Reviews 3r154o

Story: "Ao no Hako" aka "Blue Box" is one of the more popular romance manga currently releasing, and definitely one of the best ones imo. It focuses on our main duo, Taiki Inomata, a first year bton player and Chinatsu Kano, a second year basketball player. "After an unexpected turn of events brings the two closer together, sports might not be the first thing on their minds anymore!" This series balances the sports aspect and romance aspect really well, as we get to see the characters focus on becoming the best versions of themselves through hard work and dedication, but we also see hints of possible romantic developments (which will be explored later on). The basic premise of Blue Box is pretty simple all things considered, and even though some may argue that it's "generic", it's an extremely well executed vanillia romance story with some good sports action thrown in here and there.

Story: 8/10

Animation: They really outdid themselves with this one, the animation is nothing short of stellar. I already had high hopes since reading the manga, as the artwork is quite detailed there. Then they dropped a few trailers which looked phenomenal, and after watching the first 3 episodes, I can safely say that this adaptation is in safe hands, and a big reason for that is due to the high quality and fluid animation. There was a few cg shots, mainly in the first ep, but they were not jarring and did not detract from my viewing experience at all

Animation: 9/10

Music: The music in this show is really good. The op "Same Blue" by Official HIGE DANdism really fits the vibe of the show well and the ed 'Teenage Blue" by Eve is just as good, if not better. The OST is solid as well.

Music: 8/10

Voice Acting: The entire cast sounds great. Reina Ueda as Chinatsu and Akari Kito as Hina were excellent picks as they bring a lot of personality to the characters and their voices match perfectly. At first I wasn't sure how to feel about Shouya Chiba as Taiki but his energy fits him well and really makes his character that much more likeable

Voice Acting: 9/10

Overall, Blue Box is a high quality romance series that you should absolutely watch, and while I do think the later seasons will be better as the plot progresses and more interesting developments occur, the anime is off to a great start and this adaptation is 100% worth checking out, whether you're an anime only or a manga reader like myself.

Overall Score: 8.5/10