Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Blue Box’ On Netflix, An Anime Where Badminton and Basketball Pave The Way For Young Love

Netflix adds to its original anime programming with sports romantic comedy Blue Box . Based on Kouji Miura’s ongoing manga series of the same name, this Japanese-language series blends sports, home life, and young love as its protagonists Taiki Inomata (Shōya Chiba) and Chinatsu Kano (Reina Ueda) pursue their dreams and each other.

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Opening Shot: Glimpses of a boy running in the early morning are interwoven with moments of someone shooting a basketball at a school gym. He arrives at the gym, only to be hit in the face with a basketball upon entry. The baller turns out to be a teen girl who immediately apologizes and offers him a KitKat, thus marking the first major interaction between our two potential lovebirds.

The Gist: Taiki Inomata (Shōya Chiba) is a student at Eimei Private High School, an integrated junior and senior high known as a sports powerhouse. He’s left junior high teams behind to start participating with the senior high’s badminton team. The team gets free practice in the mornings, leaving earlybird Taiki the gym’s only occupant aside from basketball player Chinatsu Kano (Reina Ueda), who always seems to beat him there and is already practicing with intensity.

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Taiki has a major crush on Chinatsu, and he looks forward to early mornings spent working alongside her. Unfortunately, Taiki’s best friend and fellow badminton player Kyo Kasahara (Chiaki Kobayashi) reminds Taiki that his chances with Chinatsu are slim to none. Not only is she a year older, but she’s also the extremely popular rising star of the girl’s basketball team. And, well, Taiki is neither popular nor particularly athletically skilled. Besides their run-in earlier that morning, Taiki and Chinatsu’s only real point of contact is his mom, Yukiko Inomata (Ryōka Yuzuki) who’s an alum of the school’s basketball team.

Taiki, Kyo, and their friend, rhythmic gymnastics team member Hina Chono (Akari Kitō), all just became official high schoolers in the spring. Taiki and Hina may squabble like elementary schoolers sometimes, but he still turns to her for advice on how to make a girl happy (she immediately overwhelms him with unhelpful tips but it’s the thought that counts). In the end, Taiki doesn’t actually need anyone’s help, as the next morning he manages to talk to her when they’re both locked out of the gym and even learns that she somehow already knows his name! And… his mom?

It turns out that their moms were teammates and friends throughout high school basketball, and Taiki’s pleasantly surprised when his mom informs him of this new “point of contact.” Little does he know how true that ends up being when Chinatsu’s parents are transferred overseas, while she spends the next year in Japan with “an acquaintance”… who is, naturally, Taiki’s mom. Let the awkward high school romance, angst, and shenanigans begin!

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? Much like Blue Box , 2005 anime series Suzuka expertly melds sports and rom-com, following a young man from rural Japan who falls hard for his new next-door neighbor in Tokyo, a skilled high jumper named Suzuka Asahina.

Our Take: Even based on only the pilot episode, Blue Box definitely does not seem to be a cookie-cutter high school romance anime. With elements of sports and individual dreams that run deep to the show’s core, the show intertwines sports and life in a way that makes me eager to see more. It’s refreshing to see an anime featuring a girl’s basketball star while the boy is more of a fanboy (maybe even a simp) whose athletic achievements and social status pale in comparison. Taiki even manages to avoid coming across as a total stalker by being both non-threatening and self-aware enough to know when he’s done something cringey.

While Taiki may initially come off as a bit bland and Chinatsu-obsessed, the eventual revelation of the immense pressure he puts on himself and how much extra badminton practice he puts into the game adds depth and personality. We still don’t know a lot about Chinatsu beyond her utter devotion to basketball, but that in and of itself is compelling and something we’ll hopefully see development with over time. What we know now, though, is that their budding support of each other’s athletic pursuits is very sweet and something that will be interesting to develop in later episodes.

Visually, Blue Box is mostly beautiful, vibrant animation, interspersed with a few moments of subpar or awkward-looking CGI that still are minor enough not to bring down the show’s overall quality. As far as the tone of this first episode, the moments of schmaltz are balanced out by a genuine heart and warmth under the surface that shows promise for the future of Blue Box .

Sex and Skin: At one point, Chinatsu calls Taiki a masochist in response to his high-pressure perspective on badminton, but other than that little innocent teasing, Blue Box is as clean as can be.

Parting Shot: Taiki is shocked by the revelation that Chinatsu will be staying with their family starting in the spring. As Taiki’s mom, Chinatsu’s mom, and Chinatsu all stand smiling in Taiki’s kitchen, he looks absolutely flabbergasted as the screen zooms out from his face to the whole city while he yells “What the heck?”

Sleeper Star: She wasn’t in much of the episode but Akari Kitō’s Hina Chono definitely made an impact. With a big personality stuffed into a pint-sized rhythmic gymnast’s body and colorful character design, Hina is encapsulated by Kitō in a committed and entertaining way, even just through her voice.

Most Pilot-y Line: “If we were to compare you to schools, Chinatsu-senpai would be a seeded school, and you’d be the school that gets knocked out in the first round. You’re at completely different levels.” Wow, Kyo, way to put zero faith into your best bro!

Our Call: STREAM IT! Blue Box is a promising new series that seems worth investing in for fans of anime, sports, and romantic comedies. With its original take on the classic anime rom-com, we’re looking forward to seeing what else Blue Box has in store!

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