This contains minor spoilers for Tsurune
After the popularity of Haikyuu!!, Free!, Yuri on Ice, and Prince of Tennis, the sports anime genre has found new interest among anime watchers. Now new sports are finding anime adaptions such as Burning Kabaddi, Iwa-kakeru! Climbing Girls, and the beautifully animated Tsurune.
Tsurune tells the story of Minato Narumiya, a first-year student who has put his kyūdō, the Japanese martial art of archery, days behind him. Suffering from target panic during his last tournament in middle school, Minato decides to put down his bow. It isn’t until encounters from his future teammates and a mysterious man who knows of his condition all too well where Minato finds the resolve to once again don his three-fingered glove.
Breaking Down Sports Anime
Sports anime as a genre is known for multiple characters sharing the spotlight as opposed to one main character, brilliant use of tension build-up, and its ability to make a singular loss the main athletes experience matter more than the countless victories they achieve.
Haikyuu!!, the anime that brought new viewers to the sports genre, is a perfect example of this. The latest season allowed watchers to observe the progress of every player in Karasuno’s volleyball squad, from Hinata’s experiences as a ball boy to Kageyama’s growth as a setter. The latest season’s tension building through each episode of the match against Inarizaki was the peak for the series, as viewers never knew which player would achieve an evolution next. Tsurune uses this same formula but through subtle build-up instead of Haikyuu’s constant high-speed pace.
What Makes Tsurune Different
What sets Tsurune apart from other sports anime is the pacing. Unlike Free or Yuri on Ice, which covered high pace sports, Tsurune’s subject matter is kyūdō, the Japanese martial art of archery. Full of tradition, form, and patience, using kyūdō as inspiration in a genre known for its hype moments may seem odd at first, however, Tsurune keeps up in its own way. The storytelling and pacing of Tsurune follows the same rhythm as the characters in the show have when shooting an arrow.
The initial build-up of when Minato is first introduced feels akin to an archer stepping up to shoot, slow but controlled with elegance. Then, when he meets his future coach Masaki, is as if an archer is placing their arrow on their bowstring, pulling back to fire. The tension created by Minato being in awe of Masaki’s drawing of his bow feels like the first major turning point in the series. Then finally, when Minato successfully fired his arrow confidently, it was the moment viewers had been waiting for, just like an arrow hitting its bullseye.
Tsurune covers a subject matter rarely seen in sports anime; the yips. Target panic, similar to the yips that archers experience which the anime covers, affects Minato throughout his time as an archer, starting from his middle school tournament all the way to high school, pushing him as far as quitting kyūdō. Most sports anime cover things like teammates leaving, important losses, and injuries but never the yips, which makes Tsurune special.
WhileTsurune is an anime that flew under the radar of anime watchers, those who had watched it loved it dearly. Between breathtaking animation and compelling character arcs, Tsurune is an anime worth giving a try, especially before the second season premieres in January 2023.