• Ace wo Nerae did many things that Ashita no Joe did, at the time, except it had much lower quality and worse writing. This series is like the bootleg Ashita no Joe, but with girls and tennis. I appreciate the avant-garde moments of this series, like there’s a terrifying scene where Hiromi is surrounded by a gaggle of faceless girls and there is eerie music droning in a monotonous humーto represent her feelings of social alienation. Moments like that rarely happened though. There are primarily lackadaisical moments of artists not wanting to draw a characters’ body, so they zoom into a stretched out face while dialogue blares in a beat of faux surreality; this technique is used over and over again!
• The characters are nothing out of the usual. I think Ace wo Nerae was one of the pioneers of a prodigy versus their wealthy, upper-class rival―hence why Kill la Kill used it in a parodical fashion during a tennis match between Ryuuko and Satsuki. The tropes in this series were very worn and scenes always linger on much longer than they need to be. Unless you want to laugh at the absurdity, this series is a bit of a snooze-fest.
• There’s only a small amount of romantic tension is between Takayuki and Hiromi, and it is completely dispersed when her coach tells her to not pursue romantic relationships and the heartbreak leads to Hiromi being able to beat Reika in their last match. That’s a pretty lame motivation for beating a sworn rival. This series carries a very goofy 1970’s vibe, reminiscent of Creamy Mami, and the audio quality is filled with ear-splitting echoes that mirror the original Doraemon (1979).
• Overall, Ace wo Nerae is very plain compared to Dezaki’s catalog of other series, I thought Oniisama e… was full of flaws, but I would suggest watching that or Rose of Versailles over this series any times of the day, his Golgo 13 OVAs also aren’t the worst thing in the world. Unless you want to get your classic shoujo fill, I wouldn’t suggest this series. I give Ace wo Nerae a 2/10.
