Animes have the very particular talent of taking any subject and turning it into a gripping, emotional and unique story that will have you begging for more. A perfect example of this is the sports anime genre. From an outsider's point of view, the idea of watching an anime about sports may sound uninteresting, boring even but if one takes the time to give it a chance, they will soon realize that the sports theme is often but a tool in a coming-of-age story that has the power to move anyone to tears.
The heroes of those animes prove themselves to determined, passionate and ready to overcome anything obstacles and any hardships to find happiness in playing a sport that fuels their very souls. One or two life lessons can be taken from those animes and it's not surprising to see them rated high. To get you started in this genre, here is a list of the 10 highest rated Sports anime, according to IMDb:
10 Kukoro's Basketball - 8.3
A team of basketball prodigies rose at Teiko Middle School and earned the school countless victories. The five-star members of this team were so good that they earn themselves the name of "Generation of Miracles". After graduation middle school, all five players were accepted to prestigious high schools known for their amazing basketball teams.
However, most people have forgotten about the sixth player of the Generation of Miracles, Tetsuya Kuroko, who joined a powerful, yet little-known, team at Seirin High. When Kuroko meets Taiga Kagami, a student who spent most of his life in America, the two vow to make Seirin's team the best in Japan and take down all five of Kuroko's old teammates.
9 Capeta - 8.4
Kappeita Taira, otherwise know as "Capeta", is a 10-year-old boy with a passion for racing. He lives with his father who unfortunately cannot afford to buy his son a kart. However, his job as in a paving company brings him one day to accept a job at the local racing track where he convinces the owner to let him take parts on some of the old, discarded karts.
Thanks to those parts, Capeta's father builds him a kart and brings him to the tracks for the very first time. Capeta reveals himself to have a natural talent for racing and catches the attention of nearby spectators when he manages to unnerve another talent young racer who happened to be testing his new kart that day.
8 Yuri!! On Ice - 8.4
After a defeat at the Grand Prix Final, professional figure skater Yuri Katsuki reconsiders his place in the figure skating world and puts his career on hold. A strange turn of event puts him in the spotlight when a video leaked showing Yuri performing a perfect mimic of his long-time idol's routine, Victor Nikiforov.
This video catches Victor's attention who travels to Japan with a one-in-a-lifetime offer for Yuri: to coach him and revive his skating career. Things seem to brighten up for Yuri until another skater by the name Yuri Plisetsky shows up unexpectedly claiming that Victor already promised to coach him.
This anime is a must-see, even though fans are still waiting for season 2.
7 Captain Tsubasa - 8.4
Tsubasa Oozora, an 11-year old elementary school student, has a passion for soccer and dreams of one day winning the FIFA World cup for Japan. Luckily for him, Tsubaba is a soccer prodigy and he will stop at nothing to see his dream come true.
Captain Tsubasa is an absolute classic in the sports anime genre and has been around for so long that it doesn't need any introduction anymore. It is a sweet, funny and truly epic anime that absolutely deserves to be on this list. The anime was so well-loved it even got itself a reboot in 2018, same story, new design, just as much epicness.
6 Haikyuu!! - 8.6
Middle school student Hinata Shouyou fell in love with volleyball after watching an epic national championship game on TV. Determined to follow in the footsteps of those amazing volleyball players, Hinata joins his school's volleyball club as the only member and after much effort, manages to assemble a team that is chosen to compete against another school. There they face off a star player called Kageyama Tobio who instantly becomes Hinata's rival.
The two later find themselves attending the same high school and to their horror, joining the same volley team. They must put their differences aside if they want to realize their dream of winning the next championship.
5 Ping Pong the Animation - 8.6
The show combines a gripping storyline with a truly unique and atypical graphics that instantly sets it apart from any other sports anime out there. The story follows 5 prodigy ping-pong players from different high schools as they learn to navigate the challenges of being professional players and being teenagers. The story doesn't have one main character but rather 5 distinct storylines with their own main character.
Each storyline relates the story of a player and puts in light the difficulties that come with being at times a normal teenager as well as a professional player and how the two combined can make finding what one expects from one's life after high school complicated.
4 Slam Dunk - 8.7
Sakuragi Hanamichi is a freshman in high school and an eternal romantic. When he falls in love with his fellow student Haruko, he is determined to do everything to make her fall in love with him, including joining the school's basketball team despite having no previous experience as a basketball player.
Sakuragi's goal is to become the best player on the team in hopes that Haruko will fall out of love with her current boyfriend, who also happens to be on the team, and take an interest in Sakuragi. To everyone's surprise, Sakuragi turns out to be a great player and quickly becomes a strong asset to the team.
3 Hajime no Ippo - 8.8
Makunouchi Ippo is an ordinary high school who is often bullied by his comrades. He spends most of his time outside of school helping the family business and barely has time for any other normal teenager activities. On the day the school bullies decided to give Ippo a serious beating, serendipity finally smiles upon Ippo and he is rescued by a local boxer named Takamura.
The boxer brings Ippo to the boxing gym nearby and is introduced to this new world. Having been allowed to take out his frustration on a sandbag, Ippo found in himself a love for boxing which gives a new meaning and purpose to his previously bland and empty life.
2 Initial D 8.8
Takumi Fujiwara is an ordinary 18-year-old student with a boring job at the local gas station and as a delivery guy for his father's tofu business. Every morning before school, Takumi takes his father's car and delivers a package to a hotel at the top of Mt. Akina which unwillingly gave him a strong experience as a mountain-pass-drift-racer. A freak encounter with the second-best racer of the Redsuns team, Keisuke Takahashi, changes Takumi's life forever.
He is somewhat forced to enter the racing life and take part in one of the most dangerous races in the Gunma prefecture. With the help of his friends and some local racers, Takumi will do his best to not only make it out alive of this race but win it.
1 Tomorrow's Joe 2 8.8
After running away from the orphanage, Joe Yabuki wanders the streets of Tokyo and encounters a former boxing trainer, Danpei, who introduces him to the boxing world. However, Joe is a troubled young man and he is later arrested and sent to a temporary jail where he will continue to get into trouble. After fighting with a fellow inmate, Joe is sent to a high-security Juvenil jail where he meets Rikiishi, a former boxer.
The two instantly become rivals and have their first fight. A strange turn of event cuts the fight short and the two vow to fight again once they are both out of prison, this time as professional boxers.