Ace wo Nerae! (1979)

High school freshman Hiromi s the tennis club because of her iration for Ryuzaki. Ryuzaki is a senior, who's the best tennis player on the team and also nicknamed "Ochoufujin", ("Madame Butterfly"), because of her elegance on the tennis court. However, the new coach, Jin Munakata, wants the inexperienced Hiromi to play in a forthcoming tournament.

Due to this, Hiromi considers quitting tennis for good but, in the depth of her soul, she soon realizes that she loves tennis after all. She returns to the club and, under Munakata's coaching, her talent starts to bloom.

In the end, Hiromi develops a strong emotional bond with her coach, not knowing that Munakata is risking his life because of a chronic illness.

(Source: AnimeNfo)

Oka, Hiromi Main

Kousaka, Makoto Japanese

Ryuuzaki, Reika Main

Ikeda, Masako Japanese

Munakata, Jin Main

Nozawa, Nachi Japanese

Toudou, Takayuki Main

Mori, Katsuji Japanese

Aikawa, Maki ing

Sugaya, Masako Japanese

Midorikawa, Ranko ing

Yanaga, Kazuko Japanese

Otowa, Kyoko ing

Komiya, Kazue Japanese

Chiba, Takashi ing

Sogabe, Kazuyuki Japanese

Ozaki, Yuu ing

Hoshino, Miwa ing

Dezaki, Osamu Director, Storyboard

Fujikawa, Keisuke Script, Screenplay

Ryuu, Machiko Theme Song Lyrics

Nakamura, Ryuutarou Key Animation

Reviews

Feb 25, 2025

LuxuriousHeart

Recommended

I do think the movie is great as a standalone. If you don't want to watch the first season,.due to having too many episodes and being a touch too old, I do recommend this series. A nice summary with a bit more information than the actual series. Namely, the coach's backstory.

However, as someone who has watched the original series, it's inferior to it. They cut a lot of stuff out, and it feels rushed in certain areas. Still, it's an overall summary of the first season, so it's good if you're on a time crunch. It's good ... if you don't want to dedicate too much time watching the series.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Feb 10, 2024

CorrectorYui

Mixed Feelings

Per my rating, I have mixed feelings on recommending this. I watched it hours after finishing the tv series.
Starting off with the pros, the high budget is clear with beautiful shots and no off-model moments for characters (or at least I didn't notice any)
In the 6 year gap between the series and the movie, Dezaki's directing became so much more refined and distinctly HIS style from the pastel still frames, the shots of birds taking flight, unique camera angles, and color palette changes in intense moments. It very much made the movie for me.
Onto why I am mixed about this, the movie is ... pretty much a recap of the series, with new content being at the very end. While some moments are changed slightly, the end result is pretty much the same. Some really important character arcs and moments are cut out too, like Kyoko Otowa's development and a lot of how Reika and Hiromi's bond grew and changed over the course of the plot along with Hiromi's improvement being less gradual, only shown through short training montages. I understand the reason being time constraints, but it still does hurt the film.

Overall, if you're watching it for new content, it isn't really needed. However, if you are a Dezaki fan like me and enjoy his directing style, the film is eye candy and a nice watch.

TL;DR: Probably not going to enjoy it if you aren't a fan of recaps, if you want to watch it because it's a Dezaki work and to see his style in motion, go for it.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Mar 3, 2021

Takuza

Not Recommended

Funny

Look, the story in this movie is trash. The entire thing is an irrational, emotionally (and at times physically) abusive male coach unreasonably projecting his desires onto a teenage girl, working her until she throws up. You are not told what his motivations are for the majority of the movie, and when it's finally revealed it is some of the most insultingly inappropriate drivel I have ever had narratively pushed on me in film. The movie has the audacity to have the main character be grateful to this man for his abuse. This may even be realistic, I do not know how people react in ... these situations. Realistic or not, it is disgusting for this to be portrayed as sweet, endearing, motivational, or inspirational narratively. The coach is a piece of trash, and truly how dare this film spend even a nanosecond portraying him as anything else.

I understand that the context was different for the demographic at the time. A 70s shoujo manga about a hot older man taking a ionate interest in you above and beyond the other girls, feverishly driving you to be the best version of yourself because of his dark, traumatic past. Were I a japanese teen girl 35 years ago, no doubt this is would be quite captivating to me. Judge it in those if you wish, but for me, as an adult in 2021, this is absolute garbaaaage.

Putting those issues aside, the pacing is poor and while some of the scenes are quite nice (Osamu Dezaki really shines in certain moments) overall the production is nothing to rave about. So take some pretty good direction, modest animation, and a fun enough main character and mix that with poor pacing and an absolutely garbage story and you get a 3/10

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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