From Pools to Pugilists: Why Sports Anime Hits Harder Than You Think

Chapters

• 0:00 Gratitude And Weekly Check-In
• 2:10 Purpose Of The Show
• 3:57 Why Sports Anime Matters
• 5:47 Free! The Beauty Of Swimming
• 10:55 Friendship, Styles, And Growth In Free!
• 13:58 Blue Lock’s Ruthless Soccer Vision
• 18:50 Underdogs, Ego, And Becoming “That Guy”
• 20:51 Hajime No Ippo And Fighter’s Humility
• 26:20 Grit, Ego, And Life Lessons From The Ring
• 30:17 Kuroko No Basket And The Power Of The Sixth Man
• 35:35 Adversity, Jordan’s Flu Game, And Legacy
• 40:05 Kenichi: Underdog Courage And Character

Transcript

SPEAKER_01: 0:00

Yo yo yo, you're tuning in to another episode of King's world.

SPEAKER_02: 0:20

Sleep in the car, watching your food. I'm in a whip, so I gotta zoom. They trying to take it. They in the play, they gotta move. I got a gas, they wanna film. It's me a day. You gotta choose, I'm taking my spine. I'm doing fine. Don't see the vision, they look at the blind. I hit my lawyer, I don't got a time. Crossing my teeth and he's dying those lies. Don't take offense if I do not oblige. I can't believe it like none of these guys.

SPEAKER_01: 0:46

They hit me once it's your boy. Kind of whiz. Hey guys, I wanna just say this. We made it through another week, man. We did it, guys. However, stressful, however rewarding, or however just living, you know, to be a human being in this world, I think takes courage and dedication and a little bit of luck to get through each day and be happy for the results for whatever that you accomplish. So I want you guys to just relish in the fact that you made it through. And uh count yourself blessed and proud to see another one. And to continue, obviously. I thank you guys for tuning in, listening to whatever little blabber, wherever little insight uh that I have just to try to take your mind all off of whatever you're doing, just to give you, you know, a half an hour or so to just uh sit down and relax, you know. So I'm here for, so I want to be here for, and I just want to once again I just want to appreciate you guys for just listening. Um my own little circle has some good positive feedback of just finally saying or understanding that you know I'm actually doing a good thing, uh, it's being heard, it's being received in a way that it can be inspiring to whatever that you want to put the situation to. That's what I'm here for. I I don't ever want to, you know, dilute what I say on here as a means of me just talking. I wanted it to be spreaded, and I want people to hear it in a way that can you know uh help them get through some troubled times for sure. Um but again, enough of all that stuff. We're gonna jump right on to the exciting stuff, man. This is what you guys are here for anyway. Um, in this today, uh in this episode, I really want to focus on um sports anime. Sports anime is not necessarily underrated, but not sought after. And I say that because to really understand and to really uh appreciate it, one you have to be an athlete or aspiring to be one, or you really just enjoy the thrill of the moments. Uh, and I think I said this in my previous one, where I always felt that Japanese sports style, they really do capture the feelings and the emotions of the players and things of the such. So, what I would like to talk about today would be like, you know, my few favorites, uh that you know, I feel like one that will definitely pique your interest. Uh, you know, a a nice and and like I said, like you know, I like the attention grabber. So to watch something that is it can be boring, you know, and or you just not truly understanding it because they really do break it down, which I do appreciate how they do it, uh, because it kind of gives you a different insight for sure. So for my first one, and which I'm gonna start from the bottom up, obviously. So, you know, say the best for last. Uh, free F-R-E-E with the exclamation mark. Free is an anime, and out of this whole list that I'm gonna talk about today, uh, I want to say that it's probably the most beautiful. Uh, when you watch it, you know what I mean. It is awe-inspiring from the first opener because you just know that it's a good quality anime, it's something that you know that it can, you know, uh be a feel good for sure. But man, the the struggles that they go through, and hold on, and let me just back it up too, because I'm kind of just getting ahead of myself. Free is a swimming anime, by the way. It's it's really just about uh I don't really know the terminology, but basically divers, you know, like you know, your Michael Phelps in the world, you know, but they're starting from high school, and then you kind of see them going from high school to college, and you know, people who have jobs and things like that. So I love it how they keep it just so humanized. Uh, I love that they don't go so far into you know the entertainment aspect, it's very entertaining for sure. So I'm not gonna discount that, but I I just really want to hark on the fact that it is extremely beautiful to look at the illustrators in the the the production company studios, whatever, they really put some money into this thing, man. They they they drop a bag on this boy, okay. Um, because just I guess with this type of anime, you probably will have to kind of hark on the the animation side because it's you know swimming, so you know how much can swimming be so entertaining, but you'll be surprised. Um, but basically, it's uh you got your group of high schoolers and they all knew each other from back in middle school, elementary school. Um, so you know they all got a history, and you you see the different uh you see the different personalities in each one, and each one is uh designated for a specific way of swimming. You know, some the butterfly or some uh the free dive or some with the backstroke or you know, or just the really aggressive ones that's just the all-around. Uh you got some prodigies in there. You know how you know how Japan likes to put your you know, your all and be-all guy up in there, and he's either not so keen or not so confident about his actual skills, and and you got the ones that's just aces, it's just so cut, you know, captivating um of their craft. But I wanted to put that out there because to strive for something you have to work hard for. To want something, you have to want to do it, you know. And I think this anime definitely captures that because it's it's a really good, it's a it's a feel-good show. Um, and I think it's probably only like two seasons, I think, so two, three seasons. It's not many, but yo, they they pack a lot in each season. Um, you really feel like it's it's been going for a really long time. I think they're not done. I think they probably got maybe one or two more seasons to come out, but I haven't heard anything yet for any upcoming, um, especially all these newer type animes that's kind of coming out right now. So, who is even looking for a swimming uh anime type deal or sports to even be honest? You know, that's not what's hot right now. But if you get the time and you probably ran out of a few animes to kind of watch, that's something to kind of put on your list for sure. Um second, I will probably put blue lock on there because blue lock is a more newer, newer and uh uh sports anime and it's based around soccer, so I'm sure people has been a little bit more uh probably probably know that a little bit more because of the entertainment aspect of this one for sure. It's it's uh a rigorous training, uh a definite underdog, and y'all know how I like my underdog stories. A definite underdog, but the underdog just seems to be out of the source, so you you almost feel that he would never get to a level that where you think he's supposed to be, especially where it is right now. Um, I believe it's gonna be coming out. I think the second season of Blue Lock is gonna be coming out in the fall or winter. So it's coming, it's it's it's creeping around the corner now. Uh, and I want to say it's probably gonna be one of the headliners for sure. So, but yo, blue lock for it to be in it, you know, there's there's maybe one or two soccer ones that's out there, and that's actually pretty dope. But what makes blue lock so dope is from first episode, yo, y'all feel it, y'all feel the gravity of being the best, being that ace, being that striker, you know, or or being solidified in the role to make sure that you are seen. Not not because you're actually on the team, because yo, soccer, soccer in the sport is based around it's a team effort for sure. Like you, you're you're no better than the next person, but you do have to have that one focal person that you can always rely on to get you buckets, and then in this case, to give you some goals, right? So, yo, the protagonist is not the strongest protagonist, in my opinion, but he's he's becoming that guy now. Like towards the end, you can kind of feel like okay, now now he's kind of coming into who he is. Uh, it's it's it's pretty cool to see the progression. So I'm I'm not I'm not displeased for sure. Um, the next one, which again, one of my personal favorites, uh, I think I talked about this a few episodes back, Hajime Ippo. Hajame Ippo, man, for me being uh an Xboxer, obviously it's around boxing. Uh, they have a couple a couple new uh boxing ones that's out there, and the more current one was the the uh what was it? It was I forgot it it was on Netflix, I think, for a little bit, but basically it was it was like you had robotic arms that was connected and you kind of go into the ring. He was kind of doing like underground fighting and things like that. That was kind of a cool spill, kind of like in the same um post-apocalyptic type type of type of scenario, you know, it's just deserts everywhere, it's hardly no life. Uh there's famine, there's struggling, uh, you know, that type of get, you know, that type of gist. And you know, this the protagonist was kind of doing underground fights just to make the money to help his people and his circle out and feed the kids that was around that lost their parents and things. Like I always that's on a different type of of a I want to say category in my book, but the reason why I like Hajime because this boy again is probably like a buck 20, right? But he looks like Mike Tyson, and the progression one in as far as where the show started up to where it finished, it is it's phenomenal, man. Uh, you you feel the impacts, you feel the story, you feel how Ipo just becomes that guy. Um, he becomes the world champion, uh, and on top of that, he still stays humble. That's why I always like admired because let's face it, most fighters in sports, uh, you got the UFCs, you know, you got your martial artists, you got, you know, obviously your boxers, you know. If you win a few, you get big headed, man. You know, you you have you have you actually have to have a certain type of ego to do this kind of sport. Um, and if I were to speak for my own scenario, uh, I mean, I I I had I have my big head, you know. I I have my way of saying, I, you know, I'm kind of unbeatable because of the people I was fighting. You know, I was light heavy when I started out, so I was only 203. Um, but the people that was in my corner, for what I can remember, was making me stay humble to keep that humility factor, but still keep that dog in me, to still keep that killer mentality, because while we're in the ring, they ain't no friends. All that stuff that you learn, you gotta put it to good use now. You know, everything that you trained for, everything that you studied your opponent for, uh, I mean, it's it's it's there, it's and it's about to be put on put on blast. Um, but to win something like that is it's a feeling that's is undescribable because one I bested somebody, and I bested somebody in the most primal way ever. I mean, to play to play a sport, to understand what that person has done to get to that level, um, and then to be a winner takes a lot of courage, takes a lot of determination, takes a lot of grit. And let's let's just say that you know, if you've never done anything like that, to have that same determination, you know, out here in this world, it's a gift, man. Something to be cherished, something to hold on to, uh, definitely something to be an inspiration to others, to to the more weak-minded, because not everybody has a strong will. Um, and I'm all about never tearing anybody down, to always have some type of uh uplifting words to say, because there's gonna be a time where you're gonna need some uplifting for sure. So never be that person to tear somebody down because your time will come where you're gonna need a shoulder to lean on, you know. Um, but Hajmi Ipo is definitely one of my favorites, uh, for sure. Now, everybody knows about this anime, it's an older anime, but I think it's it was uh remastered, um, and to put it into words is is crazy. Um but Coracle no basket, which is basically a basketball anime. If you watch Netflix, it was definitely on Netflix for a little bit. If you're a real anime fan, you will have definitely came across this because this was one of those anime that everybody was talking about at his time, and the reason why I feel like it's so dope. The reason why I feel like it's so dope is because you see you see the positions of basketball, you know, you got your point guard, you got your shooting guard, you got your small four, you got your power four, you got your center, right? Nobody ever talks about that six man, dude. You know, your job uh your Jamal Crawford's and uh your uh your uh Lou Williams of the world. Nobody really talks about what those guys put in. The amount of pressure of you to be a professional basketball player is high now. Football, baseball, soccer is so high now. Why is it so high? Why is it so high? It's so high because you have kids, you know, we were kids at one point looking up to the grown-ups at that time, uh, the best of the craft, and and seeing how cool they were, man. It was like, you know, your your famous athlete, your favorite, I'm sorry, famous, your favorite athlete that you looked up to had like Zeus-like star sparkles around them, man. Because they just did stuff that no regular human being can do, and to the naked eye, it just seemed so you know. I don't want to say like rehearsed, because it wasn't rehearsed, because you had a God-given talent to be that athletic, like Michael Jordan, right? Michael Jordan is world renowned, and in his time where he became the best, where he solidified his his legendary career, was the times that not because he scored 61 points in the game, because it was because that he fought through a whole lot of adversity. That flu game, people talk about that flu game all the time. Because anybody who's ever had come on now, anybody who's ever had the flu, y'all, ain't getting outside to play no basketball. So let's just say that. Let's let's just say for the for for the for the simple fact that bro, I'm not about to go on no dang on gym, and I'm not about to sit in front of thousands of people, millions of people, television, televised wise, to play a measly game of basketball just to show people that I'm not weak. But that wasn't what he was doing it for. He was doing it because for that little boy and that little girl who has never seen him play. That's what he was doing it for, and because not only that, let's just keep it at a base, simple level, guys. The man loved basketball. He loved basketball so much that he took his own health and put that to the side just so he can go ahead and play that game and be there for his teammates. But now, after you see the amount of energy that it took for him to even finish that game, that he had to be careful, he had to be held up. Scotty had to put him under his arms, bro, and be like, bro, I got you. I mean, that's dedication, that's teamwork, that's not no, you know, yeah, he was an individually static person, but he was all about trying to play the game that he grew to love. Can we, as an individual, say, Yeah, I'm gonna wake up and what I inspire to do, I'm going to continue to do it despite how I feel, despite my circumstances. You know, let's be the light to that next generation. Let's be the light to the next person who's constantly looking. Because regardless if you see it or not, people is always studying you, people is always looking after you, people is always paying attention to your every move, even when you feel like you're not being paid attention to or being seen. Your mistakes can be somebody's treasure. Understand that. Let me say that again. Your mistakes can be somebody else's treasure. It's crazy, Ken. Why would you that make no sense? Because in the midst of your mess up, you don't see the greatness that you already accomplished because you're so focused on what you failed, but there's people behind you that ain't even on your level, so your mistake to them can be the next stepping stone for how they can kind of you know maneuver through their situation. Think about that, guys. Dropping, I'm giving y'all some gems here, by the way. For sure, I'm giving y'all some gems. Um now, I won't necessarily put this as a sport, but it is a sport, martial arts is a sport, okay? I just want to say that. Umichi is always gonna be my all-time favorite. I talked about this before, and now I can kind of elaborate it a little bit more. Kanichi was always the my top because and uh and I watched that show a lot of times because one, if it's the you know, uh being not the best, not being seen, coming from a decent family, you know, that underdog storyline to being recognized of as the best, but it wasn't because he had you know the athleticism, not because he had that ego that strived him to be the best, it was because he found it in himself, he found that courage to one not be picked on, not to be taken advantage of, because he knew if he were to continue this day, he would not be the man that he would like to be. And as men and women, we want to be the best of who we are, we want to be the best case scenario for the next person to our children or to our family or to our friends or to you know, just in our inner circle. If I want to speak on on about me, about Ken, Ken likes to be not seen, but heard in a way to be respected, right? Who who can who else in this world who want who wants to be respected, who wants to not necessarily be the front of everybody, to be the to be the attention grabber, because we all have those people. We all have those people, we all have the people that just need that attention, that need that gratification, that need that that person to point at them and be like, you're great. I don't need that, not to say because I feel like I'm better than that person, it's because that's not what I get off on. What I get off on is seeing somebody's life changing momentarily or drastically, you know. Some people can listen and take that, whatever, you know, regurgitate it and make it work for them. But as normal in society, we all kind of move at our own pace. We don't like people telling us what we need, what we need to do, or how do we supposed to do things. I want to be this that that soft voice in your head that is always gonna be okay, that is always gonna be the next problem, but in the process, before you even get to that problem, you're also in a place of rest to try to say, Hey, since I took a time off, now I can kind of jump on that and I can handle that and I can solve whatever it is. So now I don't even look at it as a problem, just another stepping stone. And Kanichi was the storyline was great, and how they kind of you know, character developed him into one of uh uh one of the greatest examples of the underdog. Um, the amount of pressure that he was under, even as a kid, like this is high school, you know, he was picked on, uh, he found a girl that he liked. That girl lived a life that he probably never would have ever imagined, the type of dangers and things that she was actually put through, and which her name was Mew. So Kanichi and Mew was just like you know, the yin and the yang. You know, Mew was way more stronger than Kanichi ever was, but something in men, you know, and y'all can laugh at me all you want, but you know, some men really like that. I want to be that protector, you know, that's who we are. And he was trying to be that for Mew, and Mew's not needing the protection, man. Not like not at all. Like, she she could whoop 10 guys' butt with no problem without even breaking the sweat, and she's just flipping on everybody's head, stomping on everybody's head, and he was in awe by how graceful. So he wanted that grace, he wanted to understand of what world that she came from, for her to even be like that, but still have that humility and that humble factor, and still fight for the weak to be that protector to the person who can't protect themselves. That is what Kenichi wanted, and as he progressed through the story, he just kept hitting man. Like the the situations that this boy was in was crazy because he would finish one thing, he would finish one fight, and even though that he finished that fight, he thought that he was done. He thought that it was like, yo, I don't have to worry about that no more, I'm not about to be picked on. But sure enough, you know when you get done with a situation, another problem is always going to arise. It never fails. But you don't look at it as a way of you failing that though. That's because you if just because another problem will arise, that don't mean that you're failing. That means you actually headed in the right direction. When you when you finish something and then you don't see no problems after that, you took the wrong turn. You want to know why? Because you took the easy route. Mm-hmm. I'll probably burst some bubbles on that one. Not supposed to take the easy route, guys. Come on, man. If we all anime fans, how all of you we seen the ones that took the easy route that cheated it. And what happened to them? They lost, man. They lost terribly. I mean, they lost so bad that you ain't even recognize them after that. Now, in fact, they fell off the face of their earth. Or Galaxy. Or Rock. I don't know. You know, whatever the show that you were watching. I don't wanna. I don't wanna be that person aware when somebody looks at me and they're like, that guy's weak, man. I mean, I can't learn anything from that guy. Nah, nah, nah, nah, nah, nah. That's not cool. We all gotta be strong. There, they there are people that would make excuses to say why their situation is worse than y'all's or worse than yours. And we can have debates all day, man. You can have debates about this and that. One that's time wasted. Trying to waste your time. Damn, sure, you ain't about to waste my time. But it was cool because once you saw him win that fight, you like, oh man, Kenichi's about to go into he's about to go into a whole nother echelon of problems now. But it's dope because as the story progresses, uh progresses, the finale of it, oh, it's so rewarding. It's so rewarding. They even got some uh OVAs are out there after the show that kind of happened after you know he had like this big old fight and uh tournaments started coming. I really wish somebody some some studio can pick up that anime, man, because it is a it's a gym out there. That's that's one of those ones that you really wish we can pick up and they continue that story. Um, by the way, totally off topic though. I want to know who's playing with my heart with Hunter Hunter, man. They are playing, they are playing hard, man, because I I I'm hearing that they finally got somebody to take over, but I'm hearing that gone won't be in it. Uh, and I think it's gonna be focusing more on uh if I'm saying his name correctly, uh Karipica or Carapaca, the guy who had the change. Um, they're not even focused on Kila, they're focusing more on Karapika. I think Carapaka is probably gonna be the new uh uh protagonist, which I won't say is bad because we really didn't know too much about him and his whole character. We just know that he was on this uh this revenge binge. He was just trying to kill everybody with that chain, choke everybody out, okay. But uh they hurt my feelings though, man. They hurt my feelings. It's not that I don't want to learn more about the guy, but let's let's let's let's divvy back to where the story left off, man. I mean, is gone even alive? If he is, what state is he in? If y'all haven't seen it, sorry, spoiler alert, but it's crazy. I mean, it's crazy. Um, I just wanted to put that out there because I was reading something about that earlier and I I was like, come on now, come on now, gone, Kilo. That's a great time. That's a great time. They've been a great time. Why y'all gonna change that good time? I don't understand it. Um, but yeah. Sports anime, guys, it's underrated because it's not too many people who care to even look at sports anime. Like I said, what's popping is these isikai's. So let's make a isikai sports one. Ooh, that would be cool. Uh, and and not even make it on the uh like not even make it like on the modern sports, like make it about like something that like the Mayas, you know, the Incas or some old European, like some cricket, you know, something crazy, you know, because yo, they got they got they do got some sports out there, y'all, like some um cricket slash rugby slash football type. I forgot what they called it. Um not racquetball, it's not like slap ball. I forgot what they called it, but I was watching a couple videos about it. Yo, that thing is intense. You got rugby, you got look, that's what I'm not not cricket, you got rugby, you got lacrosse, and you got football, but they put you on a soccer field, soccer size field, and I want to say it's it's Irish, like I think the Ireland actually plays that more. It is crazy. It's crazy. Like the amount of the the amount of gore that's in that game. Now they can make a if they can make an anime like that, yo. But put that in like a an easy kind feel, like that he goes back into time in the time of where the sport was at man that that might rival that that might rival some certain shows sports-wise, because that you know what to put that like whoever made blue lock, that's the people that didn't even make that show. Because it's going to be man, it's it's gonna be so much drama. It's gonna be so much drama. I guarantee it. I guarantee it's gonna be so much drama, and then not knowing like the positions that you play, because it looked like they got like some wings, they got some strikers, you know. I'm saying they got some defenders and stuff like that, like the way they kind of position, and you get hit with that ball, yo. Look, I don't know the name of it, but it's it's an Irish sport for sure. I that's the origin of it, it's definitely uh um an Irish sport, and y'all know them Irelands, Irish people, they built for it tough, yo. Them boys is built for tough, they are built to last, okay. Ain't nothing breaking, and they barely got uh like pads and stuff on there, so um, I think they just got like a little face guard or whatever, maybe some you know, some elbows and some excuse me, and some knee guards, but it's intense. Rugby by itself, okay, is it's stupid. It's just stupid. So you put in other aspects of football and lacrosse together? Mind blow and put and put the animators you did blue lock, mind blow. That's that's gonna be that's gonna be a legend series right there. But don't take it from me. It's not like I'm a fan. Oh whatever. Crazy. Y'all crazy. So so much so much stuff out here that we we can uh we can take we can take examples of and just make whatever we want. See, that's the beauty about anime. You could make whatever you want, man. Make whatever you want, make the storyline that you want, and it it will be phenomenal if you put the right pieces together, obviously. I you know, this this is just me just talking, obviously. But that sport will be dope as a Japanese animated show. Mark my words, go out and research it. Y'all gonna be like, yo, he ain't lying. It's crazy. Uh I think I think I'm nah. I wanna make a another show about sports, but I'm gonna I'm gonna have a different take on that one. I'll probably do like a like an imagination type of show where I can put pieces together to try to see how that will actually form. Later on, we'll see. Now now my juices is flowing. I don't know, man. Maybe I can start going and start talking to Funimation or something and seeing uh we could come up with some skits here, man. I got a couple ideas. Yeah, you know, a couple dollars in my pocket, you know what I'm saying? I got the recipe, never gonna let any open.

SPEAKER_00: 39:01

Yeah, but always distance behaviors who listen to me.

SPEAKER_01: 39:03

But I am serious. Anyway, about that time again, guys. I appreciate you guys for listening. I just remember to uh taking the time out of your busy schedule. We all know we're busy out here to listen to little old King. I love you guys again. Follow me on uh Spotify and uh Apple Podcasts. There's uh a couple platforms out there. Y'all can find me, man. I'm trying to be out there, I'm trying to be heard. I want you guys to hear me. I'm trying to spread this positivity to this world because we all need it. So um, whatever I can do to make that smile on y'all's faces to uncrinkle that brow on your forehead. We don't need wrinkles early, guys. Alright. But it's your boy in the wheels. And I'll start it out.