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[series:4214#628] | ||||||
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(All episodes watched): I guess every sport that exists (and some that don't) will get an anime sooner or later. Episode one of Iwakeru- gives us a primer on how competitive climbing is done. It is clearly more than just a matter of brute strength, and winners need an ability to predict the most efficient route up an uneven and near vertical surface. The sport has its own vocabulary, with terms like 'foot swap' and 'laybacking'. This show seems to fall into the ill-defined category of shows which make part of their appeal by teaching us something new. I would think that pretty much any sport can be the premise of an entertaining anime if we are provided with interesting and likable characters--that is, if the show is primarily about the characters rather than the sport. That way, we can care whether they win or lose even if the sport itself isn't terribly exciting. Initially, the characters here struck me as fairly simple. We didn't really get to know anybody, not even protagonist Kasahara, very well in episode one. The colors of their hair were still the most distinctive things about them after the first episode.* What kept me watching at this point was that I was sort of curious about this odd sport and wanted to learn more. In episode two we meet a number of rival climbers from other schools, and each of them has a bizarre nickname. Not everybody in high school sports can be known as 'The Spider' or 'The Panther'. At least one of them seems to be a fucked-in-the-head pathological weirdo (and this was apparently not entirely a joke). It still seemed that little or no effort was being made to expand the personalities of the main characters; is this as much of a personality as each will ever get? The plot was no better. Konomi makes an understandable amateurish mistake in her first appearance before a crowd (she's in a competition the day after she joined the club), then, minutes later, has improved tremendously to everyone's amazement. The explanation for her leap forward was weak and unconvincing. About the only unusual thing here is the sport itself; the rest follows the standard pattern of sports anime and is quite predictable. I had been sort of looking forward to episode two, but was left frustrated. Nevertheless, when episode three came around I found myself still willing to watch. Perhaps even if we don't know Konomi all that well, we know her well enough. Sometimes characters take longer than they should to develop personalities, but they do so eventually. In episode three the girls undertake some actual outdoor rock climbing. Definitely not brilliant, but modestly interesting. In episode four Konomi achieves her ambitious training goal then the team heads to another competition. I still can't help feeling that these competitions, and in particular the opponents that are faced, are over-hyped somewhat in an attempt to make this sport seem more exciting than it really is. Should I put my left foot here, or there? Should I risk jumping for the last handhold, even though I might miss and fall? That's basically what it comes down to. It's fairly interesting, at least for now, but not exactly thrilling. But the characters now have some personality, which is definitely a good idea (better late than never). Jun is clearly over-competitive, which poisons her enjoyment of the sport; most anime depict unfettered competition as obviously a good thing. Nonoka must deal with her embarassingly poor performance in another competition. Even Kasahara discovers that her technique of calculating the best possible route up a wall then quickly carrying it out isn't perfect. In general, the team performs poorly in this competition for a variety of reasons. Perhaps a fairly complex plot, involving setbacks and disappointments as well as triumphs, is one reason why I still enjoy this show. It had seemed that the low morale that the club had been plunged into might be a major and engaging problem that would take a while to fix, but no, the girls snap out of it pretty quickly, which was sort of disappointing. Jun especially had seemed broken, but she goes from having seemingly dropped out of the club altogether to being redetermined before long. The focus turns to a new variant of the sport, speed climbing, because (I suspect) the author felt that some novelty was needed to maintain our interest. But the notion that the key to speed climbing is having the right 'rhythm' was hard to buy; and even if it is, it was also hard to believe anyone could learn a new technique as quickly as Konomi did. I sort of got the feeling that the show was rushing to wrap itself up in twelve episodes. The final episode was satisfying even if there were no major surprises. Konomi achieves one goal but fails to achieve another, which is more realistic than usual. As I re-read my review before wrapping it up, I still find it hard to explain why I kept watching and kept enjoying a show with so many flaws. I guess climbing is a fairly curious sport, the jokes were OK, the characters eventually had adequate personalities, and their story of pluck and courage was not impossible. Whatever the case might be, all the way to the end I found this to be a fun show to watch. *Kasahara = Purple; Jun = Dark Red; Yotsuba Sayo (the Captain) = Yellow; Sugiura Nonoka = Red. Last updated Sunday, January 03 2021. Created Monday, October 12 2020. | ||||||||
