On May 25, Crunchyroll officially revealed the winners of the 2025 Anime Awards. Blue Box won the award for Best Romance Anime, defeating several other popular nominees including A Sign of Affection, Makeine: Too Many Losing Heroines!, Ranma 1/2, Scott Pilgrim Takes Off, and The Dangers in My Heart Season 2.
The Blue Box anime first aired in Fall 2024, starting in October and ran for two straight cours. The final episode of Season 1 aired on March 27, 2025. The anime is a Netflix original and was produced by TMS Entertainment, with animation by Telecom Animation Film.
The first season had 25 episodes and covered the first 8 arcs from the manga. It mixed sports, romance, and slice of life really well, and became a fan-favorite quickly. The show has already been renewed for Season 2, but there is no release date yet.
Since the anime came out, Blue Box manga has been growing fast. The series got a huge boost in popularity. According to the official Blue Box Twitter, the total number of copies in circulation has reached 7 million.
Manga Sales During Anime Run
- October 2024: 513,289 copies sold
- November 2024: 255,805 copies sold
- December 2024: 410,946 copies sold
- Total During Anime Airing: 1.18 million copies
The first volume of Blue Box was released on August 4, 2021. As of March 4, 2025, the series has 19 volumes published. MangaPlus describes the story of the anime as:
Taiki Inomata is on the boys’ badminton team at sports powerhouse Eimei Junior and Senior High. He’s in love with basketball player Chinatsu Kano, the older girl he trains alongside every morning in the gym. One Spring day, their relationship takes a sharp turn … And thus begins this brand-new series of love, sports and youth!
Source: Crunchyroll
