Hanebado - What the Hell Happened?

Way back in the very first post on this blog, I gave my first impressions on the currently airing anime of the Summer 2018 season. In that post, I mentioned that the sports anime Hanebado was an early frontrunner for anime of the season. In the time since then, it fell from grace in my eyes in such a dramatic manner it went from my favorite anime of the season to my least favorite summer anime that wasn't named Island.

But why? How could something implode so spectacularly? Well, to get there, we need to talk about what made me like Hanebado so much in the first place. First of all, I love sports anime. Sports anime is a bit of a niche genre in the greater anime community at large, with only a handful of shows like Free! Iwatobi Swim Club and Kuroko's Basketball breaking through to the mainstream. But these shows are pretty different from each other, and other sports anime I've talked about on the blog before like Hanebado and Major 2nd are also nothing like them either. Free! is a melodramatic, love-flow-chart type of soap opera that uses swim meets as a metaphor for sexual relationships between the pretty boys of the cast. Kuroko's Basketball is a hype driven battle series that uses basketball rivalries to explore the story of a group of friends drifting apart as they grow up. Major 2nd is a drama aimed at children that explores the idea of failing to live up to expectations and dedicating yourself to a pursuit on your own terms. I can go on and on with examples like this, but I think I've made my point here. Sports anime are never exclusively about the sport in question. Instead, the best sports series  use their sports as metaphor for character dynamics and underlying themes.

And Hanebado had a good theme set up in its first few episodes. And I'm not talking about the talent vs hard work thing they talked up so much. That's a lazy theme that sports anime (and anime in general) keep falling back on when they need something that sounds deep to talk about, and honestly, I think that the over reliance on this theme is a factor in Hanebado's decline in quality. No, Hanebado's hidden strength in the early episodes was its focus on the idea that these talented athletes had lost sight of why they started playing the game and had gotten so caught up in their moment to moment goals and felt burned out and lost as a result. And the one character who embodied this so well, better than the rest of the cast, was Nagisa Aragaki.

I am convinced that if Nagisa was the protagonist of Hanebado instead of Ayano, that the series would have been so much better all on its own. I enjoy almost every scene where she is the focus, and her storyline is easily the best plot thread in the story. As a rising star who fought her way to the national tournament in her second year of high school, only to be smacked down by an upstart kid, too young for high school, a prodigy who effortlessly defeated her without even celebrating when she won. Everything Nagisa worked for imploded at the hands of this girl, and she didn't even have the dignity to acknowledge her as a rival afterward. Nagisa was broken by this match, and she wanted revenge. This next year was going to be her last chance to win a title, and nothing was going to stop her. So for the first two episodes of Hanebado, Nagisa's existence revolved around nothing more than training and pushing herself and her teammates farther than they've ever gone. 

"But Patrick," I hear you say. "I thought you said that Nagisa was defined by burnout? She sounds like she's more determined than ever." But unlike every other anime ever, Nagisa's determination isn't helping her. It's toxic and self destructive. The way she pushes her teammates isn't just by stepping up the intensity of their training or giving them motivational speeches. No, her training regimen pushes her teammates to the point that it wouldn't surprise me if some of them passed out from dehydration or simple exhaustion. And then when anyone pushes back against her, she uses manipulative and abusive language to imply that they don't even care about badminton in the first place. She pushes people away to the point that the badminton club is on its last legs, with only a handful of members left. Nagisa has lost sight of what makes badminton meaningful for her in her quest for revenge: fun, camaraderie, and the pursuit of self-improvement. And with the introduction of Ayano Hanesaki, the girl who defeated Nagisa in the first place, as a new member of her club, who clearly has her own emotional baggage, Nagisa is put on a path of introspection and redemption that can easily fuel an entire season's worth of narrative.

I'll never have another chance to say this, but Hanebado is gorgeous. As many problems as I have with the storytelling, I cannot find much to complain about visually.

But the series isn't about Nagisa. It only cares about Nagisa as a foil to the real protagonist Ayano Hanesaki. Ayano is a cute prodigy who decided to hang up her racket after her match with Nagisa at the beginning of the series because of some mysterious tragic backstory. She is clearly a sad, broken person who has suffered greatly in an incident related to the sport and her mother (that's all we can infer in episode 1.) that she used to love to the point that she decided that she'd rather just drop everything and walk away. She's letting her trauma break her down and give up the one thing that she was passionate about. And it's only at the insistence of her childhood friend Elena who sees how miserable she is without passion but is unaware of the incident that made her break in the first place that Ayano even bothers to try to give badminton another shot, even though she cannot even fathom why it would be a good idea in the first place. 

This is good stuff, and sets up Ayano as a good foil for Nagisa. Both have their own intertwined history that has made them lose sight of what made them love the sport that they built their own personal identities around, both have gone down dark, melodramatic paths that only teenagers can, and both are going to respond to it in different ways. I'm even okay with the eventual idea that takes shape where Nagisa learns her lesson and commits to becoming a more considerate team captain while still pursuing a victory over Ayano, not as an endgame goal, but as a milestone for her ultimate pursuit of self improvement while Ayano doubles down on making the wrong decisions and becomes the same detached, condescending girl that Nagisa lost to in the first place, only even worse this time around, where she only cares about victory and revels in emotionally breaking her opponents while she toys with them during matches, all in the name of getting back at her mom (we'll get to her in a second) and keeping herself from getting bored, to the point where she becomes verbally abusive toward her teammates as well.

But the anime makes a fatal misstep. Instead of making the character going through an honest redemption arc and growing into a likable character the protagonist and the one turning into the high school sports equivalent of the Joker the final rival, Hanebado goes the other way around. And Ayano is not a good protagonist. She'd make an amazing sympathetic antagonist, but I cannot bring myself to root for her. While her dark side is born of the combination of real trauma and being forced back into badminton a bit too fast for her (and no, I don't blame Elena at all. Ayano needed this and it was working to rehabilitate her before drama got in the way), and the so-called Dark Ayano one-liners are genuinely funny at times, she becomes impossible to root for when she takes aim at her own goddamn teammates and makes light of the struggles of those who will never reach her level of play no matter how hard they try. And yes, it's in character, but Ayano's character development does not fit the tone that Hanebado seems to be going for. Hanebado presents itself as a melodramatic character study in how two characters respond to failure and trauma, with a down to earth tone and realistic motivations and developments being expressed in an over the top manner. And Ayano's backstory and the character development that is borne from it is so cartoonishly ridiculous that it just sticks out as a sore thumb and is fundamentally unfit to be the central pillar of this story. Which means that it's time to talk about Uchika Shindo.

Uchika is the worst mother in anime since Ragyo Kiryuin of Kill la Kill. A legendary professional badminton player, she left the game after giving birth to Ayano and starts training her at the tender young age of like 4. However, the flashbacks to this time make it clear that Ayano isn't training out of love for the game and instead is pursuing the sport because it is literally the only way she can bond with her distant mother, who seems to be resentful of Ayano for forcing her out of the game simply by virtue of existing. When Ayano loses a match at around age 9 or so, Uchika lets her resentment get the better of her and abandons her daughter with her parents and picks up a random Danish girl named Connie as her new protege and surrogate daughter, apparently without ever contacting Ayano again since then. And no matter how much Ayano won since then, Uchika never returned, to the point where Ayano lost all hope and became the emotionless monster that crushed Nagisa so carelessly before giving up and becoming a broken shell of a person, forced to come to the realization that her mother cast her aside and replaced her for the crime of not measuring up to her lofty expectations. And even though Elena, Nagisa, and the badminton club start to repair her emotional trauma, Ayano regresses into her dark persona when Connie and eventually Uchika herself show up. 

And all of this should work, except it doesn't. First of all, that match Ayano lost that drove her mother away? She lost because her opponent deliberately infected her with a cold mere days before the scheduled match and essentially sabotaged her, and either Ayano didn't explain this and Uchika failed to notice that her daughter was sick OR Ayano did explain this and Uchika didn't care and found her loss unforgivable to the point where child abandonment seemed like a good idea. I'm not saying that Uchika giving up on Ayano and replacing her with another prospect is out of character or a bad idea for setting up the trauma that pushes Ayano's entire story, but with the inciting incident coming from a pink haired anime girl (the only character in the series with an unnatural hair color) who looks like she walked in from a completely different anime weaponizing the powers of a D-List Kids Next Door villain, it becomes impossible to take this seriously. And when the scene that is a central moment in the history of three major characters and goes on to influence nearly every other major character in the series is so ridiculous, it becomes impossible to take Ayano's arc, which is meant to be a tragedy, seriously. I don't mind a bit of silliness in my entertainment, but this is supposed to be the emotional heart of the series. This is the equivalent of Uncle Ben's murder in Spider-man or All Might telling Deku that he can be a hero. And instead of tugging at my heartstrings, making me feel sympathy for Ayano, or even giving a satisfying payoff to the mystery of Ayano's past, it just leaves me laughing.

And then there are the characters of Uchika and Connie themselves. These two are so important to Ayano's arc, and let me remind you, Ayano is the protagonist, so her arc is the one you have to get right here, that if they fail to work then the entire thing falls apart. And they do work in theory. In practice, well, the entire thing falls apart. Uchika making a token attempt to reconnect with Ayano upon learning of her eventual success is a good idea, especially with Ayano rejecting her and using her newfound dark persona as a means to get revenge by completely ignoring her mother and forging her own identity, unaware the entire time that she is becoming basically the same person. That's the perfect end to a tragic arc that would work best if she were an antagonistic rival and not the designated hero of the piece. But when the script, shot composition, and score are trying their damnedest to make you feel bad for Uchika for being shot down by the little girl she abused instead of feeling bad for Ayano in how far she has fallen and how much she's become like her monster of a mother, it really gives me the impression that the series doesn't understand its own themes. And Connie is just a mess. 

Apparently, Connie left Denmark for Japan in order to find Ayano and meet up with her, as she sees her as an adopted sister and she wants the two of them to live with Uchika in dysfunctional harmony. I say apparently, because Connie's introductory scene completely contradicts this stated motive that comes to light later in the series. In that scene, Connie and Ayano run into each other completely by chance in a convenience store, each on a water bottle run at a convenience store nearby the gymnasium where their two respective schools are holding a joint practice, and start to bond when they get lost on their way back. Once the two girls learn each other's identity and their shared connection to Uchika, however, Connie turns on Ayano and declares her intention to crush her and cement her place as Uchika's true daughter once and for all. And then she returns later in the series to go on a girls' night out with Ayano to the arcade and try to build a positive relationship with her, claiming to have wanted a proper sisterly relationship all along. And Ayano's rejection of this gesture is supposed to be another affirmation that she has turned into the very thing she hates. But why should I feel bad for Connie when her declaration of war is what started this whole mess in the first place and doesn't fit with her stated motivations of connecting with her long lost sister, and any claim of character development from evil rival to concerned family member is completely laughable due to never actually happening on screen? It's as if the show wants you to forget this crucial scene, the one that sends Ayano on this fall from grace that is the entire central conceit of the show, and just get a do-over on Connie as a character. You can't have it both ways, Hanebado!

Hanebado still has two episodes left in its run, so maybe some of my issues can be addressed. Ayano and Nagisa are having a rematch as the final match of the qualifying tournament, where it's been hinted that Ayano might actually lose this final match, thus giving Nagisa's arc the catharsis I think it deserves,  and the most recent episode at time of writing ended on the tease that Elena was going to confront Uchika for being such a horrible parent. But there are still some fundamental problems with the way the story is structured, the construction of central characters, and fluctuations in tone that undermine the very themes that the entire series is based on. So, I'm going to give it the Comic Girls treatment and explain how I would fix it, because I do think that there was real potential here. Only, I'm not going to do anything drastic like remove the protagonist and rewrite the entire series from the ground up this time. I don't hate Ayano on a conceptual level like Kaos, I just think that she is horribly mishandled. And the plot of Hanebado isn't a bunch of horrible ideas either; it's just poorly put together and can be made good with a few little adjustments.

First adjustment, make Nagisa the main character. She is the one that goes on a journey of redemption here from the heartbroken and toxic brat to a mature, levelheaded leader who goes on to save the girl who broke her in the first place. That's a character arc similar to Soya of Planet With (which, by the way, has lived up to its potential and is undoubtedly my anime of the season), where the once revenge driven protagonist realizes that their hatred is unsatisfying and self-destructive, lets go of their aggression, and then reaches out to the one that hurt them in order to heal their pain and break the cycle of hatred. With badminton. That could be amazing. And instead of being resolved in three episodes, Nagisa takes a long time to get used to having to work alongside Ayano in the badminton club, though seeing how Connie affects Ayano does push her to see Ayano as a person instead of an obstacle or an endgame. But once Ayano starts treating her opponents and her teammates with contempt and condescension, Nagisa will see a mirror of how she used to act, recognize that Ayano is acting from a place of sadness and trauma, and resolves to beat her in the final match in order to get her to realize that her way is wrong and put her on the path of acting like a decent human being.

Secondly, we need to fix up Ayano's character arc. Because while it has taken too much attention away from Nagisa's arc, it is still vital to the themes of being broken and earning redemption. Nagisa's story will not work unless Ayano can act as a foil to her, and thus, both stories need to be given equal weight. Think of how Inuyashiki managed to balance both the titular Inuyashiki and the antagonistic Hiro's stories in order to explore how men react to receiving absolute power in different, diametrically opposed ways. Step one in fixing Ayano's story: getting rid of the whole cold thing. Our Ayano will still lose a match due to sabotage, but this time it's because Kaoruko surreptitiously cuts a few strings on Ayano's racket or something less stupid. Step two: fixing Connie's introduction. We'll have the same scene of them meeting by chance and getting to know each other before learning that they have a shared connection to Uchika. But instead of turning on Ayano and declaring war, Connie is now ecstatic and tries to have a friendly match because they can communicate better with rackets than words. And Connie wins easily. This will cause Ayano to break down and run out on the joint practice, and sets her up as a symbolic rival in Ayano's mind. If she can defeat Connie, she can then symbolically defeat Uchika and get revenge. Connie will feel regret about this and reaches out one more time later in the series with their little trip to the arcade. Only this time, when Ayano rejects Connie's sincere attempts to forge a familial bond, it actually means something. This becomes the "Oh, shit" moment where you realize that Ayano has become her mother. When Ayano gets revenge on Kaoruko in the tournament, it'll be framed as a cathartic moment where you want to cheer and the dead eyed look is treated as a super mode. But when that same dead eyed look is used against Connie, who just wants to be Ayano's sister, we see the horror of Ayano's development for what it really is. And now, instead of feeling forced and contrived, the final match between Ayano and Nagisa has real dramatic weight, as Ayano has changed from a likable sidekick to a tragic figure and the long-hyped rematch changes from a chance for Nagisa to redeem herself to a chance for Nagisa to let go of her resentment and help redeem Ayano instead.

And then, this shot from the opening can actually mean something.

And there you have it. With just a handful of adjustments, Hanebado can come from a confused mess to a semi-decent sports story that explores the themes of failure, frustration, revenge, and redemption in a satisfying way. And who knows? Maybe the next sports anime I watch won't fail to live up to its potential in such a frustrating manner. What sports anime is coming next season?

Huh. That just might work. See you next week!