After its release in 2018, Tsurune Season 1 was a great addition to the sports genre with its thrill of competition and the complexity of the relationship between friends and people. It was adapted from the light novels by Kotoko Ayano and illustrations by Chinatsu Morimoto.
Overall, Tsurune is a fantastic anime, filled with the love of Kyudo and high schoolers striving to train themselves in sports. You can watch Tsurune season 1 from Amazon, and I recommend watching it before season 2 is out! You can also watch the Tsurune OVA if you want more after season 1. Moreover, you can also get the original soundtrack for Tsurune to add to your collection.
The Main Characters
Tsurune is about kyudo – Japanese archery – and the Kazemai Kyudo Club, and its members. But, the main character out of them all is Minato Narumiya, who has target panic. He’s a steady and serious guy.
The other main characters that make up the boys’ team are:
Seiya Takehaya – the president and Minato’s childhood friend
Ryōhei Yamanouchi – an allrounder good guy and childhood friend with Seiya and Minato
Nanao Kisaragi – a cheerful and seemingly unserious guy
Kaito Onogi – a short-tempered guy and Nanao’s cousin
Then, we have the girls, Rika Seo, Noa Shiragiku, Yūna Hanazawa, and the faculty, Tomio Morioka, and Masaki Takigawa.
The Meeting
Season 1 of Tsurune starts off with Seiya and Ryohei joining the Kazemai Kyudo club but Minato refuses to join since he has target panic. The Advisor, Morioka-sensei has a club meeting to introduce Kyudo to new members. Ryohei drags Minato for it and he is chosen for a demonstration. Minato begins with confidence but misses and his form breaks. He suffers from target panic.
Later at night, Minato ends up at a shrine and sees someone doing Kyudo, and hears a brilliant Tsurune. The guy invites Minato inside and they begin talking. However, when the guy invites him to shoot, Minato runs off. The next day, on his way home, he stops by the shrine again. Then, we’re taken to the past and learn how and when Minato got his target panic.
Masaki – the guy at the shrine – told him that he had target panic too and had to work hard to overcome his target panic. He advises Minato to practice with friends. Masaki invites him to shoot his last shot to complete his goal of 10,000 arrows but Minato misses. But, he now understands that he shouldn’t quit.
Kyudo Club Restart
Minato goes to the club and requests to join. Onagi butts head with Minato and refuse to acknowledge him. Everyone except Onagi is happy since the boys can now participate in the Kyudo preliminaries boys’ group match. Onagi still won’t accept Minato but relents after hearing a conversation between Minato and Seiya about why he came back and seeing Ryohei defend Minato.
Then, Masaki joins the Kazemai Kyudo club as their new coach. At club practice, the coach tells them they will have a Mock Tournament to prepare them for the prelims. It was boys vs girls, Masaki and Morioka-sensei.
Since the boys aren’t really in sync, they lose and end up becoming the winning team’s servants. After practice, Masa-san tells the boys about the Training camp and their role as servants in the camp.
Becoming Friends
The boys do grunt work all day at the camp and are bummed out that Masaki won’t let them shoot. When the boys go to buy food for dinner, they get closer. Nanao splits up the group to send three, Onagi, Minato, and Nanao to the supermarket and the remaining two to the department store.
Nanao tells Minato about Onagi and how he is a softie inside. Tells him he got him that related to baseball even though he didn’t know a thing about baseball. Minato tries to talk to Onagi. On the way back, Nanao’s hat gets blown off and falls into the river. Minato jumps to catch it but ends up about to fall and Onagi saves him. It’s a bonding experience for the boys.
The advisor announces the firing order for the prelims with Onagi as the Omae and Minato as the Ochi. We are shown the Kirisaki high school’s side and the best of the best are chosen. Minato and Seiya reminisce about their friend Shu, who is a first-year student at Kirisaki.
The Prelims are Here
Minato remembers how he met Shu when he was young. At the prelims, all the Kazemai members are nervous. Coach and advisor give a speech and then Kirisaki meets Kazemei and the boys get into a small squabble while Shu has a reunion with Minato and Seiya. Moreover, Onagi loses his cool in the individual matches as he is looking at Shu and is obsessed with making his bow turn. He loses.
The next day at the group matches, the boys find out they are against Kirisaki since a team dropped out of the prelims. The boys are stressed out, and Onagi and Ryohei miss their shots while Seiya and Nanao land hits but Minato misses too. Kirisaki does well in comparison with Shu as their Ochi.
Breakthrough
After the first half, Ryohei gets encouragement from the shop owner who lent him the target panic notebook. Meanwhile, Nanao encourages Onagi. Nanao and Minato have a heart-to-heart and he asks why Minato shoots. Minato suddenly remembers his reason for starting Kyudo.
In the second half, Minato lands a shoot and gets the Tsurune he wanted. Onagi gets encouraged too and hits and the others do too. They get twenty out of forty arrows but pass the prelims somehow.
Shu meets Minato afterward and tells him he wants to reach new heights and wants him to help him. He meets Seiya later and after their conversation, Shu tells Seiya that he won’t be able to keep up with Minato since he doesn’t love archery.
Before the Prefecture
The members of the club have a day out together and bond. Seiya is still disturbed by what Shu said. The next day, we find out how Minato got his scar and his mother’s accident. Seiya is out of the game and falls sick the next day. Masaki then invites the team to get a talisman from the shrine for good luck.
Later, everyone gives the talisman to Minato to give to the president. Minato finds Seiya sick with his dog. Seiya tells Minato that he doesn’t need him anymore, and other depressing thoughts. Minato tells him that he was able to come back because Seiya waited for him. Minato gets through to Seiya and he comes back.
Meanwhile, Masaki feels troubled about his difficult relationship with his grandfather. He goes to meet someone who knew his grandfather. She turns out to be Minato’s teacher and he meets Minato there. He tells Minato about his fixation with his grandfather, etc. The boys encourage him to meet the other person Minato’s teacher told him about to find out about his grandfather even if it was just 2 days before the tournament.
The Tournament
On the day of the tournament, the boys hear the news that Masaki got into an accident and had asked the Nakazaki before to make headbands for the boys. The boys are troubled and Minato blames himself. Seeing them in a state, the girls try to talk sense into them. It works and they get back some of their composure.
However, they fall behind in the first half, and Minato realizes he’s afraid since there is no one behind him, and misses his shots. He realizes as he starts looking at his teammates in front of him the reason Masaki made him the Ochi and lands a beautiful hit in the center of the target.
He then talks to the others to work as a team and not focus too much on Masaki’s teaching since they are a part of us. They get through the second half but are tied with another team for 8th place. They spectacularly win the match to decide the winner for 8th with almost everyone getting a kaichus.
Kazemai makes it to the finals with Kirisaki. During the match, Minato realizes the reason behind Kazemai’s firing order. They all work as a team, and the match is close with no team leaving an arrow. Things heat up, and in the end, it’s down to the two ochis. Minato takes a beautiful shot while Shu isn’t looking at the target. Kazemai wins! That’s how Tsurune season 1 ends.
Can’t Wait for Season 2
Tsurune was a fun, and exciting anime with drama, emotion, and kyudo. With Tsurune, we get to see what makes Kyudo such a great sport, plus a great storyline with ups and downs that make it splendid!
While you wait for season 2 of Tsurune, you can read our One Piece Film: Red – Important Details You Need to Know or the Most Popular Anime of the Season – Lycoris Recoil to find more anime that gets your heart racing. On that note, if you like collecting anime merchandise, why not check out this iconic wallpaper, and t-shirt?