What Makes A Sports Anime?
There’s something about sports anime that just draws people in.
That’s why every season, there’s at least one new sports anime in the lineup. They aren’t all winners, of course, but it shows a demand for content centered around sports and the people who play them. This leads to a really important question: why?
To some, sports anime is the same as watching a sports game. It’s just people playing a game. This is a fair position to take if you’ve never really seen a sports anime in its entirety. What’s the point of watching a bunch of animated people play volleyball (or baseball, or basketball, or swimming…any sport can be inserted here to make the point)?
However, there is something beyond the sport in this genre that pulls people in. Even if you have never played a sport, sports anime can be something that feels incredibly relatable and personal due to three things. One, sports anime is full of rather complex characters and relationships. Two, a number of core themes that are relatable to audiences are found in the genre. Lastly, sports anime contains stories that carefully balance sports, drama, comedy, and other genres, causing it to be engaging to a number of different people.
Sports anime is full of stories like this, and ultimately, this is what makes people relate to the genre. We all want to be part of a group that accepts us despite our flaws, and wants to support us as we learn. This genre helps people get that feeling, albeit artificially. When you see the team cheer after a win, when you see them comfort each other after a loss, when you see them band together to help each other, it reminds you that this is what humanity is made for: lifting each other up and helping each other succeed.