So you’ve watched all of Heated Rivalry Season 1 and read the entire Game Changers book series by Rachel Reid. Now what will you do to fill the void until Season 2?
Watch anime, of course.
Sports fiction can be roughly categorized into three groups: stories in which the sports are primarily a vehicle to tell a story about the characters (such as Heated Rivalry), stories in which the sports and character arcs are of equal prominence (such as Chihayafuru or Haikyu!!), and stories that use the characters to tell a story about the sport (Ace of Diamond). I’m going to cover a bit of all three here, focusing specifically on aspects that would appeal to Heated Rivalry fans—because I sure did watch all six episodes last week!
Let me clarify up front: none of these shows have any explicit queer content on screen. What they do have, though, is the sizzling chemistry of athletic competition driving their characters to greater heights in their respective sports. And they’re fun to watch!
Yuri!!! on Ice
If you haven’t seen it yet, you’ve probably seen Yuri!!! on Ice mentioned in conjunction with Heated Rivalry online. Both focus on the special bond between a Russian and a Japanese (half, in Shane’s case) athlete competing at the highest level of an ice-based sport.
In Yuri!!! on Ice, Japanese figure skater Yuri Katsuki is in his flop era when a video of him copying superstar skater Viktor Nikiforov’s routine goes viral and Viktor himself flies to Japan to coach Yuri out of his slump. Once they start working together, their relationship slowly develops into something more as Yuri competes in the figure skating Grand Prix series. The “heated rivalry” in this show isn’t actually between Yuri and Viktor, but between another young skater Viktor mentors and Yuri Katsuki. Still, it’s a beautiful exploration of life, love, and expressing all your emotions on the ice.
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll, Hulu
Free!
If you watched Heated Rivalry more for the shirtless boys than for the sports, Free! is the sports anime for you! Haruka Nanase only wants to swim for himself, but his friends convince him to help revive the swimming club at their high school and compete in tournaments, reconnecting with another member of their childhood friend group who went to a more competitive swimming school.
Free! gets more repetitive as the seasons go on, but the boys stay pretty and the relationships stay ambiguous. The rivalry is not the main draw of the show, but it definitely exists, as Makoto and Rin fight for Haru’s attention.
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
Haikyu!!
If you want a show that’s all about a rivalry, look no further than Haikyu!! Shoyo Hinata, dreaming of playing volleyball on the national stage, drags his ragtag middle school team to the prefectural tournament… only to immediately lose to a powerhouse school led by the intimidating Tobio Kageyama. Hinata vows to defeat Kageyama when they get to high school… but how’s he going to do that if they’re on the same team?!
Besides the core competitive dynamic between Hinata and Kageyama, there are a lot of interesting characters that see one or both of them as rivals. With four seasons and a movie available now, Haikyu!! is the perfect show to fill your free time while you wait for Season 2 of Heated Rivalry.
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll, Netflix
Blue Lock
Yoichi Isagi gets picked to participate in the Blue Lock project to reform the Japanese national soccer team by training a bunch of strikers to play soccer as selfishly as possible, so they do whatever it takes to win.
Blue Lock is interesting because it’s like a death game show where the consequences are losing a game of soccer instead of dying. It’s very high-tension and dramatic, with fancy imagery and wild character designs. And there are a lot of intense and heated rivalries! Everyone Isagi meets becomes obsessed with defeating him in soccer. It’s fun!
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll, Hulu
Kuroko’s Basketball
In Kuroko’s Basketball, there are super-prodigy basketball players with unique basketball abilities bordering on magical, from titular Kuroko’s almost-literal invisibility to Ryota Kise’s ability to copy other player’s moves after seeing them once. After each member of the “Generation of Miracles” goes to different high schools, Kuroko and his team have to face these legendary players on the court, one after the other.
I have to admit I actually haven’t watched a lot of this show, but it’s highly regarded by sports anime connoisseurs who assure me that the rivalries between these basketball players are in fact, quite heated.
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll, Netflix
Ace of Diamond
Pitching prodigy Sawamura Eijun is recruited from the boonies to the powerhouse school Seido High School in Tokyo, where he learns that not only do his baseball skills have a long way to go, but the team has more than one talented pitcher he still needs to compete with.
In Ace of Diamond, there are a lot of interesting dynamics to dig into: the pitchers and the catchers, the pitchers and their rivals both on their team and on opposing teams, childhood friends who went to different high schools, and more. Unfortunately, it’s very baseball-heavy, there’s not a lot of downtime/slice-of-life scenes in between the games and the practices. But if you like baseball already, you’ll love Ace of Diamond! This show also has more than two hundred episodes out now with a new season on the way, so it will definitely keep you busy until Heated Rivalry season 2.
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
Run with the Wind
In this show based on a novel by Yuki Miura, college freshman and long-distance runner Kakeru Kurahara and his roommates at a run-down boardinghouse are gently blackmailed into running the Hakone Ekiden relay race by the fourth-year student Haiji Kiyose.
Okay, so the rivalry in this one is mostly between Kakeru and Kakeru. Running is a solo sport! But it’s a really good show that’s set in college and not high school for once, and the dynamic between Kakeru and Haiji, while not based in competition, is an interestingly subtle and complex friendship.
Where to Watch: Crunchyroll
Did we miss your favorite sports anime? Let us know in the comments!
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