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Review: Prince of Stride Alternative – Episodes 1-6

Well, both writers here at Heart of Manga chose to watch this show this season, and instead of fighting over who would review it, we decided it would be more fun to have a discussion type review. When I was looking at the shows coming out this winter, I put Prince of Stride Alternative at the top of my watch list since it reminded me a lot of the Free! anime concept of hot looking guys doing sports with all the emotions. I also notified Adrienne that I thought her next megane crush was going to come out in this show after watching the PVs. So now we’re 6 episodes in and I thought we’d give everybody some feedback on how this show is doing.

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L to R : Heath, Takeru, Nana, Kyousuke, Riku, Hosumi

The Gist of Prince of Stride Alternative: The series is about an extreme form of sport known as “Stride.” It involves 6 players on a team that runs relay races in towns. The story takes place at Honan Academy where first year high school students Takeru Fujiwara and Nana Sakurai try to recruit members for their “Stride” club. They request Riku Yagami to join with the help of Takeru and Nana. Their goal is to compete and win the “End of Summer,” a top competition hosted in Japan alongside other schools.

Laura: Let’s hit the plot first. I think the story starting from the perspective of the female manager was interesting. It was a great way for a female audience to “step” into the story and begin relating to the characters. The first couple of episodes I found highly enjoyable as the guys in the club are introduced and the sport is introduced as well. My attention was drawn to Riku Yagami in the first episode, as he was the one going around and playing with all the other clubs, and they were making him out to be highly athletic. He is the most extroverted character of the new freshman. Watching him try to relate to Takeru Fujiwara was funny as well, since Fujiwara is such a serious character.

Adrienne:  I like that we got to know a lot of the characters and their quirks. I was easily smitten with Takeru Fujiwara and his compulsion to size up other people through personal touch. Sometimes I wonder if the show will eventually bore me, but whenever they do a race I find myself on the edge of my seat and so nervous. It’s really captivating and enjoyable despite it being a boring topic. I’m not into sports anime with the exception of Kuroko no Basuke. I find what makes these two shows interesting are the characters and their personal challenges, moreso than the plot itself. I am a sucker for anime with lots of boys with various hair colors and personalities. They are the perfect shows to watch when you have a stressful day and want something cute or uplifting to watch.

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Laura: So true! The boys are a fun diversion from reality, and I think the Honan stride team is doing a great job of that so far. Speaking of colors, I think the art in this series is great! The visuals are bright and attractive. The variety of character designs are appealing to a broad audience. I find myself rather enjoying all the imagery in this series, from the high speed racing to the modeling of uniforms and costumes. It’s all fun to take in. I really love the moments when the guys have to make a “relation” during a race. They frame that hand slap so that viewers are anticipating it anxiously. Watching the guys fail or succeed is only half the fun. Seeing them sprint their guts out with all the parkour moves thrown in is exciting in itself. What visual aspect of the anime do you like?

Adrienne: It took me a minute to adjust to the artwork, but I like it. It matches the moods of the races. It’s unique, at least, compared to what I’m used to watching. Kyousuke Kuga’s art is excellent with his long light purple hair. He’s pretty dreamy, especially when the wind is blowing. I’ve never stared at an anime character’s hair so much! I really like him. I like his loner personality. He definitely has a lot of depth to him and he brings a different vibe than the rest of the characters who tend to be sillier. I don’t dislike any of them, however. I think their individual characteristics have touched me in unique ways. For instance, I’m not usually into cute boy characters like Hozumi Kohinata or awkward characters like Ayumu Kadowaki, but after watching the latest episodes, my opinions of them changed. I could go on and on. I really like the execution of the characters. They are definitely not one dimensional. Kadowaki and Kohinata really had touching scenes. I even teared up a bit. The only characters I think are undeveloped are Riku Yagami and Nana Sakurai. It’s obvious Yagami’s development is plot-dependent, so I won’t count it against him (all will be revealed), but I’d liked to see more from Sakurai. I still like her, though. She’s so upbeat, friendly, and smart. But man, Fujiwara better watch out because I really like Kuga now. I’m not sure him being a megane with weird habits will save him because Kuga is voiced by Junichi Suwabe. If you’ve read my recent post on my favorite anime voices, you’ll understand many of my favorite characters have been voiced by Suwabe.

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Laura: Funny you mention the voice actors, I had a similar reaction when I found out that Heath was voiced by Daisuke Onno. Most would know his voice from Sebastian of Black Butler, or Erwin of Attack on Titan, but I’m sure you know it well, since he voices Midorima on Kuroko no Basuke. He’s got a forever long resume and is a voice actor I really like. I think the voice acting in Prince of Stride Alternative was well cast overall. The voices fit the imagery of the characters rather splendidly, as you pointed out.

Like you, I’ve highly enjoyed the last two episodes because the character development has stepped up the plot. We’re getting more backstory about the stride club, and I’m anticipating the last missing member to eventually show up. I can’t wait to see what happens when everyone is at full potential. The stride races will be so much fun!

What about the music in this anime? Do you like the opening or ending themes?

Adrienne: I really like the music. I’ll start bopping my head when a song comes on, especially the ending theme song. The entire show from start to finish is brilliant and the main songs are great touches. I am most obsessed with the ending because it’s a great song sung by the characters’ voice actors. Here is the full version, if you want to check it out. If you are more interested in the opening, here’s the full version to it.

Laura: Haha. Yeah, the opening is the song that I really like – Strider’s High by OxT. I wish I could easily download it from iTunes Japan. Alas, it’s more complicated than that. I did find the hard cover on CDJapan, though. I love the upbeat tempo, it easily gets your head bopping. The rest of the music really compliments the show as well.

Adrienne: You can purchase a lot of digital anime music from Amazon Japan. They’ve expanded their digital catalog and made it more accessible to non-Japanese residents. That’s how I buy most of my music.

Laura: I thought of that, and I did check there, but it is not available digitally yet. However, it sounds like we are both really digging this anime. 🙂 I was kind of hesitant since this was originally an otome game, so I thought it would be more of a relationship teaser with a large reverse harem, like Uta no Prince-sama or Diabolic Lovers. But it’s not really that at all.

Adrienne: What’s cool is that although the anime is based off an otome game, it feels more like STARMYU, Free! (So many people have noted the similarities between Haruka and Fujiwara), Kuroko no Basuke, or Shounen Hollywood. I’ve been watching anime for about 17 years and I think I’ve finally found the type of anime I like. 😀

Laura: Yeah, I think I’m with you on that. Free! was my intro, but I really like these types of anime that have a variety of good looking guys that aren’t necessarily trying to catch a female heroine. They are having bonding moments and such. But it’s not yaoi, so it’s left up to interpretation and fantasizing on the girls part. 🙂

Adrienne: OHHH, now that you mention it, can we talk about our favorite ships? I mean all these boys are shippable… and then you have the lone girl character who could be shipped with everyone haha. 😀

Laura: Bwahaha! Okay, sure. I’m all for the shipping part. The most obvious one to me would be Yagami with Fujiwara. It’s an opposites attract kind of thing. One dark the other fair. The extrovert with the introvert. Touchy, feely Fujiwara would be the seme in that relationship for sure.  I could also ship Heath with Kyousuke as well. I don’t really get a vibe of Sakurai being shipped with anyone at this point, though.

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Adrienne: I am really feeling Kuga with Kaede Okumura. Kaede’s obsession with Kuga is really cute. I like that the anime sneaks in little things to show they are always near each other. Although I’m sure this is because of Kaede’s fanboying tendencies and less to do because they are best buds. Another one that interests me is Tasuku Senoo and Heath, simply because they don’t like each other. They have a lot of built up tension it seems. I agree that this anime leaves it to interpretation. It’s really good at it, too. Gives you just enough to think that maybe boy A and boy B have secret feelings for each other …. I can’t wait to see how this anime ends. I kind of don’t want it to end, though. ;_;

Laura: And that, in a nutshell, is exactly how much we like this anime. It’s got well developed characters, nice art, great music, and plenty of bishies for girls to fantasize about. I’m highly enjoying it, and don’t want to see it end either. Alas, all good things must come to an end eventually. But you, dear readers, should definitely check out this show right now!

Heart of Manga Rating: ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

 

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