I’m travelling for the next several days (Yakushima and Kagoshima), which always makes blogging anime a bit of a challenge.  Especially on a finale weekend, but there you are – it is what it is.  The usual disclaimers about post length and timeliness – and of course, that s shorter post in no way reflects a lack of affection for the material.  I always like to give series reviews their due, but you can’t get blood from a  stone and I’m pretty exhausted, since this is mainly a trekking trip.

Speaking of finales, Hinomaru Zumou has come to an end.  And with a finale that was largely in-line with what came before it, which is fitting since this has been a remarkably consistent series.  Hinomaru Zumou seems to be in that murky WSJ middle zone between a hot next gen title and a throwaway.  It didn’t get World Triggered here by any means – this was a pretty faithful and modestly well-funded (modestly) adaptation.  But I don’t think we’re going to get any more of it, and at least World Trigger fans can say they got quantity, if not quality.

As I’ve noted ad nauseam surprise is not necessarily a huge part of the equation with Hinomaru Zumou.  It mostly delivers what’s expected of it in an always competent and occasionally superb manner, and what was expected (by me) of this finale was Ushio winning the title and going pro.  He did, and he did, and there were no huge surprises in the bout itself.  A nice little flashback sequence (the kiss of death for any sports manga opponent) for Sousuke, and more tantalizing clues about Ushio’s family, but nothing untoward in the ring itself.

I don’t know know enough about sumo to know how realistic Ushio’s win was, but I do know enough about sports to know that nothing gets fans in a neutral setting fired up like rooting for the underdog.  And Ushio certainly is that, as in pretty much any fight against a frontline opponent.  Casual fans won’t know how good he is – they’ll just know he’s a small man in a giant’s game.  But his sumo is so inspiring that it gets Reina taking the OP’s advice in a flight of fancy. Whether this “love” she speaks of is for more than Ushio’s sumo we’ll never know in anime form, but I guess that’s what the manga’s form.

As usual there were some nice touches here, like Ushio’s reflection that he’s actually enjoyed sumo more because of that body of his – he relishes his role as much as the fans do.  As to whether he’s going to get the nod from the pro league, it hardly seems possible they could say no after the way he riled up the crowd (pro sumo like all pro sports is ultimately about making money).  Especially with a great Yokozuna like Yamatokuni in his corner, which he clearly seems to be.

If there was a twist here, it was the news that Ushio has to drop out of school to take the pros up on their offer.  I suppose that’s obvious but I didn’t really think about it till it happened.  Sousuke too, of course – and this means neither of them can contest the high school championships again.  That does lend a different spin to the somewhat unorthodox development of having Ushio and team win it all on their first try.  Whether the same thing happened in the manga I don’t know.

All in all, Hinomaru Zumou was a pretty satisfying ride.  Never getting to see Kei win a bout was a bummer, and I never really felt like I knew the Daichi team as people well enough – even Ushio.  But this is a sports anime with the accent on “sports”, and it was true to itself from beginning to end.  Trying to deliver the essence of an ongoing sports manga in 24 episodes is not an easy thing, and this show did that quite well.  It also managed to educate a bit about sumo, which was a definite source of additional interest for me.  And who knows, maybe there’ll even be an OVA or two somewhere in the series’ future – if there is, I’ll certainly be watching.