CLXVII: "Suzuka"

I spoke of this earlier when I reviewed Peach Girl, but Suzuka deals with the similar concept, but with a different setting and different flow of problems. Unlike Peach Girl, this title has a more sporty theme to it, something that titles like The Prince of Tennis and Hajime no Ippo feature heavily.

Suzuka centers on Yamato Akitsuki, a boy who moved from a rural prefecture to the big city in Tokyo, and Suzuka Asahina, the titular character and his next door neighbor. Falling in love with her, he decided to join the track team in hopes that he would impress her, with Suzuka herself being a skilled high jumper. Through the course of this however, he soon discovers his talent as a sprinter, with potential to become the top runner of the 100-yard dash. However, mixing romance and sports isn't easy, and with his log-time perverted friend Yasunobu Hattori, as well as other girls fitting in the picture, tension standing between Yamato and Suzuka builds up pretty fast. Will he ever get his feelings for her reciprocated? He has to worry about this while trying to carry out his school, sport and social life.

Aside from the change in plot, and the difference in characters, it shares a few traits seen in Peach Girl. In fact, with the addition of sports, it's the exact same genre as the other. Also made in Studio Comet, this anime lasts for 26 episodes, premiering on the second half of 2005, which is interesting given that Peach Girl was shown on the first half of the same year. Likewise, it was also licensed under Funimation Entertainemt, and was featured on their channel, it's time slot not that far from Peach Girl's. Aside from the exploits of the track and field team, it had the same dose of romantic comedy/drama, making it another close to home, and somewhat emotional, anime title. Yamato is voiced by Todd Haberkorn in the Dub, with Suzuka voiced by Leah Clark.

Suzuka is another anime that just didn't click like most do, yet, I still give it a bit more fanfare that of Peach Girl, giving it an 8 of 10. Even with that, I do comment it for being a breath of fresh air from the usual zany, chaotic anime.