After hearing a lot of buzz about Ayane's High Kick, I finally checked it out a few months ago. I'm so glad I did. Whereas the closest we come in Britain to writing decent sports stories seems to be the Dream Team, the Japanese approach shines through in Ayane's High Kick, making it a warm, funny and emotional show.For one reason or another, Ayane is only 2 episodes long. This is really my only gripe, but I wish it had run a little longer, as the ending of the second episode is both abrupt and maybe a little TOO clean, coming on like a second stage Rocky sequel.Still, a short runtime and a somewhat sudden ending are very little to complain about when you have a show that deftly combines human drama with laugh out loud comedy and bruising action. In these two short episodes, everything that's thrown in is coped with in a subtle and expert manner. Fight scenes are crunchy and dramatic without becoming overtly violent, comedy is broad and OTT without becoming bawdy, and the whole thing is dramatic and emotional without any of the overwrought drippiness that typifies many of it's peers.Add to this the fact that the dub is pretty good and the overall package has been well transfered and seems to have hit these shores unedited, and you can see why I liked this so much. If you have an interest in either anime or sports/boxing movies, or indeed both, check this little gem out, you won't be disappointed.

Ayane Mitsui is a high school girl who yearns to be a professional wrestler, even though her school strictly forbids students from participating in outside professional sports. Unfortunately, she fails to make the grade in wrestling try outs.However, she catches the attention of a man named Kunimitsu, who realizes that while Ayane may not have much wrestling talent, she would make a great kick boxer. The only problem is, Ayane has no interest in kick boxing. So when Kunimitsu offers to train her he just doesn't tell her it's for kick boxing.Naturally, when her first match comes up and she realizes it's kick boxing and not wrestling, she isn't happy at all about it. Never the less, she goes out and wins her first match. Ayane plans to sever her ties with Kunimitsu and quit kick boxing. However, life has other plans for her.Ayane's match has stolen the spot light from Kayoko, a champion kick boxer who is undefeated, but the sports paper declined to focus on Kayoko's last match in favor of Ayane's and now she wants to fight Ayane to prove that her first victory was a fluke. What's worse, the vice principal of Ayane's school witnessed her first match and now wants to expel her. However, the head principal loved it despite the violation of school rules, and he warns that, given the recent publicity of the school because of the match, expelling Ayane could give bad publicity to the school. What it comes down to is this: Ayane must now train to fight Kayoko. If she wins, she must be allowed to finish school. If she loses, the principal says,"We will discuss the options, including expulsion."Not to reveal too much, but the story has a nice, conclusive ending, although it does leave you kind of wanting to see what will happen to Ayane next.A few more points of interest: The show has an in-between-episode preview very similar to the one in METAL ANGEL MARIE. The English voice actors for Ayane and Kunimitsu are Debbie Rabbi and Greg Wolfe, who would later provide the voices for the title character in MAZE. (A character who is both male and female.)