English Dub Review: HANEBADO! “Meat’s the Best After a Workout!”

“After a workout, you gotta have meat.”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

Nagisa is threatened by Ayano’s presence. She works even harder than ever before, but can’t seem to pull out of her slump. Luckily, her coach turns out to be a pretty cool guy and helps her out of her own head by reminding her that she deserves to be on the badminton court because of her own hard work.

Our Take:

Meat’s the Best After a Workout! maybe a comedic title, but the second episode of HANEBADO! is anything but funny. Sure, Yu has her meaty moments, but for the most part, we’re treated to a serious examination into what makes Nagisa tick. After being bested by Ayano (who was still in middle school at the time), she’s doubting her own abilities and talents on the court. We haven’t spent much time with Ayano at all yet, but I’m a little worried about her whole ‘obligated to play because of innate talent’ thing. She makes it clear that she would really not like to join the club, or even play badminton at all, but Alaina, supposedly her best friend, tells her she has to because she has so much natural talent. This is, obviously, not a great message to send. Speaking of messages, I was a little worried about their new coach, based on his ‘hand groping’ scenes. If the ending is any indication, though, he does at least actually know what he’s doing and cares about getting the best out of his players.

Rumor has it that more than ten thousand frames went into the animation this episode, and I completely believe it. The movement in HANEBADO is just incredible. At first glance, badminton doesn’t reveal itself to be as active a sport like a football or soccer, but the way the show renders each little tick of the players makes each match compelling and exciting. Not only is every frame drawn in exquisite detail, but the overall direction of the series feels very lively and has a cinematic quality to it that elevates the entire production. This is great to watch now, and I’d like to remain hopeful, but I seriously doubt the show can deliver this level of visuals on a consistent basis throughout thirteen episodes.

This week, I noticed the excellent dub even more. HANEBADO! isn’t like some anime – it doesn’t really do hyperactive, over-the-top gags or super expressive faces. This calls for a more realistic, natural sounding dub, and ADR director Tabitha Ray deserves a lot of credit for pulling such genuine performances out of the cast. Kyle Igneczi’s role as the badminton club coach Tachibana adds a layer of empathy to the character that may not have come across otherwise. Dawn M. Bennett’s performance as Nagisa is just as wonderful as the premiere episode, and I’m looking forward to hearing more of her as the show calls on her to become more of a team player.

The second episode of HANEBADO! featured plenty of beautifully-animated badminton and some nice character development for club president Nagisa. The production values were unquestionably amazing and the English dub is on track to be one of the better ones I’ve heard in recent months. The end of the episode teases the appearance of a cocky pink-haired competitor, and I’m looking forward to settling down with a stick of meat next week to watch episode three!

Score
8.5/10