Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
The_Namer
It's pretty common for sports anime to take a few episodes to get into gear. Since the protagonist is usually a novice, albeit one with some special skill that gives them a natural advantage, they usually need to get some training in a sport's fundamentals under their belt before we see much action. While not veering much from that formula, Iwakakeru does get off to a surprisingly brisk start. Novice Konomi is taught the basics and engages in a climbing showdown against a rival in the first episode. That said, it's probably also the show's weakest episode, so I'd recommend not deciding whether to continue watching the series until episode 2.
What holds episode 1 back is the way it depicts Jun, Konomi's initial rival. She's an archetype who appears at the start of most sports anime, the su…
Read at the sourcelamaraptor
You can tell they were really reaching with this one. I mean a sports anime about rock climbing is just a bit of a stretch. I guess I'll get over it and boulder on through to my review now.
Okay, okay stop booing. I had to do it. Seriously though, it really feels like they are going out of their way to find more and more niche and bizarre sports and hobbies to cover in this genre. You can tell the age group they're targeting too based on whether it's showing all men or all women in a given sport.
The main girl has typical "I don't know what I want to do with my life" syndrome until she sees rock climbing for the first time and goes "I know what I want to do with my life." Standard setup for pretty much any show with high school girls joining a club. She then of course gets way more into…
Read at the sourceWhiteRocket
I had high hopes for this series, but it really just barely met my lowest expectations. As a recent entry in the CGdCT/sports genre, there is plenty of material out there to compare this project to, mostly to it's detriment.
The biggest source of disapointment, after watching the 12 episode run, is realizing how little actual creative thought was put into this show when the premise had such amazing potential. The story runs the typical sports show formula without variation, twists, disruption or contradiction. The character archs are as interesting as a Nebraska Interstate. The art was the best point, but the true beauty of sport rock climbing is hard to describe even in anime, the fluidity and awesomeness of the motion really has to be seen to be believed and that means live action at m…
Read at the sourceKayBobis
I chose to watch this because I thought rock climbing was really cool, so I was super excited when I saw there was an anime about it! I found it exciting to watch the girls climb and learn new footholds and strategies. However, a lot of the plot felt mediocre at best. Specifically the rivals/“villains.” They were very under developed, which took away from a lot of the potential of this anime. With sports anime, challengers make the plot much more interesting, so their underdevelopment definitely hurt the show. I also found that there was a lot of opportunities when the show could have shown character growth, but skipped over those moments. Further, the fan service (while not as bad as some other anime) was definitely another thing that hurt its score. Overall, it’s not a bad watch if you’r…
Read at the sourceKing_Baconator
Listen, do you like Muscled girls or nah? There is simply only one reason to watch this gorgeous piece of art, and you either came for it, or are uncultured.
This show has very detailed muscles that, ah one might say, starts my engine so to speak. They are also anatomically correct, something that many shows get wrong.
I could get overly analytical about this sure, but i'll spare you all. Basically, if you are a cultured individual that likes muscular women, you will like this show. Story? people climb large rocks. Sound? the sound of people climbing rocks. Art? Lenny face. Enjoyment? Sky high. That is all there is to say. Goodbye.
Read at the sourceInsiyasha
In my opinion, this is a good anime because it has an Antimainstream Sport topics. Visual, Character, and Art very very very beutiful.
Just like other sports anime, the plot that is presented is not far from the beginning of training, forming teams, competitions between local schools and the national level. Such is the plot that is presented, but here the drawback is that the plot is like it was made too fast to fit the 12 episode load, so it is less exciting and less tense.
Then what makes it interesting here again is the main character who has never tried this sport before, as if he wants to introduce the audience as well as about this sport.
I Hope this anime have to Season 2
Read at the sourceAnimeIgnis
The Japanese always try to be innovative in some way. For example, in this series called "Iwa Kakeru", they showed off their incredible qualities to be able to create yet another sporting anime, focused however on a lesser known but more extreme sport, called "bouldering" (or rock climbing). reality is a modality that will be shown only once, unlike climbing (ie climbing on an artificial wall and therefore safer and less demanding). All the competitions and events will in fact deal with this last discipline.
Produced by the studio Blade (of which nothing is known) “Iwa kakeru” is an anime with a very simple plot. One girl, named Konomi Kasahara, is a first year student of Hanamiya school, looking for something fun to do. In her past he has done nothing but play video games for most of her…
Read at the sourceCemtex
I am someone who used to climb, before we went into lockdown I fell while climbing and tore my ACL and miniscus in my right knee and have been pretty depressed since while I wait for surgery. I watched this anime when I heard about it in January and I really enjoyed it.
In terms of characterisation I found the only parts that weren't realistic were the way some of the characters try and sabotage the girl taking it up for the 1st time by either telling her not to take part or purposefully giving bad advice. Even in a competitive situation I have never come across people acting like that in climbing.
Secondly the way they show excersises being done, single leg squats are hard for people that are in shape, no way someone who has just started excersising could do them.
The final point I wou…
Read at the sourceChazwigglez
A post- apocalyptic adventure for the ages.
This is an incredible pice of art that should be celebrated for generations. A truly deep look into humanity and its determination to survive.
The year is 3126 after the fall of humanity in 2023 due to a devastating strain of SARS-Cov-2 and a subsequent nuclear war over vaccines humanity has only just returned to where it was before it fell. The only artifacts left by the old world were climbing walls. The humans of today worship these walls as gifts from the gods.
The only ones allowed to climb these walls are the ones known as "The Gifted". These are extroadinary beings blessed mutations born of the radiation from the nuclear fallout of the great nuclear war of 2023. These mutations have bestowed "The Gifted" with extraodinary climbing abili…
Read at the sourcejaula_3123
As a rock climber, I can say that this anime was slightly unrealistic. For starters, the protagonist progressed much faster than any normal beginner. I mean cmon, she was leading on her first day and climbing 5.11. That usually doesn't happen unless the climber had prior sports experience. Also, this anime was overly sexualized. I was exited to finally see a female sports anime featuring my own sport, and was disappointed when I saw how much they gave into fan service. Nevertheless, the story line was ok even though it was a bit rushed, so I'd say 5-6 out of 10.
Read at the sourceironsakura32
Story:
Kasahara Konomi ends up in a high school, after apparently not doing so well in middle school due to at least semi-professional levels of puzzle gaming. While wandering around trying to decide what club to join, she stumbles into the sports climbing club, gets interested, joins and almost instantly ends up in a tournament. I don't watch many sports animes, but this seems like a strange sport to focus on, but maybe that is just me. Konomi, of course, ends up doing really well, even up to the point of disheartening some of her opponents (who have been climbing for years in some cases) and even some of her own teammates. I don't want to give any spoilers, but I can guess most people can figure out what happens in the end.
Animation:
Animation is average. Not really much to say here,…
Read at the sourceRul___
It's pretty good to bring up the rock climbing as a theme which is also rising in popularity nowadays. This anime also quite able to introduce what rock climbing is. Where the key is like playing puzzles and also training muscles.
This anime contains waifu only, just a normal design. Maybe for those of you who like those fetishies should watch the anime. I quite enjoyed the introduction to the sport itself. But for the story as usual it's like any other sports anime. The characters are also familiar in sports anime, some are sneaky, opulent, arrogant, blablabla. Comedy? I don't feel like it or I'm surprised to see MAL there is a comedy genre.
The standard animation just doesn't get the hype right when it comes to rock climbing. Only gave the angle of the fetishes. This anime is pretty g…
Read at the sourcegurtlop
Iwa Kakeru is very good anime that I enjoyed quite a lot.
The story is quite fun. Though at the beginning I thought that it was a bit boring since the characters honestly didn't interest me. I was often confused and annoyed by the action the characters made because I couldn't understand them. But after all the stupid actions they did, the action were explained (by flashbacks and etc.). After that I started loving the characters and when they got to tournaments I was always cheering for them and really excited to see wether they would win or not.
So yeah, this anime gave me a lot of joy and excitement. I'd recommend it to everyone who likes sports anime <3.
Read at the sourceBlacknole
This is my first ever review (and english isnt my first language, sorry if I dont write all correct).
I am a climber, I were climbing for more than 5 years now and since I start watching anime I search an anime/manga about climbing and more specific about climbing competitions.
This is literally the first one I found (Kokou no Hito is a manga about climbing, but personally is overexaggerated).
I have to say that I wasnt expecting this anime being this good in the realism. They make something enjoyable and all the thing they do are in the majort part real (excluding the fact of the overpower protagonist and the amusing
climbing facilities of the school of the girls for just 4 girls).
All the tecnics, the things they say about the climbing in general is very good, I really dont have anyth…
Read at the sourceMeeeku
Just completed watching this series. The story is pretty standard sports anime fare, girl with some talent enter a high school sports club, proceed to train then enter the national competition. No surprises there.
However, the pacing is kinda all over the place and also character development is next to non existent. Only the protagonist and her team mates got some sort of back story, the rest of the characters have little to no back story at all.
While the first few episodes was pretty fun and engaging to watch with a pretty up beat soundtrack, introducing and explaining the various rules, techniques and other sports climbing terms . The later half of the series kinda lost the plot. With weak premise for rivalry between the protagonist and the top climber of another team.
This anime…
Read at the sourceCaptainKenshiro
As I said in my Majo no Tabitabi review, there were only two shows I was expecting that began airing in fall, one was that show which turned out to be a disappointment and the other was this one which…was also a disappointment, but for different reasons.
To be honest, the only reason why I wanted to watch it is because I saw the poster and the release date being in early October thus I decided that it was what I wanted to watch after finishing September.
So the first episode begins, plays and finish and there’s no fanservice! Sure some may like certain camera angles but they hardly count and are excused for the subject matter thus I don't consider them to be fanservice. Compare this show to Keijo or Harukana Receive and you’ll agree with me. Although that was a letdown for me, I have to…
Read at the sourceKenSecondary199
Welp, with the 2020 Fall season coming to an end, I think its safe to say that this was by far the worst and least interesting season of the year. The best shows airing were continuations from summer and all the good shows meant to release this season were postponed to 2021. That being said, the absence of anticipated shows allows for lesser known studios like Blade to really shine, so what's their big title? The most painfully mediocre attempt at a sports anime in the history of television. It's a damn shame that this will probably become their most popular show.
Continuing with the mediocrity of Iwa Kakeru!, the show has literally zero redeeming aspects. I wish I were kidding, but I sat through twelve episodes of this to be thoroughly disappointed every Saturday. Everything this show d…
Read at the sourceMike_040414
This is my first time writing a review, and my reason for actually wanting to write this one is to ensure people aren't deterred from watching this anime due to the negative feedback from people and the bad scores.
I was almost put off by this anime because many were comparing it to keiijo (which is not in the least bit true) and called it "ecchi". Like most anime about a particular sport, this anime is solely about its sport: rock climbing. There are no ecchi scenes what so ever and the characters are not sexualised at all. The anime is a genuinely enjoyable and fun thing to watch. Its not anywhere near the level of excitement of other sport anime such as Haikyuu or Yowamushi pedal, but it is still a good show nonetheless.
The character development is very pleasing and there are those…
Read at the sourceJiangHaoyi1979
Ok, so another sports theme anime with a josie genre has ended and as one top reviewer said " The animators are a bunch of gumbies," well, I couldn't agree more. since it kind of look like that, given that the original creator of this series, Ishizaka, Ryuudai, wasn't much of a good story teller in the realm of sports, and just like the highly recommended anime " Dumbbell Nan Kilo Moteru? " the original creators tend to give out helpful instruction, that weren't very much of factual as compared to the actual sports itself, the said 'helpful instruction" were just a means to give something for other support characters to voice out their own genius opinion, when in reality the sport itself was just a simple as it gets and the reality of sports climbing is just as simple as "American Ninja Wa…
Read at the sourceMarinate1016
Iwa Kakeru! was easily one of my favourite shows this season. It's actually the first sports anime I've ever seen, and I was not disappointed at all. From the characters' designs, interactions to the actual sport of climbing itself, everything was great for me.
Who should watch this show? People who are into CGDCT, people who are curious about climbing or enjoy outdoor activities in general. If you're coming here expecting something to blow you away narratively, you're going to be disappointed. The scale of the show is small and rather self-contained. It's not too ambitious in anything it does, at least in this first season.
We follow Konomi on her journey of self-improvement and developing her climbing skills in various competitions. One of the coolest parts of the show is the fact th…
Read at the source