Oct 31, 2021
In beginning this review, I want to address the opinions that Ice Hockey isn't known in Japan and that the Japanese aren't good at the sport.
Let me just say that this is categorically untrue! Japan's women's national ice hockey team are currently ranked 6th in the world, with the team competing in the IIHF Women's World Championship (The top tier of women's international hockey).
Japan also has a promising talent pool of young Japanese girls. With Japan's U18's girl's team winning the GOLD MEDAL at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics!
I just wanted to get this part out of the way first. As that opinion
...
is rather insulting to the many young Japanese girls who have not only taken up the sport, but are thriving at it on the international level!!
As for the anime itself, I went into this with a lot of trepidation when the anime was first announced.
I was excited that not only were we going to finally get an anime that focuses on ice hockey, but that it was also going to focus on girls.
Though I was also quite worried that 'Pride of Orange' was just going to be a bunch of idols who take up the sport as a unique and nonorthodox method of making themselves known.
Story -
Thankfully, my concerns about this being a show about idols taking up the sport were quickly quashed.
Within the first 4 episodes that I have watched so far, we've been introduced to the main characters who are in JHS (entering HS) and as we're being introduced to the MCs, they themselves are being introduced to the game of Hockey.
I found this part quite enjoyable, as it brought back a number of memories of when I first took up Hockey as a young kid. Whilst watching the girls on screen, I was also thinking about when I was learning to use my edges, how to stick handle & control the puck and also learning the rule of the game.
So so far, I am taking this show for what it's portrayed so far. A slice of life/sports show that is about a group of JHS/HS girls that are learning to play Hockey. It's rather laid back so far and none of the characters have god like skills, like what we see in other sports anime and I like that. This is more of a realistic approach to sport.
Characters -
It is quite difficult to make a judgement of the characters right now, as we are only 4 episodes into the anime. But so far, they are what you would expect of characters from a slice of life anime. Each of the girls have their own personalities and they are easy to distinguish between one another thanks to their designs.
Artwork -
I was going into this anime with concerns about how they would be able to animate the Hockey scenes. As Hockey is a very fast paced sport and I was worried that they would've animated these scenes in a very robotic and shoddy manner. But for now, I have found it to be acceptable. I'm able to watch these scenes and not think that they are impossible to watch.
The background artwork is very standard of what you can expect from an anime today that doesn't have an insane budget but is still aesthetically pleasing enough to the eye. And as someone who has stayed in Nikko a number of times over the past decade. I can appreciate the attention to detail with the locations that I easily recognise. Especially the end credit drawings. (Episode 4 featured Kanmangafuchi Abyss, which is a lovely quite and beautiful part of central Nikko)
Overall I am enjoying this show so far and I am looking forward to the future episodes that are ahead and seeing how this story goes and how the characters further develop on their hockey journey.
This is my first time writing a review and I hope that it is okay... I've never felt the urge to write a review before. But I felt obliged to this time, as an anime fan that also plays Ice Hockey and has a good understanding and first hand experience of Hockey in Japan.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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