On September 5, TBS held a conference in Tokyo to announce news for the upcoming Fall 2024 anime season.
Among the anime that debuted, the most notable is “Blue Box (Ao no Hako)”, adapted from the popular manga series by Kouji Miura, published in Weekly Shonen Jump magazine since April 2021.
The story follows Taiki Inomata, a young man on the prestigious Eimei Academy badminton team, who falls in love with Chinatsu Kano, a talented basketball player. The anime is scheduled to air every Thursday starting this October.
Shinya Watanabe, director of TBS's animation division, is confident in the success of the anime series, saying it will be one of the most talked-about titles of the season.
“We're at a point where there are more than 50 anime airing in a quarter, but 'Blue Box' will be one of the key works of this Fall 2024 season,” Watanabe commented.
“Blue Box” is a coming-of-age story about love and sports, where the characters express their most heartfelt emotions while fighting for their sports and personal dreams. This combination resonated with both young people and adults who still remember their school life, which could expand the anime’s audience. Watanabe emphasized that while the manga has a younger fan base, the anime will also appeal to those who were once high school students and can relate to the main characters.
The online community has expressed mixed opinions about this anime adaptation. Some fans applaud the decision to turn “Blue Box” into an anime, while others believe that its story would be better suited for a live-action TV series.
One fan mentioned, “This could be a good drama, but I don't know if it will be successfully adapted into an anime?” A comparison has also been made to other recent Shonen Jump adaptations, in which even less popular series have received animated versions, such as “Mashle: Magic and Muscles” and “Undead Unluck”.
TBS's confidence in “Blue Box” reflects its renewed interest in the anime market. Watanabe notes that the network has decided to bet more heavily on this type of content, adapting to the rapidly growing market in Japan, where more than 50 anime are released each season. While TBS has not always been known for its support of anime, recent changes in the industry and the success of streaming platforms have led traditional networks to view anime as an attractive opportunity.
