Ayane's High Kick Anime Review

Quick Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2004-10-28 (updated 2004-10-28)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

If Rocky were middle class, you replace Sylvester Stallone with a cute Japanese High School girl, and you change boxing to kickboxing, you've got Ayane's High Kick. Yes, it's a pretty silly premise, and though it obviously doesn't amount to much in terms of depth or realism, combined with surprisingly hard-hitting, realistic (at least relative to the premise) action and some fun characters, this partially-finished OAV series turns out to be a fun diversion. Toss in decent art and a worthwhile voice cast to round out the picture.

An anime-weird plot and fun characters combined with semi-realistic fight scenes make Ayane's High Kick lots of fun, and worth watching for fans of either action comedy or just good silly fun.

Read the full-length review...

Full Review

• Reviewer: Marc
• Review Date: 2004-10-28 (updated 2004-10-28)
• 3 stars out of 5 (?)

Basically, Ayane's High Kick is Rocky, if Rocky was middle class, you replace Sylvester Stallone with a cute Japanese High School girl, and you change boxing to kickboxing... er, wait, that's supposed to be pro wrestling. It obviously doesn't amount to much in terms of depth or realism, but it is a fun diversion, and is actually more interesting than I was expecting.

The plot is good fun; silly enough to make for some amusing situations, but still solid enough to keep you interested in the characters. Bringing us to point two: The oddball coach, Ayane, and the rest of the small cast make up in fun what they lack in originality. Plus, Ayane and her friend have one of those sweet relationships that's fun to watch no matter how many times you've seen the same thing before.

Sadly, this is also one of the many OAV series cut short after only two episodes, so it doesn't go anywhere. The intro credits hint at plenty of fun that was never capitalized on, but at least it doesn't leave you hanging, so the unfinished story isn't that frustrating.

Another noteworthy feature of Ayane's High Kick is that, fight-wise, it's more realistic than I was expecting. Ayane's training isn't one of those "I find my shining thing, and suddenly I can kick serious butt" deals--there's a lot of sweat and knocking around. The fights are a lot more down-to-earth, too; some people may find them a bit slow, but I kinda liked seeing people who punch at speeds that don't create sonic booms, and who aren't able to jump over moving vehicles or shoot large energy blasts from their hands. In fact, the pummelings that Ayane receives more than once (her biggest skill seems to be an inability to be knocked unconscious while repeatedly blocking flurries of kicks and punches with her face) are surprisingly brutal, and she isn't looking quite so cute by the end of her matches.

Don't take any of this to mean that the whole thing is realistic, just that the fights are not superpowered jump-fests, nor is the kickboxing silly or cute. This might seem a little at odds with the concept, but the whole thing ends up fitting together quite well. Basically a good combination of nonsensical plot, solid action, and fun characters.

Visually, Ayane's High Kick isn't much of a standout, but it's not half bad, either. The art is sharp, colorful, and generally quite nice, as are the character designs (they reminded me of Slayers). The animation is also relatively good, and again, surprisingly realistic in the fight scenes.

The Japanese acting is solid all around, if lacking any particular standout performances, and the dub is passable, if a bit weaker. The music, on the other hand, isn't so hot, although the painfully cheesy opening theme is the worst of it.

Overall, an anime-weird plot and fun characters combined with semi-realistic fight scenes make Ayane's High Kick lots of fun, and worth a shot for fans of either action comedy or just good silly fun.

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The Battle Athletes OAV series is probably the most similar, though a wildly different setting and somewhat more serious. Also has some things in common with Ranma 1/2 (though no real romance).