“I thought this island would have nothing to offer… but it has an amazing golf course. And a girl whose play is amazing too… Tonbo.”

Even when you account for the range of sports and activities they can be based around, it’s impressive how diverse the sports anime genre is. Golf isn’t a common subject matter for anime. We had Birdie Wing back in 2022, but despite some initial promise, it completely lost my interest, to the point that I didn’t bother picking it back up after its hiatus. Now we’ve got Tonbo!, another female led golfing series about a girl with an eccentric golfing style. Despite that description, the two series are wildly different.

At a glance, Tonbo! aims to be a lighthearted sports drama built around a community of people in a manner reminiscent of the works of Mitsuru Adachi. While I can appreciate these types of programs, my preference is for series that take a more focused and analytical approach. Still, I can engage well with the more whimsical fare, and Tonbo! may lack substance, but it still has the qualities of some half-decent comfort food. Regardless, I’m not convinced there’s enough here to warrant coming back for another bite.

This episode follows Kazuyoshi Igarashi, a former professional golfer who appears to have run away from the sport and taken up an administrative position at the remote island of Toshima. However, as he explores his new home, Kazuyoshi is shocked to learn that, despite its uneven terrain, Toshima possesses a golf course that is well maintained and used by its residents.  It also turns out that the energetic tomboy Tonbo, whose house Kazuyoshi will be boarding in, stuns him with her skill at the game despite only using a single club.

Nothing about this premiere is setting out to break any molds. This may work to the show’s benefit in the long run, as it may fit a particular niche, but it makes for a by-the-numbers opening. The trope of a skilled mentor encountering an erratic but promising protégé is prevalent throughout the genre, and there isn’t much else to this first episode beyond Toshima realizing, “Wow, this truly is the boonies!”

I find myself comparing this show to Cross Game, both positively and negatively. Both are sports shows featuring an old school aesthetic and a more casual approach to their setting and subject matter. However, Cross Game’s first episode hits like a freight train, and it adds an underlying significance to everything that follows. Tonbo! has the same straightforward approach, but none of that layered significance currently.

I find it interesting that the manga it’s based upon is featured in a weekly golfing magazine for two reasons. The first is that it surprises me that there is such a thing as a weekly golfing magazine. Is this a sport that needs weekly updates? I don’t mean to be insulting. It’s just odd to me that any sport would need such regular reporting. The second and more significant reason is that I think that explains why the narrative seems so stripped down and by the numbers. I suspect the original story was tailored to either draw in golf fans, or attract younger audiences to the sport. Thus, it makes sense that it starts off as a more generic, no frills, type of story.

The production is being handled by OLM, and that is a key factor in what led me to sample this show. OLM previously worked on Apothecary Diaries, and I wanted to see how consistent their production quality currently is. However, Tonbo! may be a poor point of comparison, because it appears to be aiming for a simple child-friendly animation style. Either that, or it just looks bad. It features flat, stiff character models, mediocre background CG, and basic levels of shading and highlighting. On any other show, this would be a death knell for the visuals, but the stripped back character models can work decently with this level of simplicity. The OP is a brisk, cheerful track, accompanied by Tonbo going about her daily activities, but even there, the visuals are unable to sell the show. 

Before I wrap up, a few Notes and Nitpicks:

• There is a recurring gag where all the islanders insist on referring to Kazuyoshi as Ichiga, and he’s unable to correct them. Maybe it’s a translation issue, but this joke never succeeds in landing.
• The episode doesn’t feature Tonbo too prominently, which is probably a good thing. I have limited tolerance for the loudmouth-tomboy character trope, and she seems like a character that could grate after a brief period.
• In the Venn diagram of what I’m looking for in a sports series, this gets closer to the intersection than many, but the questionable production values and by-the-numbers storytelling sabotage it.

Tonbo! is a show that I wish I liked more than I do. It’s hard to recommend it to any particular audience outside of young teens and preteens who like golf, which is a pretty niche market. For older fans of sports anime, this one just isn’t bringing anything new to the table in this first episode.

Score: 2.5/5