When his high school's basketball team is suspended for the season, Subaru Hasegawa refuses to just sit and warm the bench. Blocked by this bad luck, Subaru thinks he's found his opening when he is offered the coaching position of an elementary school girls’ club. However, it looks like Subaru's slam-dunk is just a brick when he finds that these pint-sized players hog more than just the ball - they get all of the attention! Can a superstar wannabe find true satisfaction while playing sixth man to a team of five girls..?
This is one of those shows where the episode titles alone are almost enough to make me pass on it from shame. Here Comes an Elementary School Student! Yay! Yay! Yay! and A Little Girl's Wish? Ooooookaaaaaay, inappropriate fanservice here we come. The girls are all in 6th grade, which in my part of the world would make them 9 or 10 years old - but we're introduced to them dressing up in maid outfits to tempt Subaru into coaching them, and when that doesn't work they talk over letting him touch them up instead (although fortunately don't follow through on the idea). Nonononono. Stoppit.
The annoying thing is that, a little like Astarotte's Toy, there's a decent little show under the surface, if you can get past the ick factor of some of it. Lead girl Tomoka has some real basketball talent, her friends want to help her achieve her dream of succeeding in the sport, and there's a good story of teamwork and chasing your dreams under there that's actually quite enjoyable.
THE GOOD: There's a good "never give up, chase your dreams" ethic here, and away from the fanservice it's pretty good stuff...
THE BAD: ...but like Astarotte's Toy, it's wrapped in a layer of fanservice that left me feeling unclean. And that's not good.
I've learnt from the Astarotte experience, and I'm not going to dismiss Ro-Kyu-Bu out of hand - we'll see how it plays out over the next few episodes. Stick to the basketball, and it'll be pretty good stuff - too many more scenes that require the sudden appearance of censor-friendly sunflowers, and I'll be a tad more wary of it.
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