Salaryman's Club

Salaryman's Club is simple but it does so much with it's story, characters, and art. Combine that with a sport like badminton and the determination and conviction Mikito, Tatsuru, and the other characters have, it makes the show all the more enjoyable. Is this the most accurate rep of badminton? No, not by a longshot. (the same can be said with other sports anime) Is it enjoyable? Yeah, I would say so if you throw your suspense of disbelief out the window and enjoy it for what it is. When I first heard about it, what intrigued me the most was that it's a sports anime witha cast of adults. And not just adults, but salarymen. And both Mikito and Tatsuru gave me good impressions at first glance so I stuck around and I'm glad I did. What makes Salaryman's Club stand out to me was the combination of corporate work and badminton. I like when sports anime has lots of slice-of-life aspects mixed in with the competitive scene of sports because it gives the characters more time to be themselves and live out their lives. It's a nice break in pace as well as letting us see more of the character's personal lives outside of sports. I was invested in how Mikito, Tatsuru, and the rest of the gang worked to make beverages and the shenanigans that ensued. And when they were playing badminton, I was hooked on how competitive it was. Speaking of, I never thought I would get so into a sport like badminton but I did. Each match, whether it was a practice match or a competition, I loved how each time, our boys were so determined to not only win but try their best and improve on their weaknesses. Seeing them rise and fall felt so believable and how they reacted to certain events or insecurities felt all the more real. This is what makes Salaryman's club so great. Mikito and Tatsuru were by far the best part of the anime. They're complete opposites in every way but its their differences that makes them a pretty great team, both on and off the field. Tatsuru is more relaxed and carefree and Mikito is more reserved and somewhat aloof but what they have in common is getting the job done and doing their best. Mikoto does have the tropes of being a skilled player held back by trauma, but as the series goes on, he does grow in trusting himself and Tatsuru. As for Tatsuru, he really was my favorite. He may seem carefree but underneath that exterior is a man who cares for the team. As for the art and animation, it was done exceptionally well during the matches. The fast movement of the players, their swings, and the shuttlecock, all of it was sublime. Aside from the animation, I did like the art style of how the characters looked, making them distinct and pleasant to look at. (Looking at you, Tatsuru) I only had one qualm with the anime. The other characters of the Sunlight Beverage team are good characters and they have good enough screentime. The issue is that when they have their time in the spotlight, they become somewhat one-note after. Even some of their rival teams can be categorized as having one distinct personality and nothing else. I think the worst would have to be Usuyama. He reminds me of those characters in an RPG that joins the party last and doesn't get that much development before they fight the final boss or an optional party member. Weird analogy, I know, but that's what he felt like to me. I didn't find him all that interesting and even though we do get a brief backstory with him, it was short and almost forgettable. There were some stand-out rivals but for the most part, some don't have much going for them. Overall, Salaryman's Club is simple yet effective. It does what it sets out to be, a sports anime with corporate life. It's easy to watch and very much enjoyable. Definitely recommend it.

What do you think of when you put badminton and animation together? Do you get bad-ass badminton with fast-paced action and pristine quality at its best? If this is what you're thinking, then welcome onboard, because studio Liden Films is back at the badminton animation game once again with Ryman's Club a.k.a Salaryman's Club, a portmanteau of the corporate work life and the actual sports club that actually exists in Japanese culture. Combined with the impressive work of Liden Films that badminton is the ONLY sport that this studio does produce right. But in order to understand Ryman's Club, you have to first understand how itworks. The Island of the Rising Sun is no short of unique things like these, and this is integrated in Japanese culture as the so-called "Club Badminton" that is in the same way, most of the club players are also employees (or salarymen in Japan's context) at the company they represent, so they'll be guaranteed lifetime employment after they retire from badminton. They would still be able to work for the club's sponsor company which is usually major companies (NTT East, Tonami, Nihon Unisys to name a few), they receive monthly salary just like all other employees in the company, which makes it different from pros in other parts of the world who mostly earn from prize money, sponsorship deals, endorsement, commercials, national caps salary etc. while Japanese players have stable income (salary from club company) on top of sponsorship deals, endorsements, national caps salary, commercials and prize money (while players from other countries could get most of their prize winning, Japanese players will receive theirs after a cut from the national badminton association). Some interesting tidbits worth sharing since the idea behind Ryman's Club is from one that has been existing for quite a long time in Japan. In Ryman's Club, we get 4 teams which are fictional portmanteaus of the real-life companies: - Sunlight Beverage (Suntory Beverage & Food); - Tomari Transport (Yamato Transport, only replace the two cats logo with a lion); - Unisics (Universal Music with their logo being inspired from Asics); and - Mitsuhoshi Bank (Mizuho Bank with their logo being inspired from both Mizuho and Mitsubishi). But the story itself is bog-standard that's conceptualized out of someone's performance boot and dark history that got him out of his former company, and right into a fresh new company whom recruited this same person to play on their team. This person is Mikoto Shiratori, a badminton prodigy with the ability of foresight, and someone whom went through his own dark episode from young times of playing doubles and causing his teammate to get injured, to playing for one of the top-ranked companies (Mitsuhoshi Bank) and only to get the boot because "failure is not an option". His next venture into Sunlight Beverage is a means for a re-start at getting his life together, but not before he'd meet his future partner: Tatsuru "the Badaryman" Miyazumi, his boss and doubles partner, whom had been drunk the day before his first official day at work, only to resurface his PTSD of his young badminton days when he was about to let go of his past behind. Being a relentless request from Tatsuru himself, Mikoto is introduced to the SunBev team of Coach Yasuomi Ono, Koki Takeda, the Saeki brothers Toya and Sota, and their formerly team ace Toru Usuyama of the East, and therein sets the journey to overcome past traumas and be a better team through teamwork. Believe me, it sounds simple, but it does the entry-level job application enough. Of course, how can you have protagonists without antagonists, and there are a fair few bit of players within the same reign of issues that they face. The only few people whom have a backstory to them are the doubles team of Mikoto and Tatsuru, along with Usuyama, and they exist from the strongest adversary team ever: Mitsuhoshi Bank. Mikoto's history with the team with the Bakugo-like character of Takuma Kirishima; Tatsuru's history of playing with Izumo Naohiro as a doubles team (before Mikoto made his entrance); and Usuyama of the East and Ibuki Sentaro of the West, the team singles aces which have an extensive history behind them to face off for years before the former would quit and sacrifice his badminton to focus on his work and family. Mikoto also has Tomari Transport's Azuma Tachibana as a former player of his young badminton team, whom is there to check up on Mikoto when he got back in the groove of playing badminton for another company's team. Other than that, the requirement of 6 players per company team creates the same derivative that you would expect of any sport that needs a minimum amount of players just to play ball. Again, simple story, backed by simple characters and intended motives, nothing to really complain if the execution is done decently. You know the drill: when it comes to sports shows, studios like Production I.G. and MAPPA have made a name for themselves adapting high-profile shows like Haikyuu! and Yuri!!! On Ice respectively. And Liden Films have also made a name for themselves when the studio produced Hanebado! back in Summer 2018, proving that they ARE the go-to studio for badminton anime adaptations turned into beautiful and striking sakuga animation. And 3.5 years later, we're seeing the same with Tokyo Revengers episode director Ami Yamauchi and Sarazanmai series composer Teruko Utsumi's work, which thankfully other than the missteps of Hanebado! in the story department, this works great and hand-in-hand with the overall package. If there's a strong department in this show, Liden Films has done it once again to deliver good performance. And what's a good series if it doesn't have good music, and this bumps the extra atmosphere with the show to good effect. Given Mafumafu's musical calibre, I don't really need to mention if you've heard a good 2 or 3 songs that this Vocaloid producer has produced, but it's Novelbright's OP that really slaps. A double thumbs up. Ryman's Club is what I like to call: simplicity at its finest. In every predictable twist and turn, there's the direction from Ami Yamauchi with the skills learnt from Tokyo Revengers to twist things on its own shuttlecock and racket, so going into this series being her debut directorial show, I'd say she accomplished a work well done to keep it simple, working and executed properly. This is a well-rounded show, all things considered.

If you liked Hanebado or Run with the Wind, you will like Salaryman's Club. All the main characters are likeable and have something memorable about them. In Japan, corporations ofttimes have sports-arms, and this anime covers a Badminton team at a beverage company. The dual role of being a Salaryman and a badminton player is very exciting to see, since this is the first anime I've seen that covers this dynamic. In one episode, they're in an intense badminton match, and in the next episode, they are doing a SWOT analysis for a business proposal. The pacing is perfect. The episode will be over before you know it, and haveyou craving for more. Subs, especially typesetting is god-tier for CR subs. Whoever is in charge for TS this anime is a G. If only more typesetters followed his example. Soundtrack slaps and sets the mood well. 10/10 on all counts from me.

This was the first badminton anime I watched. It was a very good anime where it shows workplace where salarymen can play sport and participate in tournaments. It was really interesting, as it not only highlights the sport aspect, but also the work of the salarymen which they take as seriously as the sport. It also shows different aspects of badminton like how exhausting singles can be, how valuable is good teamwork in doubles, and how age doesn't matter when one is passionate to play. I really liked this anime. The only improvement I think could have done was to show the rallies more, butI think it would be difficult to animate that.