Basquash! / First Impressions

OP Sequence

OP: 「nO limit」 by 戸松遥, 中島愛, 早見沙織 (Tomatsu Haruka, Nakajima Megumi, Hayami Saori)
Watch the OP! Mirror 1, Mirror 2, Streaming ▼

I was rather disappointed with the OP. With a group of talent like Tomatsu Haruka, Nakajima Megumi, and Hayami Saori, you’d think that they could produce a really good piece of music, but this one was pretty average for a seiyuu group song. The accompanying animation also seemed to have an unusually high amount of footage from the episodes, so it wasn’t that impressive either. I did laugh though when the Nike swoosh came up at the same time the shoe blueprints did. Talk about blatant product placement…

Summary:

After being locked up for a year, Dan has been released from prison and is a legend. Bigfoot basketball is more popular now thanks to him, and children on the street recognize him. Dan even receives a bouquet of flowers from a girl he doesn’t know. When he gets home, however, Coco hands him a massive bill from the city for the destruction and trouble he caused, and she proceeds to shut him out of her life. Thinking about how Coco’s feet were crushed by a Bigfoot and how the doctor suggested that only the moon’s technology could heal her, Dan remains determined to get to the moon, and he visits Miyuki. She feels that whether or not he can go to the moon depends on himself, and she helps him set up an express delivery service using the Bigfoot. The first delivery ends in disaster though when Dan crashes the Bigfoot through the roof of an apartment building, and that only increases his debt.

With the help of his friends and some Bigfoot sandals though, the business slowly gets going. Dan has confidence in his ability to hop across rooftops and make deliveries, but when he crosses paths with a basketball-dribbling competitor with as much skill as him, he abandons his delivery to pursue that person’s Bigfoot. Following it all the way to the ruins of a bridge where there’s a makeshift basketball rim, Dan is challenged by the other driver to a one-on-one basketball match, and the other driver ends up getting a slam dunk. Dan’s opponent turns out to be none other than the girl who gave him flowers before, Sela D. Miranda. She’s disappointed at his skill level after how impressed she had been a year ago at the stadium, and she feels that there’s no future in the legend. After Sela bids him farewell though, the two come under attack by a Bigfoot throwing basketballs at them from a distance. Dan decides to face this new opponent head on and charges forward.

Preview

This was solid as a second episode, but not any better or worse than the first episode. It’s a good introduction to Sela’s character (Miyuki’s as well), but the whole debt thing strikes me the wrong way. Realistically, it’s understandable that the city expects Dan to pay them back, but story-telling-wise, it feels like just one more obstacle in the way of his quest to get to the moon. Hopefully paying back the debt won’t become a focus of the show. Speaking of the moon though, I do like how it’s not just some mythical technologically advanced place and represents more of the haves culture while Earthdash is more of the have-nots. Miyuki’s grandfather’s brief speech about sharing technology could be a theme throughout the series, and I’m curious to hear more about Miyuki’s family’s connections with the moon. It’s likely not the place Dan idealizes it to be.

Production quality-wise, I really enjoyed the one-on-one basketball match between Sela and Dan – there was some great music that went along with the CG Bigfoots action. What I found out of place, however, was the insert song in the middle of the episode. It’s a nice song (I like it more than the OP), but it’s a bit early in the series to have a random montage sequence like that for Dan and Coco. And the Eclipse girls running in the air while Dan was running too was just silly (in what would otherwise have been a fairly serious scene). That aside though, I’m still liking the series quite a bit, and hopefully it’ll stay that way as the story moves on to the proper introductions of Iceman and Flora next week.

21 Comments

  4. Its the one with Miyuki little and her parent’s being killed in the explosion. Something about all that hair being blown back, the clothing, and how tiny her feet are, also the pose just screams CUTE!. Am I sick? Also that Coco breaking her legs part really felt gruesome. Just the thought of something huge like that step on my legs *shiver*

    ROFLWAFFLELAWL
    Reply

  7. the whole basketball mecha/car thing is pretty unexciting “should be way more over the top”
    its cool how they actually mention that in the show…but the production value is nice shiny and crispy, so I’ll be back for more. but whats up with da HUMONGOUS file size?

    BROOKLYN otaku
    Reply

  9. @BROOKLYN otaku: About “humongous file size”, try to watch it in a HDTV, if you can`t see excellent picture quality in your pc screen.
    That`s where big file size goes to.
    So far i haven`t found this in better than 720p quality as sub, but i will definitely watch this also in Full HD 1080p raws until similar subs appears. Otherwise i think this
    is a lively and fun anime to watch despite i`m not normally into Basketball as a sport, i like soccer mostly, being european.

    Savofenno
    Reply

  14. the setting is pretty interesting, but this ep has made me realise something: i can’t really connect with any of the characters. i don’t like them, i don’t care what happens to them..

    panda monium
    Reply

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