My Childhood Anime #4: Sports!

If you think this list will have Haikyuu or Free! or any of those recent sports animes them this is not the post for you! This is my CHILDHOOD!

So brace yourself for some 80's and 90's unheard of or overly popular animes!

(Though, I shall only name 5 to keep it short!)

الرمية الملتهبة or Honoo no Toukyuuji: Dodge Danpei (1991)

الرمية الملتهبة

The problem here is I can't remember the protagonist's names properly, and even if I do it's the dubbed names given to them in Arabic! So, the main's name in Arabic was Sammy, and he was this child, perhaps ten who was in LOVE with dodgeball! Although, in Arabic it's referred to as handball.

Sammy's dad was a legacy in this game and he looked up to his father and grew a passion for the same sport. He and his bald friend begin practicing with older teens in school competitions and it is filled with comedy and drama like most sports animes.

Sammy and his friend 

I would honestly not watch this again unless it's some clips for nostalgic purposes. The opening song in Arabic is gold like most Arabic openings, oddly enough, my mom actually knows the lyrics.

The art is not all that great either.

                                              الكابتن ماجد or Captain Tsubasa (1981)

Captain Tsubasa's Team.
 Image retrieved from theo2442 http://www.zerochan.net/1105883

This is a widely known and famous anime, also known for it's 3 episodes of a single kick and ten episodes of a single match. It can get pretty hefty. I actually only ever watched it when I was bored and there was nothing better on t.v., but all the boys loved it.

Captain Tsubasa is an anime about football/ soccer and it just keeps going on and on for ages. I don't personally recommend it, and just since we're on the topic of soccer anime. There's was also الكابتن رابح Moero! Top Striker (1991) which more or less had the same plot in my opinion. What's beautiful about Captain Tsubasa is that you do see them advance and grow from children to adults in the series, that's how wildly popular it was.

                               سلام دانك or Slam Dunk (1990)

This insanely popular manga and anime is the OG of basketball animes! Hands down, one of the best sports animes in general. It has comedy, drama, even a black character (and we all know how rare a minority is in anime).

It's about this redheaded and hot headed trouble maker in high schooler who wants to join the basketball team and is unable to due to him..sucking.. Later on, he does get on the team and competes as well. However, it is mangled with comedy, and good characters and some character development that it is overall enjoyable to watch. 

The art is well drawn, it is not always this serious, like I said, it is also a comedy.

I would actually rewatch this, even though I absolutely dislike the whole genre of sports in anything. The author of this manga is actually so good that I've fallen in love with another basketball manga of his making called Real! which is about wheelchair basketball. A LOT of drama in that one!

النمر المقنع or Tiger Mask (1969)

Yes, I'm going back as far as the 60's here...which is honestly odd but not that odd, to be honest.

This is an anime about masked wrestling in which our protagonist chooses the mask of the tiger, brave and strong. From what I remember of the opening Arabic song, this man actually fights real bad guys but in the ring and outside of it too. He had this whole tiger-mobile thing going on too, somewhat like batman, his car would change and his identity was anonymous! I always looked forward to the day he unmasked himself to the world and I did truly look forward to watching this anime when I was a child, but hey, what did I know? I was four when I watched this! And I still remember it!

image retrieved from https://myanimelist.net/anime/3009/Tiger_Mask

So, I just googled the summary, and shall simply copy paste it from wikipedia:

"In the manga and anime, Tiger Mask (whose real name was Naoto Date) was a feared heel wrestler in America who was extremely vicious in the ring. However, he became a face after returning to Japan when a young boy said that he wanted to be a villain like Tiger Mask when he grew up. The boy resided in an orphanage, the same one that Tiger Mask grew up in during his childhood. Feeling that he did not want the boy to idolize a villain, Tiger was inspired to be a heroic wrestler.

"The main antagonist in the manga and anime was the Tiger's Den, a mysterious organization that trained young people to be villainous wrestlers on the condition that they gave half of their earnings to the organization. Tiger Mask was once a member of the Tiger's Den under the name "Yellow Devil", but no longer wanted anything to do with them, instead donating his money to the orphanage. This infuriated the leader of the organization and he sent numerous assassins, including other professional wrestlers, to punish him." 

So, this explains a lot for me and why he would fight "bad guys" in and out of the ring! Wow, my childhood explained at last!

مدرسة الكنغ فو (Kung Fu School) or Ironfist Chinmi (1988)

Chinmi is a pure hearted child who seeks to learn Kung Fu and so he heads to a temple that teaches it through alternative and "creative" ways. He then makes friends and aids the locals by providing them with safety. It's a comedy and adventure as well and was one of my favorite animes as I loved martial arts and apparently still hold an interest in it to this day. I would rewatch this today, but when I tried it was a little boring because it is really designed for a younger audience. 

Chinmi is the one in red.

There was another sports anime I wanted to write about, one about a girl actually. This isn't very often a female is the main heroin, especially in a sports anime. So, it was about running, and I know it was at least from the 80s, maybe even prior to that. I can't find it but I do know the Arabic title was called "Lubna al sareah" Fast Lubna!

Oh well, I hope you guys were able to see an interesting perspective on what anime used to be like before the 00's and let me know what sports animes did you guys watch!

Peace,

M.D.