Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? | First Impressions

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Overall, I’d say the first impressions were alright. I didn’t hate Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? , in fact I quite liked the first few episodes. The one thing that makes Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? stand out above all other anime is that each episode is educational and informative. At it’s core, Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? is an anime focusing on exercise.

During a regular after-school grub crawl, gluttonous high schooler Hibiki Sakura is confronted about her ever-expanding waistline by her best friend, Ayaka Uehara. With her attempts at solitary exercise failing miserably, Hibiki decides to join the newly opened Silverman Gym. At her orientation, Hibiki runs into student council president and school idol Akemi Souryuuin.

However, it soon turns out that Hibiki is in for a lot more than she bargained for. Not only is Silverman Gym full of world-renowned bodybuilders and athletes, but to make matters worse, Akemi turns out to be a total muscle fetishist! Grossed out by the scene unfolding before her eyes, Hibiki begins to leave, only to be stopped by trainer Naruzou Machio. Completely enthralled with her newfound Prince Charming, Hibiki signs up as a gym member. Now, as a result of her spur-of-the-moment decision, Hibiki must adapt to her new lifestyle.

This anime has long been on my ‘on-hold’ list which is basically a list of anime I will get around to watching one day. So I’ve always had it on my radar. It was just a matter of getting around to watch it and it sure took a while. Part of the reason why it took a long time was because, first and foremost, life. Secondly, it wasn’t too high up there on my list of anime to watch. Being completely honest, while it was an anime I was eyeing for a long time, it also didn’t really scream to me as a ‘must watch’, there wasn’t really anything that stood out to me. As a matter of fact, I thought the feature image of the anime looked pretty cool and that’s why I decided to add it to my list.

Now that I’ve cleared the air on that. I would like to briefly mention what I liked from the episodes I’ve seen thus far. As I am now four episodes in, something I like about Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? is that the show is very educational (as I’ve mention previously). There are not many anime that are educational and that can be applied in real world instances. There are only a select few that are applicable in that context and Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? is one of those anime. Each episode so far has covered a new workout machine and a new exercise. Each episode has also covered why a particular exercise is good you and the do’s and dont’s when it comes to it. There have also been instances where the characters would provide facts on whatever topic they were on at the time. Like for instance in episode four, Akemi talks about dieting and give reason supported by factual information as to why a proper diet is good for you etc.

When you pack each episode with educational information, sometimes it’s hard to pay attention. As someone who doesn’t receive lectures on topics all too well. I found this to be very hard for myself, because to me while I am watching an anime I’m also sitting down listening to someone speak to me about how to exercise properly etc. That alone is enough to make my mind wonder, and this is where I give Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? major props because they try to make it entertaining. They have the overly buff teacher in Machio, whose clothes literally rip off whenever he flexes, you have Akemi who has a fetish for muscles and then you have Hibiki who is like us. A ordinary person who wants to get fit the easiest way possible, only to find out that’s very hard.

We follow her journey as Hibiki tries to become fit while still keeping her habits. I think she is someone everyone can relate to because her reactions to situations are exactly how we’d react to them. She also believes in ‘exercise myths’ and ‘dietary myths’ like we do because we do not know better. In that regard, this anime deserves a lot of praise because they have the task of turning something very educational in nature into something entertaining to a wider audience.

Now let me mention something that I do not personally like. Since it is an educational anime, every episode has felt very segmented and that’s something I don’t like. I enjoy episodes more if they flow into each other without it feeling very choppy. Unfortunately every episode thus far has felt very choppy. We have two educational sequences, one with Machio and the other with Akemi. Machio’s segment is in the first half of the episode while Akemi’s is in the second half. How do you connect these two segments together? You just fill it in with Hibiki reacting to something in a funny way, or her experiencing something she hasn’t before; and to be completely honest that ‘filler’ inbetween the two educational segments isn’t that good. Since it hasn’t changed four episodes in, I do not think it’ll change throughout the course of the anime which to me is a bummer but it is, what it is.

Overall, my first impressions were good. Could it have been better? Yeah. Could it have been a lot worse? Definitely. Which is why I am glad that from what I saw, the anime itself is pretty decent.