On November 20, 2023, it was announced that the popular manga Ao no Hako will be turned into an anime. This manga is a mix of romance, comedy, and sports and is currently being published in Weekly Shonen Jump by Koji Miura.
Ao no Hako, also known as Blue Box, is a Japanese manga series about romance and sports. Kouji Miura writes and illustrates it. The story revolves around Taiki Inomata, a student at Eimei Junior and Senior High who is part of the boys’ badminton team. He trains with his crush, Chinatsu Kano, every morning. When Chinatsu’s parents go abroad for work, she moves in with Taiki’s family. Now living together, Taiki aims to strengthen his bond with Chinatsu as they both work towards their teams reaching the national championship.
In the upcoming Ao no Hako anime, we’ll meet two main characters. Taiki Inomata is voiced by Shoya Shiba, and his role is being a first-year high school student at Eimei High School, known for its sports excellence. Taiki is part of the men’s badminton club and has been practicing since middle school, dedicating himself to training every morning. He secretly has a crush on Chinatsu, a second-year high school student at Eimei High, known for her basketball skills. While Chinatsu Kano will be voiced by Reina Ueda, and is portrayed as the rising star of the women’s basketball team, featured in magazines for her talent. Besides her sports prowess, she’s admired for her great personality, making her popular both in and out of school.
Keep in mind that in August 2021, the first volume of Blue Box (Ao no Hako) quickly reached over 170,000 copies in circulation within a week of its release. In June 2021, the manga was nominated for the seventh Next Manga Award in the Best Print Manga category and secured the Global Prize, even though it ranked eighth out of 50 nominees. The series gained further recognition by ranking fourth on the Nationwide Bookstore Employees’ Recommended Comics of 2022. Thanks to its remarkable success, an anime television series adaptation was officially announced in the 51st issue of Weekly Shōnen Jump on November 20, 2023.
