Miss the thrill of competing or racing? While on lockdown, here are a few Netflix animes that you can watch to remind you of the rush.
Manila’s been on lockdown for weeks now, but before President Rodrigo Duterte ordered the strict enforcement of an enhanced community quarantine, the threat of the novel coronavirus had already led to the cancellation of many events, including the races a lot of you have trained for.
As the deadly coronavirus kept spreading, canceling and postponing mass gatherings were necessary to safeguard the well-being of attendees. Even the Pinoy Fitness team dared not risk pushing the Garmin x Pinoy Fitness SUB1 10K challenge during those times, and thus postponed the race for a later date.
With competitions postponed, the fitness community is left to reminisce past races and training sessions. Some have coped by looking back and posting old finish line or race photos. Others stubbornly refused to heed lockdown guidelines and kept running outdoors.
But gladly, most realized the privilege of being able to stay indoors and focused their mindset on understanding the importance of peacefully remaining indoors to help flatten the curve. They’ve shared virtual workouts they’ve been trying, tips on how to turn your everyday regular home items into fitness equipment, and every little thing they’ve been doing to maintain some semblance of normalcy.
Related Article: Virtual Workouts to Keep You Fit While Under Quarantine
As the resident weeb of the Pinoy Fitness team, on top of the workout challenges on Instagram, I found myself turning to sports animes on Netflix.
Got a thing for watching anime? Check out the list of shows I’ve run through (see what I did there? XD), here:
1. For Runners – Run with the Wind
Redemption and reformation are always a favorite storyline of runners, be it in anime or reality. So it comes as no surprise that the same tune is sung by the anime ‘Run with the Wind’ – a series that reforms and brings back to glory, former high school running star Kakeru.
2. For Swimmers – Free!
As light as one would feel while floating on water, ‘Free!’ is an anime about competitive swimming that isn’t confined to demonstrating how powerful and fluid kicks and strokes are important to finishing first on a relay. The anime’s plot centers on true love for swimming and the uncanny bonds formed by fierce rivalry, as protagonist Haruka fights to reignite his relations with childhood competitor Rin.
3. For Cyclists – Yowamushi Pedal
Road cyclists who are avid followers of races like Tour de France and Giro d’italia will find an appreciation for ‘Yowamushi Pedal’ where the quirky otaku, Sakamichi Onoda by the chance of fate, joins his high school’s bicycle racing team. As an underdog team with the dream of winning at the national race, the boys that make up Sohoku High School’s bicycle racing team show the value of teamwork, perseverance, and tenacity in winning races.
Oh, and don’t forget to bring a box of tissues with you when you watch, as the demonstrations of how strong their bonds are as teammates and friends will move you to cry buckets of tears. TT^TT
4. For Volleyball Players – Haikyu!!
Many times in this life, we will find ourselves needing to break our ego in order to progress and achieve our goals. Volleyball anime ‘Haikyuu!!’ demonstrates these circumstances in the way of: 1) having to work with someone you dislike; and 2) admitting to your shortcomings and working on other ways and areas to improve your play. Volleyball players will come to love the anime not just for the drama of struggling with one’s frustrations with personal performance, but also for the lightening and heart-warming reward of the small victories of playing the game.
5. For Badminton Players – Hanebado!
Another sports anime that forces the protagonist to make her peace with a past loss to a rival, and having to be on the same team with said rival, ‘Hanebado!’ is an anime with an all-female lineup for the badminton team. The story tells of the struggles of heroine Nagisa Aragaki having to not just recover from the tragic loss, but to also rebuild a team from scratch and to be the one to heal the person who handed her her biggest defeat.
There is a tough battle to be fought, and an invisible enemy to beat – it’s only going to get worse before it gets better. It is a race against a virulent and deadly threat, and the test is to see whether we can be patient, compassionate, and assertive of our rights, enough to see humanity overcome, heal, and be better than how it was before all of this.
So before I let you all go and leave you to watch these shows, let me remind you to take what comforts you have and share them with people who are in your reach.
Until we can see each other at the start and finish lines of races, share with us and the community how you’re coping with this lockdown!
