Sports manga come in many shapes and sizes, but I don’t remember many that focus on sumo.  Sumo is an odd spectacle, to say the least.  To the Western eye, including mine, there’s something inherently absurd about it – and I say that with no disrespect intended.  It’s simply a matter of perspective, and I think even many younger Japanese feel that way.  But for the older generation and yes, probably a few sumotaku in the younger, sumo is literally a holy pursuit.  It’s as much akin to a religious practice as an athletic one (ancient Shinto tradition colors every aspect of the sport) and once you’ve seen a sumo tournament live, you appreciate the passion many Japanese have for this most Japanese of pursuits.

For me, it’s hard to imagine teenaged boys being anxious to perform in front of their schools in mawashi, the sumo wrestler’s (rikishi) fundoshi.  But some high schools do have sumo clubs, so clearly some boys are willing and even eager to do so.  One such boy is third-year middle schooler Hinomaru Ushio (Abe Atsuki), the protagonist of Hinomaru Zumou.  There are some mysteries about him that aren’t answered in the premiere – such as why his body is covered in scars – but what’s clear is that he’s a sumo-baka of the highest order.  And perhaps something of a baka in general, since the story is set up by the fact that he shows up at the wrong high school to check out their sumo club.

While on the way to check out a powerhouse sumo school (I guess they exist) Ushio stops a molester on a train, and as a result disembarks at the wrong station.  Instead of his destination he ends up at Daichi High, where he meets Ozeki Shinya (Ochiai Fukuchi).  Daichi has a sumo-bu too, but Ozeki is the only member – and he’s had to build his own dohyou outside, as the school yankees under the direction of bancho (and presumably future rikishi) Gojou Yuuma (Kumegai Kentarou, sounding eerily like Hosoya Yoshimasa) have taken over the dojo and use Ozeki as their personal whipping boy.

The events of the premiere more or less follow the traditions sports shounen template.  Ushio-kun steps up to defend the meek Ozeki-kun and meets the delinquents head-on, eventually challenging Gojou to a duel.  And it’s pretty clear that he’s going to end up at Daichi anyway, so that development hardly comes as a surprise.  But long-running shounen do tend to start that way – pre-syndication, they have to follow the rules to a certain extent.  What tells the tale is execution, and all in all Hinomaru Zumou stands up pretty well in that regard.

I’ve heard good things about the manga, and I don’t see anything in this premiere to make me lower my reasonably high expectations for this series.  It’s going to be two cours and the manga is currently at 17 volumes, so obviously we’re not going to get a full adaptation, but it should be enough to give us a good idea of what Hinomaru Zumou is all about.  Director Uda Kounsokue has certainly proved himself with sports anime – he helmed the superb Ginga e Kickoff – and as for the Gonzo part well, who knows.

The fact that this series focuses on sumo does offer some interesting possibilities, which I’ll be interested in seeing if it pursues.  Other series about teens passionate for fusty old Japanese institutions like Karuta and Kabuki have acknowledged the social challenges this presents them, and I assume Hinomaru Zumou will too.  But it seems to me that sumo, even more than those other pursuits, offers a particular challenge to an adolescent trying to survive the social death match of high school.  How much that element will be a part of the story I don’t know, but it’s certainly one way this series could stand out from other sports anime.