How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift? – Episode 12 [END]

Hibiki and her friends from school and the gym travel to tropical Muscle Island for spring break in the season finale.

Episode 12 – “How Heavy Are the Barbells You Lift?”

Hmm.

Dumbbells gave us the beach episode we wanted, needed, and deserved. There were no shark-infested waters. There was no empty beach. There was no consolation prize of running in the sand and doing burpees. It was glorious! We didn’t get to see the older sister types show off their bodies, but seeing them sit around and drink beer was good too. Dumbbells’ final episode left out the macho stuff so we could have almost an entire episode devoted to fit female bodies. Thank you, god of macho! Also, thank you for bringing back Harnnold Dogegenchonegger for one last appearance. He said, “I’ll be back,” and he meant it. That’s not a movie quote, so it’s okay!

Heh.

This buff old fisherman dude on the poster is just perfect. “Muscle Island” is conveniently close to Tokyo and still tropical. Macho Man has packed the essentials, even though the trip is a month away… Nice! Ayaka’s older sister and the hot teachers from school are coming on the trip. Jason Sgatham has a suspicious look on his face as he gives a vague excuse for not going.

Oh ho. Now Akemi and Hibiki want to go, just to see macho ikemen muscles!

Ah. Jason and Director want to make a video of the girls. But why is Director showing his skinny chest now? Does this satisfy the bara fans or the yaoi fans? It must be very important to plot evilly with a bare chest.

Hey! That island is nowhere near Tokyo!

Oh yes! New swimsuits! All the older sister types (and MILF) can chug beer! Zina is no good with heat. Macho Man’s idea of a big watermelon is relative.

Aw. Macho Man thinks you’re supposed to pose with the watermelon, not split it with the sword. Everyone has their blind spots. Akemi wants Macho Man’s muscles involved somehow, anyhow! Poor Ayaka. She should know by now that normal is not fine in this show. It’s the exception. Ayaka just wants to eat some watermelon, okay?

Shrug Exercise Video!

Yay! The exercise models get to wear their new swimsuits. And Hibiki is using dumbbells. It’s like we hardly ever see them, even though it’s in the name of the show. This is another one of those subtle exercises where the motion doesn’t seem like much, but it takes greater focus to do each rep correctly.

How heavy is the barbell Hibiki lifts? See what I did there? Grip strength, people. Remember to train your grip strength.

Oh yeah! Akemi gets excited now for that Mr. Nikunoshima Contest. Nooo! The Mr. Nikunoshima Contest was canceled! Oh, but for the grand prize of protein mix and a Bluray box of macho, Akemi and Hibiki are totally down for the Miss Nikunoshima Contest.

If Ayaka knows what Hibiki is doing for the talent portion, we can guess pretty easily that something explosive is going to happen.

Uh oh. Zina’s perfect plan went bust because there was another Russian beauty in the contest. Another name that sounds nothing like a Russian one. Crystal Garson. Gina Boyd. What part of Russia are they from? The Kansas part? Crystal looks totally like Irisviel von Einzbern.

Waah! Ayaka’s microkini got mosaic censored!

Akemi is strong! Handstand push-ups! Last episode of the season and we finally get an exercise video on push-ups.

Push-ups Exercise Video!

Yay! Ayaka’s SFW swimsuit is in the video. “How’d she change back so fast?!” I love the 4th wall breaking humor.

Push-ups work pecs and triceps. You can focus on either by spacing your hands differently. Closer together is for triceps. Wider apart is for the pectorals. Speed push-ups are only good at achieving rhabdo. Look that up — you don’t want it. Don’t do push-ups like this, even for aerobic workouts. Instead, change the rhythm of your breathing for a better effect. Akemi’s handstand push-ups work the traps too, but also, she’s doing a HANDSTAND. Let’s talk about that part first, and all the strength, coordination, and balance you need to practice before even bending your elbows.

I feel like we missed out on Ayaka’s amazing abs in that last cheesecake shot.

Kure-sensei loves drinking beer. Hibiki has a punching bag up there. I knew it! Kure-sensei senses power! Nana Uehara has seen this before. All these surprising faces, except for Kure-sensei and the Uehara sisters.

It’s a tie! A Russian judge is involved, right? Akemi and Hibiki go to the bench press for a tiebreaker. I just realized Hibiki is number 29, which is also a pun on niku. She’s the meat contestant!

Ha! There’s all this Super Saiyan Power Up stuff going on. Ah. Hibiki forgot to eat. It was her total loss.

Oh, right. Those guys. Lost at sea because their motor died. Time for the homage to action movie endings, where some people have their happy ending, but we know there was a tragic end for others. Bittersweet.

Drinking beer at sunset. Evening fireworks. A little BL fanservice with Jason and Director. I love this wry humor.

Where’s the little calorie counter for Hibiki’s barbecue?

Yass! The return of Harnnold! He sensed the presence of Jason after he got his SOS. Good for him. Har. Now he says, “I’ll be back,” but it’s not a quote from a movie, so he’s good.

Aw. The last omake of the season, covering push-ups, of course. See you later, Macho Man and muscle girls!

Fun. Hibiki in the epilogue made her weight goal. Now she just needs to meet a boy.

Final Thoughts.

Dumbbells was a great summer season anime. It mixed together a lot of different genres with the ostensible cute-girls-do-cute-things premise. Comedy was its primary goal, and everything else flowed from that. From the calorie count signs for Hibiki’s snacking, the straight-man commentary coming from every character, and even to the macho mascot character who blew up his muscles whenever he had a chance, there were so many elements ready to set up a joke. The setting of a Goldman’s Gym type place afforded lots of reasons to get drawn into hypermasculine action plots, only to get head-faked into outrageous comedy anchored by the mainly female cast. It definitely helped that the manga’s writer, Yabako Sandrovich, placed Dumbbells in the same universe as his previous action story Kengan Ashura. That title has been adapted into an anime for Netflix, where you can watch its first two seasons just released this Summer.

While the comedy and premise were great, it was Dumbbells’ female characters who made the show really stand out. Their character designs were varied and sexy, their personalities each had their unique quirks to draw on for comedy inspiration, and the show unapologetically showed their bare skin. A lot. These are girls working out in a gym, starring in exercise videos, and winking at the audience as they delivered fanservice. Of course, they were going to flaunt their skin! How else were we going to see their muscles? And it wasn’t just the women showing off their bodies, either. Muscle-bound men were all over this show, so it was absolutely a case of equal opportunity fanservice.

The anime producers adapted the fitness tutorials from the manga very well, fitting them to their new medium. They impressed and made me laugh with how nicely they referenced old-fashioned exercise videos like Jane Fonda used to make, or the video workouts that come with in-home exercise machines like Soloflex. The information contained in each vignette was good enough for beginners in strength training too.

Lastly, the female friendships, and how Hibiki as the main character related to each of her friends in particular, gave Dumbbells a light tone with some deeper affection. The girls were just so nice to each other! Even their proclaimed rivalries were about doing things together, not just competing with each other. Situational comedy works best when it makes you want to visit with your friends each week. Dumbbells did that very well. I’m going to miss this show, Hibiki and her friends, and even that magical Macho Man. Nice Bulk!