Summary
Fall 2024 sees the release of a number ofhighly anticipated anime adaptations, including that of Kōji Miura’sAo no Hako (Blue Box), which might seem like yet another high school romance anime at first, but boasts an interesting combination of central themes – the awkward journey of an adolescent romance story bound together with the high-octane passion of sport. The manga has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump since 2021, and has been in the top spot in the magazine’s weekly rankings on multiple occasions, proving it to be immensely popular with Japanese manga readers.
Telecom Animation Film’s anime adaptation may just live up to this lofty reputation the series has developed since its debut, with great visuals, direction, and fluid animation. Here’s what makesBlue Boxworth watching this anime season.
Some Background Information
About Blue Box
TheBlue Boxanime is based on the manga written and illustrated by Kōji Miura and has been serialized in Shueisha’s Weekly Shōnen Jump since April 2021 and collected into 17 volumes so far. The story follows Taiki Inomata, a student at Eimei Junior and Senior High who is on the boys' badminton team and harbours a crush on the popular Chinatsu Kano, who is on the girls' basketball team. Chinatsu is always thefirst at the gymnasium and the last to leave, a work ethic and drive that attracted Taiki to her. They would spend many mornings practicing their respective sport alongside each other before any of their fellow club members arrived, establishing a level of rapport but not nearly close enough for him to speak to her naturally at school or practice. Taiki’s heart is shattered when he hears that Chinatsu will be emigrating within a few months with her parents who have found work abroad; however, the heartbreak turns to shock when Taiki not only learns that his mother and Chinatsu’s mother are friends and were teammates on the Eimei High Basketball Team, but that Chinatsu will be living with him and his parents until she graduates.
The series is produced by Telecom Animation Film (Tower of Godseason 1), with Yūichirō Yano (key animation,The Piano Forest) serving as the director; series composition by Yūko Kakihara (scripts,Cells At Work!); music by Takashi О̄mama; sound direction by Jin Aketagawa; character designs by Miho Tanino (character designs,Tower of Godseason 1);art direction by Ōnoo Fujii (backgrounds,Suzume); Yūki Kawashita as director of photography; colour design by Narumi Konno; Mogi Shingo as an art advisor and Yoshihiro Kasahara as editor. The cast ofBlue Boxincludes Shōya Chiba as Taiki Inomata; Reina Ueda as Chinatsu Kano; Yūma Uchida as Kengo Haryū; Shōgo Sakata as Ryōsuke Nishida; Akari Kitō as Hina Chōno; Chiaki Kobayashi as Kyō Kasahara; Anna Nagase as Nagisa Funami and Asaki Yuikawa as Niina Shimazaki.
The Secret Weapon: A Blend Between Sport and Romance
Two High-Passion Pursuits Come Together
What makesBlue Boxstand out from the average romance title is the way it blends the call to action found in sports anime; usually something like “Let’s aim for Nationals”, with the angst, awkwardness and emotion of high school romance anime, ironically binding the unique combination of these two elements with something that we’ve seen time and time again – the trope in which the main character and main heroine find themselves in some kind of mutual living situation, usually one that happens out of the blue. The anticipation of watching multiple cast members, not just the MC, apply themselves in their chosen sporting code, is an aspect that iscentral to the romantic developmentsor possibility thereof. Taiki doesn’t want to derail Chinatsu’s ambition to take the basketball team to Nationals, having just barely missed the mark in her final year of junior high. Seeing Chinatsu’s frustration as she practiced through tears by herself (where most people would have taken some time off to recover after a devastating loss); an expression of the high standards she holds for herself, is one of the main reasons why Taiki began to take an interest in her.
Wanting to confess his feelings to her while trying to keep her personal goals in mind, Taiki decides to take his badminton just as seriously and aim for Nationals; however, for Chinatsu, the goal is reachable, while in his current state, Taiki can’t even aim to be the best of the high school first years. This combines his romantic endeavour with his sport and makes them inseparable – to ever hope to be able to express his feelings and have a sense that he’s doing so on “equal footing”,Taiki must devote himself to honing his badmintonwith the same level of discipline that Chinatsu has dedicated to her basketball. They may both be athletes on some level, but they are fundamentally opposite existences: where Chinatsu plays in a team, Taiki feels more comfortable in a solo sport like badminton because all the responsibility for his victories and defeats falls squarely on his shoulders; where Chinatsu is a star player and future MVP, Taiki is just some guy with a racquet.
Let’s Talk About Atmosphere
Soft Colours and Fluid Movement Accentuate the Central Combo
The wayBlue Boxis presented is the icing on the cake. Combining the soft flat tones and colours that you can find in various romance and slice of life anime with sharp, fluid movement when it comes to the sporting element makes for a visual representation of the aforementioned marriage between romance and sport anime. To say it looks good would be an understatement, because it takes Miura’s great art and sense for creatinginteresting dynamics between characters, and elevates that soft, fluffy feeling with music that adds to the sense of calm optimism that might be a reflection of Taiki’s personality.
It also fills in the high-octane, dynamic parts of the story that are mostly implied in the manga, so fans of the series might have an additional treat in the form of fluid movement, where the manga would have just implied the action with sparse but impressive, eye-catching panels that only partly depict the characters in action. Being able to see the various movements in full hammers home the fact thatBlue Boxis not just a sports anime with romantic elements or vice-versa, but a unique blend of both aspects, with the kind of photography and backgrounds that are evidence of this anime adaptation receiving a lot of time and attention that makes it soworth watching this Fall 2024 anime season.
Blue Box is available to watch onNetflix.
Blue Box
Based on Kouji Miura’s manga, Blue Box is a sports romance anime about Taiki Inomata, an average badminton player, who is inspired to strive for nationals by Chinatsu Kano, the basketball team’s star player. When Chinatsu ends up living with Taiki’s family, this gives both of them a chance to develop their relationship.
