anime about sports, games, competitions: March 2008 Archives

Here is the opening song to the anime "Shion No Ou" or "Shion's King" which combines a mystery with a sport anime. This is courtesy of YouTuber xAzakura. The show is also known as "Flowers of Hard Blood."

Shion Yasuoka is a sweet girl who plays shogi, a board game similar to chess, very well. She communicates via a notepad because she hasn't spoken a word after witnessing the stabbing deaths of her real parents at age five. Her neighbors, the Yasuokas, adopted her and raised her as their own. Her adoptive father is a professional shogi player and he nurtures her innate talent for the game.

At a young age, she is considered an excellent female shogi player.

Like any anime geared toward competitions, the show focuses on the players and the games. So the simple act of moving a game piece is overblown sometimes. But that's common in such shows.

What makes this anime interesting is the mystery of who killed Shion's parents. The show never loses sight of that main plot line so I have yet to see a wasted episode.