Now, it should be said that not all sports anime are educational. I mean, something tells me that you won't find much applicable knowledge about how to play basketball in Basquash, an anime about playing basketball in mechs.

However, some anime series, even the “superpowered” sports anime series full of bizarre plays, may have some applicable knowledge about the sport in question.

If you're looking for sports anime that can be as educational about the sport as it is entertaining, check out these great series.

9. Haikyuu

Of course, everyone remembers Haikyuu for the large cast of unique characters and the addictive intensity that makes or breaks the popular sports anime.

However, no one remembers Haikyuu for those moments when it actually taught that volleyball was more than just “hitting the ball over the net.”

Maybe if you've ever played on a real volleyball team, you know basic information like what the positions on the court are supposed to do, but I can safely say that most people probably don't.

Since Haikyuu follows a player who has all the love for a sport but has never officially played it before, it allows them to drop some informative tidbits as it is carrying out the character dynamics that everyone loves so much.

As players become more experienced and play with more experienced players, Haikyuu moves into more advanced strategies.

Though admittedly, a fair number of these strategies are exploiting one of the characters' special abilities. As such, Haikyuu offers diminishing returns in terms of information as it focuses more on the character's abilities.

8. Hajime no Ippo

Almost all martial arts anime tend to be ridiculous. It's not that they can't be educational, but more that they're interested in entertaining violence.

Hajime no Ippo, as a sports anime about boxing, could have been big fights with ridiculous characters like Baki or Kengan Ashura, but it's not.

Instead, Hajime no Ippo is a sports anime that happens to be about a martial art. It follows a boy who is constantly bullied and is saved by a boxer. After being taken to his gym to be patched up, the boy becomes interested and then falls in love with the sport.

Since the main character starts from nothing, the first thing you and he learn is how to throw a punch properly.

From there, he learns his jabs as quickly as they are simple, and moves on to the more advanced but powerful uppercut.

Once you've learned the basic moves, it's no longer so much about learning the basics, but learning how Ippo will counter a particular boxer's unique fighting style.

7. Yowamushi Pedal

What is there to know about cycling, really? Get to the finish line, get there as fast as you can. As you can imagine, there are actually a lot of finer details that go into competitive cycling.

You just don't see them when you watch cycling, but watching a cycling show? Oh, they'll show you every detail.

Yowamushi Pedal follows an otaku who is scouted by his school's cycling team after learning that he cycles alone across Tokyo to Akihabara every week.

This gave the nerd a very strong pair of legs and eventually he fell deeply in love with the sport of cycling.

As the main character falls in love, he learns all the basic information, from types of bicycles to types of competitive cycling styles.

You can still see more interesting competitive aspects, such as how team cycling works.

Yowamushi Pedal can really draw you in just with the intensity of its characters, their passion making it addictive to watch, but it's actually teaching you quite a bit in the way it pulls off this story. It's an impressive feat.

6. How Heavy Are the Dumbbells You Lift?

It might be generous to call How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift a sports anime. Not because weightlifting and general fitness aren't sports, but because How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift is clearly just trying to inspire people to go to the gym.

I believe the term is “edutainment”, which is used to describe educational anime that specifically aims to teach you while also being entertaining.

How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift follows pretty girls getting in shape at the gym. Occasionally it does so in a snarky and lewd way, but mostly in an honest, educational way.

This series essentially helps you answer a lot of general fitness questions by exploring the topic through a girl who is new to the gym and then passing that knowledge on to the audience as it is imparted to the main character.

Since How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift is an “edutainment” anime, it’s easily the most educational of any sports anime on this list, but it doesn’t have the same character arcs and fiery passion that you’ll find in other actual sports anime.

5. Slam Dunk

While Slam Dunk may not be as fun to watch as the superpowered Kuroko's Basketball, mainly due to the age of the animation, it does offer a more realistic take on basketball, at least in Japan.

You'll notice that the team dynamics are portrayed a little differently in Slam Dunk than in most Western basketball teams, but what can you expect from a series that almost single-handedly revived interest in basketball in Japan.

The series follows a tall thug who, after falling in love with the basketball team's passionate manager, joins the basketball team.

Although the focus is initially split between the main character still acting like an arrogant delinquent and learning the basics of basketball, his passion for the game grows.

Over time, you reminisce about Hanamichi's time stubbornly avoiding dribbling practice with nostalgia as you watch him play like a real team player, allowing them to execute advanced court strategies.

4. Wanna Be The Strongest in The World

Wanna Be The Strongest in The World just goes to show that education can be found in the most unexpected places.

The unexpected place in this case is a sports anime about an idol who sees a member of his idol troupe get beaten in a promotional fight, stops idolizing, and becomes a wrestler to avenge his idol group's shame.

The series is as raunchy as you'd expect from an anime about female fighters.

However, between the H-level grunts and groans, the series is surprisingly detailed in explaining wrestling techniques.

While there is no real kayfabe to these performances, although the series explains how they are performances.

Additionally, they detail actual wrestling moves and why they are effectively used in the situation. Those situations being… two girls suggestively pressed against each other.

While Iwa Kakeru occasionally falls into the same trap as How Heavy Are The Dumbbells You Lift, Wanna Be The Strongest in The World, and many other sports anime that follow female characters fall where they remain at certain slightly lewd angles also long, like a climbing anime, at least it has a reason to do so.

Iwa Kakeru follows a gamer who, in search of other hobbies, stumbles upon her school's massive climbing wall. There, she discovers that the ledges and handholds are nothing more than a puzzle waiting to be solved.

Now, climbing seems pretty straightforward – get on the rock, climber. However, Iwa Kakeru shows the various little techniques climbers use to get good holds, as well as how speed climbers “solve” the puzzle of climbing before they even touch the wall. In essence, by giving you access to the characters’ inner monologues, you get a glimpse into the mind of a climber and see complexities that wouldn’t otherwise come to light simply by watching the sport.

2. Big Windup 

Baseball sports anime, for whatever reason, tend to live and die by following prodigies or highly skilled players. This leads to a fiery passion for the game and leaves time to explore intricate character stories at the cost of not imparting much actual knowledge about the sport.

Big Windup is a different kind of beast. This is one of the rarer “rehabilitation” sports anime, where the main character returns to the sport after losing confidence. In Big Windup, the character was the starting pitcher for his high school team due to unwanted nepotism. He was so bullied by his team that he was paralyzed by anxiety, and his above-average skill that came from practicing nonstop is almost useless.

The series is about your new high school catcher, rebuilding his confidence, increasing his skill through training techniques, and organizing the rest of the team. Building a team of varying skill levels into a cohesive unit requires an intricate knowledge of the game, and Big Windup lets you do just that.

1. Baby Steps

As you go through this list, you’ll notice a theme emerging. Sports anime that follow newcomers tend to be more educational than sports anime that follow established players. This is because it benefits both the narrative and the audience to provide basic rules and strategies about a sport at the same time. There’s no series that embodies this better than Baby Steps.

This tennis anime doesn't involve jumping into space and hurling tennis balls at Earth like meteors like Prince of Tennis, but it does feature an ordinary, unathletic guy. He's an academic success, but worried about his physical health, so he visits a tennis club where he falls in love with the game.

However, he knows as much about tennis as anyone who doesn't play tennis as a hobby. This means that the series starts with fitness, basic rules and simple techniques for beginners before gradually working up to more advanced strategies, explaining them as the main character understands them.

Do you have any other sports anime that you would say are particularly educational about the sport you follow? Let fans know in the comments section below.