Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!”: A Learning Experience [Review]

Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!” is not nearly as hopeful as the title implies it to be. Yes, it has its ups and downs. However, it does feel like the story comes crashing down due to it mostly being from Taiki’s perspective. And yet, it’s still an important learning experience for him as he makes his way through his high school life.

Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!”: Details

Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!” is the eighth episode (you can read my reviews for Ep. 1, Ep. 2, Ep. 3, Ep. 4, Ep. 5, Ep. 6, and Ep. 7 here) of the very first season of this romantic comedy and sports anime. Said anime is the anime adaptation of the manga of the same name by Kouji Miura (I Love You, My Teacher). Telecom Animation Film (Tower of God, Shenmue: The Animation, Astro Note) and TMS Entertainment (Detective Conan, Lupin the Third, Anpanman) are both responsible for the anime, with them doing the animation, and production and planning, respectively. Netflix is the company licensing this anime for its global release.

Production Cast

Shunji Yoshida is the director behind Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!”, with Yūko Kakihara as the writer, and Masayoshi Nishida as the storyboarder. As for Blue Box as a whole: Yūichirō Yano is the director behind the anime. Yūko Kakihara is the writer, Miho Tanino as the character designer, and with Takashi Ohmama responsible for composing the music.

Speaking of music: the opening theme song for Blue Box is “Same Blue” by Official Hige Dandism. Meanwhile, “Teenage Blue” (ティーンエイジブルー) by Eve is the ending theme song for the same.

Voice Cast

Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!” features the voices of Shōya Chiba as Taiki Inomata, Reina Ueda as Chinatsu Kano, Chiaki Kobayashi as Kyo Kasahara, and Akari Kitō as Hina Chōno. The other notable voice roles in this episode are Yuma Uchida as Kengo Haryū and Shogo Sakata as Ryosuke Nishida.

When and Where to Watch

Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!” made its airing and streaming debut (aka. simulcast) on November 21, 2024. You can watch this episode of the anime only on Netflix. In fact, you can only watch this entire anime on Netflix due to it being an exclusive there.

Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!”: Synopsis

Alas, Blue Box is an ongoing anime that only fairly recently made its debut. In fact, Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!” only made its debut four days ago as of this writing. Thus, I will present to you Netflix’s official synopsis for this episode instead of a spoiler-filled plot summary. You can read that synopsis below:

As Taiki strives to make it to the nationals, Chinatsu gives him a word of encouragement. Later, Haryu and Taiki face top players in the doubles match.

Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!”: The Good

It’s definitely the story of Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!” that had my gaze glued to the screen the whole time. It’s the emotional ups and downs of the whole episode that did it. From Taiki’s highs from the joys of simply playing badminton against skilled opponents and his tender moments with Chinatsu, to the crushing blows he gets by the end of the episode. Kouji Miura proves once more that she’s a master of emotional storytelling.

The other reason why this episode is good is that animation. The amazingly fluid and jaw-droppingly gorgeous animation from Telecom Animation Film and TMS Entertainment. All the skill of their animators culminates in the fluid motions of the various male characters as they play badminton with all their hearts and souls. When you can just how it is each player smacks the shuttlecock, right down to their individual arm and finger movements, then you know that the animators animated their hearts out over this. The gorgeous lighting and HD details certainly help with that as well.

Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!”: The Bad

Unfortunately, I do have one complaint about Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!”. It’s that it feels like Chinatsu is a side character in this episode despite her being the female lead. We see Taiki’s struggles as a badminton player, but we don’t get to see a reciprocal view of Chinatsu’s struggles as a basketball player. The one thing mollifying me is that it appears to be intentional on Kouji Miura’s part. Taiki is struggling as a new badminton player, while Chinatsu is depicted to be highly skilled already. From Taiki’s perspective, it does hit hard without knowing the kind of struggles Chinatsu puts into her actual game. Fortunately, we will see that at a later time in the story, so it’s all good.

if you’re the kind of action junkie who only likes bloody and gory violence, then Blue Box Ep. 8 “Score!” isn’t the episode for you. In fact, the entire anime isn’t for you, because it’s basically a romantic comedy story mixed with a sports story. If you want blood and guts flying everywhere, then might I suggest watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, and/or DAN DA DAN? Those particular anime series are pretty bloody fun to watch if you’re into that sort of thing in an anime.

Tune back in to THS to find out more about Blue Box and other anime series when we do.

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