Hinomaru sumo anime saprevodom

Hinomaru Sumo: With Ricco Fajardo, Tyson Rinehart, Stephen Fu, Brandon Potter. Ushio may be small but he's ready to prove he's got enough heft to throw his weight around in the sumo ring!

A “small” new student, Ushio Hinomaru, appears before the weak little sumo club of Oodachi High School! The words “big” and “heavy” are the rules to this sport, which does not fit this newbie any inch, but this guy goes and does what…!? Ushio and the small sumo club climbs its way to the top! The goal is Hinoshita Kaisan, a title for the highest rank in professional sumo, equivalent of Yokozuna.

In professional sumo, there are no weight classes. It’s a savage sport where the strongest survive, and anyone willing to test their mettle can step into the ring. There is, however, a minimum size requirement to be a pro sumo wrestler, and young Hinomaru Ushio, incredibly talented and hardworking though he may be, does not meet that requirement. This small boy has big dreams of reaching the highest class of sumo, Hinoshita Kaisan. The only way he could possibly go pro is if he becomes the High School Yokozuna, a title given to the strongest wrestler in high school tournaments. Ushio is under a lot of pressure, as well as a time limit. If he can’t show off his skills in the high school tournaments, he may lose his chance to go pro permanently, and the odds are stacked against him. Instead of enrolling in Ishigami High, the best school for sumo in Japan, he enrolls in Odachi High and must build a sumo club from the ground up with the one devout member Shinya Ozeki. Odachi High is the true underdog of the sumo world, but Ushio has to push forward with all his strength if he is going to make it professionally. [Written by MAL Rewrite]

I never quite understood why sumo was called a sports instead of the male version of plus sized beauty modelling, but Hinomawhatever helped me to open my eyes to the beauty of this art. Partly because it quite closely follows the normal, formulaic pattern commonly seen in sports anime and partly because of its manly and bro cast. I never quite respected sumo nor thought much about it, but now I kinda do.

The strongest sides with the series lie within the awe moments, fights, GAR-like atmosphere and Hinomaru’s (sumo Jesus’s) personality. The weakest parts are the believability of other club’s members success and the lack of a proper training arc + the pacing which can be — at time — jumpy and seem like new episodes start off from episodic settings rather than continuing from anywhere that was shown in former episode.

Outside Hinomaru, the most interesting (and relatively bro) main character is Chihiro Kunisaki, who is a talented wrestler that now joined Hinomaru’s sumo team. The remaining 4 club members from “our side” can occasionally feel bit filler-ish and much less interesting. We have super shy and skinny dude who looks incredibly unfit to physically even participate in the sports. Fat dude who is practically the exact same as the thin dude (personality-wise) except has always loved sumo and is somewhat good at it. There is also another Jesus in the series named trainer-Jesus person and he is more or less like anyone else in the series except supposedly holds lots of sumo-wisdom and wear glasses and is training our main cast.. kind of. The last club member is a delinquent thug person who was portrayed to be incredibly cool and badass in the beginning of the series, but then his personality was put on a leash pretty much and now he is just another person doing sumo without many visible&interesting personality traits, but even he gets thru some development later on and his personality change gets explained rather well eventually. There is also one more “main”character in the series because all sports series need a mascot girl. Student council president who is the thug dudes sister and has a brother complex over him. The good part is that the opponents of our sumo Jesus themselves are way more interesting and cool than the main cast which is more so portrayed to be “real people” than completely badass sumo pros. Other basic sports elements exist also, such as tragic past story for main bro’s mother and a love interest subplot. The series has many things to offer due to these simple elements, but it should be noted that these things didn’t really go anywhere during the first season.

A "small" new student, Ushio Hinomaru, appears before the weak little sumo club of Oodachi High School. The words "big" and "heavy" are the rules to this sport, which does not fit this newbie one bit, but Ushio surprises everyone. Ushio and the small sumo club climbs its way to the top with a goal to reach the highest rank, Hinoshita Kaisan.

Hinomaru Sumo is a good take on a sumo sports anime. The anime has a very good soundtrack and follows the manga well. The only problem this anime deals with is the inconsistency in animation. Obviously there are times where the best animation is less needed but some episodes suffer greatly from very "squishy" animation. Later in the show this problem is fixed and makes for a very entertaining watch. Also, the first op, amazing. The manga is a great read. Unlike a lot of sports themed stories this one goes past "the last high-school tournament arc", and into the professional world. The manga’s scope of progression in the lives of the characters is very refreshing.   

This show has everything you would expect from a sports anime. The matches have lots of intensity, characters go through hardcore training while trying to find their reasons for fighting, opportunities are created not just through hard work, but also through tactics & strategies, and respect is found when you display your full potential, even if you win or lose the match. The character personalities & development are what make this show enjoyable and worth watching. The characters have real-life struggles and there is good chemistry between all teams. Even the side characters make their contribution to the plot. There is no much of a story, all show is basically about tournaments and training for them. Each character does get a backstory and while some are looking for reasons for fighting, others are trying to overcome their own obstacles and test themselves. The animation may be one of the weakest parts of the show. At some times the characters look muscular at other times just fat with odd body types, it is very inconsistent on this respect. But when it comes to fighting, the editing is really able to create a sense of intensity and power for each match, and the action is easy to follow showing the moves each character make (although is not particularly fluid motion, the cuts are spot-on for each move and countermove they make). The sound effects and music are good, nothing stands up either good or bad on this aspect. The dub is good and I recommend it so you can focus on the action. Overall, I would recommend this show to anyone who likes sports anime, even if they don’t care about Sumo at all. Give it a try to the first 2 episodes before you make your own mind to keep watching. Personally, I never care much about Sumo, and my only encounter with the sport so far was one time that I played Street Fighter using Honda, and I never give that character a second try afterward :), so I was not sure if this show will be interesting enough for me. But as it turns out, although I cannot say I’ll be following Sumo, nor interested in watching any real-life matches, at least I can say I have a newfound respect for the sport after watching this show.

Hinomaruzumo basically revolves around a short (no, really) highschool kid who dreams of becoming a Yokozuna (the highest rank in sumo wrestling). Now I know what you’re thinking, guys in underwear fighting each other? Thank you, next. But hear me out. I admit it was kinda weird at first, having to look at buttcheeks and all, and I only started watching it cause the main character gave me major Hinata Shouyo vibes (both being short and all). But after the first two episodes, the whole mawashi belt (the thing we think is underwear) thing didn’t freak me out anymore. Instead, the sumo wrestling style really got me hooked on to the storyline. This anime had the perfect balance of shounen and slice of life. The characters are SUPER likable, and if you are someone who appreciates character growth, then you will really like how Hinomaruzumo delivers exactly that. Don’t even get me started on the OP of both the seasons. Not only is it a total BOP but it also beautifully embodies the vibe of the anime. One major thing that I really loved about this story was how they told the tale of both sides, making you emotionally confused as to whom to root for. As for the wrestling matches themselves, I may even go out on a limb here and compare them to those in Haikyuu (I didn’t stutter). Mind you, Haikyuu’s animation is much better though. However, one major difference between the two is that Hinomaruzumo is bitterly realistic. So much so that at times it had me wishing it wasn’t. (P.S. don’t come at me saying, "yEaH fIrE cOmInG oUt Of EyE iS sO rEaLiStIc"). Personally speaking, there were many more instances where I got Haikyuu vibes from this anime, so if you are someone who is starved of Haikyuu content then give this anime a chance.

Hinomaruzumou was one of the most hotly anticipated sports anime of the season, and for good reason. The manga it’s based on is considered one of the best ongoing shounen battle series right now thanks to its fun story and wonderful art. With the anime being a solid adaptation, it’d be completely understandable if you were hungry for more. You might even be so drastic as to check out the manga.