Extreme Hearts

It's hard to grasp what Extreme Hearts is based on synopsis alone. It's not a sports anime. Nor is it an idol anime. And even with Sci-Fi elements, it's not a typical Sci-Fi series. And it's certainly not somewhere in between those three. This series is best described as a journey about challenging oneself and staying true to your own goals. It's about relating to others, forging new friendships, and it does so with brimming positivity, and a diverse cast of well-thought-out characters. The story begins with Hiyori, an already debuted singer/songwriter with an extremely small following, and her kouhai, Saki. When Hiyori's contract is terminated,she sets her sights on Extreme Hearts, a knockout-style sports-festival for entertainers. The competition itself cycles through different sports, from baseball to basketball, and from soccer to rugby. Hiyori sets out to overcome these challenges, and with the help of her kouhai's friend, Sumika, prepares as best she can to face it. But she's alone, and the aforementioned sports are all team-based sports. Without the help of her friends, she won't get very far. This series is never about the sports; the sport is the challenge. And it's not about having the most unique storyline. Nor the most realistic. In fact, it's filled with tropes. And the Sci-Fi elements are barely explained. If that grinds your gears, then you'll end up hating this series. But if you're okay with that and you're not heavily leaning into sports or idols, then you'll find a series that overflows with warm feelings and extreme positivity. It's refreshing and wholesome. This applies even between direct competitors in the sports festival. The various groups come together, help each other practice, and lift each other to new heights. It's wonderful and a gentle take on what life is all about. I can easily draw comparisons between this series and Iwa Kakeru or Dog Days. If you liked those, you'll like this.

I’ve seen quite a lot of idol-related anime, and Extreme hearts was another good addition to the genre. I really do like the merging of sports and idols, and there are quite a handful of anime series that have done exactly that, from Pride of Orange, or Uma Musume Pretty Derby, where musical performances after a sporting event is done and it's still uncommon in that theme. I am going to be real with you, if you’re not that type of viewer with a solid interest of those genres then you should look elsewhere, I tend to notice a lot of reactions are on the negativesbecause they expect it to be as comparable to what you see from a highly budgeted popular series, and unfortunately people tend to look too deep into something that is supposed to be just your simple and bare-boned anime show, which you should keep in mind. Extreme Hearts isn’t the next Love Live, Haikyuu, or any other significant popularized mainstream of the genre, but it sure does enjoyably deliver well enough for the common target market who just wants to watch and enjoy an anime about Sports with Idols. I, myself, see nothing majorly wrong with the show, like I said, despite what people may say towards Extreme Hearts being an idol cliche, low-budget in animation, and that it is “an overdid plotline” that tries to be different with these unnecessary sci-fi ideas, sure, there some truths to that. But at the end of the day, is the music good, yes, is watching the sequences of the sci-fi themed sports fun, yes, are the characters entertaining along with the commonly used plotline, hell yeah, it was enjoyable. If you’re an avid fan of the genre seeking a new idol sports anime as they rarely come out nowadays, then I recommend it, as a guy who has watched over multitude of slice-of-life Idol shows, my experience watching Extreme Hearts was a fun one

Extreme Piss, the Queens (or rather, Princesses) of Hearts of a formula already done before, but that it is also subpar. People just don't learn, that's the hard-and-fast rule and unfathomable truth. As I would like to call it, the now famous Uma Musume formula of involving sports and idoling, CGDCT style, it certainly has seen a major success incorporating such a genre that back then, didn't have a lot of competition. And CyGames definitely took advantage of that formula by being the first anime adaptation of their popular mobage game to do so, such that it was the precedent going forward. And many similar othertried to replicate this exact styling from the likes of "PuraOre! Pride of Orange" and now this show, but it's very clear that the concept didn't work out as it should, being a novel concept on paper but forgetting about everything else that came with it. And this is exactly what Masaki Tsuzuki, the creator of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha and Dog Days did, that try as hard as he might to hope to make a splash, but like the useless Pokémon Magikarp that takes long enough to evolve into a Gyarados, this show couldn't evolve from having a now generic formula, with basically nothing unique to show. I do love underdog stories, and Extreme Hearts' story plot shows a newbie group's rise to fame: Team RISE, consisting of team leader Hiyori Hayama, members Saki Kodaka, Sumika Maehara, Yukino Tachibana and Lise Kohinata, does feel just that. The always enthusiastic team leader, Hiyori has actually made a name for herself as a guitarist, but even with a solo debut, that's still not enough to break even. That's where her one and only fan Saki Kodaka comes in to persuade her not to give up music, for this competition/tournament for idol groups that's known as Extreme Hearts provides her another avenue to use her talents in a better way. Subsequently, with the rise of the team, comes more girls that bred from the necessity of evolving the team to greater heights: Sumika Maehara with her knowledge on Hyper Sports, Yukino Tachibana in baseball and last but not least, Lise Kohinata...in just making the team complete in numbers, that's all. That to me, screams inconsistency, though props must be given for having members that are of necessity other than just a want "because I'm a fan". The other girls of rival groups, yeah...it's just how PuraOre! did the same thing to satiate the tastes to generic boringness, though there are some that I like. Case in point: the 2-member team Snow Wolf compromising of Michelle Jaeger and Ashley Vancroft, both dedicated to their craft of robot manufacturing and making the world a better place. It's just absurd how an even smaller side group like this ironically is my favourite team, though they ultimately become assistants to Team RISE, which isn't all that bad. Honestly, director Junji Nishimura has recently been in a rolleroaster of shows that director-level or not, hasn't really been working things out for him. Being the director and one that has the most input on Mamoru Oshii's Vlad Love, it's a very unique take on the madman's creative side that however, just feels like it's a "style over substance" show. And most certainly as studio Seven Arcs's in-house director, shows like Bermuda Triangle: Colorful Pastrale really only cater to the kids style, and I'm left wondering if like Extreme Hearts, he's gonna screw up the upcoming anime adaptation of Mato Seihei no Slave (which the original source material is actually quite good). But I can only judge what he has now, and it's starting to feel like Junji Nishimura is feeling his ripe old age whom he is at the limit of making good decisions and leaving everything else to his production staff team. And truthfully, it is sad and a shame. The OST...forget it, it's the same generic idol-ness that doesn't really stand out in its uniqueness, or might as well that I say that character-centric songs are somehow getting worse, at least it is to me. I've already said this once in my PuraOre! review, but like a certain Touko Machida, Masaki Tsuzuki's writing prowess is leagues behind the times, and although the enjoyment may have sufficed with both Nanoha and Dog Days back in the day, Extreme Hearts is a comeback that honestly, it's better off without in its entirety. Just don't waste time on this show unless you have a penchant for similar shows like these that you'll enjoy, no matter its overall quality.

An original, very diverse anime, a mix of sports, singing, dancing, show business, Idols, and Kawaii girls. Football, basketball, baseball, volleyball, tournaments. The intervention of very advanced technology throughout history. Robots (AI), and the use of gravity shoes, allowing the people who wear them to influence the surrounding gravity, so as to be able to greatly strengthen their physical abilities (jumps, sprints, throwing, receiving, kicking , or punch). All in color. Beautiful girls, and beautiful songs sung. The characters whose daily lives we will follow are all girls. Despite everything, it's very pleasant to watch. The settings aren't perfect, but the story, and seeing girls in the foreground more than makes up forit. In addition, each of the girls will have their own stories, which will spice up the anime a bit.

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