Blue Box

Episodes 1-3

I am a withering, cruel grump when I have to endure a bad romance. Chemistry, more than anything, is the thing I need to get invested in a love story, which might be why I'm so hard on the animated ones that don't cut the mustard. Live-action actors have the natural benefit of being flesh-and-blood people who can incite those essential feel-good hormones in our desperate monkey brains just by standing near each other, never mind when things get physical. On the opposite end of the spectrum, I would argue that the written word has the easiest time playing on characters' chemistry because those aforementioned rabid monkey brains are more than happy to fill in the gaps and dream up the most ideal versions of any character or scenario imaginable, similar to romantic art produced in more static modes like comics. While the artwork in question usually has to achieve a higher threshold of quality compared to works of pure prose, the reader still has to meet the medium halfway, providing the voicework, the sound effects, and that immaterial tone of motion that is so fundamental to giving life to a human connection that is fundamentally abstract. Animation, then, is a medium that has to work twice as hard to achieve half the results when it comes to romantic chemistry because it is simply so much harder to trick those picky brains of ours into believing that two (or more) characters have that divine spark of attraction to each other if their movements are uncanny, their voices don't match the characters they are attached to, and if all the lighting and music and mise en scene don't come together to create a world that feels real.

All of this is my very long-winded way of setting up how many proverbial hurdles Blue Box had to clear to succeed at its lofty ambitions of being a gorgeously animated and heart-meltingly charming tale of basketball, badminton, and young love. Anyone who checked out our Preview Guide coverage of the premiere already has the inside scoop on my thoughts on the matter, but in case you've only just arrived, allow me to inform you: This show has got the juice. Also, in case anyone was worried that the stupefyingly pretty first episode was one of those flukes that ends up disappointing everyone when the follow-up episodes immediately drop the ball, I am happy to report that Taiki Inomata and Chinatsu Kano are just as adorable as they were the first time around. I am loudly cheering these kids on in their badminton/basketball dreams (I also think they should fall in love and be super happy and cute together).

Given how old and rickety the “My love interest just moved into my house due to a set of contrived but extremely convenient circumstances!” setup is, I was mildly concerned about the way Blue Box would handle the first act of Taiki and Chinatsu's new adventure as roommates-and-also-maybe-love-interests, but Blue Box is a real class act. It acknowledges the essential conflicts that might arise in the heart (and loins) of a young man who is discovering all of the new things his crush can make him feel now that she is living in his home, hanging out with him in his room, and bathing in his tub. Still, the anime never becomes tacky or prurient about things. Likewise, the misunderstanding that arises from Taiki wanting to keep this new living situation under wraps causes some brief concern between the pair but it never balloons into the usual, hyperbolic sitcom shtick. Chinatsu isn't angry or hurt that Taiki is behaving weirdly around her all of a sudden; she doesn't want to get in the way of the crush that she assumes Taiki has on Hina, which is just as adorable a reaction as Taiki thinks it is when the whole thing gets resolved.

It's this deft balancing act of familiar romantic teen-drama tropes and remarkably grounded, endearing characterization that makes Blue Box so gosh-darned watchable. How many times have we seen the basic premise of Episode 3, “Chii”, play out? It could have been so easy for Taiki's self-conscious and jealous insecurities over Chinatsu's closeness with Kengo to curdle over and make him indistinguishable from every other lame wiener that we've had to put up with in lesser anime romances. The show never takes its eye off the shuttlecock, and the result is yet another…home run or whatever the badminton equivalent of a home run is. I'll be honest, I am fully sports-illiterate, and I hope you will forgive me for the occasionally bungled metaphor as I try to find new ways to gush about all of the lovely direction, animation, characterization, and sports-adjacent story beats that Blue Box keeps delivering.

The point is that Episode 3 showcased how skillfully this show can weave the ongoing coming-of-age romance storyline and our protagonists' respective athletic journeys. Taiki's rivalry with Kengo would be compelling even if we didn't add on Taiki's jealousy. The blending of the emotional layers means that we get to appreciate Taiki's growth as a badminton player and his maturation as a young man at the same time. It's excellent storytelling, plain and simple, and if every episode of Blue Box shakes out as good as these first three have, then we're in for one of the best anime of the year.

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Blue Box is currently streaming on Netflix.

James is a writer with many thoughts and feelings about anime and other pop-culture, which can also be found on Twitter, his blog, and his podcast.