English Dub Season Review: Hinomaru Sumo Season One

The sacred sport of sumo has finally found itself an anime.

When it comes to anime genres, sports and shounen shows have definitely been some of the most popular. Even for people who don’t normally have an interest in sports, adding the elements of anime can make even a dry exercise like tennis extraordinarily interesting. The best sports anime are able to blend action and imagination with the spirit of a shounen show, giving high school sports a gravitas that rivals myths of legend. Hinomaru Sumo is a show that tries to follow that ambition, treading in the footsteps of such anime greats as “Hajime no Ippo” and “Eyeshield 21.” This fine showing of a sports anime delivers an anime that’s fun, exciting and has a great ending arc. Though it’s far from the greatest show I’ve seen, suffering from a scattershot group of characters and some awkwardness in it’s fighting sequences, it was an enjoyable 24 episodes, and one of the best shows I’ve seen this season.

This anime follows the story of Hinomaru Ushio, a talented young high school sumo wrestler with the heart of a warrior. He seeks to do battle in the sacred ritual of sumo wrestling, and has the ambition of becoming a yokozuna, the title of a champion in the sport. However, Hinomaru faces one little problem, he’s short, and in a sport like sumo, which has no weight classes, size means everything. Still, Hinomaru isn’t deterred from his dream, and wields his adversity like a weapon in the ring. With his incredible fighting spirit, he’s able to assemble a team of like-minded wrestling outcasts, who follow him on his rise through the ranks and become his comrades.

This is a pretty standard setup for a lot of sports anime, which isn’t such a bad thing. Underdog stories work, and they give the viewer a lot of empathy for the characters they get to witness climb their way to the top. Hinomaru’s particular conflict hits home because of just how unfair it is that he can’t be a great sumo wrestler merely because of his size. Yet, the show doesn’t dwell on that conflict alone. As Hinomaru grows, so does the size of the story, which begins to incorporate his friend’s struggles just as well as his own.

The story is pretty good, but doesn’t really get going until the final 6 or so episodes where he and his friends are fighting in the Inter High School Tournament. Everything before that, though fairly entertaining, suffers from the problem of being too condensed. As a seasonal anime, Hinomaru Sumo doesn’t get enough time to develop out it’s side characters and conflicts that take outside of the ring, which really inhibits it from becoming an amazing show.

Yet, once Hinomaru Sumo enters the ring, all that falls away. The fighting is really what you come here for, and you get exactly what you’d expect. Passion, battle, and lots and lots of shounen spirit. You’d think this would get repetitive, but Hinomaru Sumo does a good enough job of keeping variety in it’s fights that no two battles feel the same. Furthermore, the matchups that the Dachi High wrestlers have feel thematically appropriate for their character growth, which is essential for a dramatic battle.

Hinomaru‘s battles don’t quite get to the hyper-visualized intensity of “Hajime no Ippo” or “Eyeshield 21”, but they are definitely entertaining, and a great example of what an anime can do even when it has limited time and limited budget. There are a bit too many reaction shots for my liking in the fights, which pad things out, but that’s a pretty common trope for this kind of show to have.

If I were to see it redone, I would give Hinomaru Sumo that essential gift an anime needs: time. More time to develop out it’s accessory characters, more time to have longer, more complex fights, and more time to keep the story going. This is a good anime, one that sits at the cusp of greatness, but ironically enough, doesn’t quite make it to champion status. I really enjoyed seeing this show develop itself out week after week, but I’m still left a little bit wanting at it’s conclusion. However, my recommendation is this: if you’re looking for a good sports shounen, then you’ve definitely found one worth watching, even if it’s only briefly on your way to watching bigger and better things.