#stride

bkthegreatstoneface:

Call me, maybe?

Call me, maybe?

Prince of Stride: Alternative

Madhouse / Sports / Otome Game

Rating:7/10

Madhouse isn’t a studio that comes to my mind when people talk about sports anime. (They did Hajime no Ippo, a sports classic.) I actually had low expectations with Stride, considering its otome origins and how it focuses on a sport that doesn’t exist in real life (yet). Even so I ended up with a sour aftertaste as Stride rolls over.

Stride seems to have an identity crisis on what it wants to pursue - is it a shonen about a club rebuilding to reclaim former glory? A shoujo/harem with a girl surrounded by muscled guys? Maybe some yaoi cheese trap with a heaping of fanservice? Sometimes it attempts to be a silly comedy, too. These ideas are all over the place which convinced me it’s a show not to be taken seriously. Of course it’s entertaining but it takes some convincing to believe the sports aspect actually works - the idea’s fresh but vague. There was a lot of potential if only it was more fleshed out.

The colorful palette and the music compensates for what’s lacking - if only more time was spent drawing the characters. And as a show goes into climax it made me confused who is the main focus of the story - you’d though it was the entire team, maybe it’s Nana or Riku or whatever. There was little time to sort out all these conflicts and the rushed ending doesn’t help in solving them once and for all.

There are many ideas that could have made Stride a better anime - a longer season, perhaps? More competitions or backstories? I’m not in the position to say what should’ve been done but as a viewer I feel sad (of course) that a story with such potential only ended up half-baked. Whatever, it was somehow fun and I’d love to see the fictional sport turn into a real-life affair.