StoryLet's face it, folks. The plot of Ayane's High Kick is really nothing to scream about. There's nothing supernatural or unusual about it -- simply a girl who is training to be the best, under some fairly comical circumstances. But don't get me wrong, the "realness" of the plot is somewhat appealing. Instead of having hadoken type spiritual fireball moves or cheesiness, you get good old fashioned kickboxing moves.
The overall tone is definitely self-empowering and comedic at the same time. Ayane is determined to be the best, but yet is being tricked in funny ways, making fights and situations that much more amusing.
But in general, there is nothing unusual or unique about this plot that deserves higher than a 6 (above average, but still not that great). Sure, it manages to be entertaining, but still feels a bit superficial as far as what the story could have become. Because of the length, we don't become attached to the characters, so it pretty much is something you'd watch if you want to see kickboxing between a few people.
AnimationWhile nothing was inheritly wrong with the animation (such as terrible color combinations, atrocious character designs or weird backgrounds), it still wasn't terribly impressive. Character designs fell into a generic category, with trademark plastic looking hair (with a big white line across it to show reflections of the light), breasts that are way too large for normal high school girls, the token girl with glasses and mullet style hair, and very dark, thick lines used for shading which made all the characters, including the females, look manly.
Not much was used as far as pretty/spectacular backgrounds too, which tends to be the ONE area where most series end up succeeding in some fashion. There was one scene with a sunset that was neat, but besides that, you are mostly checking out fights in the ring, not scenery.
Fights were well done and coordinated, especially for something that isn't a samurai battle for once. Lots of different perspectives for the camera shots, which was unique.
Colors were darker reds and a lot of black or browns.
No computer graphics were used.
SoundI've decided I'm going to start giving lower scores if I don't remember the music at all or if I thought it was totally generic, and in this case, it fits the bill. I remember literally nothing about the music except generic fight music that occasionally occured. Not much else to say besides that.
CharactersWe are only really introduced to three main characters. Ayane, who "grows" the most out of anyone in the show (which isn't saying much), her bookworm buddy, and her coach. Ayane definitely becomes stronger during the course of the show, and is willing to overcome difficulties in order to succeed. The best friend is fairly backgroundish and really does nothing useful except try to convince Ayane to not fall down in a fight. And the coach? Well, he is definitely the sneaky one, and also has a semi creepy feeling about him. Regardless, we see basically no development with him.
So really, Ayane is basically it as far as character development, hence the 6. Voice actors were chosen well.
OverallAyane's High Kick is not bad by any means, but it unfortunately feels very generic to watch. It was light hearted and enjoyable to some extent, but I found myself wanting more. More conflicts between Ayane and her coach, moving up in the food chain as far as getting closer to being a champion, any sort of development with the other characters, etc. So, all and all, Ayane's High Kick ends up kicking the rewatchable bucket over a cliff, rather than making me excited to recommend it to you guys.
I can't see any reason to watch this again, unless you want a light hearted watch that you can have on in the background while you multitask. The story was non-inspiring and had an uninteresting tone, thus, rewatching seems silly to me.
Screenshots
Add to list