Blue Box Review

The setup is standard and the execution is not. Taiki likes Chinatsu, Chinatsu moves into his house, and almost every series built on that runs on blushing and slammed doors. Kouji Miura's version instead gives both of them a sport they are serious about, then keeps the romance moving at the speed of people who train six days a week and are tired.

Telecom Animation Film shoot the badminton properly. Footwork, the recovery step, the way a long rally forces a body into positions it cannot hold, all animated rather than implied, and the basketball is close behind. That effort matters, because the emotional turns are sporting ones: a confession is put off for the sake of a match, and Chinatsu's encouragement is coaching rather than comfort.

Hina Chono is the reason the show is better than its shape suggests. A gymnast who knows exactly where she stands in Taiki's attention and keeps showing up anyway, she is written with far more interiority than a third point in a triangle usually gets. Twenty five episodes, unhurried, gentle without being weightless, and a second season follows in October 2026 with a new studio.