Audience reviews
8 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
johnbradshaw
Mou Ippon! at its core is a coming-of-age story. Through the foolishness, stubbornness and love of adolescence, 4 friends embark on the journey of discovering themselves through the sport of Judo.
After a disappointing end in their last Judo tournament in their middle school lives, Sonoda Michi and her friend Sanae Takigawa planned to stop pursuing Judo and would just enjoy their highschool life to the fullest. But fate won't just have it, in their new school, they once again meet Towa Hiura, the last girl who beats Michi and a very passionate Judo practitioner. With a new burning passion in her heart, Michi along with Sanae and Towa will spend their youth with Judo again.
I'm a fan of MMA, Judo is a great martial art, it's used by the top MMA fighters like Khabib, Islam, etc... So I j…
Read at the sourceTeramol
I consider myself somewhat of a sports anime enjoyer however I don't have a particular interest in the martial art of judo. Yet I found myself binging all of Mou Ippon! in a single day, so that should be a testament in and of itself.
Don't get me wrong. The sport, judo, was definitely portrayed well and some matches could definitely be put up there next to some more well respected sports anime battles. But in my opinion where the show really shines the best is not that. It's the characters. And more specifically, the interactions between the characters.
I wouldn't say a single girl of our main cast from Aoba West high school stand out on their own but together, it makes all the difference. I had a very fun time just watching them get to know each other better, coming from different backg…
Read at the sourcePixelB
Mou Ippon! is a pretty generic sports anime. It doesn't try reinventing the wheel, but nothing is necessarily wrong. It's just that not a single aspect of the show stands out, and thus becomes highly mediocre. By playing it safe, the show suffers.
The problem is that this show has not a single thing that draws the viewer in. Let's first talk about the sport itself, Judo. Usually, when a show regarding a sport shows up, it should at least give a tutorial on the sport; the rules, how to play Judo, and stuff like that. This show doesn't do that. Okay, fine, but will the focus of the show be Judo? Well, Yes, and no. Compared to pure sports shows, it clearly has much less focus. There are no training regiments, and no real strategies other than observing the opponent's previous matches. The an…
Read at the sourcemushi_Jyou
Starting off with personal opinion:
Mou Ippon! has too little attention, but can't say is unexpected. I love watching sports anime, typical shounen plot, typical suspense etc. And I have been looking for a decent group sport anime with female cast (female category sport), but is so hard to find one as the ones out there usually are ecchi/hentai domain, or just not shounen enough (No excitement, no suspense). Mou Ippon! is different. I went in apprehensively, but came out hoping for a season 2 in making. It has the typical elements for a good shounen sports anime: Determined MC (typically positive) who has mysterious charismas to attract supportive teammates, Friendly rival School/Teams, Going for tournaments, Well executed "fight" scenes, and the failure/losing plot. Is all there.
BUT, a…
Read at the sourceqwqaqe
Mou Ippon, the show where there are more flashbacks than moments that happen in current time. Wait though, don’t leave yet. That’s usually a red flag, but this one is actually good.
I will preface this review by saying that going in, I did not know the first thing about judo, but trust me when I say that it did not matter. This show has so much to offer that it is insane how low its numbers are.
The story focuses on the Aoba West High School judo club, from their banding together in the beginning, to practicing in the dojo, to their runs in a couple tournaments. As I said, my judo knowledge extends to what I learned from this show, but that didn’t stop me from being on the edge of my seat when a competitor fell, anxiously waiting to release my breath at the call of an ippon, or hold it i…
Read at the sourcePersona111
If I may describe Mou Ippon in one word, it should be 'lovely'.
Many moe- aka CGDCT- anime try their hardest to make you have this feeling of attachment to the characters by shouting and flashing at every instant how they- mainly female adolescents- are overtly cute and give you diabetes simply by existing. I'm not gonna get further into discussing that kind of anime, but Mou Ippon is, first and foremost, not one of them. By going a route much more similar to Yuru Camp, the Slice-of-Life moments of this anime express the personality and goals of the girls through the lens of a rather natural, realistic take on the lifes of a group of high-schoolers doing judo just for fun, and that's it's main selling point.
The interactions between the characters are the absolut flagship of this anime.…
Read at the sourceS_Yellow
I'm not one for sports anime, but this one works.
I liked the action scenes, this series showed how you can depict dramatic fights without a need for characters to fight as money saving blurs. Simply having shorter fights with clearly defined rules and stakes makes it more dramatic. That enthralled me because I've always wanted to see an anime show this and this series does with great effect.
The characters and their design are average, as was the soundtrack
I didn't like the pacing, it took too long to establish things we already knew were going to happen; i.e. the formation of the five woman team. There is no reason Himeno couldn't be recruited as of episode 3. Also, I felt this show needed a rookie character to teach the basics along with the audience. I'm sure the manga has plenty of…
Read at the sourceKANLen09
Once again, another overlooked show from the Winter season that you should be watching, albeit that you should give this the chance that it really deserves.
When it comes to sports series, we've had all sorts of sports in the last few years, the most prominent being soccer in the form of last year's Ao Ashi and Blue Lock. But niche sports like sumo (with 2018's Hinomaruzumou a.k.a. Hinomaru Sumo) and boxing (with Megalo Box or even Netflix's Baki series) are far and few in-between, that's it's hard to keep one's attention at doing something similar, yet different. And one of those shows this season, is mangaka Yu Muraoka's Mou Ippon! a.k.a "Ippon" Again!, focusing on the judo aspect. The now (as of this review) 22-volume long manga series that the anime covers just a fraction of it, it's…
Read at the source