Note: Im not familiar with rugby so dont count on this review to break down the rules and comment on how well this anime portrays this sport. Seasonal animes are truly a wonder. Some of them are remembered and praised even after years while other become Try Knights. This anime is based off of a 3 volume manga that tells a story of Riku a boy who once was a passionate rugby player but decided to abandon the sport due to his body not developing the way he wanted. He then encounters Akira whos also very passionate about rugby and wants Riku to make a comeback. After spending time together with Akira Riku feels like his passion for rugby is slowly overtaking him yet again. They decided to join they forces to bring down other rugby teams. Clearly this plot isnt winning any awards for originality or innovation but it can be greatly uplifted by good visuals animation and character writing Yeah about that... One cant talk about visuals without mentioning the character designer and mangas artist: Takarai Rihitohttps://anilist.co/staff/99545/RihitoTakarai. Shes a very famous mangaka known for Seven Dayshttps://anilist.co/manga/39296/SevenDays/ Only the Flower Knowshttps://anilist.co/manga/48792/OnlytheFlowerKnows/ and Ten Counthttps://anilist.co/manga/85555/TenCount/ in the West. Some people speculate the manga only sold well thanks to her fans and I can totally believe that. So lets see how the anime managed to replicate her style: https://pbs.tw.com/media/FpzgBaoWcAMMb4b?format=jpgname=medium Rihitos version is dynamic and striking: characters look at the viewer with different expressions the difference in floating accessories attract the eye and the chess peace in from of them is an interesting way to foreshadow themes of the series. The whole image gives me strong theyre the same but different vibes. The anime version of key visual looks like a bad parody. Its just two guys starting at each other with copypasted expressions. They lack any character that was seen in Rihitos version. And this problem thats seen throughout the whole anime: nobody in production cared about this series and thought itll sell on Rihitos name alone. The animation is...the less said about it the better. Originally I was planning to fill this review with gifs of horrendous animation 2frame running cycles and offmodel faces but decided against it. See it almost feel like a spoiler to show off this animes main attraction: budget lower than my selfesteem. Feel free to look up clips of Youtube even if youre not planning to watch this masterpiece I promise you its worth it Midway through the series everything starts to look even worse can you believe it?? Did you know what else this director was involved with? DRAMAtical Murderhttps://anilist.co/anime/20677/DRAMAticalMurder/ anime No Im not kidding. Im even more impressed about the fact they fucked up adapting even the simple key frames from the manga: https://pbs.tw.com/media/FpzgES8XgAIKxT?format=jpgname=medium At first it looks okay but then you notice how Rikus body looks uncomfortably stiff and his left eye is getting ready to fly away you cant unsee it. And character writing is a final nail in the coffin. Notice how I didnt mention any other characters besides two main leads? Thats because I struggle to find anything to say about them outside of the leader of the main rival team. And heres the only noteworthy spoiler: Another point I wanted to address: just like many other sports anime Try Knights was swiftly accused of being a fujobait. This couldnt be further from the truth. This whole cast lacked strong personalities chemistry and fun interactions with each other. Riku and Akiras relationship has no progress beyond episode 2 and by the end of the series I had no idea why they stuck around with each other. The rest of the characters dont even get enough screentime for me to justify even thinking about them much less shipping them together. If the producers of the anime wanted money from Rihitos fans why not adapt her actual BL manga? Seven Days and Only the Flower Knows are right here But fans of those series clearly dodged a bullet this time. But here comes good news: in terms of sound this anime is almost great Yes I was not a fan of SFX they used during matches but otherwise no complains. The seiyuu cast does a good job with what theyre givenand I immediately recognized KENNhttps://anilist.co/staff/95857/KENN as Akiras voice. OP/ED songs are enjoyable and the BGM was better than I excepted it to besame composer as Kuroko no Baskethttps://anilist.co/anime/11771/KurokosBasketball/. But at the same time my brain had hard connecting hype music and horrendously animated games of rugby. Try Knights was a hilarious train wreck to watch for a while but by the end of the series the result of terrible budged and zero care have lost their charm. If youre on board to watch a terrible portrayal of rugby in animation form I would recommend watching first three episodes and dipping. Unless youre a hardcore completionist youll get tired of this series quickly.