Unique Sports Anime of 2016

The sports genre in the world of anime are known to show highly popular sports such as baseball, basketball and even soccer in creative and exciting ways for any viewer interested. Lately however new and unique types of sports anime have been popping up with a new sport to the scene. The following listed are such examples of a new sport type anime.

Tiger Mask W

Though there have been number of wrestling anime in the past, it has been quite some time before a new anime on this sport has come to screen. It tells the story of two men walking on two different paths towards one goal. The destruction of a recently revived underground wrestling organization known as the “Tiger’s Lair”. Why? The organization at one point had destroyed the wrestling dojo in which they grew up in and thus a fire in them is spark.

For one of them they decided to take over the training facilities of Naoto Date at the foot of Mount Fuji, as well as the mask he left behind. The other man however decides to enter the Tiger’s Lair and upon winning a fierce competition gains a black tiger mask. Though these two may walk the same path they are enemies in the ring with no idea of the other’s identity.

Keijo!!!!!!!!

A new take on gymnastics the story focuses on 17-year-old gymnast Kaminashi Nozomi struggling through the financial issues of her family. Though multiple colleges with the best gymnast programs have tried to recruit her she refused all of them. Instead she aimed to enter the competitive world of “Keijo”. Described as a type of gymnast platform competition with gambling, the goal is to push your opponent out of their platform and into the water. However, the competitors are only allowed to use their chest and bottoms to push each other out.

Cheer Danshi!!

When you think of cheerleading the first thing most people would think of would of pretty girls in short skirts performing preppy routines. This anime takes that image and completely turns it on its head with a tale involving an all-male cheerleading team. In this story Haruki Bandou a shy first-year university student with a shoulder injury decides to take part of the judo club only to find dissatisfaction with the sport. Along with him having also quit the judo club is his best friend Kazuma Hashimoto who comes up with an out of the box type of idea.

This idea is none other than to create an all-male cheerleading team; and though Haruka is somewhat reluctant in the beginning he soon joined forces with his friend in creating their team known as the “Breakers” Through sheer determination during their recruitment and the journey to make their team successful Haruka and Kazuma face through the challenges of prejudices, physical challenges, and self-doubts towards their goal.

All Out!

Featuring the type of football game known as rugby, the story follows Kenji Gion, a first year high schooler that’s short in height and short in temper with plenty of guts. Upon meeting a fellow first year and gentle giant Iwashimizu he encounters the sport of rugby and is inspired to join; wanting to do tackling most of all. Joining the team with Iwashimizu though, Kenji soon learns that there is more to rugby than he thinks. As he gets to know not only the sport but his fellow players including the powerful but mysterious Captain Sekizan and the cheerful sub-captain Hachiouji; Kenji’s passion for the sport grows that makes a star out of all who plays.

Yuri!!! On Ice

One of the top anime of the previous year, this anime presents the world of male figure skating. In this story, Yuri Katsuki, a Japanese figure skater who upon taking sixth place in the Grand Prix Finals and undergoing a distressing event finds himself unsure of what the future will bring him. In this slump he decides to head back to his home in Hasetsu in Kyushu after a year in university in Detroit where he ended up gaining weight.

Upon his return to his family home though, he visits his solace known as the “Ice Castle Hasetsu” where he visits his friend Yuuko and performs for her a skate routine done by his idol Viktor Nikiforov. Unknown to him however, his performance he was videotaped by his friend’s young triplets who then uploaded it on the internet which resulted in him becoming viral and catching the attention of none other than Viktor himself. From the video Viktor travels to Hasetsu and announces himself to be Yuuri’s new coach and that they would be aiming for gold in the Grand Prix Final.