Hanebado!
Top 6 Summer Anime
This entry is for sports fans. Well, it’s at least for fans of anime characters playing sports. On almost every “highly anticipated” anime list, Hanebado! is one of those break-out, fast-paced, and beautifully animated sports anime titles that fans simply cannot miss. Following the lead of most sports anime, this female-led show follows first-year Ayano Hanesaki, a natural prodigy at the incredibly niche sport of badminton, yet she refuses to play until meeting her talented but lacking rival, Nagisa Aragaki. Spurred by the rivalry they both share, Ayano and Nagisa are determined to outdo one another on the court while simultaneously bettering each other as they go against increasingly difficult opponents. Akin to fantastic anime such as the beautifully detailed Haikyu!! and the extraordinarily unique Koroko’s Basketball, viewers will learn the rules of badminton one huge opponent at a time, while slowly falling in love with the characters and their dedication to this extremely fascinating sport. Hnebado! is available on Funimation and Crunchyroll.