Keijo

Summary: >

Among sports with legalized betting, Keijo is the most popular. The ring is a platform floating on water. The objective is for girls to push their opponents off the ring. The catch is that they can't use their hands, only their butts and bust. Nozomi is a big fan of Keijo and newly admitted to a training school with the aim of going pro and becoming a prize queen. She's got the boobs and she's got the butt. Does she have the determination?

Thoughts: >

Keijo !!!!!!!! is an anime which doesn't require a review. You're either 100% sold on the concept or not. With that in mind, Keijo has nothing wrong with it, thus is totally worth watching. But since I do "review stuff" I guess I'm required to talk about other things. Like you're watching it for something other than boob/butt battles (seriously, don't kid yourself).

The sport of Keijo is of course the big draw of the show, and therefore the focus. The anime de-emphasizes things like back story, characters, and to some extent the plot. Keijo has huge catalog of girls, so differentiating them required traits be doled out sparingly, making each of them a bit shallow. They do however function well in their roles, and I liked most of them. I wasn't so taken by the lead character Nozomi; typical for an upbeat main character who lives for the excitement of fan service battle. Which is fine, but a very "safe" choice for a lead.

The anime follows Nozomi through her rise in Keijo, and as she attempts to master the VACUUM BUTT CANNON - yes the most awesomely named move in anything ever. Titty Hypnosis, Butt Gatling Gun; if you like the concept, you'll love the hell out of the hilarious technique names. Each of the many moves in Keijo are balanced in strengths and weaknesses, but leveraged depending on the skill of the girl. Contests are solid, and this anime never stoops to making up random crap to compensate for poorly thought out fights.

If you're worried about overwhelming fan service, Keijo isn't exactly like that. I didn't find it especially leering or perverse. Instead it seems to understand fan service is a baked in feature, and doles out T&A when convenient (which is often, but doesn't unnaturally go out of its way). The quality art style compliments the show well, so it lives up to the concept and is quite good as far as sports anime go.

Screen Caps: >