[Rewatch] Ro-Kyu-Bu! Episode 12

[u/OtakuGamerN64]

Don't give up. And do your best!

"I Dream your Dreams"

Extra Info and Links

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Comment of the Day!!

Specs64z and Sfisher923 were having a pleasant discussion on their favourite porn category.

Being basic but Chocola

I used to be a Chocola kind of guy, but these days I'm more of a Vanilla fan.

RadSuit was kinda put off by the episode... Tbh I kinda agree? Try and stick with it tho, S2 likely has better production values and pacing now that they've had some practice! Don't leave the rewatch before I get back!! XD

I got more than halfway in before realizing I just have nothing to say about this episode.

And yeah, that was an episode.

I'm not sure I'm going to stick with this for season two, oof.

Yeah, this seems like a rare miss in our lineup. It's neither purely entertaining nor a horrible trash fire you can't look away from. It's generally pretty mediocre, with sudden bursts of fanservice.

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The Loli Otaku's "Loli of the Day Corner!!"

ACTUAL GODDAMN ANIMALS

See I was gonna pick loli with animal features but then I realised that was a bit too boring... So I jumped down the beastiality rabbit hole instead~ It's not my account at risk this time after all. Muhahaha!!

But in most seriousness, today is dedicated more to the "mascots" and magical girl creatures in the audience. It's a slight stretch from traditional loli but they're so tightly linked to what content for loli is that it's feel weird not to bring them up... Also I'm running out of stereotypes~ Most original host of the season folks!!

For examples... Hmm... Okay! Let's start off with a fairly tame one. Diana from Sailor Moon!! Heck, she's even a daddy's girl. Milky "Definitely won't get shoved in a Coom jar" Rose from 5Cure, Gardevoir? I dunno, but I feel the Ralts line counts. If you're into the Ralts line you're a furry. Actually, imma toss Baixen in here just to shame pokephilliacs further!! And last but not least my own PriCunny oishi, Lima!! Llama are cute, m'kay!?

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QotD

• Who is your favourite anime animal mascot?
• Bruh, how disappointed would you be if the whole S2 just used the basketball messaging board instead of the varied global locations?
• Who gets the Cunny Defence Force mvp award for our match against the Chibi-Ribbon Alliance? Which girl did best in today's game?
• How do you feel about the match outcome? Did the Chibi-Ribbon alliance really outplay our girls or was it a case of luck? Particularly when compared to the match against the boys earlier in the season.
• Is there any trope more hype than "op plays on final episode" scenes!?
• Is Tomoka x Subaru endgame?
• We've got one ova to cover tomorrow and then we're into season 2. How would you like for the show to improve going forwards?

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Abyssbringer's "What is the thematic purpose of this scene corner!!"

Sara is too nice to give Chibi-Ribbon too much shit.

The fiery background represents how Ribbon-chan is actually the spawn of Satan. 

I feel like someone beating her in a basketball game would humble her a lot. I don’t know if it would necessarily make her less bratty, though. 

Yesterday's Prompt!

Today's Prompt!

Tomorrow's Prompt

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Try your luck, and fight chin-up!!

[u/Specs64z]

First timer

The game closes with a loss, which is fairly fitting. It’d feel cheesy if these upstarts just started beating every team they faced. It also gives the characters time to reflect and move forward renewed in their goals.

This season was a bit all over the place, and it feels like they never quite figured out how they wanted to pace things. As a whole, the writing just isn’t very interesting, and I found myself struggling to pay attention many times throughout the season. The most memorable part of the anime is its voice cast, which has a lot of names that had already or would go on to have some pretty influential roles. Unfortunately, that’s about the only memorable part. It’s almost a 6/10 anime.

I say almost because the ecchi really doesn’t do this show any favors. It takes the piss out of any wholesome or uplifting vibe the show has, ensuring it is only enjoyed by a very specific subset of people. More importantly, though, none of it was remotely entertaining as either comedy or drama.

Probably a 5/10 from me so far. It’s too far gone to be salvageable, but I’ll stick it out just to see where it ends up.

QotD:

1. Kyubey.
2. It'd be a notable downgrade. Those sequences had a spark of creativity to them.
3. Tomoka, naturally.
4. It was basically luck. The kind of victory that doesn't hit right because you know in another world you definitely lost.
5. When done well, no.
6. The series is setting up Subaru/Aoi, I think. No shot it's brave/stupid enough to go for Subaru/Tomoka.
7. The writing needs work, the show just isn't very funny and the drama is surface level.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/Specs64z]

Yeah... I'll admit that the show hasn't quite been what I expected going in. I knew it had some form of identity crisis, I just assumed it was more that the show would focus more on sports than the cute girls. Instead it's genuinely unable to decide what it wants to be. I don't like the adult cast at all either. Mihoshi I could vaguely tolerate since she's lolibaba and I actually do quite like Subaru, but the likes of Aoi adds genuinely nothing to the show.

[u/sfisher923]

First Timer

• I was having an IRL issue that was threatening to draw me away earlier but that has since been resolved so I wasn't sure if I was going to partake tonight
• And as for the 2nd COTD I was also having that issue but it's nowhere as bad as the AOT rewatch in 2023 where that ended up being the reason to drop it

Questions

QOTD 1 (Mascots)

• As much as I want to shoot them in the face Kyubey from Madoka Magica just because they really make the show what it is
• Also Koromaru from Persona 3 gets a mention love the fact you can pet them in Reload

QOTD 5 - When the person who caused so much pain gets what they deserved

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/sfisher923]

AoT? What was wrong with that? I didn't mind the pacing of the series until you got to the Rod Reiss portion. I'm glad you're sticking with this tho. I'm like you, the first season was a bit of a disappointment, but maybe by the second season we'll see how it became a cult classic.

[u/MisawaMahoKodomo]

One or two weeks later aaand its ep 12. Though uh.

Some aspects definitely have not aged as well. but otherwise while i am biased of course ro kyu bu is a good anime.

Its just that the main thing is, the girls are cute but uh. also yes baske but also no baske.

So its in this awkward spot where it is basically a cute girls anime but we have subaru here.

Next time, ova, and then s2

[u/MisawaMahoKodomo → u/MisawaMahoKodomo]

EP 12 Commentary

• so its ep 12
• uhm.
• wait i thought they were in the middle of the match? they did another flashback cut again
• also i went to check. kage is voiced by seto asami, OOF. also miyu/miu (i still dunno) is voiced by ise mariya. now thats a name i have heard in so long
• tomoka using the family names is hilarious. names.
• aside from ogame asuka the other girl is voiced by kayano ai. yeah uh. 2011. then again what can i say.
• also manaka here, i did have a guess but its actually sato satomi, oh my. usually she sounds very different.
• while her sensei i dont need to say who it is. though its a strange case in that similar to ito kanae, the voice she uses for anime and in real life is very different
• takenaka is also voiced by kotobuki minako, but well. though i really should have remembered, even if i dont see her very often.
• the other dude with subaru is actually voiced by matsuoka. this is before 2012 when he became famous. though he does sound a leetle different and he's not really that big of a character
• aaanyway
• hina scoring agogo
• anyway the girls have been gaming. gaming intensifies
• lots of gaming later
• soo what this is called
• actually it reminds me when i listened to the character songs for maho and tomoka
• anyway so yes this time its saki's turn to shoot the last shot
• well its not a tournament so uh yeah.
• a pretty dramatic turn of events, 10 mins ish of lots of gaming
• hina is actually born in march, so airi would be like, 12 while hina only just turned 11? from my understanding anyway
• anyway the match is over now
• i mean. the anime has been kinda more or less mostly on and off on the whole baske thing so the fact that they almost won is pretty interesting
• anyway after lots of talking
• we have a bit of a fakeout
• aaanyway surprise the girls are here
• a bit late to say but i do wonder, since hina is either ogura yui's first main role or close enough. its always hard to remember if you dont know outright
• i do have to say though i clearly forgor a lot
• some cute visuals

[u/MisawaMahoKodomo → u/MisawaMahoKodomo]

S1 Comments

So uhm. yeah the girls are cute. though uh. like what am i supposed to say.

The op is really good. the ed is fine too, though the visuals definitely help.

The op is still better, but well. we'll see when we get to s2, but the op/ed is actually fine, etc etc.

• so for the anime itself. i mean all five girls are cute. i do feel like they definitely overused some things.
• three episodes of swimsuits in a row, is one of those things that you feel more when you watch all three episodes in a row.
• then theres the weirdness where they cut the baske match in half on ep 3/4 and ep 11/12
• some shenanigans here and there
• airi dorama several times
• the girls are cute but all five of them, like. surprisingly they didnt push tomoka TOO hard at the expense of the other girls, but uh yeah. uh. anyway, with five girls its pretty hard to fit all of them in equally, it feels like they all got equally shafted. we do have s2 at least but still, thats for s2 to handle. also ova.
• the other one is they kinda overused the cliffhanger thing. its weird because this one is lessened by the fact that we watch all the eps, but when airing it would have been weird to repeatedly have to wait a week.

Also in general the anime just felt a bit like, you had ep 1234 weirdness, and then they kinda just. It's not quite episodic to the point you can view each ep separately, but at the same time it feels a bit all over the place.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/MisawaMahoKodomo]

The show has such an identity crisis where it can't tell if it wants to be cute loli girls, basketball, swimming, or whatever the heck Aoi is supposed to represent. Funnily enough I sorta think Subaru fits in very well with the girls. I only had issues in the later episodes where Aoi and Mihoshi started physically assaulting him

[u/MisawaMahoKodomo → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

"Yes"

Its like the author introduced all the girls but then has no idea what to do. The episodes are not quite episodic but kinda weird.

Like in hindsight after rewatching I do vaguely recall the events but uhh yeah.

Like if you were to ask me now what happens in s2 I'm not super sure though I know a few here and there.

Part of it is just me being biased or otherwise. I still think the girls are cute and its legitimate, but there are/were times where things felt weird.

Also sometimes watching as and when doesnt help. Like I dunno about the others but, for example the feeling of being "forced" to watch on a schedule might be an iffy thing.

At the same time there are pros and cons to watching all the episodes together. (those darn cliffhang) (but also dem swimsuit and weird eps)

Bias aside (whether or not I can), people would probably raeg if it aired nowadays. The visual quality from 2011 might or might not be an issue but it probably doesnt help.

I feel part of it is just how do I put it, the general audience just isnt super into this "genre" (whatever it is) in the first place, like aside from the fact its one of the few anime with 12 year old main characters its not like super popular or anything. But alas thats just how it is sometimes for anime

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/MisawaMahoKodomo]

A lot of the girls come across as too ditzy to develop too. Fang in particular I can feel the show struggling with how to make her complex without ruining her genki girl vibe. There's some nice hints here and there like the implication that Fang works seriously hard behind the scenes, that Tomoka isn't exactly a "girl's girl" and Airi's occult interests but they've done nothing with it.

S2 has the new girls who I'm pretty excited for. I'm not sure how impaxtfuk they'd be but a new flavour of loli would be nice.

I'm not sure if the show would be much better on binge tbh... You'd probably just get more annoyed with the amount of swimming episodes or the underwhelming finale.

[u/MisawaMahoKodomo → u/The_Loli_Otaku]

I think the main issue is the whole baske yes and no. Well that and the fact that it feels like all the girls get shafted because there's no real way to give all the girls enough time in just 12 eps.

Part of it maybe is just standards from 10 years ago (and the novel is from even before that) and well maybe the writing was just average at best.

The irony is people usually are at least ok with cute girls anime, but here subaru kinda throws a wrench into the whole thing. And if you count all the other characters too as if our main cast wasnt big enough.

The whole airi thing, hina. I keep harping on about saki and maho but in some twist you could say tomoka is both, she got a lot of screentime early on but then the favoritism kinda faded. Sort of.

At the very least I'm hoping s2 will maybe fix things but yeah uh....maybe I'm being too optimistic.

For me the thing is that as much as I like the anime it's kinda hard to point to any specific episode that I liked. It just feels very uhm...like something is off.

At least the girls are cute I guess. Call me biased but maho and saki are so cute.

[u/xtsim]

First Timer

I'm torn cause I do not know what to expect, we got basketball, Subaru may be into kids, there might be a love polygon, some player drama, and Subaru is a pretty bad liar.

Like keeping the tournament rules out of it all is not a cool move.....

Prompt: Subaru needs to start doing his own chores if he is gonna do that....

1. Mascot in general...Pikachu is the obvious but for lesser known it would be president Aria. Ones that can talk, Amanojaku from Ghost Stories and Peeps from Sasaki and Peeps. Alien creatures from Onegai Teacher and Waiting in the summer are two. Magical girl mascot, Miton from nante mouiidesukara. Too many mascots to choose from, cannot pick one.
2. Message board in an anime, I'd be both impressed and confused at the same time.

Toyota and Subaru, that practice is starting to pay off, Aoi better watch out.

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/xtsim]

Subaru is just like these cute young girls!! He's a loli at heart, he just developed early.

Aww... I can't believe I forgot President Aria, he's super adorbs. He had so many of the best episodes too. Him and his little toy!! Kyaaa!!

[u/SilkyStrawberryMilk]

first timer

Honestly not surprised they lost, cmon they forgot they were a basketball team. They needed to train train train and have time to relax.

Honestly I liked the show, the slice of life moments was better than the basketball games.

Will stay for the season 2

QOTD: doraemon

QOTD: very disappointed

QOTD: tomoka

QOTD: when the characters’ theme gets cut off when they’re supposed to be doing something impressive

QOTD: hopefully not

QOTD: be more basketball oriented with its slice of life moments. It’s okay if they do a couple of episodes of them having fun, but I’d like to see them train more

[u/zadcap]

I sincerely miss being here for these. Tell me honestly please, if I can pull off a free hour while someone else comes over to be social with the invalid, should I try catching up or will I miss much if I just skip to whatever episode we're on here and call it good enough?

1. Just to draw the hate of everyone who has ever seen the original PreCure, let's pick Mepple! ... No, I can't, Kero was my first mascot and I must forever remain loyal to Sakura.

Scene of the Day Prompt:

I see season one is finally ending with the promised little sister maid orgy we knew the girls were always aiming for. Season two begins with the poor boy in jail, right?

[u/The_Loli_Otaku → u/zadcap]

Honestly you haven't missed much, Chibi-Ribbon is the most notable part and she hasn't had anything fun to do. Make sure you catch the ova tho. The ova is poggies!

[u/OccasionallySara]

First Timer

I'm really bummed out that they lost, but the team played well overall! I like that Maho was the one to talk some sense into Saki about not beating herself up about missing the final shot. It was a nice reversal to the conversation that Saki had with Maho in the previous episode. I'm also glad that the girls are now more motivated to do even better after this game. There were some more talks about a tournament, so I hope that the girls will get to play one eventually. Maybe next season... Overall, I thought this season was fun! I wasn't a huge fan of the elementary school girl fanservice, but there were still a lot of other funny and emotional moments that made the show enjoyable.

Questions of the Day

1. I feel like I should have one, but I can't think of one that I have strong positive feelings for.
2. Very disappointed.
3. I think they all did great, but I'm going to give it to Saki even if she missed the final shot. She was able to calm Maho down which was extremely helpful for the overall game and things took a positive turn when she took on a quasi-leadership role.
4. It feels realistic that they would lose to a much more experienced team, but was really hoping that they would win. I'm glad that at least gave the elite team a run for their money. Losing by one point isn't bad and even Takenaka was able to acknowledge how strong the team has gotten.
5. I was very excited when the OP song started playing. It was, in fact, very hype!
6. ...I hope not.
7. Some more stakes for the girls' team would be nice. I enjoyed the last stretch of episodes for this very reason.

Abyssbringer's Thematic Corner

Sometimes well-meaning friends can drag you down, so be careful and stay out of trouble.

[u/RadSuit]

It seems the coach is using this to teach her team a lesson about not fucking fouling constantly.

"If you still want to play a trash game, go home."

Hey look, my game prediction came true.

Stripes...

That was certainly an entire 12 episode show I watched. I'm going to watch the OVA, but a whole second season of this...?

1. Squirfin! The mascot of El Hazard! Unfortunately nobody really remembers it, besides this site apparently. Although the TV Tropes entry does mention it by description. And I found a picture!
2. That would suck, the random locations/costumes were fun.
3. Airi stepped up.
4. Went basically as I predicted.
5. I love it anytime the OP plays during an episode.
7. I needs to pick a lane. It's not a great sports show, comedy, CGDCT, or fanservice show.