Basquash! #01 — PLAY BASKETBALL!

April 3rd, 2009

 

BUY NIKES!

New Season Disclaimer:

I prefer to give every show a chance. You never know when your dream-eating insect wielding Mai HiME knockoff will turn out to be a psychological romantic thriller, or the strange moeblob show will be full of wit and urine jokes. However, my preferences are still my preferences, and while I’ll endevor to at least convey why I do or do not like things, there are genres of shows that I just plain don’t particularly enjoy. My opinions are based on nothing more than a gut reaction to what I watched literally 10-15 minutes prior and should be construed as nothing more and nothing less than that.

Impressions:

Allow me to perform a one-act play covering the last 5 minutes of this episode.

Dan: "Oh crap! The boobs are really my long lost childhood friend!"
Dan: "Let me show you REAL basketball by dunking!"
Racer X: "REJECTED!"
Police: "The punishment for destroying a city block and other assorted acts of terrorism is a weekend in the drunk tank."
That Guy: "Look, Dan, your legend has spread and now there are impromptu mecha basketball fights in the streets."

I certainly can’t complain about the production, but it’s a little hard to tell who exactly this is meant for. Nike’s rolling out a brand new line of shoes for this, and have even made sure that their swoosh is emblazoned in the sponsors list. Additionally, the whole "fightin’ the man using basketball and a skateboard" seems tailor made for… how to say… the less discerning among us. At the same time, they take every opportunity to zoom in on Miyuki’s breasts or show a close up of them while she’s running, covering the entire screen in a pair of heaving mountains moving with such force that even Queen’s Blade would be impressed.

I suspect that much of this is meant to be pure cheese, but unlike Basara, there’s enough doubt to make me wonder. Dan is cut out of the exact same mold as other irritating arrogant boy hero ‘greats’ like Black Star without any trace of irony. He’s also completely drowning in bad cliches. Aside from the forgotten childhood friend, there’s also an obligatory cute pet that doubles as Dan’s magical girl transformation mask and garbage disposal, a sick sister, a fat sidekick and even Racer X, the pro Bigfoot Basketball player who works for THE MAN. I’m going to go ahead and assume that he’s Dan’s father or brother… maybe both.

It’s just not my thing. I don’t like basketball, I don’t like mecha, I despise noisy brats who refer to themselves as ore-sama, and I suspect that this is about 99% a marketing ploy to help Nike sell basketball supplies in Japan. Or perhaps promote a new class of basketball-using domestic terrorists that will be extra easy to arrest.

No OP this week.

Preview:

Basketball fightin’.

Posted in Anime | 10 Comments »

10 Shouts From the Peanut Gallery

  • Fang-tan says:

    I want to watch this. Just for the lulz.

  • what says:

    will watch for scenery porn

  • TJ says:

    Production values look pretty awesome, although I’d still rather watch real basketball.

  • Totali says:

    Isn’t dribbling with a scooter traveling?

  • Craig says:

    Dan got thrown in jail for a whole year, and for all his crusading against mechba basketball made it mainstream for oh-so-subtle irony. I forget, were you one of those people who know what’s being said when you describe the plot or wit of a show, or, how to say… the less discerning among us?

  • Gummi says:

    Lol Im going too watch this :D since that big breasted girl looks interesting.

  • Dave Baranyi says:

    How can you not love a show where the hero buys a pet for his crippled little sister, and his own pet eats the gift alive and spits out the bones at the sister, who doesn’t give a shit! LOL

  • Namu-chan says:

    I think it’s entertaining ^_^ Sure it’s cliche and over the top, but exciting anime like that makes it fun to watch. The animation is real smooth too. Hopefully the production quality won’t go down.

  • Benit says:

    In some sense I agree with you, it is somewhat cliche with no real deep development of the story and an overly confident character who seems to come from a cookie cutter. Then again, so was Gurren Lagann. ._. Somewhat random, but that is my point. This show has a certain ‘energy’ to it that is easy to get swept up in. To be honest I look forward to this anime more than any other anime this season. The passion, the spirit, the flare, the flash, the style, whatever you want to call it this factor easily makes up for the general flaws found within the initial story and concept.

    Incidentally, the character you referred to as Racer X isn’t related to Dan, and is in fact a phycopath whose style of basketball is to randomly throw them at other people and injure them.

    Overall I wouldn’t rank this the best anime of the season, but it is definitely the most interesting.

  • motokokusanagi86 says:

    Admitting you’ve only watched about ten mins, or at least most of the first episode, in my opinion only lets you review just that. Trying to assume the rest of the series will just be a repeat or not go anywhere is totally wrong. With most anime, I find that you can’t quite grasp the feeling or direction after the first episode because they are mainly paced to be a long running story arc. It often takes me until ep 5-ish to see the other things that are going on. I think i’m up to about episode 17 (I think) of Basquash, and I think it is totally great. If you are gonna complain that it is cliche then that would be true of 99% of anime and it’s one of the reasons so many people love it.

    Basquash is great fun, exhilerating and has high production values that really show in the quality of the animation and sound. I really want to root for these characters and the story really seems to be heading in some good directions.

    As for the Nike sponsorship!!! Everyone seems to be moaning about it (?) I have no problem with it. It doesn’t get in the way of the show at all and does not make me think that they are selling out. It’s just cool (and i’m not even that fond of Nikes as a brand anyway)

    I’d tell anyone to give this series a try. It is just pure fun. God knows we all need some of that sometimes.