Anime Meta-Review
Battle Athletes Victory
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Title Info
- seen: 1-26 of 26
- type: TV
- grade: watchable
- genre: sport
- made: unknown
- Review created: A while ago, i'll revise it eventually.
- mod: none
This TV series was produced after the OAV and effectively goes back and tells a longer version of the same story, albeit with some important differences. It starts earlier in time than the OAV, so we get to see Akari as she attempts to reach university satellite, although her chances look poor as she is the worst athlete and, more or less, emotionally crippled. As she deals with a variety of characters, some new and some from the OAV, she discovers herself as a person, an athlete, and someone holding the potential to equal her legendary mother. Some of the character interaction is very well done with some very memorable, albeit sad and weepy, moments which really do say some interesting things about character.
Unfortunately there are also many flaws, some of the sports (especially the opening) are stupid beyond words, the authors show an immense disregard for physics in general and as a whole the writing is generally less subtle. In addition we have some politically incorrect racial stereotypes (Tanya and Ling-pha) and must cope with a strong focus on Akari, reducing some characters (especially Kris) to little more than charicatures of their OAV versions. Finally, and perhaps only an issue to me, I would have enjoyed the quest more if Akari was not able to rely on her freakish genetic inheritance to snatch an improbable victory at the last moment. Still, despite some design flaws this title boasts good animation, interesting characters with some very well brought out interaction and character exploration and the classic anime tale of a young girl overcoming her weaknesses and finding her strengths.
A word of warning however, the series builds up to a good conclusion at episode 22, at the same point and having a similar feel to the OAV conclusion before going completely insane. The remaining episodes are completely over the top in which what could be a serious story is played for laughs complete with slapstick humor, silly physics and a complete overturning of the feel acheived to that point.
Words by Andrew Shelton, Web by Ticti, Last Compile: Wed Aug 5 12:39:15 WST 2009