Narenare: Cheer for You!

Nanare Hananare isn't the first cheerleading anime I've seen—Anima Yell!! already set the bar for me back in 2018. And let me just say, my feelings about cheerleading haven’t changed much since then. I’m still not a huge fan of cheerleaders, but I’ve always appreciated the core idea: they are there to lift others up. In Anima Yell!!, the girls didn’t just cheer for others—they cheered me up as a viewer, too. Unfortunately, Nanare Hananare didn’t quite manage that. This series leans heavily into dramatic storylines, but the issues the girls faced only halfway resonated with me. It felt like the cheerleading itself took a backseat to all the self-discovery and personal dramas, which is fine, but I kept thinking cheerleading is supposed to be fun, and here, it often didn’t feel that way. Most of the time, the girls were more focused on finding themselves and solving their problems than enjoying the sport. I think I prefer my cheerleading anime to be energetic and fun, like Anime Yell!!. What I did enjoy about Nanare Hananare was the animation. It had a unique style, with a lovely color palette that really stood out. P.A. Works clearly put a lot of effort into the few cheer performances we got to see. The 2D animation was fluid, and the choreography, especially some of the jumps and spins, looked impressive. As for the characters, they were all likable enough, but none really stood out in a way that makes me think I’ll remember them a year from now. The same goes for the show as a whole—it was enjoyable, but probably not something that’ll stick with me for long. 6/10 (09/22/2024)