Tsurune: Kazemai Koukou Kyuudoubu

Close your eyes and picture a moment in your life that really affected you. It could be anything like made you into the person you are today. As humans, we are bound to change in some ways or another throughout our lives. Especially in our teenage years, we can be easily influenced by others and events around us. I can safely say that without a shadow of a doubt, we have all experienced change in our lives some way or another. It’s called growing up.

Like most sports shows, competitors experiment with themselves to be the best they can be. Tsurune lives as an example of a rare form of sport not seen too often these days in the anime medium. In fact, what exactly is Tsurune? The term itself refers to the sound of a bowstring made when an arrow is fired. As you should expect, that relates to archery when a bow fires an arrow. Adapted by studio Kyoto Animation, Tsurune feels like an anime that could raise a bar. In 2018, there were several sports shows that made a noticeable presence so where does Tsurune really hit the mark?

To be fair, understanding Tsurune as a sports show isn’t difficult despite not being a very popular sport. Be honest, when was the last time you’ve watched a competition in real life or TV about archery? The only time I remember is during the Olympics on an international scale. As a competitive sport, it deals with individuals and teams trying to shoot their arrows to land the center of the target as close as possible. That’s the base of the rules and scoring applies to the performance of the archers. There’s time limit, signals to be followed, and styles that each archer adapts to perform their best. Even the equipment plays an important factor on the result. However, don’t be too alarmed. Archery isn’t really hard to understand and this show is more of a character driven story.

If you’ve seen the promotional poster and trailers, then you’ll easily recognize how producers made the cast. Characters are built with a bishounen features to attract audiences and most of them look young and healthy for competition. Deep down though, characters faces inner problems that runs deep in the veins of their past. The most prominent example is Minato Narumiya, the main male protagonist and first year at Kazemai High School. Despite being an experienced archer, he lacks confidence in the present timeline due to a tragic event of the past. Remember what I said about how humans can be changed especially when we were young? Well, here you have it. Minato battles his personal demons throughout the show and we see how he feels detached from himself. The story explores his past regarding his relationship with parents and how events influenced his character. It’s a type of self-discovery where the main character has to accept his past and move on to build a better future for themselves.

Luckily for Minato, he has friends and supporters. His childhood friends Seiya and Ryohei brings him to join their school’s archery club. After encountering the mysterious Masaki in the forest one night, Minato became fascinated by archery again despite having forsaken his bow. Now obviously, the idea isn’t easy as it sounds. Being part of the archery club also means that Minato has to deal with his past. Despite this, he experiences change in his character thanks to the positive influence of Masaki. With the club, Minato’s emotional scar begins to heal. You’re probably wondering at this point if the show will maintain this sort of melodrama throughout the rest of the duration. Make no mistake that while this show can be quite moody, there are still much room for fun and entertainment. Because at the heart of the show, we have the archery club that is growing alongside Minato. The show offers competition, character relationship building, and even a training camp for the team to grow together. While the anime advertised itself as a cast with a male dominant cast, there are even girls joining too. This doesn’t change the general tone of the anime though as the story is still built around the main characters. The more I watched this anime, the more I felt compelled to understand them. Even after half the show, there are moments where I wonder how these characters became who they are in the present. So in a sense, this show has a feeling of mystery. After seeing a good deal of Minato’s past, I think people may feel sympathy for him. Or maybe not. Maybe you want him to be a man and deal with it like a mature adult. Either way, the show does a fairly consistent job at building Minato as a character.

In a sports competitive environment, there are rivals and a name like Shu Fujiwara is no pushover. As a prodigy, he and Kirisaki High School stands as a challenge that the Kazemai archery club must take on to prove themselves. Not only that, the club also faces the pressure of competing in the regional tournament. It all feels too real when we see the emotions and look on the characters’ faces. Then again, competition pushes everyone to be their best so it’s assumed that pressure is a common experience. The bottom line is, the competition itself feels like you’re there with them. Every second, every minute, every moment counts.

From the start, it’s no surprise the anime is produced with sheer amount of visual quality. Kyoto Animation is recognized for their high quality production so naturally, a show like Tsurune would get a similar treatment like Free. Now, I don’t want to compare the show but it’s easy to make comparisons with some of the character designs. Tsurune does have less man service as the visual performance lies in the photographic scenery of camera angles. It draws the audience to see how archery is treated in the anime medium and to be quite honest, I feel like the producers hit the mark. (that’s not a pun by the way). Similarly, the soundtrack plays on a serene tone from the start and shifts between melancholic and dramatic depending on circumstances. I’m not too familiar with the director but they got the point across to the viewers in the safest way possible.

Watching Tsurune reminds me how people can change but often times, it’s a difficult journey. For Minato, he had to realize the truth and accept it. There’s a lot to say about his overall growth process but definitely watch this how to really understand his character. To me, Tsurune made itself as a show that emphasized on human feelings and change. Maybe once you’ve experienced this anime, you can realize it too.