Ro-Kyu-Bu! – anime review

After the Ikoku Meiro no Croisée and Kaitou Tenshi Twin Angel review todays review is about another show I’ve watched in the anime summerson of 2011, Ro-Kyu-Bu.

This 12 episode long anime was produced by Project No.9 and Studio Blanc, the story centers around Subaru and the members of the girl basketball club, Subaru loves lolis, haha ok I actually lied, he loves basketball, he has entered the basketball club of Nanashiba High School, unfortunately the club got suspended shortly after it started, the coach was fired, because of personal misbehavior.

[singlepic id=1424 w=320 h=240 float=none] [singlepic id=1423 w=320 h=240 float=none] His aunt who is a teacher at an elementary school and the advisor of the girl basketball team asks him, if he could be the coach of this basketball club. At first he isn’t very interested to train small girls, but he agrees to be the coach for three days, after he learned from his aunt, that the girl basketball club will be dispended In case the girls loose the upcoming match against the boy basketball club, he agrees to train the girls a few days more so that they will be able to win.

The team consists of Maho, Tomoka, Hina, Saki and Airi, in the first place only Tomoka is serious about basketball and the others just joined beause they are friends of Tomoka. Later they show some talent and are having fun with basketball and also grow together as team. Subaru tries to be a good coach and also helps the girls with overcoming their personal problems.

[singlepic id=1426 w=320 h=240 float=none] [singlepic id=1427 w=320 h=240 float=none] Because of his trainer job at an elementary school Subaru gets accused of being a lolicon and gets tasteless comments, even from his good friends, but he doesn’t swing that way. After the first game the show is more about comedy and awkward fanservice situations than basketball.

[singlepic id=1425 w=320 h=240 float=none] [singlepic id=1428 w=320 h=240 float=none] The show gets interesting again when his childhood friend Aoi, who has feelings for him learns about Subaru’s coaching job, at first she is damn jealous because she thinks that he is more interested in the girls than in her and that they are her love rivals. When she realized how important basketball and Subaru are for the girls, she does something in spite of herself and helps with the training, even though she still discharges scathing remarks torwards Subaru.

The character driven episodes, the slightly romantic vibes between Subaru and Tomoka and also the comedy are entertaining parts of Ro-Kyu-Bu, but I was more interested in the basketball part.
In the last quarter the show concentrates on its strong points again, basketball and the teamplay.

[singlepic id=1422 w=320 h=240 float=none] [singlepic id=1429 w=320 h=240 float=none] The animation style of Ro-Kyu-Bu is average, it’s bright and vivid, overall nothing bad and nothing special, there are decent looking backgrounds, decent looking animations and the characterdesign is good as well, even though the heads of the female characters are really big.

Overall it was a good show with cute characters, about basketball. friendship and teamplay with a few minor flaws here and there, what bothered me a bit was the sometimes awkward fanservice, playing basketball in swimsuits, seriously ^^ and the lolicon hints weren’t really necessary.

thx for reading see you tomorrow with the fourth anime review from summerson 2011.