Ok, as promised here's the entry featuring all the recent awesome sports anime I've watched.

It's not a secret that I've been a sucker for sports anime since .... forever! It goes back to the 80s and 90s when I was into "Attack No. 1" (created in the 60s!!!!) or "Captain Tsubasa".
Much later a lot of sports anime came out and I also watched some older ones that I've not yet seen such as: Hungry Heart Wild Striker (soccer), Hajime no Ippo (boxing), Hikaru no Go (Japanese board game like chess), Ookiku Furikabutte (baseball), The Prince of Tennis, Whistle (soccer), Aoki Densetsu Shoot (soccer), Ganbare Kickers (soccer) - to name just a few.
There are also those that I've never finished, but still intend to in the distant future such as Slam Dunk (basketball) or Touch (baseball).

I haven't watched any sport series in ages, but I stumbled upon "Yowamushi Pedal" by coincidence recently and IMMEDIATELY feel in love with it. I dropped everything else I was watching cuz THIS was the most interesting series at that moment.
And after I was done, I needed MORE ..... and so I researched to find some more recent sport series that are popular.
And now I'll show you what I watched recently - not in the order of popularity but in the order I actually watched them. ^__^;; ....


1. Yowamushi Pedal (弱虫ペダル)

"Yowamushi" is used to describe a weakling, someone who's always scared. "Pedal" obviously refers to a bicycle.
Let me tell you right from the start, there is no 'yowamushi' in this series, although I think they're referring to the underdog and main character: Sakamichi Onoda

I was immediately hooked after watching the first episode.
We have our typical underdog. He's short, wears glasses and is an otaku. He finally enters high school hoping to create an anime club as he couldn't do so in junior high.
He always comes to school on his "mamachari" (mommy bike) - which is a bicycle mainly used by Japanese mothers (or me XD ...). Often there are no gears and it always has at least one basket attached.



The climbers of Team Sohoku (Chiba) and Team Hakone (Kanagawa). The tiny one with the glasses is Sakamichi. XD
By the way, he's a climber and his name is Sakamichi and he loves steep climbs. Go figure! XD

Sakamichi always rides to Akihabara with his bicycle. Should I mention that he lives in Chiba? XD ....
Reason being that he wants to save the money for the train and instead spend it in Akiba. ;)

Well, his new school happens to have a road racing club. The school is on a steep hill.
One day another 1st year student who's about to join the road racing club sees Sakamichi as he is EASILY climbing the steep hill on his 'mamachari' bicycle.

Well, to cut a long story short. Sakamichi ends up as a member of the road racing club.



I'm a huge fan of Naruko (the one with the red-ish hair) as he speaks Kansai-ben - but that's not the only reason! ;)

I don't want to spoil you here, so let me just tell you that their school team takes part in the Inter-High (a race in summer where other high schools take part as well).
The race takes place in last year's winners' hometown which is Hakone.
For the travel baka in me that was awesome! They're actually cycling in Hakone and along the 5 Fuji lakes!!! AAAHH!!!

I can't even describe well why I love the series so much, but it manages to get tears into my eyes with almost every single episode!
I'd say it's a typical sport series with everything you usually get with those: team spirit, friendship, bromance, never giving up, sport injuries etc.

The characters are EXTREMELY lovable and I kind of felt like I was watching Prince of Tennis.
There are other teams as well that you might fall in love with.

Actually ..... I might have fallen for Team Hakone XD .....
In the end I didn't know which team I should cheer for anymore.



I'm a HUGE Team Hakone fan. I especially love Manami, Toudou and Araktai!!! XD
Arakita is awesome ... I'm currently stalking his voice actor anyways ... never mind! XD




Team Hakone in a Family Restaurant. XDDD




I love the jerseys of Team Fushimi (Kyoto) although the team also has the weirdest and most annoying character EVER: Midosuji



My favorite opening (1st season, 2nd opening) - to give you an impression of the animation - I love the song!

One extremely funny fact is that Sakamichi still tries to get his teammates into anime. XD
With Imaizumi (another 1st year) it even seems to work a bit.
The best thing ever is the anime song he's singing whenever he's chasing other people on a steep hill. And even better when he makes one of his teammates sing along! XD BEST SCENE EVER!!! 姫は姫なの！♪XDDDDD

WATCH IT! You won't regret it!
The 2nd season just ended a few days ago - right after the Hakone Inter-High race. There's also a manga with currently 39(!) volumes and it's still ongoing.
I hope there will be a 3rd season soon as I usually try to avoid reading the manga of a sports anime. I need to SEE the action animated. Sorry. ^^;;;;; ...
There's only one exception ... when I REALLY can't take it and NEED to know what's going to happen next .... and thus far that only happened with Chihayafuru. XD



2. Free!

After I was done with Yowamushi I was craving for more!
So, I was looking and asking around and two titles kept popping up again and again. One of them was "Free!".
Just looking at some pictures had me convinced that it would be worth a try - if only for all the eye candy!!! XD



The story is not too complicated, the series comes in two seasons that are completed with a rather satisfying end.
So, you don't have to worry about spending too much time on it in case you don't like it.

The series is about several boys who knew each other since elementary school when they all went to the same swimming club.
One of the boys left after primary school and went to Australia.

Fast forward, the boys are now in high school. They're not swimming anymore.
The funny thing about all the boys is that they all have girls' names: Haruka, Nagisa, Makoto etc.



Haruka (or Haru) is the most talented among them, but he's also very .... strange and extremely quiet.
He spends his mornings in the bathtub with his swimming shorts on. He pretty much undresses whenever he sees water (even if it's just a tiny aquarium). It's hilarious.

What makes the series interesting, though, is the relationship between all the boys and the "lost boy" who went to Australia.
Especially the relationship between Haruka and Rin (the lost boy) is lovely. And, oh, so much bromance!!!



Rin finally is back in Japan but he's different from his childhood days.
The other boys finally gather and create a swimming club at their school, Rin's little sister being their manager.
Rin's their rival now.

There's really not much to say about this series or about the plot.
The characters are all lovable, there's a looooooooooooooooooooot of bromance and male friendship going on and some funny and cute episodes, so you can't really go wrong with this series.



I liked it, but it couldn't compete with Yowamushi in my eyes!
Maybe it's also because I'm not too much into short series, I don't know.



It goes without saying that I'm TOTALLY into Rin ..... (although it took a while) ... and yes, yes, of course it's Mamoru Miyano's fault yet again. He's my damn favorite voice actor (besides Junichi Suwabe) at the moment and he's following me around like crazy! (Light - Death Note, Ling Yao - FMA, Taichi - Chihayafuru ETC.!!! HELP!!! ..)

I like Haru, but he's just so quiet and nobody ever knows what he's thinking. For some reason I'm almost ALWAYS into the "loud" characters who are a bit rowdy, violent or just speak up their mind like there's no tomorrow (= the extreme opposite of Haruka XD ...)
Anyway, I'm TOTALLY shipping Rin x Haru ... best "bromance" EVER! (*___*) 'faints*



Instead of going with an opening or a trailer, I thought this might work. You get all the smexyness and this is SO HILARIOUS that you will enjoy it even if you have ZERO interest in watching the actual series! XD



3. Haikyuu!! (ハイキュー!!)

The other title that kept popping up when I was researching was "Haikyuu!". For me the one and only volleyball series will always be "Attack No. 1", but as this was about women's volleyball, I kind of was interested to see a NEW and MALE version.
And I didn't regret it. Haikyuu is quite awesome indeed!
Unfortunately there's only one season thus far, so as soon as the series becomes interesting / exciting it ends again ....
Yes, there's the manga as well, but I can wait for a second season and considering how POPULAR it is, there's more to come very soon.



I think what makes this series so popular is without a doubt the Hinata x Kageyama combination.
It's hard to describe, you got to see it. It's not exactly something completely new. I have the feeling that I've seen such a setup several times already, but ... for some reason it really works out well and you just GOTTA LOVE THOSE TWO!!!



It's too early to say much about the other characters. The first anime season is really short, so there's still a lot to happen from now on.
We already got to know some other players from different high school volleyball teams and there are some interesting ones among them.
The series looks very promising and I can't wait to see some more Hinata x Kageyama action.



Ok, ok ... I'll try to explain it at least a bit.
Hinata is the lovable redhead. He loves volleyball, but there was no club in his middle school, so he always had to play alone or had his friends from other clubs join him to practice at least a bit. He even sometimes joined the practice of the female volleyball team.
Just ONCE he wanted to be in an official tournament, so he asked his classmates to create a team just for this one tournament day.
He was facing Kageyama's team. Of course nobody in Hinata's team could play volleyball at all. Everybody was making fun of them, but Kageyama saw something in Hinata and was surprised by his fighting spirit.
Naturally Hinata's team lost and that's the end of the story.



A pretty good trailer that shows all I tried to explain. Just watch it! XD

Now in high school Hinata is so utterly happy that he's finally in a school with a proper volleyball team. He's eager to face Kageyama again, his self-declared new rival. He's rushing to the gym in anticipation just to see Kageyama there. Yes, he's joined the same school and thus the same volleyball team.
Of course, they start arguing right away. The older members of the volleyball club won't let them join unless they can show some teamwork. XD ....

Kageyama was called "the king" in his previous school. Hinata thinks it's because he's so strong, but in fact it's because he's serving balls that nobody can actually hit. He's too demanding, so all his former teammates gave up.
Eventually they come up with an awesome combination, but I don't want to spoil all the fun.



Hinata x Kageyama is just sooooooooo much love, trust me! ;)



4. Kuroko no Basuke (黒子のバスケ)

Okay, so this one also popped up often and also was personally recommended to me. I just had a look at a few screenshots and liked the style. It looked cool, so I wanted to give it a try .......
It ended up being my favorite series along with "Yowamushi Pedal" although I have to admit that it took quite a while to get into the series. I can't remember how long, but I really wasn't into the series very much at first.
Maybe you'll have a similar experience, so just keep going! It's totally worth it! ^__^



It's a basketball series. It starts off with telling us about a super strong middle school basketball team where 5 genius players gathered at the same time, same place. That's why they're called "Generation of Miracles" (Kiseki no Sedai).
But actually there's a 6th member who's "the shadow" and that is KUROKO! He's the main character of the series and the plot starts off with him joining a high school basketball team.
The funny thing is they immediately notice they have someone famous from THAT super strong middle school team on their "new members list", but nobody even SEES Kuroko. That's his "specialty". He's a "shadow". His presence is hard to track. That alone offers a lot of hilarious scenes throughout the series.



They soon notice, though, that despite Kuroko's thin, weak, almost non-existent appearance, he was part of that famous basketball team for a reason.
As nobody notices his presence, he usually has no marks on him and is able to pass the ball to his teammates without anybody noticing what's going on. That's his secret weapon. In fact, he's a master of misdirection.

At the same time, another new member appears: Kagami.
He's trying to become the team's ace. He spent many years in America and thus is a pretty strong basketball player.

Shy Kuroko approaches Kagami, saying that he will be his shadow and that Kagami should become the light.
(Kagami = light ... Kagami Light ... / Death Note insider ... XD .. Sorry.)



Seirin (Kuroko x Kagami) vs. Shutoku (Takao x Midorima)


We slowly get to know more about Kuroko's past and the other 5 genius members of that infamous junior high school basketball team.
Kuroko's new team has to face them one after another. Each of those 5 players has joined a different school, so eventually they're all playing against each other.



One after another is showing up and his identity and special skills are revealed.
I don't know if I find it too simple / bold or if it's actually cool that all Teiko Jr. High genius members have "colors" in their names. XD (Including Kuroko, of course.)



What's really surprising me is that I don't have a favorite character at ALL.
I can't remember if this ever happened before. Yes, there are many great characters that I really like (or came to like in Aomine's case), but .... there's not a single one that stands out in my eyes.



Maybe currently Shutoku's Takao is the closest runner-up for the "favorite character" spot, but ..... we'll see! XD

Plotwise it sounds really simple. I also don't like sport series where they exaggerate the skills and techniques used - which definitely happens in this series (esp. "the zone" is way too ridiculous).
BUT somehow the series gets better and better and you really start liking the characters. Everyone is eager to know about the Teiko time and we're getting more and more flashbacks.

The series is currently running its 3rd season. It's truly exciting. Certain games are so insanely exciting, it's driving me insane! XD
The animation is well done, the soundtrack is good, too. Awesome voice actors as well. (Do I even have to mention that my beloved Junichi Suwabe is in there? XD .....)



My favorite opening (season 3, opening 1), can't watch it often enough!!

Can't wait to watch more of season 3. Hope the next episode is coming out soon! (*___*)b



5. Ace of Diamond (ダイヤのエース)

At this point I was kind of running out of series that were recommended, so I had to become a bit more creative and just try out a few recent / currently airing sport series randomly.
One of them is "Ace of Diamond". I hesitated, because I'm really not into baseball. I don't even no the rules! XD .....
On the other hand I really, really loved "Ookiku Furikabutte" back in the days (= right after I moved to Japan).



I'm still in the middle of watching it and I think the first season just finished with almost 80 episodes. And they've already decided to make a 2nd season.
It's really a nice, typical sport series, but thus far nothing too special. It's definitely among the better ones I've seen and I think it really just depends on personal taste.
This series definitely has potential and it makes me want to keep watching.



There are a lot of interesting characters, but the more I keep watching the more I keep falling for Miyuki. He's a star catcher at Seido's baseball team, the team which the main character joined.
I found him interesting from the start. First of all (and that's not a surprise, is it?) I was hooked when I heard his voice (Takahiro Sakurai), as I know it very, very well.
He's smart, he can be a badass, he's just ... hard to read. I became very interested in him ..... and it's going in a very "bad" direction at the moment! (*___*)b
And while searching for some good pictures to use in this entry, I accidentally stumbled upon a Miyuki x Sawamura fanart (Sawamura is the main character of the series) and it clicked. I need to stay away from that stuff at all costs. So dangerous. But I can't get the picture out of my head and as those two are always very close (catcher and pitcher) in the series ... they're giving me weird ideas. HELP! XD ...



I'd say the main focus is on the two first-year pitchers Sawamura (#20) and Furuya (#11) as well as on second-year catcher Miyuki (#2). There's another first-year player who also became a regular (#19).
Of course, there are a lot of other weird charas on the same team, but also among the opponents = there's enough to choose from! ;P



When I first saw Furuya (the one on the left) I thought this is "love at first sight" as long as he's not an asshole! XD ...
Well, my judgment wasn't too bad, but his personality surely is different from what I expected. He's very quiet and sulky. It's not as bad as Haruka (Free!). Furuya is quite lovable and I adore how he ignores everyone or just falls asleep when it seems to be convenient. XD
Sawamura, the main character, is more like my type. He's loud, speaking up his mind, speaks before he's thinking, cheerful and never gives up. But as you know by now I seem to have a "main character allergy" or something. I almost NEVER fall for the main character. XD
So, like I said, the chara I'm currently most interested in is Miyuki.

As for the story, there's not that much to tell you.
Sawamura plays baseball in junior high school with his classmates. They're not very good at it, but they enjoy what they're doing.
During their last game Sawamura is scouted. He should join a very famous, strong baseball team at a school in Tokyo.
All he wants to do is play baseball with his friends, though.
The scout can persuade him to at least watch the practice of the team once. That's when he meets Miyuki .... and Miyuki being Miyuki manages to draw out a really great pitch of Sawamura.
Sawamura never thought that he would be able to play baseball at such a high level and agrees to join the team.

However, Seido being one of the best baseball teams, there are hundreds of members. There's no way he would be able to play in a game any time soon.
Or will he?

I'm not sure what I should tell you. If you like baseball and are into sport series in general, I think you'll love this series.
It's quite good, but for me it can't compete with Yowamushi, Kuroko no Basuke or Haikyuu.
Again this is just my personal taste, though.



6. Area no Kishi (エリアの騎士)

While I still hadn't finished "Ace of Diamond" I was already looking for some more sport series when I spotted "Area no Kishi".
Now this is a tough one as I've seen a LOT of soccer anime series already, so my expectations are really high.
But I didn't expect much when I started watching. I was sure it's just another of those typical soccer anime series .... not bad, but also not really good.
And I was right .... I was right ... BUT!!!! ....



... The series starts off with something completely unexpected and that's what totally caught my attention.
It's not really a spoiler as this happens in the 2nd or 3rd episode and is the basis for what happens from then on onwards.

The story is about two brothers who've been playing soccer ever since they were little. There's also a girl from their neighborhood who joined their team when they were little, but then moved to America.
The older brother, Suguru, is extremely successful and plays in the U15 national team. His younger brother (they're a year apart), Kakeru, has stopped playing soccer and continues as the manager of his school's soccer team where his brother is the star and the captain.

His older brother is not content and tries to provoke his little brother to join the soccer team again.
We already get to see how complicated their relationship is, but secretly his older brother wants to play in the national team together with his younger brother. He just can't bring himself to actually tell his younger brother and thus just writes about it in his diary.

One morning they go to school together and Suguru wants to tell his little brother about an awesome dream he just had. But before he can finish telling him a truck approaches both of them.
Suguru tries to protect his little brother, but they're both severely injured. Soon after that in the hospital they're both at the verge of death. When Suguru is declared brain dead, the parents have to make a tough decision. Suguru's heart is transplanted into the younger brother to save at least his life.

.....
I was like ... super shocked!!! I've never seen a sport series that starts with heavy stuff like that!

Of course it takes a while for Kakeru to accept what happened.
Soon after that people around him and slowly he himself as well notice that something is different.
After reading his brother's diary, Kakeru decided to go back to playing soccer. But he suddenly has times when he can move, dribble and shoot like Suguru, his older brother. He even sometimes hears his brother's voice.



There are a lot of world famous U15 (well now U18) players who wanted to play against Suguru once again. They're all shocked after hearing about his death.
But Suguru told all of them about his little brother and that he has high hopes, so they start observing Kakeru and soon notice that Suguru is still there as he lives on within Kakeru. And not only that, but just like Suguru said, Kakeru has some tricks up his sleeves as well.



And there's ONE MORE thing that I've NEVER seen in a sport series before and that also caught my eye!!
One of the ace players who is also one of the main characters has extreme weight issues! XD .....
He's fat in one episode, thin in the next one, fat in the following ..... rebound anyone?
He's a magician on the field. He's so popular among the girls. He's smart! ..... But he just can't stop eating and then he's gaining weight again. -__-
His teammates are trying hard to keep him from eating, so there are many hilarious scenes!



It's also awesome when opponents underestimate him when he's a fatty! XD .....



And YET ANOTHER thing I thought was refreshing:
In most sport series with male teams the few girls that pop up are either managers or part of the cheerleaders.
Here we have the brothers' childhood friend. Remember the girl I mentioned earlier? She actually came back from the States and is now a manager of Kakeru's soccer club. (yeah, yeah ... BUT!!)
She's also playing in the Nadeshiko (the Japanese national) team!!! So we get to see a few of her games as well!
By the wa,y it's the girl on the right. Her name is "Nana", but Kakeru calls her "Seven" (obvious why ...).
(Don't even get me started on Nana ... DON'T!! I'll cry!!! -__-)

Not trying to be harsh but among all the series I've listed here this is by far the least interesting one. I keep watching because there aren't that many episodes and I want to know how the story evolves after all.



Other Good Anime Sport Series:

Erm ... I still have "Baby Steps" (tennis) on my list. No idea if it's any good.
I also might give "Over Drive" (bicycle road race) a chance considering how much I love "Yowamushi Pedal".
After watching "Kuroko no Basuke" I have a hard time continuing with "Slam Dunk". Of course, Slam Dunk is good ..... but ...... compared to .... argh, never mind!
And ever now and then I'm watching "Yawara" (judo).

Any other suggestions (please!!!!???). No, I'm not addicted.


Last but not least:

I'm trying hard to stay away from doujinshi or fanart at the moment. It goes without saying that ALL of these series make GREAT and DANGEROUS BL doujinshi material (I mean just try to recall all the Captain Tsubasa or Prince of Tennis doujinshi ....).
I'll probably fail in the long run, but for now I'm staying away from it! XD
I'm also staying away from the manga for now. Sports series like that are usually far more interesting when animated. No offense.