Ao no Hako

Every morning, incoming first-year Taiki Inomata hurries to his high school gym in order to further refine his badminton skills. However, his true motivation stems from sharing the otherwise empty gym with second-year Chinatsu Kano, Taiki's crush and the star player of the girls' basketball team. Although Chinatsu seems unapproachable, Taiki gradually finds opportunities to get to know her little by little.

Unbeknownst to Taiki, his tireless work ethic and admiration motivate Chinatsu to work harder and strive to achieve her greatest ambitions. When her family must suddenly move overseas for work, Chinatsu decides to remain in Japan and shoot for victory at the national level. With nowhere to stay, she is taken in by Taiki's mother, who is longtime friends with Chinatsu's own. Overwhelmed with the new reality of living alongside the girl he loves, Taiki resolves to join Chinatsu at the national level in his own sport—and grow closer to her in the process.

Still, despite being good enough to catch his coach's eye, Taiki must fight an uphill battle to qualify for a spot on the starting team. Cheered on by both Chinatsu and gymnast Hina Chouno, his childhood friend, Taiki aims to make a name for himself among his powerful upperclassmen.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Chouno, Hina Main

Kitou, Akari Japanese

Kano, Chinatsu Main

Ueda, Reina Japanese

Inomata, Taiki Main

Chiba, Shouya Japanese

Kasahara, Kyou Supporting

Kobayashi, Chiaki Japanese

Haryuu, Kengo Supporting

Uchida, Yuuma Japanese

Moriya, Ayame Supporting

Ichinose, Kana Japanese

Moriya, Karen Supporting

Shiraishi, Haruka Japanese

Hyoudou, Shouta Supporting

Ono, Yuuki Japanese

Funami, Nagisa Supporting

Nagase, Anna Japanese

Taiki's Father Supporting

Maeda, Hiroki Japanese

Tanaka, Junichirou Producer

Ishiyama, Takahiro Producer

Kikuchi, Hitoshi Producer

Inoue, Yuuji Producer

Reviews

Dec 12, 2024

eksratu

Recommended

Preliminary (11/25 eps)

Ao no Hako is a high school sports romance that takes itself rather seriously. Unlike, say, Kaguya-sama, which tows the line between irony and sincerity, Ao no Hako leans into the sincere, playing up its dramatic moments through unfiltered, genuine expressions of emotion. The show still has tons of humor, too, but it expects you to buy into the premise in order to fully enjoy its story.

My favorite part is how easy the characters are to root for. They’re earnest, grounded, and surprisingly mature. When they make mistakes, it’s easy to understand why. When they suffer setbacks, it’s easy to sympathize. I don’t find ... myself constantly criticizing them for being obviously stupid, which makes Ao no Hako much more engaging than its “shounen” tag might suggest.

As much as I’ve been enjoying it, though, it’s not perfect. There are numerous off-model character shots in basically every episode, and the show seemingly tries its hardest to completely avoid animating anything dynamic, skipping almost every scene that would include a lot of motion. That hasn’t dulled the impact of the emotional moments, though, so I’d still recommend Ao no Hako if you’re looking for something with the usual honey-sweetness and catastrophic thinking that so often characterize high school romance stories.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Dec 20, 2024

Rian_Rahmat

Mixed Feelings

Preliminary (4/25 eps)

I like romantic and comedy anime, but not so much sports, unless it's racing.

The first time I saw this, I honestly didn't like it right away.
First, the character design is too much in my opinion, especially the eyes which have so many colored patterns.
This kind of eye style is usually found in anime with Ikemen characters, or old school anime that I've seen.

Second, from the reactions of each character which I think are also excessive, the point is it's exaggerated, too over-reacting.
Take for example the main character here, when he is teased he always makes an exaggerated expression, even in some scenes he himself said ... that he is Kimoi? Disgusting!

Due to these two shortcomings, I decided not to continue watching it.
I do like romantic anime, but seeing overreactions from the MC or other characters is too cliche for me to see.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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Dec 18, 2024

jmoney2788

Not Recommended

Preliminary (12/25 eps)

Looks Great, But That’s About It

Blue Box is a beautiful show. The animation is stunning, especially the way Hina is drawn—she’s absolutely gorgeous. The pacing is smooth, and the story is easy to follow. But honestly, that’s where the good parts end.

This is your typical cliché romance anime. Chinatsu and Taiki can’t say what they’re feeling, and the whole show revolves around that. Taiki is especially frustrating—he overthinks everything and always assumes the worst, which makes it hard to root for him. Every episode feels the same: misunderstandings, awkward tension, and recycled tropes like “pulling her out of the way of a car.” It’s so ... predictable you can guess the ending already.

And dont even get me started on the half baked sports half of this show…….

Sure, there’s a bit of depth with Hina’s unrequited love, but it’s not enough to save the show from being exhausting to watch. Unless you’re really into standard romance anime, there’s not much here to get excited about tbh.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Ao no Hako Episode 7 Discussion ( 1 2 ) IzanaSolos - Nov 7	86 replies	by Not_anurup »» 10 hours ago
	Poll: Ao no Hako Episode 12 Discussion ( 1 2 ) IzanaSolos - Dec 12	97 replies	by Aleksu »» Yesterday, 2:49 AM
	New PV & Key Visual!!! Ricky16 - Dec 21	22 replies	by Gear707 »» Yesterday, 1:47 AM
	Jump Festa 2025 _MushiRock11_ - Dec 21	4 replies	by nathh »» Dec 22, 8:24 AM
	Poll: Ao no Hako Episode 11 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Softhenic03 - Dec 5	80 replies	by Ranxomare »» Dec 22, 7:44 AM