For a few days now, Wakanim has been showing the complete first season of Tribe Nine, which the Japanese indie studio Too Kyo Games had produced as the basis for their new media franchise. Kazutaka Kodaka, the creator of the Danganronpa series, is in charge of the anime’s scenario and there are plans to follow up this work with at least one mobile game. The anime itself was made by the Liden Films (The Heroic Legend of Arslan) production studio, but they won’t exactly boast of this work.
Animation quality is about Tribe Nine’s biggest flaw, as there may be a moment or two throughout the runtime that’s visually appealing. The striking character design by Rui Komatsuzaki, who this time received help from the artist Simadoriru (AI: The Somnium Files), shows very clear parallels to his earlier works, but these models could rarely be transferred to the screen with flying colors. In the end, I couldn’t fully get used to the style of the overdrawn characters, although I’ll gladly admit that this problem fades a little into the background once the action scenes start.
Tribe Nine is dedicated to the fictional sport of extreme baseball (XB), which is used by gangs to settle turf disputes in the far future dreamed up by Too Kyo Games. Different clans rule over the individual districts of Neo-Tokyo due to their sporting skills and whoever defeats another team in a match can decide the fate of the opponent. Unlike traditional baseball, XB players are equipped with various devices that can give them quasi-superhuman abilities. The rulebook allows for single-player combat, so “playing” the opposing team incapacitated is a valid strategy.
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Of course, all of this is primarily an excuse that the screenplay uses to accompany the growth of various characters in a chaotic world. At the core of the series is the Minato clan, led by the superior pro player Shun Kamiya. At the beginning of the anime, he picks up two new members from the street, who join his team a little later. When the troupe is challenged by the ruthless Chiyoda clan, the team suffers a bitter defeat from which they take a long time to recover. By interacting with other factions, all of whom follow very stereotypical, different ideals, Team Minato finds new strength as the story progresses and eventually grows beyond themselves.
By providing brief glimpses into the machinations of the other XB Clans, the series makes it clear that this world has a lot more to offer, but all of that is currently a work in progress and thus only a vague promise to viewers. Just like the individual actors, the story doesn’t really know where it actually belongs and thus loses the central message of Too Kyo Games – “Honour this game.” – in the end much of their effect. Apart from the occasional laugh, this somewhat blue-eyed, fundamentally positive attitude unfortunately didn’t convince me, because as a stand-alone product the Tribe Nine anime is certainly not a home run.
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