I Love 1970s Tennis Anime

Close-up of a blissed out anime girl's face.

A while ago I watched through the 1973-74 shoujo anime series about girls' tennis, Aim for the Ace! 

I can't remember how I came across it, but something about the visual style really struck me. The long, angled faces sometimes warped to a sort of dream-like alien degree. The beautiful, blurred backgrounds in purple tones. The colourful airbrushing and paint stippling. It's a gorgeous, odd-looking show.

A roughly-drawn image of a crowd. A boy, in full colour, sits in the centre. The rest of the crowd are uncoloured, revealing a pastel watercolour background.
Closer frame of the boy in the crowd, intently watching what he's looking at.
A girl's stunned face sits in almost psychadelic pink shadow. Subtitle reads: "I would lose. That's right. That's why Coach didn't tell me anything."

It centres on a vaguely tomboyish tennis player, Hiromi. She has a fluffy Donny Osmond cut, a reserved personality, and a dream - to play some tennis. We start out with her about to move up to the senior team, and follow her as she takes part in more high stakes matches and gets into more intense training.

A lazy-looking black cat.

She has a little black cat, by the way. This creature isn't particularly important, but rest assured: that cat is there.

A girl clasps her hands together lovingly in front of her face.

What I love about the series is its claustrophobic intensity. At the beginning, it seems that Hiromi and her friend don't care all that much about their tennis prowess, but it quickly becomes the beautiful, sparkling jewel at the centre of Hiromi's life. An intoxicating, visceral passion expressed so vividly by the textured backgrounds and often conspicuously empty, slightly abstract locations.

A beautiful boy with a large, triangular nose and thick eyelashes. He is wearing a school uniform hat. Subtitle reads: "Say, are you feeling ill or something?"
A sparkling, gorgeous image of a man mid-action but pristine, with shining eyes, luscious lips, and flowing hair. Subtitle reads: "But right now, Todo is holding back a little for my sake."
Another pretty image of Todo.

A figure of great inspiration to Hiromi is Todo, the sparkling and gentle boy tennis player she admires. He is an iconic 1970s boy. He has the most luscious eyelashes in the world, thick, flowing sideburns, and bewitching, geode-like eyes. He is quiet and unassuming, statesmanlike, and a very good tennis player.

An intense close-up of a boy's face. Sparkles surround him.

The distant intensity with which she views him is so deliciously communicated. She is always gazing at him, and he is always leaping in slow motion, a graceful gazelle of a man on the court. And so, there is an impeccable, tentative sensuality to their relationship. Nothing feels quite real, but every detail is magnified, made huge and shiny.

A lot of tennis balls in the air.
Balls.

I also love the way the show explores the fraught position of women's tennis, and women in tennis. There's a powerful scene in which Hiromi talks about the extreme challenge she faces in making up for her relative weaknesses in strength and size.

A large man and small woman are playing tennis in the pouring rain. Subtitle reads: "As a man, born to be taller than women, stronger in hands and faster in legs,"Close-up of an aggrieved woman's face. Subtitle reads: "How can any of you ever understand how painful is the training required to make up for that handicap?"

It's so great. You're punching the air at this point. Our girl needs to win. She deserves it.

Another moment has a coach observing Hiromi's training, and he says this:

A man in sunglasses says, "Right now, the world of girls' tennis is rapidly shifting."A girl dangles from a horizontal pole while her coach watches. Subtitle reads: "From the classical Beautiful Tennis towards men's Power Tennis."

It's such an interesting and sad look at some of the stark realities of women's sports and their dismissal, but it's also inspiring and invigorating. Here is a girl who is truly in it for the love of the game, giving it her all, pushing her body to the limit - and carving out a space for women of pure, dogged athleticism.

Title card for episode one, titled, "The Cinderella of the Tennis World".

I just love her so much. 

 

p.s. here's a dog:

A cream-coloured puppy sniffs a person's shoes.

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4 comments:

  1. Ashley Starfish2 February 2026 at 13:28

    I've seen screencaps of this, but never knew it was a tennis anime! Prince of Tennis holds a special place in my heart. Legit the only sports anime I let myself watch. I'm sure it's much more exaggerated than Aim for the Ace, but I feel I need to give this one a watch for sure! Thank you for sharing 🙌🏼

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    Replies
    1. Lilly2 February 2026 at 14:42

      Interesting. I'm not familiar with that one but might check it out sometime!

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  2. IAmARealBoy7 February 2026 at 23:50

    Got sent here from your tumblr post about your "favorite blogposts recently"
    I really loved this! While I read it I heard it in your youtube essay cadence and it brought a smile to my face. I have never heard of this anime, but I love your introduction of it and the apprecation for the over the top, Romanization (with a capital "R") presentation of how things feel rather than the physicality of how they are. "flowing sideburns" "geode-like eye" and how that reflects on how down bad Hiromi is for Todo.
    how the male opponents appear so much bigger than her to make the dichotomy between her and the male players more pronounced.
    That second pair of shots you showed of Todo in the crowd and how the crowd is a blurry background rather than actual people and all you can make out is our boy. How memory feels, all you remember is your boy in the stands because that's the only important part. (also cheaper for 1970s animators to animate lol)
    kisses to you comrade and your love of aim for the aces.

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