It's been a while since I watched a sports anime with beautiful and fluid movements. I guess the last one I watched was Bakuten which was the same as the anime I'm going to talk about today, an anime about gymnastics. Bakuten was a team gymnastics sport, though. Before that, I also watched a team figure skating anime called Skate-Leading Stars which was also really pleasing to the eyes.
Now, I'm going to share an individual gymnastics anime which isn't just exciting, but also really heartwarming. It's called TAISO ZAMURAI.
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Following the death of his wife, the Olympics silver medalist Joe Aragaki suffered a shoulder injury. For the past five years, he's been training so hard to get back on track in his career but to no avail. His coach then advised him to retire from the scene.
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Joe has a very supportive 9-year-old daughter named Rei. She loves watching her father do gymnastics and has been very understanding of him. Because of that, Joe found it hard to tell her about his retirement.
He brought her to Edo Wonderland (a ninja village) since it's her favorite. He planned to break the news to her, but an incident happened which changed everything.
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They met a peculiar ninja who later followed them home and ended up living with them. Whenever Joe attempted to tell Rei of his retirement, the eccentric Leo interrupts him.
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Leo ignited Joe's passion to face gymnastics again. So when he had his press conference regarding his retirement, he shocked Japan with his announcement of not retiring.
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WIth the help and support of people around him, Joe is ready to face gymnastics again. He's back to prove that this is where he truly belongs.
Let me share the trailer of the anime below...
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It was so inspiring to watch... imagine being on top once and failing so hard that you feel that nothing would ever change. You're even advised to give up on one thing you really love and enjoy. But then, for some odd reasons, you found a glimpse of hope and decided to go against all odds to try again.
The anime was so heartwarming. It didn't only focused on the sport per se, but also on how the athletes struggle and persevere amidst everything.
It's also a great anime about family, love and friendship. Leo's relationship with the Aragaki family melts my heart.
The storyline itself is already great... plus the animation by MAPPA brought the already amazing story to life... making it so much better.
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All the characters introduced in the anime had their unique personalities which can be very relatable... even Big Bird (their pet) played a vital role in the story. Some of my faves apart from the three main characters (Joe, Rei and Leo) are Tacky (another gymnast under Joe's coach), Ayu (Gyaru from Rei's grandma's karaoke bar), Kitty (a gymnast from China), Britney (the bald and beautiful acupuncturist) and Mari (Rei's cool grandma). Ugh~ they're just so fun and amazing characters that I'd love to see more of them. I want side stories so bad... hahaha
I just hope that there were more screen time for the other gymnasts. The anime mostly focused on the main character and the main rival, but since it's an individual sport it does make sense. Still, I wanted to see more of the others' performances as well (just like in Yuri On Ice).
All in all, it was a great watch. I should let my mom watch this soon. She'd enjoy this for sure. :) Of course, I'd watch it with her when she does. haha
I'll end this post here. Thanks for reading and see you around! (^^,)/