The other day I started watching Ao no Hako, aka Blue Box, a new sports-and-romance anime with gorgeous visuals and an engaging story. But I had to laugh at myself: once again, I’m starting an anime about young people half one-third my age and obsessing over whether they’ll start dating. Oh well, Let’s check out the Blue Box anime in this blog post!
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What’s the Story of Ao No Hako?
Anime is everywhere in Japan (naturally), and walking around, I saw a lot of promotional content for Ao no Hako on the sides of buses and in bookstores. So I had a good idea of how strongly the creators were pushing the anime and how confident they were that it would be popular.
Taiki Inomata is a third-year student at Eimei Academy who arrives at the school gym early every morning, ostensibly to practice his badminton. But he’s really going to see Chinatsu Kano, the star of the school’s basketball team, who also practices every morning. Taiki is in love with Chinatsu but doesn’t consider himself worthy of her because she’s so talented at basketball, and his badminton skills are middling at best. So he’s content to watch his crush from afar. Imagine how complex his life will get when he learns that Chinatsu will be living at his house for the next two years!
Oh, to live under the same roof as your crush! To take a bath in the “Chinatsu broth bathwater” after she’s done in the bath! I’m sure it wouldn’t be awkward at all! Of course, they have to keep their living arrangements secret, which adds complexity to the story.
While I wasn’t sure if I wanted to get involved in yet another anime about young people falling in love, the story of Ao no Hako was just too good to resist once I’d watched a couple episodes. Before long, I was rooting for Taiki and Chinatsu to move their relationship along. Because I’m a card-carrying fan of romance anime, after all!
Incredibly Beautiful Visuals
I have a policy: if I find an anime with a massive animation budget and S-tier visuals, I’ll watch it even if I’m not into the genre. I want to show my thanks to the animation staff for bringing the work to life, as well as to sample the current leading edge of animation.
The visuals in Blue Box are so incredible, I found myself comparing them to the latest films by Makoto Shinkai, especially in the opening credits. The opening song even seemed close enough to RADWIMPS that I had to go on Wikipedia and make sure it wasn’t sung by that band. (The OP is by Official HIGE DANdism.)
The animation is handled by Tokyo Movie Shinsha, the venerable studio that brought us all the Lupin the Third series going all the way back to Castle of Cagliostro. This studio worked on backgrounds for several of Makoto Shinkai’s films, which is why I felt the same vibe in this anime.
An Anime with Something for Everyone
Is Ao No Hako a sports anime? A shoujo romance story? The answer is yes!
I love hybrid stories that can bring male and female fans together. The best example of this was Sailor Moon, which combined the classic 5-member sentai fighting team genre that boys loved with magical girls, creating something that all fans could embrace.
Blue Box feels unique in that the sports element of the story is important, yet it’s layered with memorable scenes of Taiki and Chinatsu’s budding relationship. The pacing feels excellent. We don’t waste multiple episodes following some important game that the characters must win, and there’s always enough forward movement in the romance part of the story. There’s even fan service for the girls to enjoy!
As some of you might know, I prefer anime based on popular manga to ones created from light novels. This is because to become a professional manga-ka, you must prove you have what it takes to make it as a professional artist and storyteller. The best anime stories (SPY x FAMILY, Demon Slayer, Oshi no Ko) are generally based on popular manga works. Light novels can yield excellent concepts for anime, but they also lead to mediocre titles like I Was Isekai’d Into a Fantasy World as a Squirrel, But Now I’m the Forest’s Top Influencer with Over 1 Million Followers!
Blue Box Features Great Voice Work by Reina Ueda
I’ve been a fan of Reina Ueda since she exploded onto the scene as Akane Shinjo in SSSS.Gridman. There’s something about the emotional vulnerability she brings to her characters that made me sit up and take notice of her. Ueda performed other popular roles, such as Kanao from Kimitsu no Yaiba, Miyo from My Happy Marriage and the yuri-curious Miyako from WataTen. It’s great to see one of my favorite new seiyuu getting more and more attention!
Thanks for reading this blog post about Ao No Hako, or Blue Box. Will you be watching this fun sports/romance anime? Tell us in the comments below!
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