Cheerleading?
Boys?
Cute guys doing sports?
Sign me the hell in.
Meet Haru, a really supportive brother, cheering for his sister during her Judo match. Haru is in the judo club himself and is born into a family of Judo specialists so he has to live up to their expectations. However, he doesn’t seem to enjoy this sport as much as he should. He thinks he will never be as cool as his sister and furthermore, he is wondering if he got into the his University Judo club not because of his talent but because he is the son of the Banjou Dojo, his family dojo. He is quite shy with strangers and seems to be better at supporting than playing.
We learn that Haru hurt his shoulder not so long ago and thus he can’t really do Judo for a little while. I guess this injury was the occasion for him to rethink a part of his life and to determine if he really cared about Judo or not. He also admits he planned to use this injury as an excuse to quit. Of course, the real reason isn’t because he hurt himself but mainly because he has no real affinity with this sport.
Things change when his childhood friend Kazu and also member of that damn Judo Club decides to quit. He explains that wanted to quit at the same as Haru since like him, he doesn’t really care about Judo. Furthermore, he was in the club because Haru was in it. Since they’ve been together all their life I guess he wants to support his friend and help him to find his way. That’s one of the reason why he decided to create the cheerleading Club. The other reason is because his dead parents were related to that sport. His mom was a cheerleader and his father the coach of her cheerleading team. So maybe by trying out his parents’ passion he’s hoping to know them better. Since his parents died when he was young and the only family he has left is his ill grandmother he must feel a bit lost and need some sort compensation?
So yeah, now Kazu tries to convince Haru to be a part of his “male only” Cheerleading club and at the same time, to recruit the first members. That’s where crazy Megane-kun appears, motivated as hell to join because he basically wants to experience something new and unusual.
In order to convince Haru who is still reluctant to join, they go see a match, where a team of cheerleaders are practicing. Haru is impressed but like I thought, he’s afraid of heights, that’s why even if he’d like to, he’s afraid to join since he’ll have to jump in the air and shit. He lacks the opportunity to tell his friend and Megane-kun, mostly because the latter speaks all the time and is super pumped for this. At the practice session they also meet with a random a dude from the cheerleading team who clearly has no chill and who’s like “Listen losers, you can’t be a cheerleader just like that! You need to practice and shit, you’ll never be able to make it cuz you suck. And only guys in the team? Dude, that’s so gay, and I know what I’m talking about”. Thanks random dude for this helpful intervention, because you’ve been super relevant your name will be changed to Hairband-kun.
Haru gets pissed off by Hairband-kun’s bullshit and end up agreeing to join his friend’s Cheerleading Team. From now on, their objective is to train and to recruit more members!
Charibo’s First Impressions
As expected, the series is heading more towards the “slice of life” genre than actual sports which is fine by me. Everything in this episode reminds me of Shounen Hollywood, a series who focused more on the actual “slice of life” aspect rather than on the idol genre even if labelled under it. Many people thought it was cringe worthy, I say it was worth of my time. In my opinion it gave a fresh new look on the idol industry and I think we need more shows like that, to demystify things, like Idols.
But back to business, I found this episode quite relaxing and somehow cute. Like I said to me this series is going to focus more on character development and friendship between dudes than on actual sports. However, I find the tiny bits of cheer leading we saw in that episode really pleasing. Also, since this episode introduced Hairband-kun, the dick from another Cheerleading team, maybe we’ll get some competition between the two teams. At least, I hope so.
I liked the alchemy between the two main protagonists, you can tell they are really good friends and there’s nothing too gay between them… If I can phrase it like that. There’s nothing that makes me want to ship them as a couple let’s say. The rest of the characters seems promising too, I’m already in love with that guy who has no fashion sense, I think we have a lot of things in common. I also saw some guy with an afro, a chubby guy and another one with a star tattoo so I’m looking forward to meet all of them.
The Opening is good and my favorite moments are of course the cheerleading parts with all those bright colors, sparkles and specials effects that I fail to describe. I really, really love those parts, same in the actual episode when some Cheerleading occurs. The moments when the color palet changes and when actual cheerleading happens are fantastic.
The OST was surprisingly good as well. Man, I did not expected that, I want more now! As for the animation is a bit off sometimes but nothing too horrible overall. I like the Art style and character design though. It has a little realistic touch to it which is an asset in my opinion.
The comedy is a bit odd but it strangely works on me, maybe because I have a terrible sense of humor… The comedy in the episode almost only relied on Megane-kun being weird by doing weird things and Haru being slightly pissed off while blushing at the same time. I already love both of them.
Judging by the nice Shower scene we got, I guess there is going to be some fan service for girls but heh! WHO CARES?! Just a little bit of fan service is fine sometimes.
Nice back muscles Haru by the way… I see that Judo wasn’t totally useless after all… ahaha…
Overall this was a decent first episode. I think this is going to be a nice little relaxing series, I’m not expecting anything more to be totally honest. With low expectations you have less chances to be disappointed right? That’s what Kabaneri told me last season.
Watching? Yup
Covering? Yes again
I also liked it quite a bit. It was slower than I was used to…or rather expecting…most sports shows do have more speed in their pacing. Then again, this IS just the beginning. Regardless, it doesn’t bother me that much. I love Megane-kun XD Idk why but he just clicks with me XD “Toe touch! Toe touch!”
Definitely looking forward to the rest of the cast and what this series will bring to the table by the end of its run~
I doubt the pacing will ever change, or maybe just a bit when the team will be complete :/ But that doesn’t bother me at all, to me this is more slice of life than an actual sports anime like Daiya no Ace, Haikyuu or Slam Dunk 🙂
The synopsis does say: “The story revolves around the “slightly odd and cute” members of a cheerleading squad at a men’s university” so I guess Megane-kun is just the begging! I hope the rest of the cast is as weird but yet as adorable as him. Also, damn, he’s rocking that body suit, that’s a perfect fit x)
True, I was just being a little hopefully. I mentioned a speed increase because while watching, it hit me that the pace was a bit slower than Flying Witch. I had no problem with Flying Witch so it was strange to nitpick the speed of Cheer Danshi o.o But even a speed increase of 0.5 will make me happy even if it’s just for a bit.
I was already glimpsing through the ending to see who would be the next to take my interest when they eventually show up. So far it’s the delinquents and a few others. I really want to know their reasons for joining. Something new and unusual is one thing but would that be a delinquent’s excuse too?…
The public practice was the best part! His legs stood out quite a bit XD
Maybe the delinquents are joining with the hopes of getting some grills to like them? XD
Or maybe they are secret cheerleading dorks who finally had enough courage to join and do what they’ve been dreaming of, I don’t really know :/ BUT I WANT TO KNOW!
It’s adorable!! The animation seems a little mediocre, but aside from that, I thought it was a pretty charming first episode. 😀