Ro-Kyu-Bu! is a Japanese light novel series written by Sagu Aoyama and illustrated by Tinkle. ASCII Media Works published 15 novels between February 2009 to July 2015. The series follows a high school freshman Subaru Hasegawa who becomes the coach of a grade school's girls' basketball team after his own basketball club is disbanded for a year due to a scandal. Three manga adaptations and three PlayStation Portablevisual novel games were produced. A 12-episode anime television series, animated by Project No.9 and Studio Blanc, aired between July and September 2011. A 12-episode second season titled Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS, animated solely by Project No.9, aired between July and September 2013.
Plot
High school freshman Subaru Hasegawa is forced to stop playing basketball at his school for a while when the team captain gets himself involved in a scandal for being suspected of sexually abusing a little girl, and the club is disbanded for a year. His aunt, Mihoshi Takamura, then assigns him to be an elementary school girls' basketball team coach. Initially, he accepts to train the girls just for three days, but after learning of their circumstances, he decided to keep coaching them. Thanks to the girls, Subaru's passion for basketball is reignited as his efforts to improve their skills come to fruition and he becomes close friends with them.
Ro-Kyu-Bu! began as a light novel series written by Sagu Aoyama with illustrations by Tinkle. Originally, Aoyama entered the first novel in the series into ASCII Media Works' 15th Dengeki Novel Prize in 2008 and the novel won the Silver Prize. ASCII Media Works published 15 novels under their Dengeki Bunko imprint between February 10, 2009 and July 10, 2015.
Manga
A manga adaptation, illustrated by Yūki Takami, began serialization in the October 2010 issue of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Magazine. The manga ended serialization in the magazine's May 2014 issue and was transferred to Dengeki G's Comic starting with the June 2014 issue. The first tankōbon volume was released on April 27, 2011; seven volumes have been released as of March 27, 2014. A four-panelcomic strip manga, titled Ro-Kyu-Bu! Yonkoma and illustrated by Futaba Miwa, began serialization in the June 2011 issue of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki Moeoh magazine. The first tankōbon volume was released on April 27, 2012; the second followed on September 27, 2013. A spin-off manga, titled Ro-Kyu-Bu! Halftime and illustrated by Yūki Takami, began serialization in volume 26 of ASCII Media Works' Dengeki G's Festival! Comic on October 26, 2012. The first tankōbon volume was released on August 27, 2013.
Anime
A 12-episode anime television series, animated by Project No.9 and Studio Blanc, aired in Japan between July 1 and September 24, 2011 on the AT-X network, and was later rebroadcast on KBS Kyoto, Tokyo MX, TV Kanagawa, Sun TV, Chiba TV, TV Aichi, and Teletama. The series is directed by Keizō Kusakawa with Michiko Itō as script supervisor. The opening theme is "Shoot!" and the ending theme is "Party Love "; both songs are sung by Ro-Kyu-Bu!, a five-member group consisting ofKana Hanazawa, Yuka Iguchi, Rina Hidaka, Yui Ogura and Yōko Hikasa. Sentai Filmworks licensed the anime for simulcast, though were later requested by the production committee to relinquish home video rights. The Anime Network aired the series in the United States. An original video animation titled Ro-Kyu-Bu!: Tomoka no Ichigo Sundae was bundled with the release of the PlayStation Portable game Ro-Kyu-Bu!: Himitsu no Otoshimono on June 20, 2013. A 12-episode second season titled Ro-Kyu-Bu! SS, animated by Project No.9 and directed by Shinsuke Yanagi, aired between July 5 and September 27, 2013. The opening theme is "Get goal!" and the ending theme is "Rolling! Rolling!"; both songs are sung by the five-member group Ro-Kyu-Bu!.
Video games
Two PlayStation Portable visual novel were developed by Vridge and published by ASCII Media Works and Kadokawa Games. The first, titled Ro-Kyu-Bu!, was released on October 27, 2011. The second, titled Ro-Kyu-Bu! Himitsu no Otoshimono, was released on June 20, 2013. A PlayStation Vita game titled Ro-Kyu-Bu! Naisho no Shutter Chance developed by Vridge was released on March 27, 2014 release. According to the announcement, the genre of the game is "loli sports shooting adventure".
