Cinderella Nine

Hachigatsu no Cinderella Nine is one of the worst anime I have ever seen.

First of all, and one of the most important parts for this is that the art quality just isn't good enough. Throughout the entire show, this anime is filled with rough animation, still shots to save on animating at all, and even in those stills characters will look off-model. The result is that you get less invested in important scenes, less invested in the baseball part because the sport isn't portrayed in a dynamic way, less interested in the girls because they don't look very cute when their eyes are not in the right place on their heads, and so on. There is one scene in which a girl has done a lot of running, so she is panting a lot, and they didn't even bother to animate her chest going up and down as a sign of it. Nothing ever feels lively like this.

Another part that makes it feel unlively is the writing; it's a slice-of-life show without comedy mixed in. So you just get girls doing baseball things. Aside from the last episodes, no events seem relevant due to there being no plot, and events not being brought up again in later episodes after they happened. Without comedy to distract from this, you might as well be watching paint dry. And the "drama" that happens is often so weird and could be solved in so many other ways that it doesn't make sense and is hard to get into emotionally. I'll give Maiko's recruitment a pass for this, she struggles with real issues and the way they handle it is well done and probably a realistic showcase of how stressful situations and the mental baggage that comes with it can be handled. I liked that, even though it was the only thing.

Most of the other characters are boring as hell too, though. After their introduction, their character often completely disappears or is shown very sparingly. Yuuki, who is supposed to be a main character, might just as well not have been in the show - I still don't know what her characteristics are supposed to be. Or Aoi, who is supposed to be extremely lucky, never ever shows it in their baseball competition. Sure, they give her a bunt as a signature move, but then one of their opponents goes on to comment how wildly unpredictable she is, even when she ALWAYS goes for it. It's really shocking. Or Akane, who says her family is poor but that is never mentioned or shown again afterwards. She's just a regular loli. Even Tsubasa is pretty boring for a genki team captain, usually a captivating personality in cute girls shows.

The reason why this show doesn't get any lower is because it still has some endearing moments, and it is an okay-ish watch if you really like anime about cute girls competing. The show is heavily outclassed in that regard by Love Live and Girls und Panzer, however, and I'd recommend those over this one to the most hardcore baseball fans in a heartbeat.