I’ve never seen an Anime as weird as this one before, especially one that is classed under the sports genre. If you guys didn’t know, Keijo is an ecchi, sports anime revolving around a girls-only fighting sport wherein the participants can only use their boobs and butts to knock each other into a pool.
When I first heard that this kind of Anime was airing, I thought to myself “You got to be joking, right?”. Low and behold, it was not a joke, it was all legit. I thing that blew me away was the fact that I thought it was a really entertaining Anime as a whole.
Oddly enough, if this catches your attention and you feel like you should give it a watch, then you’re in for more than you bargained for and here’s why.
WARNING: Just so everyone knows, Keijo can get really inappropriate really fast. So if you want to watch it, watch alone probably with earbuds on.
I actually didn’t watch this when it released, I waited until the show finished airing when I finally got around to watching it, this was around Christmas of last year when I went on an Anime watching spree.
Just to give a little backstory, this is what Keijo is about:
The Anime follows 18-year-old Nozomi Kaminashi, a recent high school graduate who begins competing in the sport to support her poor family. Much like another Xebec-produced show, Zoids, Keijo is one big competition, with battles happening each episode for the sake of a competitive sport. It is a very faithful adaptation of the 2013 manga, which is something any anime fan can appreciate.
Story 7/10:
The actual story is incredibly simple. Nozomi and her friend Miyata enroll in Setouchi Keijo Training School, compete in the sport, meet new friends and rivals along the way, and grow. Think of it like college football, if you will. This is arguably the weakest part of the show. The enjoyment comes from character development, the dynamics between said characters, and their interactions rather than storytelling.
Art 7.5/10:
Let me start by saying the body designs are really well-done. One issue I’ve taken with all-girl shows in the past is their body types because they are usually disproportionate.
Keijo offers something different. They’re drawn in a sharp, thickly outlined style. However, the art especially shines during the battle scenes. The show demonstrates an incredibly good understanding of anatomy and doesn’t exaggerate itself too much. If we’re talking about the moves they perform, Keijo doesn’t know the meaning of “exaggerated” that’s for sure.
Sound 8/10:
No complaints here. The opening theme, DREAMxSCRAMBLE, became an instant favorite, which I even listened to in public a few times. It embodies the positive, passionate tone the show exudes. Then you have the end theme, Fantas/Hip Girlfriends, another light positive tune that sings about growing stronger together, set to a scene of the girls retrieving swimsuits. It’s even performed by the Japanese cast of the show itself! The rest of the background music fits the mood, especially the more action-oriented themes,
Character 7.5/10:
There’s a “main” cast of eight characters, and believe me when I say every last one of them gets their chance to shine, and even then some girls outside of that bunch get some great moments. Outside of the battles that take place in the Anime, character interactions are fun to watch and can range from heartwarming to oftentimes downright hilarious. Just about every character comes off as three-dimensional and fleshed out, as much as they could be in twelve episodes – which is really well done on the studio’s behalf.
Overall though, this Anime exceeded my expectations for the Anime, granted that I did come in with extremely low expectations to start off with.
– OOCentral
Twitter: @OOCentral
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