The only sport anime I've really watched are Prince of Tennis, Air Gear, Ginban Kaleidoscope and Initial D. But I highly enjoy sport manga tho! I'm addicted to how impossible they are and how they make my heart pump up adrenaline. Some of my fav sport manga include Kuroko no Basuke, Prince of Tennis, nononono, Dandoh etc. Recently, I've finished nononono and Full contact and have picked up Robot x Laserbeam. >.> <.< *psst* Go read nononono *bites*
My favorite sports anime is definitely Hajime no Ippo, hard to top an anime that makes you want to go outside and try and punch grab leaves. Also I think your list is missing Over Drive.
I don't watch sports anime but i do read a lot of manga about sports, my personal favorites are: Kenji; it is about learning an special kind of martial art that is called bajinquan if my memory is correct. Happy! It is about tenis but i have to say that the tenis part is the less important. Ganbare Genki it's the tale of a boy who wants to live by boxing. Giant Killing What is better about a soccer manga than a soccer manga wih true underdogs with real story and interenting characters and the best of it is that they are not teenagers XD. Ballroom e youkoso it's about dancing really good manga but i don't like the destined pairs OH and something to the OP, seems you are mistaken about yuri on ice, the main characters are males i belive there is like no femles or almost none, and there is fan service in series like kuroko no bazuke and prince of tennis it is just another kind of fan service , it is aimed to females that ship a maleXmale pair AKA fujoshis or something like that.
ES21 ; Slam Dunk and Knock Out are the best among the list. ES you get that fanstasy style and good art work. Slam Dunk you get the feels. while KO well thats over the top action.
You fiend!!!! How could you only give us three choices yet list a bazillion super good sports anime!!!
I agree tomorrow's Joe has one of the best character development I have seen. Plus the retro style of animation adds to the effect of the storytelling
why so many hate? you like slam dunk other people like other things, trump is president, life isn't fair get use to it.
Really think Ping Pong: The Animation is among the best sports anime ever. I am highly biased though, watched the live action and read the manga before the anime even aired. The different art style, the sweeping story told in a few episodes, characters I can relate to. I like everything about it more or less. Cross game is my other favourite. The sport drives the characters and plot forward. It serves well as a vehicle enabling telling of the characters and their journey. Adachi's best work, which is saying a lot as both Touch and H2 are spectacular. Slam Dunk, Hajime no Ippo and Hikaru no Go are all great as well. Though I think Ippo suffers from telling a too big story. Over 1k manga chapters and still going strong. Would probably be better if less focus was put on the people around him in a few cases. Personally think Prince of Tennis and Eyeshield 21 both showcase what is wrong with anime sports. Way too long and unrealistic action. I abandoned Eyeshield since it is more humour focused and I didn't laugh. If you want a Tennis anime I personally think Baby Steps is much stronger than PoT. It isn't fully realistic (close though) but tells a more entertaining story with mostly realistic characters and plot. Focuses a lot on what it takes to improve instead of watching a snake and copying that. Not as much fan service either, it simply tells its story. In the past year or so Haikyuu!! is probably the strongest entry. It is about volleyball and has a good focus on what it takes to play it. I can't relate to the main character though, so I personally rate it a bit lower than most other people do. Ookiku Furikabutte's main character is so entertaining. His insecurities and the cast around him makes me smile every time. Shion no Ou is worth it if you like Hikaru no Go, though it is more mystery based. Which is interesting considering the more down to earth series has a ghost as a main character. Giant Killing is noteworthy for being about coaching and management. Pretty much all other sports series focus on a player as the main character. Ginban Kaleidoscope isn't the greatest ever but has some emotions to it. I liked the parallels between propeller planes and figure skating, wasn't something I expected to like going into it. If you want an opinion on a sports series that isn't about motor sports I have likely watched it. Just start up a conversation.
I have a problem with your description of PoT and I would wonder about how many episodes did you watch. I accept that no doubt PoT is not realistic by any stretch of the imagination but Baby Step isn't either. PoT might have some fan service for sure and we all live for the fan service but what's amazing about it is the interaction and growing relationships between the characters. We watch it for the development of character and the interesting plot. I got excited as many others did when we watched PoT and I was interested in the sports, of course not as the people play it, but as a sport itself. Many of the matches were not about the awesome technique (although I love them to no end) but about teamwork and the will to continue playing even past their breaking point. You sarcastically mention watching a snake and copying it but as much as that game was about the cool techniques it was about endurance and how hard the players trained before that. In the end, in the most climatical parts, it wasn't about the techniques or how cool somebody was, it was about the endurance and their spirit. As much as I remember on game in the beginning of 100+ episode, I don't remember much from Baby Steps when I watched and it was much shorter. When talking about what it takes to improve, prince of tennis is a show about how a young man is trying to improve himself and step out of his father's shadow. You are allowed to have your own opinion but I would like to say that you disregard what Prince of Tennis is really about and focus on the superficial things.(and that your opinion is wrong). P.S. TRIGGERED
I don't think PoT deserves to be among the great sports series. It is enjoyable but has way too many things in it that makes it not deserve that spot. It is one the series where you have a very large sports component that I felt detracted from the series in many cases. I did enjoy watching it but don't think it fits this topic. For example, Anidb sports category has it at spot 33 out of ~230 titles. I don't think it improved over time either. Later titles are more of the same, which fans want but it feels like forcing ones way through to get to the ending at that point. To expand a bit on why I don't like it (watched original in 2006-2007 so memory is fussy), the characters feels stilted in their interactions. I don't think the dialogue flowed and the sport was just super special move number 23 vs number 24 at some point. It started out with pretty normal tennis though and went downhill as they levelled up. It also committed the lethal sin of not having a main character I could relate to, that is the most important part of any book, TV series or movie. As for what of PoT I have watched in chronological order: Tennis no Ouji-sama Gekijouban Tennis no Ouji-sama: Futari no Samurai - The First Game Tennis no Ouji-sama: Zenkoku Taikai Hen Tennis no Ouji-sama: Zenkoku Taikai Hen - Semifinal Tennis no Ouji-sama: Zenkoku Taikai Hen - Final Tennis no Ouji-sama OVA Another Story: Kako to Mirai no Message Shin Tennis no Ouji-sama So what I have not watched and likely never will (none highly rated): Tennis no Ouji-sama: Atobe kara no Okurimono - Kimi ni Sasageru Tenipri Matsuri Tennis no Ouji-sama OVA Another Story II: Ano Toki no Bokura Gekijouban Tennis no Ouji-sama: Eikoku Shiki Teikyuu Shiro Kessen! Shin Tennis no Ouji-sama (2014)
1. i dont consider air gear a sport as it more resembles just a way of life since it is basically young people fighting in gang wars. 2. why is DBZ not included in the options? you included boxing and mix martial arts like grappler baki so i think that DBZ having martial arts tourneys should count too...in which case i choose DBZ.
Slam Dunk... the basis of my childhood dream of becoming a basketball superstar... it didn't happen but still...
Lets, see...I think I enjoyed Haikyuu! the most; everything else I just got bored with like prince of tennis and air gear. Though, I don't remember prince of tennis or air gear actually ending nicely.
I really enjoyed reading the manga version of Hajime no Ippo and watching Haikyuu. They made my blood boil from excitement >~<