I have been seeing more female-led sports anime in the last few seasons and I’m really happy about that. Still, it’s very much a nice genre and when I looked it up it seems rather unpopular. The five most popular lady sports anime on AniList are all Girls und Panzer and that seems like a bit of a stretch already.
Unfortunately, I’m not entirely up to date with female cast sports anime but I have seen quite a few. And I have liked quite a few. In fact, I’m going to tell you about 5 of those right now. I’m sorry if you’re fave isn’t on the list, odds are I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet.
Oh and these are only shows that fall into my personal twisted definition of sports anime. Except for one – I’ll let you know!
5. Tekyuu!
This is the one. Technically, it is about a tennis club but it’s not really about the tennis. And it doesn’t follow the tropes of the genre. The only reason I even included it on the list is that I really enjoyed it and I liked the fact that it was such an unusual offering with so many seasons!
Tekyuu is in fact a screwball comedy and a short program. I’m not sure how many Sports shorts there are out there… Sports shorts! It’s a fun little show and there are occasional scenes of girls playing tennis. That’s a start, right?
4. Harukana Receive
Some of you may be dubious. I admit I was. Harukana seems a lot more concerned about showing off its characters in bikinis than about beach volleyball and that’s not really wrong. There is a definite focus on character design and a heck of a lot of long, gazing shots of the characters’ bodies.
But it’s also an honest to goodness sports anime. With a solid arc, a fairly classical adherence to the tropes and actual regard for the sport it’s featuring. I wouldn’t say it was the best volleyball show I have ever seen but it was better than I expected. If you hate sports anime, stay away from this one. It really has earned its inclusion in the genre. And it looks great!
3. Scorching Ping Pong Girls
I find that the girls are funnier than the boys. A lot of the lady sports animes are also straight-up comedies, unlike the ones we get with male casts. I like comedies so I hope the trend just gets generalized. I wonder why this is though.
Scorching Ping Pong Girls may be a bit of a CGDCT x Sports hybrid and it works pretty well. I think that out of all these titles, it’s the show that had the most recognizable Sports character archetypes, even if they were exaggerated for laughs. It also has a very classic plot, to the point that when I reviewed the show without watching it, I was super close on a lot of points!
2. Bamboo blade
This is the latest series I watched and I loved it. It was great! I mean the production is showing its age a bit but aside from that, I think this is a solid Sports anime. It’s fun, it’s balanced and I had a great time with it.
Best of all though, I learned a heck of a lot about kendo. And I have always wanted to know more about kendo. So that’s a huge win for this anime. Unlike all the other titles on my list, Bamboo Blade does prominently feature a few boys, although the competition team is entirely girls. Fun!
1. Saki
Is mahjong a sport? Of course, it is. Executive decision: if Go can be a sport (it is) and bridge can be an Olympic sport then mahjong can definitely be the sport in a Sports anime!
I really enjoyed Saki. Yes, I learned a lot about mahjong and I still play but beyond that, it had all the thrills of competition play and slowly advancing one game at a time. I got to share in the thrill of victory and agony of defeat.
I find that a lot of lady lead sports anime are fairly short and hardly get into competition much. Which is standard for the first season of sports anime. You gotta built up your team first. But I do like the excitement of a match and mahjong is surprisingly interesting to watch. No, really!
There you go, these are my top 5 Sports Anime with Mostly Female Casts. Yes I know there’s the one about bouncing balls of your behind and the suggestive dumbbell one. I haven’t seen them. Are they good? What are your favourite Sports! anime with a female cast?
The hoodie makes me athlethic….
