number24

Natsuza Yuzuki has been playing rugby as a left-winger ever since he was a child. After enrolling in Doushisha University, he quickly becomes a rising star in the Kansai University League.

His dreams are shattered, however, when a nasty motorbike accident leaves him with a spinal hernia—making him unable to be able to play rugby ever again. With no role available other than the position of manager, he accepts his new post and hopes his squad can obtain a league title.

Yuzuki's team is an unlikely group, including his stoic best friend and full-back Seiichirou Jingyouji; hot-headed first-year Yasunari Tsuru, who harbors a strong dislike for Natsuza, filling his senior's old position as left wing; and Yuu Mashiro, who is struggling to hold his ground as a scrum half.

Despite Natsuza putting his all into training his team for a league title, their squad still feels incomplete. A year ago, Ibuki Ueka, the genius fly-half that was once Doushisha's ace, suddenly quit rugby—and now Natsuza is determined to get him back.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Yuzuki, Natsusa Main

Kawanishi, Kengo Japanese

Ueoka, Ibuki Main

Yanagita, Junichi Japanese

Shingyouji, Seiichirou Main

Suzuki, Ryouta Japanese

Mashiro, Yuu Main

Murase, Ayumu Japanese

Tsuru, Yasunari Supporting

Komatsu, Shouhei Japanese

Hongou, Madoka Supporting

Saitou, Souma Japanese

Yufu, Ikuto Supporting

Tachibana, Shinnosuke Japanese

Hidaka, Takumi Supporting

Yano, Shougo Japanese

Taylor, Ethan Supporting

Okitsu, Kazuyuki Japanese

Saitou, Fuuga Supporting

Kodama, Takuya Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Sakamoto, Yoshiki Producer

Herek, Samantha Assistant Producer

Kimiya, Shigeru Director

Reviews

Mar 23, 2022

chi4you

Recommended

Sports anime? More like a Boys Life anime. I learned nothing about rugby but wholeheartedly enjoyed the character interactions and Natsusa being a snarky, lovable gremlin. For only 12 episodes, there was a lot of potential for the plot to be fleshed out more and for the character stories to be explored fully. Instead of a focus on the sport anime genre, this show falls into more of a slice-of-life category, so if you're down to relax and watch some chaos ensue from Natsusa's shenanigans, here you go.

STORY (8/10): For an original TV series, it COULD be better, but maybe if we get a season ... 2, then perhaps the pacing may see some improvement. There's some plot around the team assembling, internal conflict and friction between main and side characters. It wasn't necessarily tiring, but you could understand the frustrations and motivation of the people involved. There were several moving parts and many characters, so I feel like a bit more screen time could have been dedicated towards the main trio to fully tell their story. Understanding that the rugby team is big and the fact that we need to gain some perspective on each character involved to feel some empathy, for a 12 episode story, I think it may have been easier to just either make this 24 episodes so we can connect better or just skimp out on the non-main characters. I like the premise of where the story is going, however the animation team could have gone deeper so they can pour salt over our wounds. There's definitely more left to be desired.

ART (9/10): I like the art. It's aesthetically pleasing. It's the whole reason I started watching it. Natsusa is pretty. Yuu is cute. Yasunari looks badass. Seiichirou exudes ikemen energy. Ibuki.... is Ibuki. Plus I need to pinch all the junior's faces please. Also the ending credits theme has the softest art. Hnnnnng.

SOUND (7/10): Nothing too remarkable about it. I like the music box BGMs since it adds a touch of sweetness. Best song out of the 3 ED themes has got to be "Kimi to Iru Nara". It grabs your heart and puts it on chokehold. Whoever the heck directed Episode 8 knew what they were doing because the storyboard/music/art direction for that episode got me still thinkin about it.

CHARACTER (8/10): I started watching this show because I saw a clip of Natsusa being an obnoxious, snarky brat and I wholeheartedly love him for it. He is a refreshing change to the typical short / cute boy. He's got bite. He's got an attitude. And he doesn't want your patronizing sympathy. And he is 10000% a bully. He's hilarious. Plus, his interactions with Ibuki are the best. Short man has zero chill and is savage. Although Sei is a guy with little words, he is a sweetheart who deeply cares about Natsusa. I don't think there was enough air time to build on all of the other characters though, like Ibuki and Sei. They have solid premises and an interesting backstory that isn't discussed in detail because of the limited episodes.

ENJOYMENT (9/10): The show literally went ham within the first 20 seconds of the first episode. Our main boy gets into a car wreck and you get to see the moment that completely messes up his neck for life. That can actually happen to people in reality who end up suffering with chronic pain or relapses, and I think that was what drew me to the show at first. Every time he suffers, I physically wince from the pain on his behalf since I also personally injured my neck in the past and it is not fun. It's tragic. It's devastating. It's life-changing but admirable how Natsusa still tries to remain in the world of rugby as a manager even he can no longer be on the field. It's frustrating and can be a harsh reality for athletes or even regular people in our day to day lives. We're all one accident away from a potentially life-altering event that could impact our mobility. I don't recall watching any anime that focuses on these types of impacts about a character suffering from some disability/chronic pain, and that's what I appreciated about Number24. It's not like the typical sports anime with crazy superpowers (except for Ibuki and Sei's incredible skill I suppose-- but I don't follow rugby in real life to comment on how realistic their talent is). It's just a bunch of college dudes doing a sport they truly love. It's about basking in the sweet camaraderie of teamwork. It's about collectively working towards the same goal. It's about learning to let things go. Even if the show is rushed and we didn't get to see a lot of plot in detail, I feel that it was in the right direction. With more budget and HOPEFULLY a season 2, we can probably expect a jump in quality.

Overall (8/10): If you enjoy slice of life/character interactions and not an in-depth explanation of the sport, give this a try. Natsusa carries the cast with his humor and evil tendencies. The main trio are my favourite. There is untapped potential for how good Number24 could have been with all of the ideas introduced in the show, but I'll give them some credit for an original production. Also, the ship fuel has been fantastic. Much wholesome. Very comedic. I don't even care if they are platonic or baiting. This was so fun to watch and I hope we get a season 2. Their story is not finished!

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by chi4you (5)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Aug 7, 2021

syl__via

Mixed Feelings

the plot of the story is not bad actually however i feel that the execution wasn’t being made very well.

the anime is about rugby but there wasn’t much explanation about the game itself. for someone like me who know nothing about rugby, i have no idea how many people there are in each team, what kind of player position there are, how do they score, what is the points they received each time they score a goal etc.

i'm currently on episode 3 of "try knights" which is also a rugby theme anime, at least "try knights" bother to explain the rugby game at the end ... of each episode after the ending song.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by syl__via (19)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

May 7, 2024

ST63LTH

Not Recommended

Story & Characters: 2/10
Number24 does well to introduce a lifestyle characteristic among the gung-ho sport of university level rugby. The story is more on the idyllic side with its laid back tonality between characters and rugby matches; This leads me to say that it doesn't suit the typical mens sport theme well in my opinion. This series centers around a very exuberant main character Natsu whose purpose is to appear vulnerable among the other players in the team; He tends to involve himself in situations that don't require his input and becomes quixotic as the story progresses. However, that aside I found the genuine comradery ... between opponents and the Doushisha University team surprising for a change; There were subtle scuffles between opponents but in the end many of the characters seemed to be written with the least pernicious way. My rating reflects on the more subtle yet obvious femininity among the male characters and blatant fan service field trip scenes; It personally wasn't to my liking but I understand that this portrayal is mellifluous to the target demographic. Finally, it would have been better to have some form of rugby narration regarding the plays being made during the matches; There were minimal efforts regarding the rules and overall character narration but right up till the end there was no effort to mention some form of rules or play making narration.

Art & Sound: 5/10
The art and animation are more on the vibrant side with character design taking on the approach of a more colorful set of characters. Animation did well to express the action scenes and scene design was organized in a pleasant way especially the field outing scenes like the Onsen, Sauna, hotel, transport. Sound is as expected for any modern anime with a shred of budget, I personally don't welcome the feminine vocals of Yuu as it felt beyond the age of puberty but I understand that it could be more of a artistic intention.

Overall & Enjoyment: 2/10
Had this series involved more game narration and focus on the sport theme with minimal focus on the subtle fan service, it would have been a more enjoyable and pleasing experience.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by ST63LTH (189)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

ENTP MCs

by zhuumie

34 Entries · 6 Restacks

Finished Anime (Original) V5 L-N

by Wusel-chan

25 Entries · 2 Restacks

Spring 2022 (Anime)

by Suliistiani

50 Entries · 4 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for June

Here are the North American anime, manga, and light novel releases for June Week 1: June 1 - 7 Anime Releases Appare-Ranman! Blu-ray Black Clover Season 3 Part 4 Blu...read more

Jun 1, 2021 1:15 AM by ImperfectBlue | Discuss (13 comments)

2020 April Fools' Day Collection

Each year, April Fools' Day gives a chance for creators in the anime, manga, and video game industries to showcase their creativity. With the popularity of soci...read more

Apr 2, 2020 7:11 PM by ImperfectBlue | Discuss (34 comments)

	Poll: number24 Episode 12 Discussion Stark700 - Apr 15, 2020	29 replies	by ST63LTH »» May 7, 4:58 AM
	Poll: number24 Episode 11 Discussion Stark700 - Apr 8, 2020	16 replies	by ST63LTH »» May 7, 4:49 AM
	Poll: number24 Episode 10 Discussion Stark700 - Mar 11, 2020	12 replies	by ST63LTH »» May 7, 4:38 AM
	Poll: number24 Episode 9 Discussion Stark700 - Mar 4, 2020	19 replies	by ST63LTH »» May 7, 4:31 AM
	Poll: number24 Episode 8 Discussion Stark700 - Feb 26, 2020	23 replies	by ST63LTH »» May 7, 4:24 AM

In Numbers: The Best and Worst Anime of Winter 2020

Scores, members, favorites — everything you need to know about who won and lost Winter 2020.

by Shymander

64,705 views