A new approach for these analysis reviews is that I class these as S-Tier anime, as there are at least 50 anime I judge as S-Tier, expect more to grow from this.
Keijo's Origins
Essentially Keijo is an extreme version of a common pool game played all over the world at pool partys, the object of the game is without using arms or legs only your butt and for women breasts as well, is to knock the person into the water or fall over on the land pontoon; Keijo turned it into a high stakes sport battlefield with the same rewards as any other professional sport.
Clever Fan Service
It's easy to look at this and see an anime that only caters to the male gaze, something that a lot of crap reviewers tend to point out but it's much more clever than that.
The extended cast sits at roughly 40 characters, only three of them are male, a reporter, the father of one of the Keijo players and an unseen commentator, none of which impact the story at any point.
It helps that all the girls are doing this sport by choice and treating it as such gives a much more empowering feeling, it's fan service done correctly when I'm more compelled by the action than the skin, and before you ask, all the characters are 18 years old minimum.
If there's anything problematic it's probably the lesbian character pushing her luck with some of her attacks, but I suppose the fan service has to exist somewhere.
No Body Shaming Here
The beauty of Keijo is that all body types are welcome, yes they make it clear that high athletic ability is required and being able to at least swim for a successful career but is not restricted by body type, lead character Nozomi is a gymnast for instance while other characters are anything from Judo, body building, Yoga, dancing and even Sumo, some just have the right desire or just do it because they enjoy it.
It's a Real Sport in Portugal
The Portuguese turned Keijo into an actual sport, the main difference though is that it looks a lot safer compared to it's drunken party origins with life belts and jackets which make it look closer to sumo costume battles, but the real reason is that the human body isn't designed to twist in certain ways.
Don't Try This At Home
I mentioned that Nozomi is a gymnast so her incredible wind ups for doing the Vacuum Butt Cannons are akin to doing floor tumbles in the Olympics, but to actually perform the Vacuum Butt Cannon would require not just a perfect wind up of tumbles on loose slippery pontoons but to twist your hip so violently that it risks a horrible injury, this is true in the Keijo universe as well, I'm also certain that breasts are not designed to take multiple hits either, this is why the real life version has more padding.
Meant for Something Greater
It never lasted more than one season but it had the potential to go much further, as it could easily have become a world wide phenomenon, the fact that one country turned it into a real sport is proof of that but short sighted reviewers and executive meddling ended the show before it could achieve that, it's a shame as it achieved so much more for female viewers than even designated shojo series.
