Hello! After two special posts (Shigatsu wa Kimi no Uso & Aikatsu), I gonna to be writing an anime review after finished watching this year. Since I had posted a huge amount of post recently, this time I will take my sweet time to write this post. Of course, I would try to finish it ASAP.

Cute, right?

Anyway, had guessed what anime is it? Well, it's in the title. Duh! It's RO-KYU-BU! Yes, it's about a bunch of lolis and playing basketball. How? Well, you will see.

WARNING:-

SPOILER ALERT!!! If you haven't watched it and plan to watch it without anyone being the spoiler, please DON'T CONTINUE READING!!!

P.S. If you want to be spoiled, well, go ahead and read it. You HAD been warned. Don't blame me for being spoiled if you INSIST on continuing to read this post.

Introduction

The light novel cover

The anime, Ro-Kyu-Bu! (In Japanese: ロウきゅーぶ!) is actually adapted from a Japanese light novel series of the same name. It is written by Sagu Aoyama with illustrations done by Tinkle and published by ASCII Media Works. The anime has TWO seasons of 12 episodes each that are produced by Project No.9 and Studio Blanc (was not involved in the making of season 2). This LN (short form for a light novel) has been adapted into THREE manga and THREE PSP VN (short form for a visual novel) games. If you noticed, the first season of Ro-Kyu-Bu is just named Ro-Kyu-Bu! and the second season as Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS. Well, this is quite common in the anime industry to 'add' some word or something to distinguish different seasons. This one is NOT common for the English TV show industry, which is just Season 1, Season 2, etc. BORING! NO CREATIVITY THERE!!!

See? Much better than just season 1, season 2...

Oh yeah, one more thing, there is also an OVA for this anime. OK, let's move one, shall we?

Plot

Subaru entering into the loli world...just kidding, it just a private primary school.

OK, the story starts off with our MC, Hasegawa Subaru being forced to stop basketball at his school as a scandal hits the team captain that caused the basketball team to be suspended for a year. Well, it's about the suspicion of team captain making out with a child (or being suspected to be a paedophile). Ooh...that's REALLY SERIOUS. Anyway, did you realise this story is about a person getting a loli harem? I'm just kidding. It's not really a loli harem as per se, it's just that it be about a bunch of lolis.

SHOCKED!

OK, putting that aside, that hit our MC REAL HARD...until the point where he doesn't want to be associated with basketball anymore. His aunt, Mihoshi Takamura, in order to cheer him up and push him back into basketball, forcefully assigns him to be the coach of an elementary school girls' basketball team. Well, obviously he was reluctant at first. One, he REALLY doesn't WANT to be associated with basketball anymore and TWO, it's about the lolicon scandal because he will be with a bunch of lolis. WORSE! This is definitely the LAST thing he wants, it's to be associated with lolis after his school basketball captain got into the lolicon scandal (well, that's what I would like to call it) and cause the ONE-YEAR BAN of the basketball team.

The deal...the secret deal

Well, obviously he would choose to have the job to be as short as possible so he accepts to train the girls for ONLY three days. So, here we go...wait, there is a bunch of loli maids!!! Cute, aren't they? Oh, BTW, they are the girls that Subaru is gonna coach.

Loli maid!!!

The girls that Subaru is gonna coach are Tomoka...etc. Anyway, after coaching them for three days, well, surprisingly he decided to continue coaching them. Why? Here is why...TOMOKA! She saw Subaru on his way back home after the weekend after Subaru finished his three days coaching job. She followed him back to his house and later challenges him to a match to decide whether he will continue coaching the club. Well, duh, obviously, she failed to win. Tomoka later proceeds on to telling her backstory of how she got over the obsession with winning and losing, in which it serves to rekindle Subaru's passion and proceeds on to tell Tomoka that he will continue to be their coach.

That moment that will change their lives forever...

Well, cut the long story short (since we need to talk a bit of season 2), he continues to be their coach until their arranged matchday against the boy's basketball team. They won and as a consequence, the girl's basketball team was able to continue. That's where our story of their growth from being a child and in basketball skill. I will talk about the girls a bit. We have Minato Tomoka (who has brilliant basketball skills and has a crush on Subaru), Misawa Maho (who is ALWAYS energetic), Nagatsuka Saki (who is pretty cool-headed for most of the time parts), Kashii Airi (who has a complex of her height and her physical stature) and Hakamada Hinata (who ALWAYS looks and acts innocent, which earns her the nickname Innocent Charm).

Swimsuit apron!!!!

Before we talk about season 1, let's continue the story of season 1. After the victory, the girls ask for Subaru to keep training them, but he refuses and asks that they should look for a professional coach instead. Tomoka decided to convince Subaru bu taking Mihoshi's suggestion, which is to score 50 consecutive free throws. Well, that's difficult and absurd BUT she did it, convincing Subaru to continue to coach the girls again. AND there we go...the life of Subaru and girls that is full of adventure and funny moments. And...some loli fanservice. Really. This fanservice will persist on into the second season.

Maho special fanservice!

As for season 2,...we have a few more new characters that will come into the play. They are Mimi Barugerī, Hakamada Kagetsu, Fujii Masami and the Takenaka twins: Tsubaki and Hiiragi. Mimi is a pretty, cute girl brought by Subaru's father and always has an emotionless expression on her face. As for Masami, well, she somehow has got a grudge on Saki and regards her as her rival. Kagetsu is quite protective of her older sister after an incident (well, she looks more the older sister BTW). AND the Takenaka twins, they really HATE Maho and admire their brother, Natsuhi (the captain of the boy's basketball team) very much.

The girls...are up for a challenge!

In both seasons, the characters get over their complicated circumstances and work together better as a team. Of course, they also bond with Subaru better over time. This is just the summary of it in order to prevent from making too long of a blog post. Regarding the OVA, the story mostly surrounds Tomoka and Subaru's bonding time. Of course, it also involves Tomoka's gang (and the new girls are not introduced yet at that point 'cause it started before the second season). Anyway, let's move on.

Oh yeah!!! ~~小学生最高！！！~~

Anime Rating

Season 1

Story (Rating: 8/10)

Well, since it has quite a lot of loli fanservice, this anime might have turned you off. BUT I give it a bit more because the anime gives a good amount of character growth and give you the hardworking vibes approach to life. So, it really deserves more. A change of one's own character flaw is tough, you know?

Tomoka in trouble!

Art and Animation (Rating: 7/10)

The animation is pretty great as it gives us the excitement of watching the girls playing basketball against their opponent and trying to win them even though the animation is pretty average for most parts. So yeah...that's my verdict.

The girls' chat room...if you are wondering

Sound and Music (Rating: 9/10)

The BGM is well-executed to bring the atmosphere of certain situations in the anime. The OP song? It was one of my favourites. A well-written song that is well-suited for the anime's theme. Well, not the loli part though. The ED song? Cute, well suited for a loli anime. Not really my favourite though.

From the OP BTW...

Characters (Rating: 10/10)

Oh, the characters? OK, let's get into it real quick. Tomoka, although she looks to be quite 'perfect', she has to deal with her crush on Subaru (that probably will never come to fruition) on a daily basis and of course, to improve her basketball skills. Well for Maho, although she is energetic and has a HUGE amount of enthusiasm for basketball and looks pretty fine, she has a tendency to do crazy stuff and has a relationship problem with Natsuhi. As for Airi, she is really a complicated one, she has a bit of an aquaphobia and has a HUGE complex of her stature and height. Man, they pretty tough to deal with. There are Saki and Hina who doesn't really seem to any particular serious problems. Anyway, although their personalities are all over the place, they had deepened their relationship with each other (and Subaru) and improve their basketball skills.

Girls in swimsuits! Oops, sorry I didn't say anything weird here. Trust me.

Enjoyment (Rating: 9/10)

Well, I do enjoy watching it. I do need to make myself to watch it because I usually have a harder time to watch anime that temporarily stop watching for whatever reason it may be. I put lower marks is not because of my circumstances of the restart the watching of this anime but based on the fact that many will probably shun from this anime due to its nature. For me, it's a little disturbing for others (who obviously don't know me and my circumstances) to know that I watch a loli anime as it could give bad misunderstandings. So, yeah, here is it. NEXT!

Oh...sukumizu...my...No, no, no. I was going to say anything.

Overall Rating: 8.6 (8.5)/10