***Warning, the following may contain spoilers for Keijo. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
In the 21st century, a new gambling sport has taken Japan by storm; keijo.
Keijo matches are played on floating platforms. Players are only allowed to use their breast or buttocks to knock opponents into the water. Top players receive nationwide recognition. As well as a healthy monetary award.
Games are fast and exciting. But for those reasons, plus the cash, have inspired recent high school graduate Nozomi Kaminashi (voiced by Lynn). A former gymnast, Nozomi enters the world of keijo to become its richest player. Though new to the sport, she's determined to reach the top.
Nozomi manages to enter the prestigious Setouchi Keijo Training School. Here she meets many new friends and rivals. Surrounded by many gifted players, Nozomi discovers a natural talent for the sport.
Considered an underdog, Nozomi soon makes a name for herself. Her opponents shouldn't underestimate her. However, the road to the top will not be easy. Keijo's filled with unparalleled talent. If she wishes to make it, Nozomi will have to look deep to overcome the daunting challenges before her.
Series Positives
 |
| Nozomi |
Keijo was ridiculous. It was absurd. It was silly, dumb, and ludicrous. I’m astonished by what I saw. It baffles the mind to think I wasted my time with this one. I mean, seriously? You’ve got to be kidding me.
And God damn it, I enjoyed the s@#$ out of it. To be fair, though, I expected as much. There’s no getting around what this series is. For anyone to think they would get something else is…. You know, I don’t have an analogy for this situation.
If the very idea of this show makes you disinterested, there’s nothing I can say that will change your mind. Yet, if your curiosity's peaked, even a little, feel free to continue.
Over the Top Escalation
For this next part to work, we need to split our perception.
First, we’ll look at Keijo as a sports anime.
Under no other filter, it played the role to a tee. It hit all the right notes. It hit all the right levels. The buildup was on point. The story jumped from hurdle to hurdle. Each challenge was bigger than the last. There was growth. Characters got stronger. Characters got better. Rivals became allies. Obstacles were overcome. All leading to a climax that was exciting.
Replace keijo with any other sport, and you’d have yourself a legitimate sports anime. It would’ve been standard for sure. But it would’ve got the job done. Would this series have been memorable? That’s hard to say. There are other shows which have done this formula better.
But this is where the second perception comes in.
We now need to look at Keijo as Keijo.
Yes, it may have the set up for an average sports anime. But contemporary sports do have limits. Sure, they can go insane. Except, they can only go so far. They’re real. We know how they’re meant to look. Any exaggerations are just as such. Exaggerations of the real thing.
There’s nothing wrong with that. Anime can go as ridiculous as it needs to be. Thus, when you create a sport as inane keijo, there are no limits. In fact, if a series doesn’t take this advantage and go big, there’s no point to it. This was why Keijo was as fun as it was.
You get a good idea about this show’s mindset right off the bat. And I mean after the immediate bikini clad boob-age. Nozomi’s motivation's f@#$ing hilarious. She didn’t want to be the best keijo player. She wanted to be the richest. Cash, not glory, is the drive. All right, I’m in.
And from there, it just got bigger and crazier.
Keijo is a simple sport to understand. And since simplicity breeds flexibility, there’s a lot you can do with this. And Keijo does.
Players stand on a floating platform called a Land. To be eliminated, you either fall into the water or anything other than your feet touches the Land. You can only use bust and buttock to attack your opponent.
In the beginning, we see the basics of what that means. There’s a small circular Land with four players and they go at it. It’s established early on that keijo players, good ones, hit fast and hard. And for some reason, I thought that would be the extent of it. Nope. Holy hell, I couldn’t have been more wrong.
Lands became more complex. There were some which lost balance. Others were slippery and hard to move on. And then they got out of control. The show kept raising the bar. The final match’s Land caused me to lose it. I would love to see how far this series can go.
But the true what-the-f@#$ moments came from the players themselves. In Keijo, were talking Dragon Ball Z levels of power escalation.
This is a well-animated series. And it needed to be. If you’re going to throw this much s@#$ at the screen, it better look nice. This may not be my favorite sports anime, but the absurdity factor alone gives it a lot of points.
I can’t deny the certain, and busty obvious, appeal to this show. And I can’t deny how much of a factor it played. But had that been it, this would be a whole different review.
Series Negatives
If you’ve made it this far into the review, I think you’ll find enjoyment with this show. Like I said, if you’ve already dismissed Keijo, there’s no bringing you back.
This is another series that makes me want to pick up the manga. Mostly because I feel a lot had to be cut. I’m a little surprised to be saying that, but I’ve got my reasons.
 |
| Sayaka |
Actually, to sidebar real quick, Nozomi’s not high on my favorite character list. She wasn’t a bad lead. She was just surrounded by much more fascinating people. Not the best situation, but what are you going to do?
Back to Sayaka. We saw her grow stronger. She had her own motivations and she acted on them. It ended up paying off in a big way. When the series went to training camp, I thought the show was going to do something a little different. It split the group up and Nozomi and Sayaka weren’t together. Maybe we would follow a few different storylines.
No, we spent the whole time focusing on Nozomi. Well, okay then. Kind of a wasted opportunity. Therefore, I think there’s more to this series. It was such a clear route to take. Was there just not enough time?
While that’s all speculation, it does highlight a real problem with Keijo.
Predictable
We’ve already gone over how Keijo follows the standard sports anime formula. The difference was, it took it to an insane degree. Though this made the series a ton of fun, it also made it predictable. This is a sports anime that ramped up the execution. Too bad you could the next step coming a mile away if you’ve ever seen any other sports anime.
Matches were exciting, but they were a foregone conclusion by the time they started. Maybe you couldn’t guess how they were going to go. But it was clear how they were going to end. The wins and losses were never surprises.
For instance, the show gets to a big tournament. A team needed to win two out of three matches to be crowned champions. Right away, you know all three matches are going to take place. Thus, you know the Setouchi school is going to lose one of them. Then when you saw who was playing in each match, you also knew which one would be the loss.
Keijo never deviated.
Matches may have been exciting, but they were never intense. It’s hard to get invested when you know what the outcome's going to be.
Final Thoughts
Now that you’ve made it to the end, I suspect you’ve decided Keijo's the type of show for you.
It may be a ridiculous premise, but it’s taken to the extreme. This series doesn’t hold any punches. It accepts what it is and makes the most of it. If you do the same, then this show will be quite fun.
It goes big. It goes insane. Despite that, it holds up as legitimate sports anime. In both good and bad ways. And besides, this isn’t the craziest show we’ve looked at on this site. It’s up there, don’t get me wrong.
No comments:
Post a Comment