Tumbling/タンブリング

I wrote this summary of the series a while back after watching it. I enjoyed the drama but it was lacking in comparison to others I was watching at the time. I am a huge sucker for yakuza and yankee dramas. Tumbling held my interest for a while but it was no My Boss, My Hero. I like making fun of them just like the kids at their school. I should be ashamed of myself for mocking someone's passion. I should definitely not be one to talk since I am a video fanatic.

The show follows the trial and tribulations of a team who compete in the intense sport of high school boys' rhythmic gymnastics. They have an odd ball group of teammates, each one has a more tragic back story than the last.

The lead roll is a good heart-ed delinquent who needs to join a club to get enough credits.

Can't stop seeing him as the 4th son in Atashinchi no Danshi

He tries every club until he finally decides to join the rhythmic gymnastics club for less than savory reasons.

 Chicks dig the spandex

After numerous friendship speeches and flashbacks, his delinquent friends join the club. There is the stupid second in command who sports a pompadour haircut. There is also the ladies' man. He used to hate the main character, but they learned friendship through beating the crap out of each other. 

What would you do if you saw them in a dark alley?

The final delinquent to join the club is basically there to create sob stories.

"Nobody loves me, except the gay kid." 

There are actual dedicated members in the club who don't beat people's faces in. You mean there are actual members who like tumbling in this club? Yes, voice in my head, there are. The club's leader who I like to call freckle face, is the most annoying in my opinion. It's not only his freckle that bugs me. His character type is of the lead roll variety. He needs to remember that he is only a second class main character.

Gymnastics is cut throat. 

Another character is the gay one. He has no real personality and the only thing we know about him is that he is gay. This isn't so surprising, when he is prancing around in pink spandex, but more on that later. 

These outfits make them look manly compared to the later ones.

Then there is nerdy glasses kid. I had trouble paying attention to his backstory because his pants are way too high.

This is a crime

If you thought the characters could not get odder, you were wrong. The new kid before the delinquents showed up has yet to hit puberty. His voice is so high. He is also sickly. He ends up becoming team manager because rhythmic gymnastics is too strenuous. If being in the team makes you a loser, being the water boy must be a fate worse than death.
 

"I want to be a real boy!"

Let's not forget Sano Jr. The character's real name is Hino but every time he comes on screen I get weird deja vu to Hana Kimi. His character is grating at best and he only further frustrates me when he becomes "good" with little to no explanation for his huge personality shift.

"Everybody loves me and I know it."

This show is wrought with friendship speeches, washed out flashbacks, and tragic back stories, but the real tragedy is the pink glittery sequined spandex that they start to wear.

My eyes are bleeding

My final rating would be 1 three-legged cat. It is cute and makes you sad, but in the end the novelty wears off.

Conventional Rating: ***** (5/10 stars)