24 minSeason 1 • Episode 12
LatestPlaying Soft Tennis is supposed to be the focus of the Shiratama Soft Tennis Team. And for some of the girls, like farm girl/would-be champion Asuna, it mostly is. But when the team's worst player, Chitose, is also the team captain, could it be that the club is really more about hanging out and having a good time? To be sure, aces Kurusu and exchange student Elizabeth, are great players. But they also seem more interested in cosplay and the team's dreamy adviser, while violence-prone Kotone might be more at home in a martial arts dojo. And it would certainly explain why they get into so many odd adventures involving things like giant bears, whales, and ghosts rather than playing!
Acting
Haruka Tomatsu and Eri Kitamura's chaotic vocal chemistry carries every scene.
Writing
Gleefully abandons sports tropes for absurdist non-sequiturs.
Production
Xebec's bright, elastic animation sells the comedy timing.
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Softenni adapts Ryō Azuchi's 4-koma manga, which ran in Weekly Shōnen Magazine—the same publication as Fairy Tail and The Seven Deadly Sins, proving they publish literally anything.
The series parodies 2000s moe sports anime tropes by aggressively refusing to develop its characters' athletic skills, making it a weird time capsule of post-K-On! slice-of-life excess.
JP
