Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!” gives us a more in-depth look at the new girl: Ayame Moriya. Relax, everyone. She’s not here to form another corner of the love triangle. If anything, she ends up supporting the Hina corner of the triangle after hearing her story. As it turns out, Ayame can be a very fierce shipper on deck when she’s riled up enough.

Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!”: Details

Blue Box JP key art 2
Ayame here is practically an admiral on deck when it comes to her shipping.

Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!” is the 10th episode (you can read my reviews of Ep. 13, Ep. 14, Ep. 15, Ep. 16, Ep. 17, Ep. 18, Ep. 19, Ep. 20, and Ep. 21 here) of this romantic comedy and sports anime, and is the 22nd episode overall. You can read my reviews for the first cours here.

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

Risa Suzuki is the director and storyboarder behind Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!”, with Miho Tanino as the chief animation director. 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 second cours now features as the opening theme song “Saraba” (然らば) by Macaroni Empitsu. Meanwhile, “Contrast” (コントラスト) by TOMOO is the new ending theme song.

Voice Cast

Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!” features the voices of Shōya Chiba (Zach Aguilar in English dub) as Taiki Inomata, Reina Ueda (Xanthe Huynh in English dub) as Chinatsu Kano, Chiaki Kobayashi (Caden Shaffer in English dub) as Kyo Kasahara, Akari Kitō (Kayli Mills in English dub) as Hina Chōno, and Kana Ichinose (English dub voice unknown) as Ayame Moriya.

Other notable voice roles in this episode include Yuma Uchida (Daman Mills in English dub) as Kengo Haryū, and Shogo Sakata (Jacob Hopkins in English dub) as Ryōsuke Nishida, Anna Nagase (Emi Lo in English dub) as Nagisa Funami, and Asaki Yuikawa (Kira Buckland in English dub) as Niina Shimazaki.

When and Where to Watch

Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!” made its airing and streaming debut (aka. simulcast) on March 6, 2025. 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. 22 “Inota!”: Synopsis

At least Hina has someone rooting very heavily for her.

Alas, Blue Box is still an ongoing anime series. In fact, Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!” 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:

“After learning about Hina’s unrequited feelings for Taiki, Ayame decides to help — and the perfect chance arises at the upcoming autumn training camp!“

Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!”: The Good

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You can tell just from her face that she’s going to be such a gremlin.

It’s definitely the story of Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!” that keeps me glued to the screen. This time, it’s Ayame Moriya driving much of that story. All because she ends up becoming a major shipper on deck for Hina and her heavy crush on Taiki. This is exactly why I was quite fond of her character in the manga. Most other romance writers would introduce Ayame as yet another love interest for Taiki to make the love triangle into a love polygon.

Not Kouji Miura though. She remembers that other people, especially female characters, have their own interests and goals in mind. Ayame is a perfect example of that. She clearly is her own person, and has no interest in Taiki due to lacking that connection with him. Thus, her being a shipper on deck for Hina x Taiki is a great example of how to use additional female characters in a romance story. It also helps that Ayame has some of the most entertainingly expressive faces of anyone in this anime.

Of course, this is all enhanced by the animation from Telecom Animation Film and TMS Entertainment. Their animation team continues to wow the audience with some of the best-looking animation I’ve seen in any anime. Especially in the lighting department. Seriously, the lighting subtly changes depending on whether it’s Ayame lugging a bucket to an indoor sink to refill it, to Taiki’s badminton team running in the great outdoors for exercise. It’s all quite the animation flex that makes this anime such an eye candy to watch.

Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!”: The Bad

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You have to admit though: Chinatsu’s face here takes second place.

Honestly, if you only like action and nothing but, then Blue Box Ep. 22 “Inota!” is probably not for you. Yes, there is some impressively animated scenes of Taiki’s team running a short marathon for training and practicing badminton afterwards, but that’s not the point of the episode. Romance is still the main focus of this episode.

If you want action, then might I suggest watching Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, Solo Leveling, Kaiju No. 8, DDDD, DAN DA DAN, and/or Zenshu? Those anime series should contain enough action to satisfy your inner action junkie until the next time Blue Box returns to that sports action.

Tune back in to THS to find out more about Blue Box and other anime when we do. If you agree or even disagree with my review, leave your words below in the comments section.

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Blue Box Ep. 21 “A Chance To Blossom”: Love And Managerial Woes [Review]