Ao no Hako – Episode 01 Review

OP Sequence

OP: 「Same Blue」 by (Official HIGE DANdism)

「千夏先輩」 (Chinatsu-senpai)
“Chinatsu Senpai”

This was the first premiere of the season for me, and one I had been looking forward to as one of the few Shonen Jump series I try to keep current with. There was some really nice directorial work on display. In particular, the juxtaposing shots throughout the opening sequence between Chinatsu and Taiki and basketball and badminton was elegant, setting the stage for what’s to come.

And what’s to come is clear from the outset. Inomatsu Taiki (Chiba Shouya) is head over heels for his senpai, Chinatsu for a year and a half, witnessing her hard work and dedication to her sport. Unfortunately for him, he doesn’t have a whole lot of support in his corner, since everybody practically discourages him from shooting for the stars. The difference between Chinatsu (Ueda Reina) and Taiki’s rankings in the pecking order couldn’t be any more drastic, as Kyou (Kobayashi Chiaki) makes clear to Taiki right off the bat. However, I think Taiki has the right attitude- you don’t know unless you try. Sometimes opportunity and luck have much stronger bearing than ability or skill. With Taiki’s earnest nature, I can’t help but root for him.

Besides Kyou, we also have Hina (Kitou Akari) in Taiki’s circle, a short childhood friend and convenient point of reference for love advice. Or at least that’s what he hoped, but sweet lamb that he is, Taiki wasn’t prepared for Hina’s muscled preferences. “Her tastes are too specific”- well, yeah. There’s no one size fits all in romance. Taiki’s going to have a steep learning curve ahead.

I love that Taiki awkwardly stands there sweating over how to start talking with Chinatsu- the struggle is real. Sometimes though (ok, oftentimes), overthinking just makes things more awkward in the end- just go with your gut. Thanks to a little sneeze, Taiki jumps into instinctive action and his chivalrous nature takes over, immediately offering her a bevy of warming items.

One point for team Taiki. From the way Kyou talks about her and I’m sure the way others treat her as the up-and-coming ace, Chinatsu gets put on a pedestal, which can get isolating. Sometimes it’s nice to be treated like a normal person who has needs (like catching a chill), like everyone else. With genuinely kind-hearted nature, Taiki does just that. As it turns out- he didn’t even need to introduce himself, as she already knows his name (mom’s writing on the tag does the talking, haha). What an adorable scene.

Chinatsu-senpai isn’t a rising star for nothing. The girl works harder than anyone- coming early and staying late to practice. Taiki is the only one to see that. Everyone else who practices within normal times only sees the outcome. For her to compliment him on his hard work- that’s high praise indeed. Contrary to what everyone says, I don’t think she’s out of his league at all. She notices his effort dedicated to his sport (and can’t resist the urge of saying and remembering his full name- yeah, he’s caught her eye all right).

Taiki’s got nerves of steel to embrace the pressure of badminton where the onus is all on him to win. It suits him, from what we’ve seen. Because he’s like that, he can pursue Chinatsu senpai when others would back off because she’s too high on the ladder or such stuff of nonsense.

Taiki sees not just her hard work, but her pain and frustration that others don’t see and that draws him to her even more, like a moth to a light. She motivates him to work hard, but the beautiful thing is, it goes both ways. For a brief (2 minutes), it seems like game over for Taiki when he finds out Chinatsu is moving- except, surprise, she’s not! In a wonderful full circle moment at the end, she confides to Taiki that he is the one who motivated her to stay behind in Japan and shoot for nationals.

The whole episode Taiki psyches himself up about finding shared connections and fate sure delivers in a super-sized way. Not only are both their moms alumni from the same basketball team, his family turns out to be the very acquaintances Chinatsu will be staying with.

What a cute little foreshadowing- starting the episode with Taiki’s dream of waking up to waifu Chinatsu and ending the episode with him waking up to actually find Chinatsu in his house. Or Taiki dreaming about having a point of contact with her through his mom’s basketball connection, only to find out that it is in fact a real connection, both moms having played on the same basketball team. Oh, and in case anyone was wondering why little boars were running around- the Ino in Inomatsu Taiki is the word for “boar”.

A guy discovering that he has to share living arrangements with his crush is certainly nothing new in the ani-manga books, but Ao no Hako has charm that makes it fresh and endearing. The seiyuu also brought the youthful earnestness and loveableness of the two mains to life- good call on the director’s part. While the manga certainly plays to the tropes of the genre, I felt like the anime played up to them a whole lot more- not a major complaint, just an observation. Overall, I am pleased with how the premiere turned out.

ED Sequence