donderdag 15 juli 2021

(Average) Backflip!!

Series in one sentence:
Backflip!!! On Ice! Except not fun.

Series in more sentences:

A young man with no strong desires or hobbies one day witnesses a gym performance and becomes enthralled. He eagerly joins the gym club, maintained by the performers he saw that day, and tries his best to keep up with the professionals whilst they prepare for the upcoming competition.


What a basic, boring ride.

The main character is bland, his motives rushed, and he wasn't on screen all that often. The show claimed early on he's able to learn moves by just watching, and so I expected this guy to be a backflip sponge and develop into a frighteningly talented rival within mere days and take over the industry like he were a character from Kuroko's Basketball, but.. no. He's just instantly part of the team, able to keep up with boys who've had years of practise, whilst nothing about him stands out while he's doing his thing.
In fact, nothing about any of the characters stands out.
They all jump around the same way, roll around the same way, sway their arms the same way.

In one episode, the main character's blandness is brought up, but instead of fixing that, the camera cuts away to the overload of other characters who already have a distinguished personality. It was hilariously sad.

The next episode focusses on the boy's inability to do a steady handstand, making you think he's still an incompetent member they rushed into things out of desperation, but during the competition, you see him jumping around like he's been a gymnast for years.


There's no real conflict in this anime, every problem is more or less solved immediately, or was never a problem to begin with.

The performances, when shown in full, were really boring to sit through. I started skipping them at one point. Yuri!!! On Ice was clever enough to cut away or dump voice-overs over it, but Backflip's camera lingers on a bunch of semi-3D animated kids flailing around on music that's getting drowned out by the sound of limbs dropping on gym mats.

For people who are not already interested in the sport, I don't think this'll keep their attention.


I feel nothing for these characters and their journey, the things that do grab your attention are not explored, and the relationships are surface level, would not recommend this to anyone. Unless, again, you are really into the sport.



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