Nothing like watching high school girls working harder at their extracurricular activities than most of us do at our actual jobs to remind us all how lazy we are… err, um, I mean, let’s get excited about this brand new judo anime titled Ippon! Again (Japanese title: Mou Ippon!) which is coming to us in January 2023!
Now I know that a 30-second promotional video isn’t really a lot to go on but did you notice the little bit towards the end? Yes, that’s right… we have actual information to deliver this time around!
As mentioned, the series will premiere in January 2023, with animation production being handled by the relatively young studio Bakken Record (Joran: Princess of Snow) with Takeru Ogiwara, who directed some episodes of Joran. He’ll be working off of series composition written by Aya Satsuki, character designs adapted for anime by Airi Takegawa, and music composed by Shun Narita.
The main cast reads as follows (character names first):
Towa Hiura: Chiyuki Miura
Anna Nagumo: Nene Hieda
Michi Sonoda: Ayasa Itou
Sanae Takigawa: Yukari Anzai
Originally a manga series created by Yu Muraoka, the series began its serialization in Weekly Shonen Champion in October 2018. While it hasn’t been licensed in English yet, the manga run is up to seventeen volumes in Japan as of March 2022.
If the calming atmosphere of the promotional video didn’t clue you in, this is another heart-warming series about doing your best with the help of your friends. In the manga, the story begins with a young female judoka named Michi, who planned on quitting the sport after her final junior high tournament. That is, until she’s invited back into the sport by her friend Sanae in high school.
This honestly kind of reminds me of other series about club activities and friendship which have been coming out lately, including the hockey series Pride of Orange. Don’t take that as me writing this series off already. I figure that if the series already has seventeen volumes, it must be doing something right after all. However, I have to admit that until I see another promotional video that gives me a better idea of what I’m signing up for; I refuse to get overly excited about Ippon! Again.
Sources: AnimeAnime.jp, MyAnimeList
