Dear Boys

The concept of the anime Dear Boys sounds like those typical sports anime of 2000s decade. The main character, Kazuhiko Aikawa, is a transfer student, whose passion and enthusiasm helps to rebuild a high school basketball team which was struggling initially and was on the verge of getting suspended. The other major characters too were typical. There is someone who is always calm and quiet, then there is one short-tempered guy and the one who is a loner. However, Takumi Fujiwara's conflict with the coach looked like a fresh concept and then how the boys managed to convince the coach of the girls' team to coach them as well. Yes, there are some intensed matches but the slow motion tends to make it look annoying at times.

I think the characters are drawn really well but the animation is not that appealing. I liked both the opening and the ending song. Soon after singing for Captain Tsubasa, Da Pump sang an opening song for this as well. And boy, they delivered yet again. Sound of Bounce is really a catchy song. It seems the lyrics were written from the perspective of their female coach (Hey guys, 1 2 3, sound of bounce of free dunk. Yo girl! 1 2 3, sound of bounce of free love). The ending song Baller no Shougou too is catchy and sounds more western.

I believe this is a watchable sport anime.

So bacially, i came across this anime because i was looking for anime who has a europop soundtrack like Initial D and this anime was one of them that showed up. I gave a try to watch the first episode and it was the same reaction as Inital D, the animation sucked but the music still has a jam to sway to.

I have to say as well, the English dub actors were pretty good too, its just too bad the animation was blinding to look at. I know this is the early 2000s folks but I've seen way better early 2000s with the best quality tbh....

So I purchased this on a whim, being a baller all my life and it is a fantastic story and full of good, likable characters and moments.

Aikawa comes from Tendoji Elite, the best basketball school in Japan, but wants balling to be fun again. He decides to go to Mizuho and is basically an unknown player to many. He stirs the pot and gets Mizuho interested again.

Aikawa maybe the best player in the nation, but no one at Mizuho knows it, until he gets on the court. Off the court he's a bit of a Clark Kent guy, on it he's Superman, the best at what he does. So essentially this is a hero anime in a way.

I think this has unique action, great themes, nice animations and good voice acting. You like all the characters and pull for them to succeed but it does have really nice cliff hangers involving basketball and the games being played.

I give it a 9.5 out of 10. Every guy in high school wants to be the main character; a fun person who hides his true persona, a dominant sports athlete.