manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series written by Ken Kawasaki and illustrated by . It has been serialized in Golf Digest's
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
ing magazine ' since August 2014. An
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series adaptation produced by
OLM
The olm () or proteus (''Proteus anguinus'') is an aquatic salamander which is the only species in the genus ''Proteus'' of the family Proteidae and the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe; the family's other extant g ...
aired from April to June 2024. A second season aired from October 2024 to January 2025.
By November 2024, ''Tonbo!'' had over 2.2 million copies in circulation.
Plot
The series is set in the fictional Hinoshima Island in the
Tokara Islands
The is an archipelago in the Nansei Islands, and are part of the Satsunan Islands, which is in turn part of the Ryukyu Archipelago. The chain consists of twelve small islands located between Yakushima and Amami-Oshima. The islands have a total ...
(based on
Nakanoshima
is a 3 km long and 50 hectares narrow sandbank in Kita-ku, Osaka city, Japan, that divides the Kyū-Yodo into the Tosabori and Dōjima rivers. Many governmental and commercial offices (including the city hall of Osaka), museums and oth ...
). A retired golfer, Kazuyoshi Igarashi, arrives there and finds Tonbo Ōi, a junior high school girl with a talent for golf.
Written by Ken Kawasaki and illustrated by , ''Tonbo!'' started in Golf Digest's
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...
ing magazine ' on August 4, 2014. Golf Digest has collected its chapters into individual volumes. The first two volumes were released on May 30, 2016. As of May 1, 2025, 56 volumes have been released.
Anime
In May 2023, an
anime
is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...
television series adaptation was announced. It is animated by
OLM
The olm () or proteus (''Proteus anguinus'') is an aquatic salamander which is the only species in the genus ''Proteus'' of the family Proteidae and the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe; the family's other extant g ...
(with CG provided by SMDE) and directed by Oh Jin-koo, with
Mitsutaka Hirota
is a Japanese screenwriter. After graduating from Tamagawa University, he went on to study screenwriting at Scenario Center Osaka and graduated.
Filmography
*Series head writer denoted in bold
Anime television series
*'' Viewtiful Joe (anime ...
writing series scripts, Akira Takeuchi designing the characters, Keita Hattori directing the 3DCG, and composing the music. The series aired from April 6 to June 29, 2024, on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.
After the airing of the final episode of the first season, a second season was announced. It aired from October 4, 2024, to January 4, 2025. For the second season, the opening theme song is "Seven Pieces", performed by Sacra e sole, while the ending theme song is , performed by Tokyo Groove Jyoshi.
Remow licensed the series for streaming on its It's Anime
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
channel. The company also streamed the first season of the series on
Amazon Prime Video
Amazon Prime Video, known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming television service owned by Amazon. The service primarily distributes films and television series produced or co-produced by ...
with an English dub, releasing it simultaneously as it aired in Japan. The second season was added to the platform as well.
Episodes
=Season 1
=
=Season 2
=
Other media
In 2023, Miki City, known as the "City of Golf" due to its large number of golf courses, in collaboration with the manga, offered golf balls with Tonbo design printed on them as
tax return
A tax return is a form on which a person or organization presents an account of income and circumstances, used by the tax authorities to determine liability for tax.
Tax returns are usually processed by each country's tax authority, known as ...
gifts, to promote the sport in the city and to contribute to its financial reconstruction.
Reception
Manga
By June 2023, the manga had over 1.55 million copies in circulation (including digital copies); by November 2024, it had over 2.2 million copies in circulation (including digital copies). The manga placed third in
Rakuten Kobo
Rakuten Kobo Inc., or simply Kobo, is a Canadian company that sells ebooks, audiobooks, e-readers and formerly tablet computers. It is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada and is a subsidiary of the Japanese e-commerce conglomerate Rakuten. ...
's second E-book Award in the "Long Seller Comic" category in 2024.
Anime
Anime News Network
Anime News Network (ANN) is a news website that reports on the status of anime, manga, video games, Japanese popular music and other related cultures within North America, Australia, Southeast Asia and Japan. The website offers reviews and ot ...
had four editors review the first episode of the anime: Richard Eisenbeis wrote: "Do I think this series will be some kind of breakout hit? No, but I was entertained enough to come back for another episode next week." Rebecca Silverman felt it did "an excellent job of establishing its setting" and using the island's "casual golf culture" to display Igarashi's "presumptive past golf-related trauma", but was critical of Tonbo being portrayed more as a "non-character than a person" during her debut. She felt the series needed another episode for its plot and characters to get going, concluding that: "Don't go into this expecting ''
Birdie Wing
''Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story'' (stylized as ''BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls' Story-'') is an original Japanese anime television series about golf produced by Bandai Namco Pictures and directed by Takayuki Inagaki. The first season aired from Apr ...
'', but I think it might fit the bill if you're looking for a low-key sports series this spring." Nicholas Dupree was critical of the leads not being either "engaging or interesting" to entice viewers and felt the overall production had the "hallmarks of a long-running show with modest resources and modest-er vision", giving note of the "inconsistent, flat character art and a good amount of reused footage" throughout the runtime. He concluded that "nothing here is bad or doomed from the outset. This could be a slow starter that gets more engaging as we develop the characters or let the cast gel cohesively. If you're looking for a family-friendly sports show, this fits the bill just fine, even if it doesn't excel at anything." The fourth reviewer, James Beckett, criticized the "stale characters" and the overall visuals coming across like "three people animated it on a budget of loose change and broken dreams", saying "the end product is so stiff and lifeless that I felt like I may as well have just been looking at the manga anyway, except with more color and an annoying soundtrack that I didn't ask for."
Fellow ANN editor Jairus Taylor reviewed the complete first season and gave it a D+ grade, criticizing the slow start to the overall plot, the "overly technical" and "more realistic approach" to displaying golf, the lack of a supporting cast and OLM's "acceptable, if largely unimpressive" production failing to elevate the golfing scenes, concluding that: " ere's no real reason I can think of to go out of the way to watch this one, and with how little it has to offer as a sports drama, you're probably better off watching an actual golf match instead." Taylor also said that in contrast, ''
Birdie Wing
''Birdie Wing: Golf Girls' Story'' (stylized as ''BIRDIE WING -Golf Girls' Story-'') is an original Japanese anime television series about golf produced by Bandai Namco Pictures and directed by Takayuki Inagaki. The first season aired from Apr ...
'' compensated for golf not being exciting to watch by being "as flashy and over the top as possible with their presentation". Taylor chose the first season as his pick for the Worst Anime of 2024, criticizing the overall pacing, one-note supporting characters, bland direction of its golfing scenes, and not being "worth the investment" to check out the second season, concluding that: "If there's one thing worse than being terrible, it's being boring, and while there are certainly other shows this year that had bigger problems, this one was by far the biggest slog."
Taylor reviewed the first episode of the second season, criticizing the first half for its pacing and "overly technical explanations" but praised the second half for the introduction of Hinoki and the potential of "an actual ensemble" alongside Tonbo and Igarashi, concluding that "if you are someone who's kept up with the series and enjoyed everything about the first season, then this certainly seems like it'll be more of that, and you'll probably have a decent time." Erica Friedman, also writing for ANN, reviewed the complete second season and gave it an overall B+ grade. While critiquing about the "overblown and silly" display of golf and the "otaku-level details", she praised the plot's exploration into the mental game of the sport through its players' development and the improved animation from the previous season.