DESCRIPTION

CAST

MANGA SportsShakunetsu Kabaddi

REVIEWS

• 

  Bokunomuichiro

  70/100
  A solid sports anime but not much more than that

  Shakunetsu Kabaddi follows the story of Yoigoshi, a former national soccer player who quit because of his lack of interest in teams sports. The series follows his development as he overcomes this attitude and joins the kabaddi club and becomes a vital member of its team. The story itself is nothing special apart from its unique setting with following the sport of kabaddi instead of following a repetitive football/basketball setting. Leaving on a cliffhanger, if this series ever gets a sequel I will definitely check it out to see the team take on a tournament.

  Characterisation:
  This is something I believe the series does both well and also not well. Some of the characters are heavily developed- my main example will be Misumi. He goes from a nobody on the team who I immediately labelled, and apologise for, as the random support. Misumi proves himself to be much more than that which climaxes beautifully in the final episode. I won't say what he does as I don't want to get into spoilers but it was 100% worth it. Another great character is, of course, Yoigoshi who, as I've said above, slowly develops through the series from a person who despises sports to a vital member of the team. Some of the other characterisation is not as great though- for example: the three new members who I honestly can't remember the names of and lots of others. Azemichi, who seemed like a vital member at the start of the series, slowly became part of the drabble and didn't stand out as much which was irritating and this occurred with lots of other notable characters like the glasses guy too. Overall, the characterisation was a 7/10 as it was good in some places but needed a lot of improvement in others.

  Character Dynamics:
  There's nothing too notable apart from the classic team dynamic which this does really well like any other sports series. Some dynamics I enjoyed more than others, for example: Sakura and Miyo (i think that's his name XD) who I thought were displayed really well as friends. And also Misumi and Date who also have a great relationship which is always great to see. Therefore, the character dynamics are a 8/10.

  Visuals:
  The animation and visuals are pretty good. Especially when a character goes the extra step. The use of the black eyes with red pupils works really well to show Ojo's change in personality and is always displayed really well and this can apply with other visuals. I have to say that the "struggle" visual isn't my favourite thing and the sound supporting it can get repetitive and irritating at times but asides from that the visuals are a 8/10.

  Voice Acting:
  The voice acting is really good consistently and I felt like I never had an issue with it but it also didn't really stand out to me at any points as it conveyed the emotions of a character but didn't really surpass that but maybe that is not the fault of the voice actors but just an issue with the story not allowing the voice actors to present their full capabilities. Nethertheless, the voice acting in this was a 8/10.

  Music/Soundtrack:
  I'm a huge fan of the soundtrack of Shakunetsu Kabaddi aside from the "Struggle" sound effect which has got stuck in my head on repeat. The opening theme is really good but my personal favourite song is the ending theme which really encapsulates the theme of the show and listening to it always gets me hyped for the next episode. Overall, the music is a 8.5/10.

  Pacing:
  The pacing was consistently good and I didn't have any flaws with it. So it's an 8.5/10.

  Genre Mixing:
  There hasn't been much genre mixing in this and by genre mixing I'm referring to when a series mixes two very opposite genres together and how it presents that either excellently or terribly but since this wasn't really displayed then there isn't much to say so I can't really give it a rating.

  Conclusion and Score:
  Overall, Shakunetsu Kabaddi is a really solid sports anime but it doesn't do anything special in terms of story or character but what it does it does really well. So therefore, my overall score for it is 7/10.

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• 

  Destrother

  76/100
  A really exciting sports anime that keeps you on the edge of your seat but still has many flaws

  Burning Kabaddi does the thing it was made to be, a sports anime. It really did that well since you could never and I mean never guess who would win. The author seemed like he didn't even care about the main character and there was no plot armor whatsoever but of course it has many flaws.
  Spoiler free as much as possible

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  Plot 7.5

  The plot is very normal, nothing unique other than the sport which I had never heard of before. The main character Yoigoishi quits soccer for reasons that are explained in the anime and is then forced to join the Kabaddi school team. Then, like any other sports anime, we get introduced to the different characters and of course the badass captain. Most of the anime was practice because most of the team was fairly new to the sport and we only got 2 matches with other schools, which were really exciting by the way. The way the author didn't care how what happened to the main character really created suspense since you would never know who would win and who won't.

  

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  Animation 6.9/10

  Throughout the anime the one thing that really annoyed me was the animation. It was very bad the shading and frames were so low but the studio was capable of utilizing the budget they had at hand to make it watchable. They used some CGI to show how the game worked and it didn't really annoy me too much but if this gets a second season it has to get some better animation because it was just what they did to it.

  

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  Music 7.9/10

  The music was pretty good and the OST's set the mood for the suspense and hype moments pretty well. The OP was also really nice and they didn't have an ED since they would just tell you what would happen next episode.

  

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  Character's 7.4

  The main character had some depth like Yoigoishi and some character development but most of them had joined earlier so they tell you their backstories from before. Some of them even had gotten character development from before Yoigoishi joined and they would tell you there stories. Also the captain was pretty cool. The other team mates that join later on don't have much time for character development and we don't learn too much about them. We do learn a little bit about the people they go against and most of them had ties with the captain and were always trying to surpass him. Also their interactions were really funny.

  

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  Personal Enjoyment 8.4/10

  I personally really enjoyed the anime since it had so many hype moments and was really unpredictable so if it had more episodes and a better budget it would've probably been a 9/10.

  

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  An overall great sports anime that I would recommend to anyone that doesn't mind animation since I'm not into sports anime and really enjoyed this one.

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• 

  IrrelevantGuy

  66/100
  Lacklustre storyline and subpar animation, but well-executed enough to keep you entertained all throughout its runtime

  .... # __A little bit of context__

  Kabaddi is a fairly popular sport in South Asia, particularly the Indian subcontinent where it's often played by rural kids during the summer. In my country Bangladesh, kabaddi is officially recognized as the national sport, and I myself used to play it a lot few years ago. All of this makes the sport seem very favorable, but when you go past South Asia, you begin to realize how obscure it actually is. Outside the boundaries of Asia, it's extremely difficult to find someone who has heard of kabaddi, let alone someone who has played it. Guess how surprised I was then, when I heard an anime about kabaddi was going to air this season, and it would actually turn out to be good.

  .... # __The actual review__

  Shakunetsu Kabaddi is surprisingly a decent take on kabaddi that succeeds at doing many things right. Many people have argued that this show is nothing remarkable without its kabaddi gimmick, which I don't particularly disagree with. Shakunetsu Kabaddi would basically be your typical sports anime if you replaced kabaddi with a popular sport; however, along with decent execution, the inclusion of kabaddi itself makes the anime a fairly compelling watch. Especially as someone who has been familiar with kabaddi throughout his life, I found Shakunetsu Kabaddi to be quite enjoyable.

  Shakunetsu Kabaddi employs a rather slow yet careful approach in terms of plot progression, that works very effectively for the most part. Instead of introducing any major plot points right from the beginning, the first few episodes are mostly dedicated to demonstrating the basic rules of kabaddi, which is a clever choice since it lets the viewers get enough time to properly acquaint themselves with the sport. That said, the method of demonstration can be a bit simplistic and "in your face", for which a few might have a bit difficulty understanding all of the rules.

  What Shakunetsu Kabaddi lacks in the aforementioned regard, however, more than makes up for it in other areas. What's particularly notable about the show is that it depicts kabaddi in a very accurate manner; it's apparent that the author is very knowledgeable about the sport and has a firm understanding of how everything works. Despite what some people may believe, kabaddi isn't simply a strength and agility based sport that doesn't require much strategy. Strength and agility are indeed two crucial factors in the game which the players need to improve on, but there are many more aspects that they have to consider while playing, and Shakunetsu Kabaddi addresses practically all of them.

  The entirety of Shakunetsu Kabaddi reinforces the idea that kabaddi isn't simply confined to strength and agility, but it also encompasses clever and incisive thinking. There are many skills and tactics that you need to acquire and learn to balance, otherwise you wouldn't be able to play well. Many factors—to name a few, being cautious of your surroundings, compatibility with your team members, maintaining your mental state—everything together makes up kabaddi as a sport. Surprisingly, Shakunetsu Kabaddi effectively covers nearly all of these aspects within only 12 episodes and shows the viewers what playing a game of kabaddi actually feels like.

  One complaint people seemed to have, though, is the fact that the anime doesn't explore the origins of the sport and instead gives an extremely vague idea/theory regarding how it was created, which is indeed a valid criticism. However, this isn't something that I think is a major issue or hindered my enjoyment to be honest; what matters is that the show doesn't mislead its viewers by providing any misinformation, which can be a difficult task given how obscure kabaddi is.

  Now, going a little off-topic. As I said in the beginning, not many people outside Asia are familiar with kabaddi. Perhaps part of the reason is that—I'll be completely honest—kabaddi sounds kinda ridiculous as a sport. Even in my country, it isn't generally held in high regard; most people here are completely indifferent to the sport. Keep in mind that kabaddi is the national sport of Bangladesh, so I can only imagine how absurd the game would sound to people of other regions.

  Shakunetsu Kabaddi explicitly tackles this issue. The viewers are occasionally displayed how the outsiders—as in people who aren't associated with the sport in any way—generally perceive kabaddi, by which they can get a grasp on how undermined the sport is. The anime further tackles this topic by informing the viewers how hard it is to build a proper career in sports, especially when you are playing something like kabaddi which barely has any recognition around the world. This doesn't stop people from playing, though. No matter how difficult their path may be/become, there will always be people who will continue to play kabaddi—because to them, being able to play the sport itself means a lot.

  This is not much different for Tatsuya and his team. They aren't playing kabaddi simply because they think it's fun; all of them have a significant reason behind why they love playing the sport. Even someone like Tatsuya, who used to harbor an intense hatred toward sports in general, eventually fostered a strong passion for kabaddi. Despite initially ridiculing it for being "lame", as Tatsuya sincerely practices with his teammates and gains a better understanding of the sport, he learns to appreciate kabaddi's inherent value, rediscovering his love for sports along the way.

  In all honesty, the characters of Shakunetsu Kabaddi aren't anything special; they are clearly based on certain archetypes that you usually see in other sports anime (particularly Haikyuu, which a lot of people seem to point out). Despite their lack of originality, though, most of them are well-written. As I implied earlier, I find Tatsuya to be a particularly compelling character, whose characterization and development throughout the anime is notably well-done. Regarding other characters, they are also entertaining for the most part, and while their motivation can be a bit one-dimensional, most of it is undermined by their exuberant personality.

  Unfortunately, some of the cliches that plague most sports anime are also prevalent in Shakunetsu Kabaddi, which it definitely could have done without. For example, I'm not a big fan of using flashbacks in the middle of a match to provide backstory, since it disrupts the natural flow of the match and ruins any sort of immersion. Unfortunately, Shakunetsu Kabaddi is notably guilty of this crime—occasionally to the point that it becomes kinda ridiculous. The use of an outside narrator to voiceover some scenes was also odd in my opinion; it was mostly used at random and without any particular purpose, which made the scenes more awkward than insightful.

  There are some inescapable issues with the characters as well. In particular, the choice of making Masato so overpowered is frankly a poor one; his formidability marks an overwhelming difference between him and the other characters that can completely overshadow their individual significance at times. Other teams are more or less victims of this too, for which they aren't able to display their own importance either. Additionally, some of the characters' introduction and backstories are noticeably rushed—the prime example of this being Ban and his friends, Sakura, Utou, and to some extent, Date and Misumi as well. I'm not particularly fond of Yuuki either, mainly because of the fact that he is an unfortunate victim of the "femboy" trope.

  .... # __Production values__

  Though, probably the biggest problem of the Shakunetsu Kabaddi stems from the animation's rather janky quality. Sports anime require smooth animation for obvious reasons, a place where this show suffers a great deal. The motion of the animation is very choppy, so much so that some of the scenes appear almost as stills. Character movements are oftentimes stiff and unnatural, and for an anime focusing on a sport that involves a lot of physical contact, this is more than just worrying. Some of the standard scenes, as opposed to in-game scenes, are also poorly animated, which causes further concern.

  There are instances of expertise and creative thinking here and there, though. The direction of the anime is really good; albeit few in number and suffering from a few cliches, every single match is very engaging to watch mainly due to how well-directed they are. Additionally, several animation techniques—such as the use of flashy visuals and lightly colored backgrounds with 3D models—are implemented to further demonstrate the rules and the tactical moves of kabaddi, which mostly works very effectively. However, on the whole, the animation leaves a lot to desire and makes you wonder how more enjoyable the show would have been if it had had fluid animation.

  Regarding the soundtrack, Shakunetsu Kabaddi does a decent job for the most part. The score mainly features funky, upbeat tracks, some of which are probably inspired by classical Indian music, and I honestly don't mind that at all since it perfectly suits the atmosphere of the sport (I think it's worth noting that kabaddi originated from India). The background music can occasionally be a bit too loud or not so fitting, though. The opening theme titled "Fire Bird" isn't a bad track (that kabaddi chant at the beginning and the end is hype), and the ending song "Comin' Back" is pretty catchy too.

  .... # __Conclusion__

  Sports anime are mostly niche, even more so when it's about a sport as obscure as kabaddi. But either you end up liking the show or not, it's undeniable that Shakunetsu Kabaddi at least deserves praise for bringing light to such a distinct sport. Admittedly, I may have been a bit biased toward the series since kabaddi is one of my favorite sports, but I do firmly believe that it's a genuinely good show. Shakunetsu Kabaddi is worth giving a shot for that reason, especially if you are eager to try out something new and different.

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