird who is strangely intelligent. You don’t wanna miss him!
Mappa, Pump Up The Volume!
Background music is probably one of the very crucial elements in anime that builds up the mood and Mappa did well in this case. Especially, the music during performances pumps you up and excited. You can feel the ground shaking as the gymnasts do their run-up.
The opening theme is fantabulous (according to me ofc). It is an adaption of Shanghai Honey by Orange Range. While the song itself might not be to everyone’s taste, Mappa made it great again by having the voice actors sing it: Daisuke Namikawa (Aragaki Joutarou), Kensho Ono (Leo the ninja), and Yuki Kaji (Minamino Tetsuo).
The ending theme is Yume Ja Nai by Hatena. The song features cutey putey Leo-kun. It will calm you and gently sway to the beat (unless you’re a Gintama fan and hearing “Yume ja nai” makes you scream “YUME JANAI KATSURA DA”.)
Anime~tion
Of course, the animation is super duper important especially for a sports anime that involves maintaining the postures. This is where Mappa loses some points. The art is great and the animation is also relatively smooth throughout the series. They used CGI in the gymnastic scenes (duh) and the characters end up looking a little … plastic from time to time. Especially, the body proportions looked a biiiiit wrong to me during the performances, especially in the initial episodes. One of my friends didn’t mind it at all while another said, “eh, plastic gymnasts.” But here, we can see the growth of Mappa artists and animators as they get better with the show! I still wouldn’t give them a full score, though.
First Impression vs Last Impression
I am not exaggerating when I say I LOVED THE SHOW FROM THE VERY BEGINNING. The bond between Joutarou and Rei, seeing Rei playing with Leo, and watching as Joutarou strive to go back to his full glory was truly, truly enjoyable to me. There are a couple of episodes where we see little gymnastics (can you imagine a sports anime with main episodes without any of the sport stuff??) but those were the ones that didn’t let me stop smiling throughout the duration.
When I went back to check my episodic reactions on the anime thread in this forum, I saw that after episode 8, I had declared this anime to be one of my all-time favorites. And that still stands true today. However, there are some parts near the ending that I did not like as much. things felt a bit rush to me personally, and the plot tension came and went too suddenly. So though I wanted to give this show a stunning 10/10 near the beginning, after the last episode, I give it 8.88/10. You see, even though there are some parts I did not like, the parts that I DID like were really great.
That is all from me folks. I hope you find this review to your liking and even better, I hope you end up watching this show someday, sooner or later.
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