One of the things I love best about sports (and games) anime is that you won't really learn how to play the sport or game, but you will get deep insight into the passion of people who play the sport or game. That passion runs very deep in Tonbo! Season 2.

Season 1 was a gigantic “what if,” to the sport itself. What if the wind blows in a certain way? What if the line on the green is made all but impossible? What if this prodigy, who has only one club, tilts her elbow just slightly? These are not questions beginners or even advanced players have. These are the minutiae of otaku. Tonbo, being stripped of all but one club and no coach, has learned to read the wind and the grass. It's not Birdie Wing level magic, but it's not golf, either.

Season 1 allows both Igarashi and Tonbo to confront painful parts of their past, so as Season 2 opens, all is primarily hopeful as Tonbo looks toward the future. The first test of this anime season's character was how mainland peers would treat Tonbo. It was a pleasant surprise to find that the built-in archrival character turns out to be a decent person. This is important, as Igarashi, who is never really quite a coach, even as he teaches and learns from Tonbo, forgets to teach the girl the common courtesies of golf, leaving her to flail as she does not have a visor! Or the correct number of clubs. Or the important fear of losing. When star golfer Hinoki lends Tonbo a visor, it sets the tone for the first half of the series, as Tonbo's gear becomes stone soup into which everyone throws…a club. Okay, that metaphor got away from me, but the point is that this is not a story about bullying Tonbo, and that was critical to my enjoyment of it.

An early round cements this motif. Tonbo is playing a foursome with two girls her age and an older woman who does not seem to play well. The two girls are basic, bitching and complaining about their round partners, blaming them for their lack of skill and making increasingly nasty comments about the older woman, Shima. After we learn her suitably tragic reason for playing, Shima imparts a few lessons to the three younger players, primarily that life is short – value what you have, be who you are, and enjoy what you do. Tonbo, who already lives by these values, is energized, and even the two erstwhile bullies gain something.

Tonbo is finally up against her golf friend Tsuruba from Season 1, new rival Hinoki (who will have to be rescued from her bullying father,) and former champion Ema, who lost years of competition to a freak accident. At last, Tonbo's real skills will be tested. Her resolve to play her own way is put to the challenge in the form of a shouty caddy who tries to force Tonbo to play his idea of what golf “ought” to be. He represents the Ghost of Competitive Pressure Past, and frankly, the story does not need him, but of course, he comes around to learning from Tonbo.

Here in Season 2, the plot gets deeply into the mental game of golf. As Tonbo learns what pressure is and how far she can use it to push herself, we watch Ema struggle against her physical limitations, Tsuruba drive herself to win, and Hinoki as she faces a moral crisis.

The animation in Season 2 works harder to keep the various golf-brand sponsors' logos front and center than it does to show golf. The almost complete lack of fanservice is refreshing and allows us to care more about the tournament than crane our eyes past forced camera angles. Season 2 also noticeably improves its animation standards from Season 1, with special attention to tee shots for the ultimate “golf” moments. It's not brilliant animation, but it's good enough to ignore.

The music is entirely background noise, which I approve for a more “realistic” approach to ridiculous golf. Do not mistake me here — there are no “Blue Bullet”s, but this anime is still quite ridiculous. (Yes, I am comparing this to Birdie Wing, again.) Tonbo has named her various shots, and they will take her from one side of the course to the other, shooting through small windows in the treetops and across fairways. People stand and scream on the green…I know very little about golf, except for what I learned watching my father sleep to it on TV, but I am 100% certain that standing on the golf course screaming Is Not Allowed. Nonetheless, a rousing musical epic would seem out of place in a story that hinges on the slight turn of a sand wedge (look at me! I'm using a golf term!) or the stress of having one's swing interrupted by the wind, a bug, a pine needle, the collapse of a fellow competitor in agonizing pain.

I want to note that the Japanese name of this series is Oi! Tonbo! (Hey! Tonbo!,) a pun on the protagonist's name, Ōi Tonbo, and a shout used repeatedly throughout the series. Paired with the OP sequence, the title makes the series feel very shōjo-manga-esque, even if the series itself is not — the manga, written by Ken Kawasaki, with art by Yū Furusawa, runs in Weekly Golf Digest (Shūkan Golf Digest) since 2016. The magazine is, indeed, charmingly otaku about golf. It reminded me of my days teaching martial arts when I would get magazines with new techniques, training equipment, and in-depth looks at very specific techniques. (Bring your san-shou to the next level with these 5 wristlocks!)

But what we want to know is whether this finale delivers the kind of tension we demand from any sports anime. I can assure you — it does. Even in this bloodless sport of golf, in which a competitor is more likely to think themselves into a crisis than anything else, the finale of Tonbo! delivers precisely the combination of sweat, tears, and guts, sportsmanship and excruciating, yet useless, detail about “the line” that makes a sports anime worth watching. Friends, I actually gasped at an animated ball not going into an animated cup. I do not gasp easily at anime. Or golf.

Ultimately, Tonbo! has more than one lesson to teach us about golf. There is fellowship and good manners. We have been explained that golf is not a sport for ladies and gentlemen, but a sport that makes ladies and gentlemen out of its players. Honesty, moral righteousness even, is an important lesson for both the players on the green and the assembled onlookers. To truly be a victor, one must be an upright person.

Most importantly, in a dozen different ways, we learn that golf does not have to be a lonely sport. That there can be a community of competitors who support one another. Tsuruba, Ema, and Hinoki revel in the competitive fire that Tonbo lights within them. And they rejoice in their achievements. There will be no screaming or throwing clubs among these women. Even in the most critical moments, when Tonbo has to face down against both external and internal pressure, she will always remind us why we are watching this series in the first place. For Tonbo and, therefore, for us, golf is fun.